Best Camera Phone of 2024
We test each phone under real-world scenarios, focusing on features, design, performance, cameras, battery life, and overall value. We document our findings in an initial review that’s periodically updated as new software updates arrive, or to compare it to new phones from competitors like Apple, Samsung, Google, and OnePlus.
The Galaxy Z Flip 5 shares largely the same camera hardware as the Z Flip 4. But the new chip brings some improvements to image processing.
Photography
Photography is a major focus for most phones these days, so we shoot photos and videos of a variety of subjects in different settings and lighting scenarios. We try out all the new camera modes, like ProRes Log video that debuted with the iPhone 15 Pro and 15 Pro Max, or the Magic Editor photo tool that launched with the Google Pixel 8 series.
Battery life
Battery tests are conducted in a few different ways. We assess how long a phone lasts over the course of a typical day of use, and note how it performs during more focused sessions of video calling, media streaming, and gaming. We also include a video playback test, as an easy, repeatable measure of raw battery life, which isn’t always included in the initial review but is sometimes added later in an update.
Performance measurement
We use benchmarking apps to measure each phone’s performance, as well as our own anecdotal experiences using the phone for our review. Most notably, we look at how the graphics and animations look. Are they fluid? Or are they stuttering or choppy? We also look at how quickly the phone switches between horizontal and vertical orientations, and how quickly the camera app opens and is ready to take a photo.
Emergency SOS is perhaps one of the most important features to come to a phone this year.
We perform tasks that require a lot of processing power, such as editing photos, exporting videos, and playing games. We evaluate whether a newer version of a particular phone has enough features to make it worth upgrading from older models.
Read more: How we test phones
