Best Camera Phones: They might not have made cameras obsolete (yet), but smartphone cameras have comfortably managed to take over every day and even some special occasion photography needs. So important are phone cameras that today, it is rare to find a phone priced above Rs 10,000 with a really bad camera. The USP status accorded to cameras meant that in 2024, several phones were released with very good cameras, some even bearing the names of legendary photography brands.  


But which were the best phone snappers of the year? Well, we think these five phones topped the camera charts in 2024: 


Google Pixel 9 Pro: Bringing Megapixels & Mega AI To The Table



Google's Pixel series of phones are legendary for their photography, and in 2024, Google took snapping to a new level with the Pixel 9 Pro. 


The phone came with an extremely versatile triple camera setup, comprising a 50-megapixel main sensor with OIS, a 48-megapixel periscope telephoto sensor with OIS and 5x optical zoom and, a 48-megapixel ultrawide sensor with autofocus. 


The performance of the cameras can be summed up by saying that no matter which one opted for, one ended up with very good pictures. While the main sensor had a slight edge in terms of detail, the periscope telephoto was a surprise package, delivering snaps of surprising quality even when we went beyond its 5x optical zoom range. 


There was a truckload of computational photography and AI magic on board as well, serving up some spectacular photographs and videos. The Pixel 9 Pro even packed in a very good 42-megapixel selfie camera with autofocus that turned in a solid performance. 


All of this came in a surprisingly compact form factor for a flagship phone, bundled with stock Android, Google’s promise of seven years of updates, a Tensor G4 processor, all-day battery life and a design that screams Pixel from a distance. 


iPhone 16 Pro: A(nother) Photography Pro



While the new iPhones do brilliantly in the photography department, they are increasingly becoming THE device for videography. And just when you thought you had everything, the iPhone 16 Pro changed our phone video expectations. Thoroughly. 


It came with a 48-megapixel main camera, a 48-megapixel ultrawide camera and a 12-megapixel telephoto camera with 5x optical zoom. These were capable of delivering 4K Dolby Vision video at an impressive 120 fps and came with spatial audio and stereo recording. Also on board was a four-microphone setup that was studio quality. 


Add to these new shooting styles and some extremely powerful yet easy-to-use editing options, and the iPhone 16 Pro was pretty much a creator's studio in your hand, You could change the speed of the video, change the volumes of different voices and sounds in it and even remove wind disturbance, among other things. And of course, the phone still took brilliant still images, with an improved portrait mode, several focal lengths and several editing options right in the Photos app. 


Even the 12-megapixel selfie sensor in the Dynamic Island took great vanity snaps and served up some very good 4K  video too. And helping you access the shooting controls on the phone was a special Camera Button, which generated plenty of debate, but was very handy once you got the hang of it. 


Vivo X200 Pro: A Zoom Monster



Vivo has been churning out some very good camera phones in recent times and as 2024 came to a close, it unleashed one of the best sets of cameras we had seen on a smartphone on its flagship Vivo X200 Pro. 


And rather remarkably, its biggest star was not its 50-megapixel Sony KYT818 sensor with a large f/1.57 aperture and OIS, but a massive 200-megapixel telephoto sensor with PDAF and OIS. A 50-megapixel ultrawide camera rounded off the lineup on the back. 


While both the main sensor and the ultrawide take great snaps and videos, the 200-megapixel telephoto is the one that blows away most of the competition here, delivering astonishingly clear results even at 30x digital zoom levels, thanks to some very clever processing. 


This is simply the most impressive zoom we have seen on a phone camera, and even doubles up as a macro snapper of sorts, thanks to its superb telephoto macro mode. While we expected the main sensor to be a low-light boss, what we did not expect was the ultrawide and telephoto also taking great snaps even in the dark. 


There is a truckload of shooting options, tweaks and editing tools onboard this camera beast, giving us major DSLR feels. And of course, the cameras were designed in collaboration with the legendary Zeiss. Round this off with a Zeiss Master display and a flagship Dimensity 9400 processor, and the Vivo X200 Pro was easily the most powerful camera phone of the year for us.   


Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra: Content Creators’ Dream



The Vivo X200 Pro is not the only phone with a 200-megapixel monster sensor up its sleeve. Samsung’s flagship offering, the Galaxy S24 Ultra also brings a 200-megapixel sensor to the table, and that too as its main sensor. 


The Galaxy S24 Ultra also comes with a very different take on zoom-in phone photography. Rather than having a single dedicated sensor, it comes with two telephoto cameras - a 10-megapixel one with 3x zoom, and a 50-megapixel one with 5x zoom - both with OIS support. Round this off with a 12-megapixel ultrawide, and the Galaxy S24 Ultra becomes a camera maestro.  


You get stunning portraits, 10x optical-level zoom, great landscapes and thanks to Samsung's Nightography sorcery, some amazing low-light photography too. All this with a consistency that is unmatched in the Android phone world. 


There is also a truckload of AI tweaks and tools to let you get more out of your photographs and videos and this being a Galaxy S24 Ultra, you get to edit your work on a magnificent Dynamic AMOLED 2x display with an S-Pen stylus for good measure. This is perhaps the ultimate photography and video content creator's tool - get this one and you won't need to lug a notebook or tablet around for editing content. 


Xiaomi 14: More Than Just Leica-able



Xiaomi released three phones from its photography flagship series designed in collaboration with the legendary Leica in 2024 in India - the Xiaomi 14, the Xiaomi 14 Ultra and the Xiaomi 14 Civi. 


While the Ultra was easily the most powerful phone of the trio, it was the Xiaomi 14 that we think was the best of the lot, as it delivered stunning camera performance from within a surprisingly sleek and compact form factor. Smaller and lighter than even the Pixel 9 Pro, this handy, handsome phone came with three 50-megapixel sensors on the back – a main with OIS, a telephoto with OIS and an ultrawide. 


And it delivered some amazing pictures, rich in detail and often with slightly deep contrasts. It also came with special photography modes and some excellent portrait photography, making it perhaps the best street photography camera of the year, and the only one on which black and white snaps looked better than coloured ones (and they looked very good indeed). 


Round that off with flagship-level specs and very smooth performance, and top it with the lowest price tag in this list and you have phone photography's small wonder of 2024.