What is the Best Camera Phone of 2025? Affordable Options with Excellent Cameras
What type of cameras do you need?
Picking up from the point above, it’s good to consider the kind of images you want to capture. If you’re into landscapes, you might want a sweeping ultrawide lens to bring in every last detail. However, you might find yourself looking for a telephoto lens if you’re hoping to capture some wildlife. Or maybe you are into macro shots, in which case you should look for a good macro camera, but these are rare in smartphones.
best budget and mid-range camera phones:
- Google Pixel 8a
- Apple iPhone 12
- Samsung Galaxy S22
- Google Pixel 7a
- Redmi Note 12 Pro+ 5G
- Samsung Galaxy A55 5G
- Xiaomi 13T Pro
- Motorola Edge 50 Neo
- 64MP wide-angle, f/1.9, 25mm equivalent, (83°), OIS, 4K 60p
- 13MP ultra-wide, f/2.2, 14mm equivalent, (120°), 4K 30p
- 13MP selfie camera, f/2.2, 21mm equivalent, 4K 30p, fixed focus
- 6.1inch FullHD OLED, 60-120Hz screen, 2000nits peak brightness
- Android 14
- 152.1 x 72.7 x 8.9mm, 189g
- 4492mAh battery
- Normally £499/$549 but look out for deals
The cameras themselves are a 64MP wide-angle f/1.9 main camera, which produces 16MP images via pixel binning, and a 13MP f/2.2 ultra-wide camera with fixed focus. Fairly standard stuff, but as we found in our review, it results in images of consistently high quality, with a pleasing level of detail and punchy colours. The various shooting modes on the camera app work well, and if you have access to a decent smartphone support like a mini-tripod, you can take advantage of highly specialised modes like the astrophotography function, which captures an exposure of up to 2.5 minutes.
- 12MP f/1.6 main camera, OIS
- 12MP f/2.4 ultra-wide-angle camera
- 12MP f/2.2 selfie camera
- OS 14, updates to 18
- 146.7 x 71.5 x 7.4mm, 164g
- 2815mAh battery
- Refurbished price around $250 / £250
For your money, you get a highly capable dual-camera setup, consisting of a 12MP f/1.6 wide-angle camera and a 12MP f/2.4 ultra-wide camera. The latter is fixed-focus, so can’t be used for close-ups, and there’s no optical zoom or telephoto module to speak of. If you’ve used a more modern phone it’ll undoubtedly feel a little old school, but the good news is that the pictures the iPhone 12 produces still look great. Colour reproduction is excellent, lovely and punchy. Exposures are accurate, and the camera automatically uses multi-shot composition to achieve a wide dynamic range. Long story short, the images are more than adequate for a phone at this price.
- 50MP main wide-angle, f/1.8, OIS, 23mm equivalent
- 12MP ultra-wide-angle, f/2.2, 13mm equivalent
- 10MP telephoto, f/2.4, 3x/70mm equivalent, OIS
- 10MP selfie camera with AF, 25mm equivalent (and 4K video)
- 6.1inch screen, AMOLED, 120Hz, Gorilla Glass Victus+
- Android 12, upgrades to 14
- 146 x 70.6 x 7.6mm, 167g
- 3700mAh battery
- Around £465 / $458 (or less)
The Galaxy S22 was the entry-level model, not a million miles away in features from mid-range phones like the Galaxy A54, listed below. So it doesn’t get the headline-grabbing 108MP or 200MP main cameras of its flagship siblings like the S22 Ultra or S23 Ultra, but it still has a more-than-respectable 50MP main camera that benefits from optical stabilisation. This sits alongside a 12MP ultra-wide-angle, as well as a 10MP 3x telephoto camera that’s stabilised (and is a good deal more welcome than a rubbishy little macro camera).
Opting for the Pixel 7a over the Pixel 6 (number 4 on our list) will mean a smaller (albeit still generous) 5.9-inch OLED and slightly weaker battery life. But the Pixel 7a stands out for its top-tier photo processing and editing software, which proves you don’t have to spend a lot for a quality camera phone.
