If you are looking for a new mobile phone information technology's probable that a good photographic camera volition rank high on your listing of must-have features. But how do you know if the photographic camera on a phone is adept or just ok? The way some phones and cameras are marketed, yous'd call up that the more than megapixels they take the ameliorate the photographic camera, only megapixels isn't the best way to judge a smartphone camera. Megapixels can exist a useful differentiator between different models, only there are other indicators of camera quality that you should keep in heed when choosing your next smartphone.

Y'all might wait at the range of smartphones on offer and wonder, 'Is a 12-megapixel photographic camera good enough? What's the highest megapixel camera telephone' or you might be wondering 'How many megapixels do I need for a skillful picture show'. In this article we will effort and reply those questions, equally well every bit explain why it'south not how many megapixels that matters, but rather how big those pixels are.

What are megapixels?

A megapixel (MP) is equal to one million pixels (more than or less, it'due south really 1,048,576 pixels).

The word pixel is made up of the words picture and element. Each pixel captures light and turns it into data. The data from the pixels is then combined to recreate the prototype.

You lot'd think that would mean the more pixels available, the more detailed the paradigm, but not necessarily.

The information collected is made up of both expert and bad data. The bad information is what we refer to as 'noise', that grainy, depression colour, saturated advent.

A eight megapixel camera captures 8 meg pixels, and a 12 megapixel camera will capture 12 million pixels.

Most telephone cameras today offering 12MP. In that location are a few exceptions though, as we volition discuss in our highest megapixel camera phone section below.

Is it amend to have more megapixels?

Do more than megapixels mean better photo quality? Not necessarily. If you lot are comparison an 8MP camera phone with a 12MP photographic camera phone information technology may well be that the pictures y'all'd be able to accept with the 12MP model would be better, but they could likewise be worse if the sensor is the same size. If both phones accept an identically sized sensor then the pixels on the 12MP phone would need to exist smaller in guild to fit.

The problem hither is that smaller pixels are more than affected past noise. This is because while any size of pixel collects the same amount of dissonance, larger pixels also collect more of the other 'good' data needed to recreate the image.

1 indication of how unnecessary it is to pile on the megapixels, Samsung'south Galaxy S5 and Galaxy S6 came with 16-megapixel sensors, while the S7, S8 and S9 models all offer 12MP. The primal departure here was pixel size. Both phones had the aforementioned size sensor to pack all those pixels onto, so each pixel on the 16MP phone had to be smaller. The 16MP S6 had a i.12µm pixel size compared to the 12MP S7 phone's 1.4µm.

Motion picture shows: Galaxy S9

Another reason why you don't necessarily desire more megapixels is the file size. The more megapixels, the larger the file size and the more space the image will take on your phone. If your phone has a express storage so a smaller file size will appeal. Large images will also take longer to upload.

This latter signal may be less of an upshot moving forward as in that location is a new paradigm format beingness used that reduces file size. Apple tree has replaced the JPEG with the HEIF file format for photos and the HEVC (H.265) video format. These file types provide better, more efficient, compression. Equally a result, photos and videos take up less space.

Another reason why megapixels probably doesn't matter is your plans for the photos y'all take. Will yous be uploading them to Facebook or Twitter? Printing them out? Showing them off on your Television set screen? Or plastering them on billboards around town? If you only intend to upload them to social networks, or share them via email or messages, then size really isn't of import (in fact it may exist ameliorate if they are smaller as uploading them will have less fourth dimension).

How large can you print?

While you might take photos and never look at them again, it's likely you will be sharing them on social media, displaying them on your computer screen, or perhaps fifty-fifty streaming them to your Boob tube. You may as well desire to print them out. In that instance a scrap of maths will assistance you figure out but how large yous will exist able to print without ruining the quality of your image.

To have a couple of examples:

  • A 12-megapixel image is 4000 pixels wide and 3000 pixels tall.
  • An 8-megapixel image is 3456 pixels wide and 2304 pixels tall.

Information technology's the size of the pixels that is important here. You want those pixels to be printed every bit modest as possible. Ideally y'all don't desire to exist able to 'encounter' the pixels.

If you were to view the image on a screen, you would need to have around 144 pixels per inch (PPI) to become what Apple describes as 'Retina' quality. The idea of Apple's Retina displays is that your eye isn't able to distinguish the private pixels.

So, if you lot wanted to view your image on a screen, at a 'Retina' resolution, your 8MP image couldn't exist shown larger than 24x16in, while a 12MP image would stretch to 27.8x20.85in. That might audio pretty big, but because that 52in TVs are condign more than and more than commonplace, it'due south likely that you will want to view your image larger than the Retina resolution would permit.

