Which iPhone has the best camera?
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Every year without fail, the new iPhone delivers one of the best cameras on any smartphone. Basically, any iPhone you buy—even the previous year’s model—will snap excellent photos and record videos in stellar quality.
It’s that consistency, along with the popularity of Macs among photo and video professionals, that makes the iPhone so popular among photographers and videographers (read: How Oscar-winning ‘Anora’ director got his start shooting on an iPhone). Whether you’re a pro or just an enthusiast, the iPhone that is best for photography is almost always the newest one—but that also tends to be the most expensive option, so is that the model you should buy?
While the top of the range iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max both offer advanced cameras and impressive technologies that will result in professional-looking photographs, the other iPhones still take excellent photos and are worthy of consideration.
We will run through the current iPhones that Apple is selling now to advise on the best iPhone for photography that fits within your budget.
You may also like to read our iPhone buying guide and our iPhone comparison.
iPhone Cameras overview
We’ll begin with an overview of the camera specs for the current iPhone models, before running through what’s new and what’s the same on the current iPhones. Then we’ll look in more detail at the camera features that Apple has introduced over the years.
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| iPhone | Main camera | Ultra Wide | Tele-photo | Optical Zoom | Stabilis -ation | Portraits & styles | Features |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| iPhone 16 Pro (Max) | 48MP, f/1.78 | 48MP, f/2.2 | 12MP, f/2.8 | 0.5, 1, 2, 5x | Second-generation sensor-shift optical image stabilisation | Next-generation portraits with Focus and Depth Control, Portrait Lighting with six effects, Latest-generation Photographic Styles, Night mode portraits | Adaptive True Tone flash, Photonic Engine, Deep Fusion, Smart HDR 5, Night mode, 48MP macro photography, Apple ProRAW |
| iPhone 16 (Plus) | 48MP, f/1.6 | 12MP, f/2.2 | n/a | 0.5, 1, 2x | Sensor-shift optical image stabilisation | Next-generation portraits with Focus and Depth Control, Portrait Lighting with six effects, Latest-generation Photographic Styles | True Tone flash, Photonic Engine, Deep Fusion, Smart HDR 5, Night mode, Macro photography |
| iPhone 15 (Plus) | 48MP, f/1.6 | 12MP, f/2.4 | n/a | 0.5, 1, 2x | Sensor-shift optical image stabilisation | Portrait mode with Depth Control, Portrait Lighting with six effects, Photographic Styles | True Tone flash, Photonic Engine, Deep Fusion, Smart HDR 5, Night mode |
| iPhone 16e | 48MP, ƒ/1.6 | n/a | n/a | 1x, 2x | Optical image stabilisation | Portrait mode with Depth Control, Portrait Lighting with six effects, Photographic Styles | True Tone flash, Photonic Engine, Deep Fusion, Smart HDR 5, Night mode |
Best iPhone Camera
The best iPhone camera is always going to be the one in the top of the range iPhone for each year, so right now the best iPhone camera is the one in the iPhone 16 Pro and Pro Max. That wasn’t always the case: in the past the Pro Max model has offered a better camera than that in the Pro model – for example the iPhone 15 Pro Max had a 5x zoom that that iPhone 15 Pro didn’t. Currently though, there is no difference, other than how the iPhone feels in your hand.
1. Apple iPhone 16 Pro – Best iPhone for photography
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