Best smartphones for landscape photography

One of the joys of landscape photography is a good long trek to an unusual or particularly picturesque location. However, if you’re anything like me, that can be marred somewhat by having to lug around a heavy kit bag full of gear, full of ‘just in case’ lenses, tripods and all manner of other accessories that invariably don’t get used.

These days, however, smartphones are incredibly good and will suffice if you find yourself without your kit bag. One of the genres that smartphones excel in is landscape photography – where you’ll generally find yourself shooting in good light and with a wideangle lens, which is usually the best-performing lens in a typical smartphone’s multiple array.

Modern smartphones also come with a host of other useful features for landscape photography. That includes things like a level gauge to help you to keep your shots straight, the ability to shoot in raw format, high-resolution modes, different colour effects that you can add or remove in camera, and an ultra-wide lens to help you get even more of the scene in shot.

Many of the smartphones currently on the market will do an excellent job – certainly as an ‘always with you’ camera. However, it’s safe to say that some perform better than others, or have useful functions that you won’t always find on every model.

In this round-up, we’ve chosen the best currently available, which, as you might imagine, means they come with a price premium. If you’re looking to save cash, look for an older-generation model, or even check out the second-hand market. For example, rather than the iPhone 15 Pro Max, look at the iPhone 14 series.

Alternatively, try looking at some of the ‘mid-range’ options on the market. This might mean you lose something like a telephoto lens, but that might not be a deal-breaker if landscapes are your main area of interest. You might find it useful to make a list of all the features you really want and see which smartphones match up – sometimes you’ll be surprised by the savings you can make.

For now, read on to discover what makes these four picks great for landscapes.

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Best phones for landscape photography – a quick list

• Apple iPhone 16 Pro Max – buy now
• Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra – buy now
• Google Pixel 9 Pro – buy now
• Honor Magic 5 Pro – buy now

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Apple iPhone 16 Pro Max

At a glance:

• 48MP wide camera, f/1.78 aperture, 24mm equivalent
• 48MP ultrawide camera, f/2.2 aperture, 13mm equivalent
• 12MP 5x telephoto, f/2.8 aperture, 120mm equivalent
• 6.9” Super Retina XDR OLED screen
• iOS 18
• Processor: A18 Pro Chip
• Price: $1299/£1199

The most recent iPhone flagship model, the iPhone 16 Pro Max, has a number of features which make it particularly useful for landscape photography.

First off is the main sensor (1x lens, 24mm f/1.78 equivalent) which has a high 48MP resolution. By default, images are output at 24MP, a significant
boost from the 12MP standard output of most other smartphones. You can also shoot at the full 48MP resolution if you prefer.

That high-resolution sensor gives you some interesting options for shooting at ‘different’ focal lengths which make use of different areas of the sensor. So, not only can you shoot at the default 24mm, there’s also 28mm and 35mm options, as well as a 2x, 48mm equivalent. It’s also possible to shoot in Apple’s ‘ProRAW’ format, which gives you DNG files that you can work on in software either on your computer or on the phone itself.

An ultra-wide lens opens you up to 13mm equivalent, and while not quite as good a performer as the main lens, it’s great for capturing wide vistas and demonstrates plenty of detail. You can also shoot in raw format with this lens.

To round it out, there’s a 5x optical zoom lens, giving you a 120mm equivalent. Unlike its predecessor the iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max where only the bigger Max version had the 5x zoom, both 16 Pro and Pro Max houses the same camera specs. If you would like to save a bit of cash – and if you’re happy with a 3x optical zoom, you can plump for the iPhone 15 Pro instead. You can save even more money by going for the ‘Non Pro’ iPhone 15 models, but you will lose the ability to shoot in raw format.

Perhaps the biggest downside of previous models were the lack of Pro mode, that being said,Apple finally fixed this by adding the new “Camera Control” button, which is designed to give you the experience of shooting with the iPhone as if it were a “real” camera”.

Read our iPhone 16 Pro Max Review.

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Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra

At a glance:

• 200MP f/1.7 main camera, with OIS, 1/1.3inch, 23mm
• 12MP f/2.2 ultra-wide-angle camera (0.6x), 13mm
• 10MP f/2.4 3x telephoto camera, with OIS, 69mm
• 50MP f/3.4 5x telephoto camera, with OIS, 115mm
• 12MP f/2.2 PDAF selfie camera (same on all S24 models)
• 8K 30fps video, 4K 120/60/30fps
• From $1299 / £1084 (256GB)

Samsung’s S series range has been our go-to recommendation for the best smartphone for photographers for quite some time now, so it’s no surprise to see the latest flagship on the list here for landscape photography.

The S24 Ultra follows on from the already impressive S23 Ultra and adds a slew of AI improvements and hardware modifications to make it even better. That said, if you want to save cash, it’s certainly worth looking at the older model – particularly if landscape photography is your main thing,
as many of the functions described here are also found on that model. You might also consider the S24/S24+ (without the Ultra moniker) too for another way to save.

First up is the impressively performing ultra-high resolution 200MP ‘main’ sensor, which is fronted by a 23mm f/1.7 equivalent lens. This is joined by three additional lenses for a total of four – that’s one more than the majority of smartphones, so you’ve got even more flexibility there too. You get an ultra-wide, plus two telephotos (3x and 5x).

