The best camera phone 2020

The best camera phone will let you take fantastic pictures without you needing to be a photography pro – but with so many different handsets boasting decked-out phone cameras, it’s hard to know what the real best is.

At TechRadar we test smartphone cameras extensively, taking pictures in the various modes and from the different lenses and sensors any device may have. This helps us work out how each camera fares in the real world, so we’ve made this list of the best camera phones to help you choose which is best for you.

The specs and capabilities of a camera on a phone are important, after all, but they don’t tell (or shoot) the whole picture – post-processing and image optimization can vary quite a bit by phone, and this can be instrumental in taking a good picture. In addition things like the availability of microSD slots, video quality and modes, and big shortcomings in the phone like poor battery life, can affect how good a phone is for photography.

1. Huawei P40 Pro

Release date: April 2020 | Main camera: 50MP (f/1.9) | Telephoto: 12MP (f/3.4) | Ultra-wide: 40MP (f/1.8) | OIS: Yes | Front camera: 32MP | Weight: 209g | Dimensions: 158.2 x 72.6 x 9mm | Battery size: 4,200mAh | Max video quality: 4K 60fps | Storage: 128GB / 256GB / 512GB | Memory card slot: Yes

The Huawei P40 Pro is the best camera phone you can buy for under $1,000 / £900 it’s that simple. In fact, for a certain type of photographer – one who values a telephoto camera – it’s just the best camera phone around, period. 

Recommending it comes with its own set of caveats given the Huawei/Google situation though. That’s why despite its extensive list of stellar features, you definitely need to read our P40 Pro review before picking one up. Irrespective of its software limitations though, its camera will knock your socks off.

The P40 Pro’s Leica-branded imaging system is spearheaded by a brand new 50MP sensor, which uses RYYB (red yellow yellow blue) sub-pixel formation, like the 40MP P30 Pro before it. Huawei claims this makes its cameras better able to handle dark scenes like a champion, and we can attest to the fact the P40 Pro absolutely can. 

The main camera’s lens is a pretty standard f/1.9 aperture on paper, but with a huge sensor size (for a smartphone) and OIS, combined with Huawei’s mighty electronic image stabilisation, it’s still a low light star. This phone can pretty much see in the dark, even in automatic mode – something no other non-Huawei phones can do.

There’s also a 40MP f/1.8 ultra-wide camera, a 12MP telephoto camera that’s capable of 5x optical zoom or 50x digital zoom, and a time-of-flight (ToF) sensor for creating bokeh effects.

Photos taken on the P40 Pro are high on detail and low on noise. Unlike Samsung, Huawei’s photos don’t look overly sharpened, and while they aren’t as natural and neutral as those taken on the Oppo Find X2 Pro, many will prefer Huawei’s comparatively punchy style.

As far as zoom goes, while the P40 Pro may not get quite as close as the Galaxy S20 Ultra, the phone costs a lot less, and more importantly, delivers more consistent image quality across its cameras. 

The rest of the phone’s hardware is top-tier, it looks a treat and has plenty of power, so if (and only if) you’re comfortable with the Google-free software experience, the P40 Pro packs plenty to love.