Of form, when information technology comes to your Telly screen you aren't sitting right in front end of information technology in quite the aforementioned mode every bit yous would with your laptop or iMac. So it's probable that y'all could go away with a lower resolution unless you lot have amazing eyesight.

Wondering how many megapixels do you need for a good pic? Information technology depends on the size of the photo.

When it comes to press, the pixel density requirement tends to be much college than that required for a screen, however, 150ppi would exist the minimum for a photograph print.

  • At 150ppi, you could print an 8MP epitome at 23in ten 15.4in
  • At the aforementioned resolution, a 12MP image could be printed at 36.7in x 20in.

Yet, to get high-quality results, 300 pixels per inch would be the minimum.

  • At 300dpi, your 8MP paradigm could be printed at 11.5in x 7.7in.
  • At 300dpi, the 12MP image could exist printed at 13.3in x 10in.

Given that typical photo frames tend to be 8x6in or 10x8in, either of those photos would exist big enough to fill up that. Merely if y'all were hoping for something larger to hang over your fireplace, you may be out of luck.

If you have a unlike sized print in mind, this is how to work out how many pixels you will need:

How to work out how many pixels are needed for an eight ten 10in print:

  1. Multiply the width and the height by 300 to go the size in pixels. So, an 8 x 10in print would be 2,400 x three,000 pixels.
  2. Multiply the width pixels by the height pixels: 2,400 x iii,000 = seven,200,000 pixels.
  3. Divide that issue past 1 million to get the number of megapixels yous need = 7.2mp.

How many megapixels needed to print an A3 poster:

  • Using inches (because it's easier), multiply the width and the height by 300: 11.vii ten 16.5in is 3,510 x 4,950
  • Then that's, three,510 10 iv,950 = 17,374,500.
  • Or 17.4MP.

How many megapixels needed to print 16x20in print:

  • 4,800 10 half-dozen,000 = 28,800,000
  • 28.8MP.

If you don't need to impress images out bigger than 10x8in, and y'all won't exist viewing them on a large screen, then you probably don't need more than 12mp.

How many megapixels exercise you demand for… 4k, 8K, Hard disk drive, 1080p?

When information technology comes to screens, here are some figures that might exist of interest:

  • Full Hd resolution, aka 1080p measures 1,920×1,080 pixels. And then that's one,920 10 1,080 = two,073,600 pixels (or 2MP).
  • 4K resolution is 3,840 × 2,160 = eight.294,400 (or 8.3MP).
  • 8K resolution is 7,680 × four,320 = 33.177,600 (33.2MP).

And so, if you are thinking of getting an 8K TV whatsoever time before long, y'all might want to bear that in mind.

Not that your 12MP image will look terrible on an 8K Television set, it may take some loss in quality, but given that 150dpi is probable adequate resolution from a distance, information technology's unlikely that it will look truly dreadful (unless you are a truly dreadful photographer).

Why yous might want more than megapixels

The only reason you might like a few more pixels is if you wanted to crop your shot. If y'all recollect this is a likely scenario, some other thing to consider when looking for a camera phone is whether information technology has an optical zoom (equally opposed, or in addition to a digital zoom), as this will enable you to frame the shot without cropping out pixels.

An optical zoom does not lose image quality considering the same number of pixels are captured when the image is magnified. A digital zoom digitally magnifies the image. Rather than use the digital zoom you might as well use editing software to zoom in on the image afterwards, the results would probably exist better.

Picture shows: Edit your photo after taking it

The highest megapixel camera phone

If despite what we have said above you are still looking for the maximum amount of megapixels, so you need to consider an SLR camera, rather than relying on a phone.

For the maximum amount of megapixels you'd be looking at the Canon EOS 5DS or 5DS R cameras that boast a jaw-dropping 50.6MP. Second to that is the Pentax 645Z with 51.4MP. Other acme-of-the-range SLRs offer up of 36mp.

Canon has said it'southward developing an SLR camera that can accept 120MP shots. But it volition be a while earlier that appears on the market. And when it does, you'd need a big memory card as RAW shots are a staggering 210MB each.

As for the almost megapixels you can become on a smartphone:

  • Nokia Lumia 1020 boasts 41MP (38MP).
  • Moto Z Forcefulness offers 21MP.
  • Asus ZenFone AR offers 23MP.
  • OnePlus five offers a dual-camera set with 16MP and 20MP sensors.
  • Sony Xperia XZ Premium offers 19MP.
  • Huawei P10 offers dual cameras with 12MP and 20MP (the latter is monochrome)
  • iPhone X offers 12MP, equally does the iPhone 8 and viii Plus.

