Best Phone Cameras – Consumer Reports

Some popular smartphones failed to make the top 10 list below, but often only because the slightly more premium models in the same series outshined them by a hair. (The iPhone 14 or Samsung Galaxy S23, for example.)

The bottom line: Just because a phone doesn’t make the cut here doesn’t mean it has poor cameras. Our head of electronics testing, Richard Fisco, says that from a camera-quality standpoint, there’s little variation among the top-tier smartphones.

In fact, the differences among this group are so small that they could be chalked up to variations in our test samples, he says.

In computing the score for cameras, our expert testers rate the quality of the still images taken with a smartphone’s rear cameras, examining resolution, dynamic range, color accuracy, and visual noise. They also evaluate the quality of a phone’s front (or selfie) camera and the rear camera’s video quality.

Many models can shoot in 4K ultra-high definition, giving your home movies a professional touch. And more phones are making use of AI assistance, whether for enhanced zooming or smarter photo editing on the back end. In any case, chances are this list will steer you toward a quality camera that’s more than capable of capturing quality moments.