When people talk about photography on smartphones, they inevitably refer to the multi-megapixel cameras on the back of the phones that come with several features such as OIS, special shooting modes and the like. In all this hype, the camera that is seen most often is often forgotten. We are talking of the selfie camera, which is seen every time we look at the display, lodged in some sort of notch or island of dynamism, but which in recent times seems to have fallen far behind its backbencher sibling. Some selfie cameras have been climbing up the megapixel charts but most are still pretty much treated like second-rate citizens, often lacking features like autofocus, OIS, large apertures or support for 4K video recording.
This does not mean that there are no phones out there with good selfie cameras - there are just not as many that are as photographically blessed in the front as on the back. But if you are in the market for a phone with a terrific selfie camera - whether it is for making elaborate high-definition videos, high-quality video calls, or just simply wonderfully vanity snaps and videos and reels - these are five phones to whom you can say cheese right to their face:
Vivo V30 Pro: The Selfie Boss
Price: Rs 41,999 onwards
Selfie Camera: 50 MP, autofocus | Aperture: f/2.0
There are barely any selfie cameras that get the same megapixel muscle as the cameras on the back, but the Vivo V30 Pro is an exception here. The phone not only has a high selfie megapixel count but also the same as the main camera and the secondary cameras on the back – 50 megapixels. This makes the Vivo V30 Pro one of the best selfie camera phones in the market.
The phone captures a ton of detail and has great colour reproduction even when you take a picture with the front camera which is often a rarity. Pair this with features like eye autofocus, a mode for group selfies, and an array of editing options and you get a phone that is built to help you make memories, with or without company.
This selfie power is backed by three 50-megapixel sensors on the back – main, ultrawide and telephoto. You get a 6.78-inch AMOLED display with 120Hz refresh rate, MediaTek Dimensity 8200 with up to 12 GB RAM and 512 GB storage.
A 5,000mAh battery with fast 80W charging support, Android 14 out of the box with FunTouchOS on top. And all at a surprisingly affordable price, judging by what the phone brings to the selfie table.
iPhone 15 Pro: Consistent, Simple, Real
Price: Rs 1,34,900
Selfie Camera: 12 MP, autofocus, and OIS | Aperture: f/1.9
If one is to take sheer consistency in contention then the iPhone 15 Pro will probably be the phone that takes the gold medal home in this race. The phone comes with a 12-megapixel selfie camera on the front and while that number might seem small (especially compared to the 50-megapixel beast we just discussed above), the phone delivers good selfies and front camera videos in spades.
It is the only phone with a selfie camera with OIS on the list and also the one with the biggest aperture (f/1.9) which means it performs well under low-light conditions too. You get almost all the photography ammo you get with the rear cameras, both in terms of styles and modes. The details captured are just as impressive as the colour reproduction, both in stills and videos. And it remains one of the easiest phones to use which comes in handy when one has to click selfies.
You also get a 6.1 inch Super Retina XDR all-screen OLED display with 120 Hz refresh rate, Apple’s top-of-the-line A17 Pro chipset, a triple camera set up on the back with a 48-megapixel main sensor and two 12 megapixel lenses – one telephoto, another ultrawide.
The phone runs iOS and comes with day-long battery life with 20W charging support (with 15W wireless charging support too), Apple’s all-new Action button, and an IP68 rating.
Google Pixel 8 Pro: Computational Photography Magic In Selfies Too
Price: Rs 1,06,999
Selfie Camera: 10.5 MP, autofocus | Aperture: f/2.2
When it comes to photography, the Pixels have a place of their own in any list. Google has added autofocus to the selfie camera on its latest flagship, the Pixel 8 Pro (although not on the Pixel 8), making it one of the best in business.
The phone has a 10.5 megapixel front camera which may not sound as mighty in numbers, especially when compared to those on its back, but this small number when combined with Google’s computational wizardry, delivers results that many phones with much bigger selfie megapixel stats cannot deliver.
The smart editing tools are the cherry on this Pixel cake. Also on the phone are a triple camera setup on the back with a 50-megapixel main sensor, and two 48-megapixel sensors, one ultrawide, and one telephoto.
Top this with Google’s super smart Tensor G3 chipset, a 5,050mAh battery with 30W charging support (and wireless charging support), a 6.7-inch LTPO OLED display with clean, stock Android and a whopping seven years of promised updates and you get a phone that is phenomenal all-rounder, and does selfies superbly too.
Samsung Galaxy S24: Details Backed With AI Fun
Price: Rs 79,999
Selfie Camera: 12 MP, autofocus | Aperture: f/2.2
Samsung has been featuring autofocus in selfie cameras before it was cool, and needless to say the feature comes with the selfie cameras on the latest Galaxy S24 series as well. Because most of the lineup has a similar selfie camera setup, we have picked out the most affordable one of the lot for this list, the plain but powerful Samsung Galaxy S24.
The phone comes with a 12-megapixel selfie camera which delivers a great amount of detail and very pleasant colours. Bundled with this, are many AI editing options that allow you to do a whole lot more with your selfies and even make some super innovative edits.
This being a Samsung flagship, you also get a triple camera set up on the back with a 50-megapixel main, a 12-megapixel ultrawide and a 10-megapixel telephoto sensor. The Galaxy S24 show runs on Samsung’s Exynos 2400 chipset, a 4,000mAh battery with 25W charging support and Android 14 out of the box with Samsung’s OneUI on top.
The phone boasts a beautiful 6.1-inch Dynamic LTPO AMOLED 2X display with 120Hz refresh rate. Top this off with an IP68 rating, stereo speakers and a clean, very Samsung design and you have a selfie maestro with AI smarts and flagship vibes.
Oppo Reno 11 Pro: All About Aesthetics
Price: Rs 39,999
Selfie Camera: 32 MP, autofocus | Aperture: f/2.4
Oppo's Reno series has been acing the design and photography game for a long time now and the latest, the Oppo Reno 11 Pro follows this tradition and delivers some super selfie magic too. The phone brings good megapixel muscle – 32 megapixels, to the table, accompanied by autofocus, which translates into some well-detailed, and vibrantly coloured selfies.
This is topped off with a plethora of shooting and editing options which is just what many creators look for in a phone. The phone does not disappoint in other departments either. It brings a triple camera setup with a 50-megapixel main sensor, a 32-megapixel telephoto and an 8-megapixel ultrawide sensor.
It also comes with a very premium-looking 6.7-inch curved AMOLED display with 120Hz refresh rate and is powered by the very capable MediaTek Dimensity 8200 chipset.
Keeping it running is a 4,600mAh battery with 80W charging support. It runs on Android 14 out of the box with Oppo’s ColorOS on top and is easily the sleekest-looking selfie snapper in this list.
Which Mobile Is Best For Selfies?
Based on the above listings, we’d suggest Vivo V30 Pro is easily the best selfie phone out there. Not only is it relatively easier on the pocket, but at 50-megapixels it is easily the phone with the most definition in terms of selfie cameras.
Of course, if budget is not an issue, we’d suggest going ahead with the iPhone 15 Pro, as you simply cannot beat the sensor-y sharpness an iPhone camera can offer, regardless of megapixels.
How Much MP Is Good For Front Camera?
While it mostly depends on the sensor and software to truly capture a good photo on smartphones, you can generally consider any smartphone selfie camera with more than 8 megapixels a suitable choice. Of course, needless to say, the more megapixels the merrier (read: sharper the photo).