Photography is your passion and you want to know which is the best smartphone camera? Then only a flagship is suitable for you. We present the six phones that are among the best camera smartphones according to the photo experts at DxOMark.
Huawei P50 Pro: Huawei stays on top for us
Even if the Huawei sanctions have meant that the Chinese manufacturer only plays a small role in the West: One of the best camera smartphones still comes from Huawei. The Huawei P50 Pro follows in the footsteps of its predecessor and for a long time claimed first place in the DxOMark rankings – currently the Honor Magic4 Ultimate, which is only available in China, is at the top.
The four main cameras of the P50 Pro:
- 50 megapixels: wide angle, optical image stabilization (OIS)
- 64 megapixels: telephoto lens (3.5x optical zoom), OIS
- 13 megapixels: ultra-wide angle
- 40 megapixels: monochrome sensor
The selfie cameras of the P50 Pro: 13 megapixels
The 50-megapixel main camera uses a pixel binning process. Four pixels are combined when recording to increase the contrast range and improve the image quality in low light. In the end, photos come out with a resolution of 12.5 megapixels. The ultra-wide-angle camera offers a resolution of 13 megapixels and a slightly narrower field of view than the competition. In return, however, it offers a significantly higher contrast range than ultra-wide-angle cameras in other smartphones.
The rest of the technology in the Huawei P50 Pro is also worthy of a flagship.
| Huawei P50 Pro: The technology | |
| screen | 6.6 inch, OLED, 2,700 x 1,228 pixels, 120 Hertz, 1 B colors (1 billion colors) |
| processor & memory | Kirin 9000, 8/12GB |
| Internal memory | 128/256/512 GB, NM card slot (proprietary) |
| cameras | Rear: 50 MP + 13 MP ultra wide angle + 64 MP telephoto + 40 MP monochrome; Front: 13MP |
| connectivity | Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.2, NFC, infrared port |
| battery pack | 4,360mAh, 66W Fast Charge, 50W Wireless Fast Charge |
Oppo Find X3 Pro: The challenger
Usually, the fight for the top rankings of the best camera smartphones in DxOMark takes place between Huawei, Samsung and Xiaomi. However, Oppo is now also involved. With the Oppo Find X3 Pro, the manufacturer launched another attack on the top dogs.
The four main cameras of the Oppo Find X3 Pro:
- 50 megapixels: wide angle, optical image stabilization (OIS)
- 50 megapixels: ultra wide angle
- 13 megapixels: telephoto lens (2x optical zoom), OIS
- 3 megapixels: microscope (60x magnification)
The selfie camera of the Oppo Find X2 Pro: 32 megapixels
The 50-megapixel main camera uses a Quad Bayer sensor. In other words, several pixels are combined to finally create a 12.5 megapixel image. This convinces with low noise and a large contrast range. The ultra-wide-angle camera also has a resolution of 50 megapixels. There are no distortions or disturbing image noise in photos taken with the ultra-wide-angle sensor.
| Oppo Find X3 Pro: the tech | |
| screen | 6.7-inch AMOLED, 3,216 x 1,440 pixels, HDR10+, 120 Hertz, 1 B colors (1 billion colors) |
| processor & memory | Snapdragon 888 5G, 8/12/16GB |
| Internal memory | 256/512GB |
| cameras | Rear: 50 MP + 50 MP ultra wide angle + 13 MP telephoto + 3 MP microscope; Front: 32MP |
| connectivity | WiFi 6, Bluetooth 5.2, NFC |
| battery pack | 4,500 mAh, 65 watt fast charging, 30 watt wireless fast charging |
The Oppo Find X3 is waterproof according to IP68 and offers stereo speakers.
Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra: Huawei’s strongest competitor
Xiaomi has long been known for very cheap flagship phones. The Chinese manufacturer now also offers premium devices for more than 1,000 euros. These not only convince with high-end hardware, but also offer really good cameras. The Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra is only beaten by the Huawei P50 Pro (and the Honor Magic4 Ultimate, which is only available in China) in the DxOMark rankings and takes third place with a difference of just one point.
The three main cameras of the Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra
- 50 megapixels: wide angle, optical image stabilization (OIS)
- 48 megapixels: ultra wide angle
- 48 megapixels: telephoto lens (5x optical zoom), OIS
The selfie camera of the Xiaomi Mi 10 Pro: 20 megapixels
The 50-megapixel main camera also uses the Quad-Bayer process, in which several pixels are fused together to enable low image noise and the greatest possible contrast range. The ultra-wide-angle camera has a resolution of 48 megapixels and offers a field of view of 128 degrees. The telephoto lens offers a 5x optical zoom.
