6 best camera phones for high-quality photos, tested by a tech expert

Just to look at the spec sheet for the Oppo Find X9 Pro is to understand that this phone is a beast. You’ve got a huge 6.78in AMOLED display, the speedy Mediatek Dimensity 9500 chipset and crucially, a 7,500mAh silicon carbon battery. All of these are the makings of a great flagship phone, but it’s the three main rear-facing cameras that set the X9 Pro apart from anything else in this category.

Even something as mundane as taking a picture of my (usually cluttered) desk somehow looked tantalising from the X9 Pro’s viewpoint with plenty of colour, and it’s a testament to how versatile the cameras are. Portrait shots honestly look like they’ve been taken with a professional camera, so if you want to convince your friends and family that you’re far more talented a photographer than you actually are, the X9 Pro will gladly to do the heavy lifting for you.

I did find in some scenarios, particularly portrait shots in dimly lit scenes, that the autofocus just wasn’t quite as fast as I’d like it to be, so you may need to tap on the display just to be on the safe side before taking a shot, but it’s a minor price to pay for the quality of what you get in return. Until another brand is able to leapfrog Oppo’s achievements here, I don’t foresee another phone having a better set of cameras for quite some time.

When it comes to finding a great camera phone that doesn’t cost a fortune, there’s no shortage of options, from the Pixel 9a to the Honor 400, but for my money it’s the CMF Phone 2 Pro that presents the biggest bargain of them all. With a starting price of £219, you’d be forgiven for setting your expectations fairly low but Nothing’s budget handset is able to punch far above its weight in almost every meaningful category.

The most impressive feat is that, despite its price, the phone boasts a 2x telephoto lens, which is almost unheard of at this end of the market. It’s such a helpful feature to have, especially if a subject is just out of reach, and the detail captured at 2x easily gets the job done. When taking a few shots of a bouquet of flowers, I was impressed by the natural colours collected by the main 50MP lens, although there’s definitely a touch of unnatural bokeh at play, which can be a bit jarring when you zoom too much into a picture, but it’s not a major issue.

The only big trade-off for having a strong pairing in the two aforementioned lenses is that the ultrawide is limited. The 8MP cap means that detail can break down fairly quickly if you crop an image, but it’s a fair compromise for that telephoto. What also sweetens the deal is the exemplary design of the Phone 2 Pro, both in how it looks and the slick software baked into it, which adheres to an almost iOS-like conformity in every facet. The fact that you can buy the CMF Phone 2 Pro for a fifth of the price of some flagship phones just boggles my mind.

Samsung’s ‘Ultra’ range has become synonymous with the flagship experience in the Android space, and not without good reason. With no less than four cameras on the back, including an outstanding 200MP wide lens, the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra is designed with versatility in mind, but it’s the zoom capabilities that make it a must-buy for photographers who can spot a great shot from far away.

Thanks to the 50MP periscope telephoto lens, there’s already a very stable 5x optical zoom built in, which retains outstanding detail from a distance, making it helpful for capturing a shot that’s just out of reach from where you’re standing. For a more impressive trick, you can use a digital 100x zoom that leans on Galaxy AI to draw out as much detail as possible, and while I expected the feature to be something of a gimmick, I did find myself impressed with the results provided.

The software experience is now far less clunky than it used to be on Samsung handsets, with the OS getting a major visual overhaul from OneUI 7 onwards, to the point where it’ll make some iPhone users glance with envy. What holds the phone back are mediocre specs elsewhere, including painfully slow 45W wired charging, and it’s worth noting that unless you plan on making use of the included S Pen stylus, you could just be overpaying for features you don’t need, which may make other phones more tempting.

Honor has been slowly improving its camera tech year on year, but it’s with the Magic 8 Pro that the brand has managed to leapfrog much of the competition when it comes to low-light photography, so if you’re someone who’s always burning the midnight oil or love to document a good night out then you should seriously consider this phone as your next upgrade.

For testing this phone, I was able to take night-time shots in suburban Surrey and Central London, and in both instances the camera performed exceptionally. Even with just a few nearby streetlamps and the moon to rely on, the phone was able to pull out eye-catching colour, and this only increased when rain hit the capital and the nearby billboards were then reflected in newly formed puddles. If anything, it sets the bar a little too high to the point where going back to anything else feels like quite a downgrade.

What holds the Honor Magic 8 Pro back, just like any other phone in the company’s range, is its MagicOS Android overlay. The software just isn’t as seamless as what you’ll find on the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra or the Google Pixel 10 Pro, plus Honor’s attempt to implement a suite of AI features just feels lacking, especially against the far more superior Google Gemini and Circle to Search, which are already included on the Magic 8 Pro by default. At the very least, you are getting flagship specs elsewhere and the phone is one of just a handful right now using the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 chipset.

Google’s line-up of Pixel phones has long since proven the rule that when it comes to mobile photography, high megapixel counts don’t automatically translate to great photos. Instead, it’s all the computational processing taking place behind the scenes that really makes a photo pop, and in this regard the Pixel 10 Pro benefits from years of major software development and refinement.

Even if you’ve taken a photo that might seem fairly mundane at first, give it a moment and you’ll see the Pixel 10 Pro’s software kick into action with gorgeous colour correction. While you can expect solid performance in almost any scenario, it’s portrait photography that stands out, as all types of skin tones look effortlessly natural in the final product, so if you’re more interested in capturing the human experience as opposed to still life objects, the Pixel 10 Pro is made with you in mind.

The only people who needn’t bother with Google’s flagship phone are those who currently own its predecessor, as you’ll find an almost identical photo experience on the Pixel 9 Pro. The big benefit of opting for the 10 Pro, however (in addition to having a longer lifecycle of software and security updates), is the inclusion of Pixelsnap, Google’s take on MagSafe, which paves the way for countless camera accessories, such as the ingenious ShiftCam SnapGrip.

If you’re a social animal who just wants a top-tier selfie camera for capturing your escapades with friends, the OnePlus Nord 5 should be your first pick. This mid-range phone doesn’t cost a fortune, with a £399 price tag, but its upgraded 50MP front-camera is easily one of the best I’ve ever used, and made the process of taking selfies enjoyable (which says a lot, as I’m not usually a fan).

You can expect tons of colour to be picked up when there’s plenty of natural light around, but when the sun goes down, the screen can minimise the viewfinder and use the surrounding space to project bright light in your direction. While it might sound a bit jarring, the results very much speak for themselves as you can get a solid night-time selfie – just what you need when you want to capture a quick group shot at the pub/club.

The two cameras on the rear are a little more hit and miss. The main 50MP camera is great to use during all hours of the day, but the 8MP ultrawide just feels like it lacks the same attention to detail. The phone itself is also a bit on the bland side, which is a shame as its predecessor (the OnePlus Nord 4) had style in droves. Still, you are getting access to OnePlus’ slick OxygenOS, and it pairs well with the capable Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 chipset.