As we said to a higher place, 12MP is a pretty standard offer beyond the manufacture. This is probably because due to the size limit of a phone form-cistron, sensors need to exist tiny, and as a outcome packing on those millions of pixels means a smaller pixel size.

How to choose a good camera phone

If megapixels are just a myth, then what should y'all look for in a photographic camera telephone? Below nosotros volition expect at some of the features we think are the most important.

Sensor size and pixel size

Every bit we mentioned in a higher place, because phones are smaller than SLR cameras they can't take large sensors, which means that pixels have to be small-scale. The more pixels you squeeze onto a sensor, the smaller they need to be.

If you lot think of each pixel as a bucket, with the big buckets collecting more water. The water in this allegory is light (or photons). And so bigger sensors are better because they allow for bigger pixels (although you could just have fewer pixels).

As Apple's Phil Schiller said in the keynote announcing the iPhone 5S dorsum in 2013: "Bigger pixels equal better picture".

By increasing sensor size and pixel size manufacturers are able to make a big difference to depression light sensitivity and noise. (Apple'south sensor in the iPhone 5s was 15% larger than that in the iPhone five, hence making a big deal most this at the fourth dimension of launch).

If you look at the world of SLR cameras, y'all may see sensors measured in width and peak in millimetres, simply in the world of contacts and smartphones, you will see sensors measured diagonally in fractions of an inch.

You'll encounter measurements like this, from smallest to largest:

  • i/two.3in (6.3 x 4.7mm)
  • i/1.7in (vii.half dozen 10 5.7mm)
  • 1in (13.2mm x 8.8mm)
  • Micro Four Thirds or 4/3in (17.iii x 13mm)
  • APS-C (23.5mm x 15.6mm)
  • Full frame (36 x 24mm)

The sensors in the iPhone 8 and 10 are idea to measure ane/3in for the wide angle lens, and 1/3.6in for the telephoto lens in the Plus and X models. This is the same equally the older 6s and 7 models. Apple tree hasn't actually divulged this information, although it did say that the sensor was "bigger".

Picture shows: iPhone X, iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus

For comparative purposes:

  • The sensor in Samsung Galaxy Notation 8 and Samsung S9 sensors measure out 1/three.6in
  • LG's V30 has a sensor measuring 1/3.1in
  • Huawei's P20 Pro uses a one/1.7in sensor

Simply, it'due south not only sensor size that matters, equally we said above, the size of the pixel is crucial to how much expert data tin be nerveless past the photographic camera.

Equally for pixel size, pixels are measured in micrometres or micron (written equally μm).

As before, Apple hasn't actually divulged the pixel size on its iPhone X or iPhone 8, but reports suggest that the wide-bending camera offers a 1.22µm pixel size (the aforementioned as the iPhone 6s), while the telephoto photographic camera on the X and Plus models is 1.0µm. Notwithstanding, some other reports suggest that the iPhone 10 and viii models take 1.4μm pixels.

For comparative purposes:

  • Google's Pixel 2 offers 1.4µm pixels.
  • The Galaxy Annotation 8 and the Galaxy S9 both offer 1.4µm pixels on the broad angle camera, and 1.0µm on the telephoto photographic camera.

Aperture

Some other camera characteristic to look out for is the aperture. The aperture is the opening through which the camera lets in lite. If you lot are attempting to take a photo in low-lite you may do good from an aperture that is able to let more light in, for example.

Aperture is represented by an f-number such as f/1.iv, f/2, f/2.8, /f4, f/5.half dozen, f/eight, f/xi, f/sixteen, f/22, or f/32. The lower the f-number, the more light the lens lets in.

  • The iPhone X has a ƒ/1.eight discontinuity on the wide-bending lens and ƒ/2.4 aperture on the telephoto.
  • The iPhone viii Plus has a ƒ/1.8 aperture on the broad-angle lens and ƒ/2.8 aperture on the telephoto.
  • LG's V30 has an f/1.half-dozen rating.
  • Samsung Galaxy S9 has a Dual Aperture that allows you to choose betwixt f/2.four and f/1.v.

Other features

There are many more features of a photographic camera telephone that tin help it achieve a amend photograph, from the onboard editing software, to buzzwords such as Truthful Tone Flash, Backside Illumination Sensor and Optical Image Stabilization. But the most important factor, when it comes to getting a skilful photo is, we remember, the ability of the photographer. Read our tips on taking better photos here.