With the release of new phones, processor speed is less and less important and manufacturers are fighting for the quality of cameras in the phone. Now, an average phone costing $200 is enough for the interface to work smoothly and most games are not lagging.
Xiaomi is slowly climbing up in the quality of photo/video shooting and goes into the status of an A-brand. But in order to reach as many buyers as possible, the Redmi line was separated into a separate sub-brand, where the main criterion is price / performance, but not the quality of the camera, i.e. the current Redmi is like Xiaomi in the past.
For those who want to save even more and do not pay attention to photo quality, there are Realme, Oppo and other as yet little-known brands.
But since this article belongs to the category of photos, I want to give a rating of the quality of cameras of one of the famous sites among photographers - DXOMark, and give some recommendations for choosing a phone:
Place | Rating | Model | 5G | Review | Buy on Amazon | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 139 | Huawei Mate 40 Pro+ | Yes | Review | Buy | |
2 | 136 | Huawei Mate 40 Pro | Yes | Review | Buy | |
3 | 133 | Xiaomi Mi 10 Ultra | Yes | Review | Buy | |
4 | 132 | Huawei P40 Pro | Yes | Review | Buy | |
5 | 131 | Vivo X50 Pro+ | Yes | Review | Buy | |
6 | 130 | Apple iPhone 12 Pro Max | Yes | Review | Buy | |
7 | 128 | Apple iPhone 12 Pro | Yes | Review | Buy | |
Xiaomi Mi 10 Pro | Yes | Review | Buy | |||
8 | 126 | Oppo Find X2 Pro | Yes | Review | Buy | |
Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra 5G (Exynos) | Yes | Review | Buy | |||
9 | 125 | Honor 30 Pro+ | Yes | Review | Buy | |
10 | 124 | Apple iPhone 11 Pro Max | No | Review | Buy | |
11 | 123 | Huawei Mate 30 Pro 5G | Yes | Review | Buy | |
12 | 122 | Apple iPhone 12 mini | Yes | Review | Buy | |
Apple iPhone 12 | Yes | Review | Buy | |||
Honor V30 Pro | Yes | Review | Buy | |||
13 | 121 | Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G (Exynos) | Yes | Review | Buy | |
Xiaomi Mi Note 10 Pro | No | Review | Buy | |||
Huawei Mate 30 Pro | No | Review | Buy | |||
14 | 120 | Samsung Galaxy Note20 (Exynos) | Yes | Review | Buy | |
Samsung Galaxy Note20 Ultra 5G (Exynos) | Yes | Review | Buy | |||
Google Pixel 5 | Yes | Review | Buy | |||
Xiaomi Redmi K30 Pro Zoom | Yes | Review | Buy | |||
15 | 119 | Apple iPhone 11 | No | Review | Buy | |
16 | 118 | Xiaomi Mi 10T Pro 5G | Yes | Review | Buy | |
OnePlus 8 Pro | Yes | Review | Buy | |||
Samsung Glaxy S20+ (Exynos) | Yes | Review | Buy | |||
17 | 117 | Motorola Edge+ | Yes | Review | Buy | |
Samsung Galaxy Note20 Ultra 5G (Snapdragon) | Yes | Review | Buy | |||
Samsung Galaxy Note 10+ (Exynos) | No | Review | Buy | |||
18 | 116 | Samsung Note 10+ 5G (Exynos) | Yes | Review | Buy | |
Samsung Galaxy S10 5G (Exynos) | Yes | Review | Buy | |||
Huawei P30 Pro | No | Review | Buy | |||
19 | 115 | Samsung Galaxy S20 FE (Exynos) | No | Review | Buy | |
Oppo Reno 10x Zoom | No | Review | Buy | |||
Asus ZenFone 7 Pro | Yes | Review | Buy | |||
20 | 114 | Vivo X51 5G | Yes | Review | N/A | |
OnePlus 7T Pro | No | Review | Buy | |||
OnePlus 7 Pro | No | Review | Buy | |||
21 | 113 | Google Pixel 4 | No | Review | Buy | |
Honor 20 Pro | No | Review | Buy | |||
Samsung Galaxy S10+ | No | Review | Buy | |||
22 | 112 | Sony Xperia 1 II | Yes | Review | Buy | |
Samsung Galaxy Note20 (Snapdragon) | Yes | Review | Buy | |||
