Best camera phone to buy in 2021

It’s not just because the actual camera hardware itself has improved dramatically over the years. All good phones now use a stack of behind-the-scenes software to make trickier scenes easier to handle. These include when there are very bright and dark parts in the image, like a sunset, and when shooting at night.

We’d be happy to shoot images every day with most of the picks in our best budget phones group test. However, look a little closer, and most won’t even get close to these ‘best camera’ phones.

Jump to:

• Choosing a camera smartphone
• Best camera phones at a glance
• Best camera phones to buy in 2021

Choosing a new camera phone

What makes a top camera phone?

A few crucial elements still come with a hefty premium. Number one is a good zoom.

The most powerful phone zooms offer 10x magnification. A camera like that lets you take detailed pictures of subjects you can only vaguely see with the naked eye. The Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra has the best zoom camera at the time of writing, and this arguably makes it the most versatile stills-shooting phone available.

All the phones in this round-up also have next-level low-light photography skills. You can get good results with barely any light.

Many people will immediately tell you to head straight to an iPhone for the best camera quality. These days the latest iPhones are beaten by some Androids for things like zoom power and detail in ultra-wide-angle images. However, Apple still is more or less the undisputed champion for video. We’ll deal with more specific strengths and weaknesses as we look closer at each top camera phone.

Best camera phones to buy at a glance

• Best for video: iPhone 12 Pro Max, £1,099
• Great performance at a mid-range price: Google Pixel 5, £599
• Best for zoom and compositional flexibility: Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra, £1,149
• Best affordable option: Google Pixel 4a, £349
• Great for experimental photography: Oppo Find X3 Pro, £1,099
• Best for high-end performance at a mid-range price: OnePlus 9 Pro, £799
• Best for ultra-low light photos: Huawei Mate 40 Pro, £1,099

Best camera phones to buy in 2021

iPhone 12 Pro Max, £1,099

Best for video

Pros

• Excellent video quality
• Even, consistent, high-quality photos

Cons

• A good but not class-leading zoom

All members of the iPhone 12 family have excellent cameras. They are great fun to use, are responsive and intuitive, offer a great ‘preview’ image as you compose and produce consistent images. We’re talking about the base iPhone 12 right up to the Pro Max.

However, the iPhone 12 Pro Max offers some clear benefits. It has an excellent 2.5x zoom, which is also handy for portraits, and highly unusual “sensor stabilisation”. This makes it an absolute star for handheld video. The iPhone 12 series is also number one among phones for video capture in general. Apple’s 4K footage is beautiful, and the Pro Max can even shoot in Dolby Vision HDR.

The ultra-wide is the one slight weak point. While good, the top wide cameras from Samsung, OPPO and OnePlus are better still.

Read our full iPhone 12 Pro Max review.

Buy the iPhone 12 Pro Max on contract:

• Available at Carphone Warehouse | from £67 a month and £29 upfront
• Available at Tesco Mobile | from £40.49 a month (36-month contract)
• Available at EE | from £65 a month and £100 upfront
• Available at Vodafone | for £75 a month and £49 upfront
• Available at O2 | from £64.10 a month and £30 upfront

Google Pixel 5, £599

Great performance at a mid-range price

Pros

• Natural-looking images
• Clever but non-obtrusive processing

Cons

• No dedicated zoom

Google’s phone cameras have been celebrated as among the very best for years now. But you wouldn’t get that from just looking at the back of the Pixel 5. It has just two cameras, and neither has crazy-sounding specs. There's a 12MP main camera and a 16MP ultra-wide. No zoom at all.

Image handling is Google's secret sauce. The Pixel 5’s colour is often the most true-to-life of all high-end phones, and it aces elements like contrast and dynamic range. Its pictures really “pop” without looking as though they’ve been put through some kind of Instagram filter or over-brightened. The Pixel 5 is also one of the more affordable phones on this list, making it an obvious choice for photography fans who don’t want to spend a fortune.

Read our full Google Pixel 5 review.

Buy the Google Pixel 5 on contract:

• Available at Vodafone | from £30 per month and £29 upfront
• Available at Carphone Warehouse | from £26.99 per month and £9.99 upfront
• Available at EE | from £41 per month, £0 upfront

Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra, £1,149

Best for zoom and compositional flexibility

Pros

• Supreme flexibility when composing photos
• Class-leading zoom
• Great general image quality

Cons

• Noise reduction can be heavy-handed in some situations

Why buy a Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra? One word: zoom. This phone has two separate zoom cameras. One has a 3x lens, the other a mind-blowing 10x lens. The amount this opens up your compositional options when out shooting pictures is amazing. It lets you get adventurous. You can use the camera app like another set of eyes, a pair that can see things your own can’t.

Image quality throughout its four rear cameras is excellent. And it even has one of the best ultra-wide cameras in the business. The iPhone 12 Pro Max beats it for video; even though the Samsung can shoot at 8K resolution, but you can’t get better than the Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra for all-around stills photography experimentation. It’s some of the most fun you can have with a phone. The night mode softens images a touch, but we’re looking for faults here.