The special strengths of the Mi 11 Ultra include the good balance between texture representation and image noise, the fast and accurate autofocus, the generally good contrast range and the high details in zoom and ultra wide-angle shots.
| Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra: the technology | |
| screen | 6.81-inch AMOLED, 3,200 x 1,440 pixels, HDR10+, 120 Hertz, 1 B colors (1 billion colors) |
| processor & memory | Snapdragon 888 5G, 8/12GB |
| Internal memory | 265/512GB |
| cameras | Rear: 50 MP + 48 MP ultra wide + 48 MP telephoto; Front: 20MP |
| connectivity | Wi-Fi 6E, Bluetooth 5.2, NFC, infrared port |
| battery pack | 5,000 mAh, 67 watt fast charging, 67 watt wireless fast charging |
Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra: Brilliant zoom
The Galaxy S22 Ultra offers very good camera performance, which our test also confirmed. All cameras take very good pictures with a similar look. TURN-ON editor Andreas only found minimal differences in the contrast range of the main, telephoto and ultra wide-angle cameras. The main camera delivers here rather averagely.
And yet: With its 10x zoom, the Galaxy S22 Ultra is one of the best zoom phones on the market, 4K videos are excellently stabilized and a night mode delivers natural-looking photos in particularly gloomy scenes.
The four main cameras of the Galaxy S22 Ultra
- 108 megapixels: wide angle, optical image stabilization (OIS)
- 12 megapixels: ultra wide angle
- 10 megapixels: telephoto lens (3x optical zoom)
- 10 megapixel: telephoto lens (10x optical zoom)
The Galaxy S22 Ultra selfie camera : 40 megapixels
Samsung packs the latest technology into its flagship, powered by the in-house Exynos 2200.
| Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra: The technology | |
| screen | 6.8-inch AMOLED, 3,040 x 1,440 pixels, HDR10+, 120 Hertz |
| processor & memory | Samsung Exynos 2200 with 5G modem, 8/12 GB |
| Internal memory | 128/256/512GB/1TB |
| cameras | Rear: 108MP wide angle + 12MP ultra wide angle + 10MP telephoto lens x 2; Front: 40MP |
| connectivity | WiFi 6, Bluetooth 5.0, NFC |
| battery pack | 5,000mAh, 45W Fast Charge, 15W Wireless Fast Charge |
Google Pixel 6 Pro: Google is back with powerful cameras
Pixel smartphones had long disappeared from the top positions in the DxOMark rankings, but Google surprisingly came back with the Pixel 6 Pro and re-entered the top 10. The Pixel 6 Pro is convincing in both photos and videos – also in the TURN-ON test. The strengths of the cameras include good texture representation and exposure, fast and accurate autofocus and lots of detail when zooming high with the telephoto lens.
The three main cameras of the Pixel 6 Pro
- 50 megapixels: wide angle, optical image stabilization (OIS)
- 48 megapixels: telephoto lens (4x optical zoom), OIS
- 12.5 megapixels: ultra wide angle
The Pixel 6 Pro ‘s selfie camera: 11.1 megapixels
And the rest of the technical equipment is also impressive.
| Google Pixel 6 Pro: The tech | |
| screen | 6.7-inch AMOLED, 3,120 x 1,440 pixels, HDR10+, 120 Hertz |
| processor & memory | Google Tensor 12GB |
| Internal memory | 128/256/512GB |
| cameras | Rear: 50 MP + 48 MP telephoto + 12 MP ultra wide angle; Front: 11.1MP |
| connectivity | WiFi 6E, Bluetooth 5.2, NFC |
| battery pack | 5,000mAh, 30W fast charging, 23W wireless fast charging |
The Google Pixel 6 Pro is waterproof thanks to IP68 certification and offers powerful stereo speakers.
Apple iPhone 13 Pro Max: Apple is at the forefront
Apple was also unable to keep up with Huawei, Xiaomi and Samsung when it came to smartphone cameras. Meanwhile, Apple is also equipping its iPhones with high-quality cameras and, with the iPhone 13 Pro Max and iPhone 13 Pro (both use the same camera module), has two models in the top 5 best camera smartphones.
The three main cameras of the iPhone 13 Pro Max
- 12 megapixels: wide angle, optical image stabilization (OIS)
- 12 megapixels: ultra wide angle
- 12 megapixels: telephoto lens (3x optical zoom), OIS
The selfie camera of the iPhone 13 Pro Max: 12 megapixels
Compared to its predecessor, the iPhone 13 Pro Max and iPhone Pro 13 now use a larger sensor and a faster aperture for the main camera. This benefits the image quality. The two iPhone 13 models impress with their natural colors and good white balance. The autofocus is fast and accurate. Both indoor and outdoor photos are very detailed.
| Apple iPhone 13 Pro Max: The technology | |
| screen | 6.7-inch Super Retina XDR OLED, 2778 x 1284 pixels, HDR10, Dolby Vision, 120 Hz |
| processor & memory | Apple A15 Bionic 6GB |
| Internal memory | 128/256/512GB/1TB |
| cameras | Rear: 12 MP + 12 MP telephoto + 12 MP ultra wide angle; Front: 12MP |
| connectivity | WiFi 6, Bluetooth 5.0, NFC |
| battery pack | 4,352 mAh, 27 watt fast charging, wireless charging (MagSafe)15 watts |
Stereo speakers are of course also on board the iPhone 13 Pro Max. Thanks to the IP68 certification, the Apple smartphone also withstands trips into the rain.
