Any trip nowadays is considered incomplete without a few good pictures. Though DSLRs are great for that but, not everyone likes to carry that big camera with them to all the places that they visit. While predicting this need in mind, smartphone makers started to evolve our phones' cameras. The development was so fast that within a decade or two, our smartphone cameras started having 200-megapixel sensors.


With cameras gaining such an important stature in a smartphone’s anatomy, let us have a look at the top 5 camera phones that one can purchase to take pro-level pictures. 


iPhone 15 Pro Max


Price: Rs 1,59,900


The list of the best camera smartphones cannot be made without mentioning the iPhone. They have always been the gold standard of photography and videography for a reason. iPhones are known to deliver consistently good results when it comes to photos and videos. The latest iPhone 15 series was no different, especially the top variant of that series. You could have great shots in all light conditions with the iPhone 15 Pro Max. The camera in this one came with seven different focal lengths. It also came with more optical and digital zoom than ever before — 5x optical zoom and 25x digital zoom. If we talk about the might of this device's camera then we should remember that it is even being positioned as a movie camera. 


Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra


Price: Rs 1,29,999 (Onwards)


Samsung's 2024 flagship phone had a camera setup that consisted of a whopping 200-megapixel primary camera, a 12-megapixel ultra-wide sensor, a 50-megapixel telephoto camera with 5x optical zoom and a 10-megapixel telephoto sensor supporting 3x optical zoom. The Zoom-king comes with a number of shooting and editing options as well as effects. The prowess of its cameras makes it probably the only phone we would recommend to someone who actually wants to shoot birds and wildlife.


Google Pixel 8 Pro


Price: Rs 1,06,999


Year after year, the Pixel series has been surprising us by delivering amazing photographs with a blend of hardware and software magic. Pixel 8 Pro continues this tradition perfectly. The phone comes with a triple camera setup comprising a 50-megapixel main sensor with OIS, and two 48-megapixel sensors, one telephoto with OIS and 5x optical zoom and another ultrawide. The cameras deliver breathtaking pictures not just in well-lit conditions but also in low light. Big ultrawide lens serves up even better Macro shots, and with the help of some computational sorcery, you can actually get 10x zoom without discernible loss despite the optical zoom standing at 5x.  The USP of the Pixel series has been its computational photography and other software smarts. 


Xiaomi 13 Pro


Price: Rs 74,999


Xiaomi joined hands with Leica, one of the biggest names in photography, pushing smartphone camera limits to create a monster camera phone. The Xiaomi 13 Pro came with a whopping one-inch sensor which is generally featured only in high-end compact cameras and not in smartphones. There were three 50-megapixel sensors on the device– one main, one telephoto and another ultrawide. The main sensor was a one-inch Sony IMX989 which took absolutely stunning images with great details and typically Leica colours. The 75 mm Leica floating telephoto camera will make you fall in love with black-and-white photography all over again. 


Vivo X90 Pro


Price: Rs 91,999


The Vivo X90 Pro came with some fantastic cameras. The phone boasted a Sony IMX989 50-megapixel sensor one-inch main sensor with OIS, pairing it with a 50-megapixel telephoto sensor with OIS and 2x optical zoom, and a 12-megapixel ultrawide sensor. All of this came in collaboration with the legendary Carl Zeiss — the main camera had an eight-element lens out of which seven elements have the Zeiss T* coating. The image quality of the cameras was undoubtedly amazing and were spectacular at detailing. The smartphone-maker even brought in a special night mode with this device that enhanced colours, making it one of the best cameras for low-light photography.