The more affordable Galaxy S21+ and standard Galaxy S21 are also excellent choices but lack much of the Ultra’s extended zoom power.

Read the full Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra review.

Buy the Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra on contract:

• Available at O2 | from £45.99 a month and £30 upfront
• Available at Three | from £59 a month and £49 upfront
• Available at Vodafone | from £59 a month and £29 upfront
• Available at EE | from £57 a month and £100 upfront

Google Pixel 4a, £349

Best affordable option

Pros

• Top raw image quality per pound
• True-to-life images

Cons

• No 5G
• Only one rear camera

Most of the best phone cameras are found on expensive models. Google bucked that trend by putting a flagship-grade camera in the relatively affordable Pixel 4a. Its camera is very similar to the Pixel 5’s. Low light photography is excellent when using Google’s Night Sight mode, colours are lifelike during the day. And Google’s evenhanded approach is the best canvas for tweaking photos with filters before you upload them to Instagram or share them with friends.

You only get one rear camera. There’s no ultra-wide, and while Google does use clever techniques to provide OK results at 2x zoom, the Pixel 4a is no master of magnification. But for around £340-350, it is hard to beat. Do bear in mind the Pixel 4a does not have 5G. There is a 5G version for £480-500, and it gains an ultra-wide camera and has a larger screen.

Read our full Google Pixel 4a 5G review.

Buy the Google Pixel 4a on contract:

• Available from mobiles.co.uk | from £21 a month and £299 upfront
• Available from Three | from £43 a month and £29 upfront
• Available from Carphone Warehouse | from £24.99 a month and £9.99 upfront
• Available from Vodafone | from £30 a month and £29 upfront

Oppo Find X3 Pro, £1,099

Great for experimental photography

Pros

• Eye-opening microscope camera
• Excellent image quality

Cons

• The price is high (for an Oppo)

The Oppo Find X3 Pro is a great alternative to the Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra if you fancy trying something a little different. It has superb 50MP wide and ultra-wide cameras, and that second one really stands out from the crowd.

Zoom doesn’t set standards at 2x magnification, but it provides great results for 2x and 3x images. The Oppo Find X3 Pro also has something very special up its sleeve. A 30x “microscope” zoom captures mind-bending images of everyday objects like grains of salt and pieces of wood. You probably won’t use this every day, but it offers a new way to explore photography for the eternally curious.

Compare with our Oppo Find X3 Lite review.

Buy the Oppo Find X3 Pro on contract:

• Available from Carphone Warehouse | from £53 a month and £19.99 upfront
• Available from Vodafone | from £59 a month and £29 upfront
• Available from O2 | from £43 a month and £30 upfront (36-month contract)
• Available from EE | from £59 a month and £50 upfront

OnePlus 9 Pro, £799

Best for high-end performance at a mid-range price

Pros

• Good value
• Great-quality camera hardware

Cons

• Images are a little less consistent than the very (very) best

OnePlus hooked up with camera king Hasselblad for the OnePlus 9 Pro. It has the most impressive OnePlus camera to date. Hasselblad didn’t make the core hardware but worked on the phone’s colour handling. We find this helps when shooting tricky scenes like sunsets, which phones often fail to nail, although this approach does lead to inconsistent results at times.

Photos from the main 48-megapixel and 50-megapixel ultra-wide cameras are generally excellent. And while the 3.3x optical zoom doesn’t match the Galaxy S21 Ultra’s 10x zoom, we find it works pretty well for the way we tend to use a phone. As ever with OnePlus, the real strength is the price. At the time of writing, you can buy a OnePlus 9 Pro for £799, hundreds less than the iPhone 12 Pro Max, Galaxy S21 Ultra or Oppo Find X3 Pro.

Buy the OnePlus 9 Pro on contract:

• Available from Three | from £57 a month and £29 upfront

Huawei Mate 40 Pro, £1,099

Best for ultra-low light photos

Pros

• Zero-fat high-quality triple camera array
• Great zoom

Cons

• Huawei's lack of Google apps can't be ignored
• High price

Huawei was one of the leading lights of phone photography from 2018-2020. Its phones are harder to recommend these days because they do not have Google apps like Maps, Google Play and Chrome. However, its cameras remain superb.

The Mate 40 Pro has an excellent 5x zoom, a fantastic 50-megapixel wide camera and a 20-megapixel ultra-wide. Their dynamic range is very strong, and Huawei has worked on its colour to make it even better-looking than the earlier Huawei P40 Pro’s.

Buy the Huawei Mate 40 Pro on contract:

• Available from Three | from £45 a month and £29 upfront

Comparing flagship models and their cameras? Read our iPhone 12 vs Mini vs Pro vs Pro Max comparison and our Samsung Galaxy S21 vs Ultra vs Plus vs Ultra guide.