Only the 5x telephoto lens is high resolution though, at 50MP, with the ultra-wide being 12MP and the other telephoto being 10MP. The 5x lens uses the extra resolution to facilitate functions such as 10x super AI, multi-frame and super resolution – this lens is an improvement from the 10x tele lens found on the S23 Ultra, so if you like to pick out details in scenes it’s great for that.

Like many Android phones, the S24 Ultra has a very well-featured native camera app, which includes the ability to shoot in raw format, a high resolution mode to take advantage of all those extra pixels, and a pro mode in the native app.

One interesting specification is the inclusion of a stylus which can be used to remotely trigger the shutter – useful if you want to set up the phone on a tripod.

Read our full Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra Review.

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Google Pixel 9 Pro

At a glance:

• 50MP main camera, f/1.68, OIS (1/1.31inch)
• 48MP ultra-wide, f/1.7, with macro AF (1/2.55inch)
• 48MP telephoto, f/2.8, 5x zoom, OIS (1/2.55inch)
• 6.3-inch, 2000 nits peak brightness, Gorilla Glass Victus 2 screen
• Google Tensor G4 processor
• Android 14
• Price: from $1,149 / £999-£1219

The Pixel 9 Pro is the latest flagship from the company, and brings with it series of software updates and AI features to help you give get great images in a range of shooting conditions. The updated HDR+ feature brings better colour handling and more true to life skin tones, improved exposure, sharpness, contrast and more. Fun shooting modes which make use of AI technology, such as Long Exposure, even come in handy with landscape photography – for example, you could try shooting a waterfall for a cloudy water effect.

There are also very useful editing functions too. For landscape photographers, it’s also particularly impressive that all three of its cameras are high-resolution, which is often not the case with many smartphones.

The main sensor boasts 50 megapixels, and a 25mm f/1.68 equivalent lens. This is joined by a 48MP ultra-wide camera and a 48MP 5x telephoto camera. You can shoot in raw format, there is also a Pro shooting mode in the native camera app, a welcome addition that we’ve already seen in the Pixel 8 Pro. Usefully, you can also shoot in the full 50MP resolution if you prefer, rather than the standard 12MP default output.

Excellent astrophotography shooting options are available if you want to shoot landscapes in very low light – which could be enough to tip the balance from another model to the Pixel if you like to head out after dark. Google also claims there have been improvements to low-light shooting in the Pixel 9 Pro with some new functionality including Night-sight panoramic photos.

The Google Pixel 9 Pro XL and Pixel 9 Pro share the same camera set-up, the main difference between the two models being their respective screen sizes. The Pixel 9 Pro XL boasts a 6.8 inch display whereas The Pixel 9 Pro has a handy 6.3 inch screen. In the end it all comes down to your personal preferences. However it can be more convenient to compose and edit your landscape shots on a bigger display.

If you’re mainly interested in wide and ultra-wide lenses, you can opt for the cheaper Pixel 8 model, but you will lose some other features such as pro controls, as well as losing a telephoto lens. You could also go for the older Pixel 7 Pro model, but again, you won’t get a pro mode here – not necessarily a deal-breaker if you’re more than happy to simply ‘point and shoot’ and focus on composition.

Read our full Google Pixel 9 Pro Review.

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Honor Magic 5 Pro

At a glance:

• Triple 50MP camera system
• 13mm, 23mm, 90mm equivalent
• Android 13 operating system
• 4K video
• Price: $1099 / £949

Smartphones like this show us that you don’t necessarily need to spend an eye-wateringly high sum in order to get a top-range model. The Honor Magic 5 Pro is due for replacement at the time of writing, which means that you can pick it up for an even better price right now, so we’ve included it
here for those who don’t want to spend quite so much.

For landscape photographers, the fact that all three of its lenses are backed by a high-resolution sensor means it has big appeal, giving you 13mm,
23mm and 90mm equivalents to choose between, each with 50 megapixels. There are also digital zooming capabilities up to 100x – something which will cost you a lot more if you fancy the same from the Samsung S24 Ultra.

The native camera app for the Magic 5 Pro is extensive, with a Pro mode for all those extra controls you might crave. It’s also possible to shoot in raw format to make some advanced edits after the fact too. An additional shooting mode gives you the option to record in the full 50MP, rather than a standard 12MP output. Things like digital filters and AI scene recognition also make this a great point and shoot.

Though not directly related to the quality of the onboard camera, the Magic 5 Pro has an excellent battery life, which comes in handy on those long
walks to get to locations. As another side note, this is the only phone on our list that comes with a charging plug in the box, too.

Overall, results from the Honor Magic 5 Pro put it very close to the three other much bigger names here, so it’s certainly worth thinking about looking at the less-well-known brands if you’re on a budget. The Magic 6 Pro has already been released in some territories, and indications suggest that it too is an excellent performer and worth considering.

Read our Honor Magic 5 Pro review.

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Related content:

• Best camera phones for photography
• The best budget camera phones
• Best smartphones for macro

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