In fact, the differences among this group are so small that they could be chalked up to variations in our test samples, he says. Our head of electronics testing, Richard Fisco, says that from a camera-quality standpoint, there’s little variation among the top-tier smartphones. (The same goes for the Sony and Samsung phones we cited above for their memory card slots.)īut just because a phone doesn’t make the cut here doesn’t mean it has poor cameras. Some of the most popular smartphones-including the Samsung Galaxy S21, iPhone SE, and Google Pixel 6 Pro-failed to make the top 10 list below. But if you’d rather play it safe, a smartphone with 128GB should do. If you buy a phone that lacks this advantage-Apple’s iPhones, for example-you can probably get by with 64GB of internal storage, especially if you’re comfortable using cloud storage. Memory card slots, however, are becoming rarer in new phones.

A card with 64 gigabytes of storage is easy to install and costs as little as $10. If you’re a shutterbug, there’s a real advantage to choosing a phone that accepts microSD memory cards, such as the 6.5-inch Sony Xperia 1 III, $920, the 6.1-inch Sony Xperia 5 III, $800, or the 6.5-inch Samsung Galaxy A53 5G, $450. Images and video captured by the best smartphone cameras are relatively large, up to 5 megabytes per still image and several hundred megabytes per minute of video. Storage is something else to consider if you’re planning to shoot a lot with your phone. Some phones can use the cameras together to produce a bokeh effect, which blurs the background while leaving the subject in sharp focus. One rear camera delivers typical shots, and the others work as zooms or wide-angle lenses. Most new phones offer two or more rear-mounted cameras in addition to a front-facing selfie camera. And they can capture spur-of-the-moment video with high-definition clarity. The best smartphone cameras have optical image stabilizers to help minimize blurriness from a shaky hand.

Smartphones these days tend to have high-resolution sensors (12 megapixels or more) to produce sharp cropped or enlarged prints.

Android phone with best camera 2015