Cameras are, dare I say, the fastest-evolving component in smartphones. Smartphone photography has grown immensely since its inception to the extent that we’ve as good as called ‘time of death’ on standard point-and-shoot cameras. With the continual evolution of smartphone camera hardware, ISP upgrades, and improving computing capabilities, what you can achieve with smartphone cameras is, frankly, bewildering.
In 2023, we saw AI take centre stage once again in the camera space with improvements to software image processing from just about every smartphone OEM and chipset manufacturer. With that, we also witnessed some rather monumental strides being made in camera hardware as well. 1-inch sensors became more common to combat low-light inadequacies.
Also read: Digit Zero1 Awards and Best Buy Awards 2023: Best Performing Premium Smartphone (Over ₹50K)
Moreover, for manufacturers who didn’t want to give up as much real estate to massive sensors – especially in foldable phones – pixel-stacking cameras entered the scene to save the day. The behemoths of the industry continued to set the bar, however, newer players emerged with impressive offerings as well. So, let’s see which phone defeated all competition to claim the Digit Zero1 trophy.
Digit Zero1 Award 2023 Winner: Apple iPhone 15 Pro (Buy now)
Price: ₹1,34,900
The iPhone 15 Pro has improved by leaps and bounds this year due to two primary reasons. First, the phone’s 48-megapixel Quad-Bayer sensor saves images in 24 MP by default by combining full 48-megapixel images and 4x binned 12-megapixel images. This translates to enhanced detail retention in pretty much every scenario in daylight – you will see an improvement in clarity, especially if you pixel-peep. All without a sizable file size increase! Moreover, the HDR issues that plagued the iPhones of the yesteryears have been alleviated. We definitely saw improved dynamic range across the array of lenses on the iPhone 15 Pro.
Moreover, colours look true-to-life and are consistent across the board, portraits have a realistic bokeh effect with excellent edge detection, and low-light photography is impressive as well. Video, one of Apple’s strongest suits, becomes better with Cinematic Mode now available at 4K at 30 fps, support for LOG encoding, and much more. The iPhone 15 Pro is truly one of the most reliable smartphone camera systems you can get your hands on. All of this cements the iPhone 15 Pro’s position as the winner of the Digit Zero1 Award.
1st Runner-up: Vivo X90 Pro (Buy now)
Price: ₹84,999
While Apple snagged the win for being the most consistent and reliable smartphone camera, the Vivo X90 Pro outshone the winner in one particular area – low-light photography. The Vivo X90 Pro sports a 1-inch camera sensor tuned by legendary camera maker Zeiss. The large sensor performs exceedingly well in low-light conditions by clicking excellent images packed to the brim with detail. Zeiss’ T* coating also eliminates lens flare in low light that plagues many other competitors such as the iPhone 15 Pro and Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra.
Also read: Digit Zero1 Awards and Best Buy Awards 2023: Best Performing High-End Smartphone (₹35K to ₹50K)
Add to that fantastic daylight shots with great dynamic range, punchy colours, and some of the best portrait photography in the business, and the Vivo X90 Pro is a formidable smartphone camera that’s not meant to be taken lightly. The Vivo X90 Pro only lost out to the iPhone 15 Pro since the latter was able to extract more detail from images and the video recording abilities are far superior.
2nd Runner-up: Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra (Buy now)
Price: ₹1,24,999
Despite launching early in 2023, the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra continues to be a top recommendation from us at Digit in the smartphone camera category. The phone houses four very versatile and extremely capable cameras. In fact, the Galaxy S23 Ultra has the best ultrawide camera amongst all the contenders in the camera category this year with superb clarity and dynamic range. The zoom capabilities, courtesy of its telephoto cameras, are still the best in the business, especially when you venture past the 30x mark. It mainly loses out on points because of the noise creeping into its low-light videography and the softness in low-light 3x portrait shots.
Digit Best Buy Award 2023 Winner: Honor 90 5G (Buy now)
Price: ₹37,999
The Honor 90 5G punches above its weight in the camera space, at a fraction of the cost of the flagships in this category. It houses a 200-megapixel Samsung ISOCELL HP3 camera that captures solid pictures in ideal lighting conditions. The HDR performance is not world-class, but it manages to hold its own in its price range. The ultrawide camera shows promise with good colour and detail as well. Barrel distortion is also minimal. The portrait images look good for sharing on social media, although colour accuracy could be better. Nevertheless, at an affordable price of ₹37,999, the Honor 90 5G offers great bang for your buck, winning it the Best Buy Award.
For more information on Digit Zero1 Award winners across various categories of products, please visit: https://www.digit.in/zero1-awards
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Dhriti Datta
Perpetually sporting a death stare, this one can be seen tinkering around with her smartphone which she holds more dear than life itself and stuffing her face with copious amounts of bacon. View Full Profile
