iPhone XS
At one point, the iPhone was the de facto phone of choice for photographers, but these days, the Apple behemoth has far stiffer competition from the Android contingent.
If you’re ingrained into the ioS operating system (or you just prefer it), an iPhone may well be the only option you’ll consider, but luckily it still represents a good choice for photographers.
the iPhone XS and the larger iPhone XS Max have different screen sizes, but share camera specifications – it’s up to you to decide which size of phone you’d prefer. As has been common for a while, the iPhone XS uses a dual- camera rear set-up, both offering 12 megapixels. one gives you a wideangle view (28mm equivalent) and the other a telephoto view (56mm equivalent) – Apple keeps exact specifications (such as sensor sizes) under wraps.
Using the native camera app for the iPhone is very simple and hasn’t changed all that much in recent years. there’s no option for manual control or raw shooting, but there are third-party apps which provide such functionality should you require it.
Image quality is excellent, with a particular nod to the impressive ‘Portrait’ mode which creates shallow depth of field effects (and works for non-human subjects too). Low-light shooting is fairly good, but with no dedicated night mode there are some better options out there.
this being an iPhone, you will pay a price premium to own it. It’s by far the most expensive model in this test, and with the price unlikely to drop significantly in the coming months, will likely remain so – if your budget is tighter, consider the cheaper iPhone XR (which only has a single camera).