When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Heres how it works.
I review the best camera phones, but I recently bought myself a dedicated camera.
I carry aGalaxy S25 Ultraand aniPhone 16 Prodaily, yet I just bought a camera that’sintentionally simpler.
An iPhone 16 Pro (left) with a Galaxy S25 Ultra (right)
My phones boast optical zoom up to 5X and digital reach well beyond that.
I chose a camera with a fixed lens and a field of view slightly wider than my natural vision.
My Galaxy S25 Ultra has five cameras, and the iPhone 16 Pro has four.
An iPhone 16 Pro (left) with a Galaxy S25 Ultra (right)
Their largest sensors barely top three-quarters of an inch diagonally.
MyFujifilm X-T5uses an APS-C sensor smaller than a full-frame (35mm film size) but still around 1.12-inches diagonally.
That dwarfs any smartphone sensor.
Orchids at the New York Botanical Garden, shot with my Fujifilm X-T5
The largest smartphone sensors currently are the one-inch sensors used by makers like Oppo and Xiaomi.
Curiously, these aren’t found in models it’s possible for you to buy in the US.
Camera phones do the opposite of what they should
Why this focus on sensor size?
Fine details and soft bokeh, shot with my Fujifilm X-T5
So why don’t Samsung or Apple use a full frame sensor?
They demand power and physical space luxuries smartphones lack.
Unfortunately, smartphones often make the opposite error.
(Image credit: Philip Berne / Future)
Instead of onegreatsensor, they cram in so many tiny sensors that none produce genuinely memorable images.
Its ambitious what smartphones attempt.
Every smartphone chases the holy grail: an ultra-wide to super-telephoto zoom with microscopic focus.
(Image credit: Philip Berne / Future)
Apple and Samsung, meet my new friend Fujifilm
Fujifilmgets it.
The camera world is buzzing about theFujifilm X100VI it’s the blueprint smartphones should follow.
It uses a largeAPS-Csensor and a fixed 23mm lens (a 35mm equivalent).
(Image credit: Philip Berne / Future)
It captures phenomenal photos.
Fujifilm pairs a great sensor with a versatile prime lens.
A fixed lens often means fewer elements, yielding sharper, brighter images.
Like this, but make the camera really good
With its 40MP, it’s possible for you to crop digitally and still have a print-worthy resolution.
I crave this from camera phones: one large sensor, not five tiny ones.
One superb lens, not a jumble of folded glass and pinholes.
Use the space saved from extra sensors for onerealcamera with a resolution for digital zoom.
The big problem with the Fujifilm X100VI is that you could’t buy one.
Ironically, the rumored thin smartphones might nudge things this way.
We’ve seen Samsung’s teasedGalaxy S25 Edgewith only two rear lenses.
The latestiPhone 16euses just one, with a wide f/1.6 aperture, but its sensor remains small.
Give me aniPhone 17with a massive sensor and a single wide lens Id be ecstatic.
Forget the megapixel race and the lens count.
Just give me light, captured beautifully through one great eye.