- 200MP main camera
- 8MP ultra-wide
- 2MP macro camera
- Android 12, upgrades to 13
- 162.9 x 76 x 8.98mm, 210.5g
- 5000mAh battery
- £449
The Xiaomi Redmi Note 12 Pro + 5G, at the top of the list for Xiaomi’s mid-range Redmi series is one of the cheapest smartphones with a 200MP camera, which gives the best results and while nowhere near what you’d get from a real camera with a high resolution sensor, as long as you treat the camera as a 12.5MP camera you should be pleased with the results. The 8MP ultra-wide camera is capable but image quality is poor, particularly towards the corners of the frame. The 2MP macro camera is quite frankly terrible.
- 50MP wide-angle, f/1.8, 23mm equivalent, PDAF, OIS
- 12MP ultra-wide, f/2.2, 13mm equivalent, fixed focus
- 5MP macro camera, f/2.4, fixed focus
- 32MP selfie camera, f/2.4, fixed focus
- Android 14, microSDXC slot
- IP67 rating weatherproofing
- 161.1×77.4×8.2mm, 213g
- 5000mAh battery
- £439
The triple-camera setup on the Galaxy A55 is fairly standard for a phone of this type, and isn’t changed much from the previous Galaxy A54. The main event, and one you’ll spend most of your time using, is the 50MP f/1.8 wide-angle main camera with optical stabilisation; this camera outputs images at 12MP with pixel binning, and the level of quality is consistently good, with pleasing detail. There’s also a 12MP ultra-wide camera, which does a commendable job of matching it for detail and colour reproduction. Then there’s also the 5MP macro camera with fixed focus, which is… okay at best. We would have preferred a telephoto module with a decent bit of power behind it; though of course, this would have added to the cost.
- 50MP wide-angle, f/1.9, OIS, 1/1.28inch sensor, Leica lens (7P), 24mm equiv.
- 50MP telephoto, f/1.9, Leica lens (5P), 50mm equiv.
- 12MP ultra-wide-angle, f/2.2, Leica lens (5P) FF, 15mm equiv.
- 20MP selfie camera, f/2.2 (5P)
- Android 13
- 162.2×75.7×8.49mm, IP68 rating, 200/206g (depending on colour)
- $529 / £499
What this means in practice is that when you open up the phone’s native camera app you get a choice of picture styles – Leica Vibrant and Leica Authentic. In testing we mostly stuck to the Vibrant profile, and this accordingly delivered images that are bright and punchy without being too oversaturated in that way that can feel a bit over-computerised. Predictably, the best results come from the 50MP wideangle main camera with its 24mm equivalent lens. If you need a bit more distance, you can use the 2x telephoto camera, which feels a bit pedestrian to anyone who’s used to a 3x telephoto module, but otherwise does the job. There’s also an ultra-wide module for those times you need to get a bit more in the frame, and. a20MP selfie camera on the front.
- 50MP f/1.8 wide camera with OIS, PDAF
- 13MP f/2.2 ultrawide camera, PDAF
- 10MP f/2.0 3x telephoto camera, AF and OIS
- 32MP f/2.4 selfie camera
- Android 14
- IP68 water/dustproof rating
- 154.1 ×71.2 × 8.1 mm, 171g
- 4310mAh battery
- Around £400 / $500
The Motorola Edge 50 Neo’s camera system is mostly the same as the Motorola Edge 40 Neo’s. It has a 50MP main camera with OIS and f/1.8 aperture, a 13MP ultrawide camera with f/2.2 aperture, and a 32MP selfie camera on the front with an f/2.4 aperture. However, the 50 Neo gains a 10MP telephoto camera with OIS, a f/2.0 aperture, 3x optical zoom and 30x superzoom.
Like the Neo 40, the phone is a capable performer in low light, and the phone is an impressive option when shooting portraits, with 24mm, 35mm, 50mm and 85mm options available. The ultra-wide camera, a 13MP unit, is less good, producing images that lack detail.
The 32MP selfie camera does a good enough job, although it doesn’t feature autofocus, and the phone also produces decent-looking 4K video.