Huawei P40 | Yes | Review | Buy | |||
Huawei Mate 20 Pro | No | Review | Buy | |||
23 | 111 | OnePlus 8T | Yes | Review | Buy | |
Sony Xperia 5 II | Yes | Review | Buy | |||
Google Pixel 4a | Yes | Review | Buy | |||
Huawei Mate 20 X | Yes | Review | Buy | |||
24 | 110 | LG Wing | Yes | Review | Buy | |
Xiaomi Mi 9 | No | Review | Buy | |||
25 | 109 | Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 2 | Yes | Review | Buy | |
Huawei P20 Pro | No | Review | Buy | |||
26 | 108 | Oppo Reno4 Pro 5G | Yes | Review | Buy | |
OnePlus Nord | Yes | Review | Buy | |||
27 | 106 | Apple iPhone XS Max | No | Review | Buy | |
28 | 105 | Oppo Find X2 Neo | Yes | Review | Buy | |
Samsung Galaxy Z Flip | Yes | Review | Buy | |||
29 | 104 | Asus ZenFone 6 | No | Review | Buy | |
30 | 103 | Apple iPhone SE (2020) | Yes | Review | Buy | |
Xiaomi Mi MIX 3 | No | Review | Buy | |||
Samsung Galaxy Note 9 | No | Review | Buy | |||
HTC U12+ | No | Review | ||||
31 | 102 | Xiaomi Redmi K20 Pro | No | Review | ||
Google Pixel 3 | No | Review | Buy | |||
32 | 101 | Google Pixel 3a | No | Review | Buy | |
Apple iPhone XR | No | Review | Buy | |||
33 | 100 | LG V60 ThinQ 5G | Yes | Review | Buy | |
Samsung Galaxy S9+ | No | Review | Buy |
My opinion on the rating:
If you are a user of Apple products, then the choice is quite simple, take the Apple iPhone 12 Pro Max if it suits you more in size and you need a top camera. If the phone is too big for your palm, or you didn't plan on spending a lot of money on a new phone, the Apple iPhone 12 is a good buy.
If you are an Android user, there are a few more options. First of all, it's worth deciding for yourself whether you will bother installing custom firmware on Huawei phones if Google services stop working on them. If so, then it is worth looking at 5G support, how important it is for you at the moment (depending on the region where you live, how often you travel and how often you update your phone).
There are a lot of Samsung phones in the rating, although in fact these are variants of S20 and Note 20, then everyone chooses for himself based on the budget.
The OnePlus is perhaps the go-to for those who like Apple's approach but prefer Android. Let me remind you that OnePlus releases two phones a year, one in the summer, the second, with minor improvements, in the fall and keep the current version of Android for a long time. In terms of performance and specs, these are some of the best Android phones out there.
I personally own a Xiaomi Mi 10T Pro (before that there was a Mi 9, and before that there was a Mi 6), and I am impressed with the growth in photo quality (the processor is, as always, a top-end one).
Huawei has two main lines, the top-end (in terms of camera) P-series, usually comes out in March-April, the top-end (in terms of processor) Mate series, which usually uses the same sensor as the P-series with some modifications. Well, Honor, which is actively promoting nowadays for youth, offers top-end equipment for a reasonable price for cheap and cheerful. The Huawei 2021 model has 50 in the name and, accordingly, 40 - the 2020 models and so on in descending order, which are also very well removed and can be bought at substantial discounts.
Oppo and Vivo are new "dark horses" with good photo quality, but I would honestly choose another better-known manufacturer so that in case of problems with the phone, there would be a better chance of finding a service center nearby.