Mobile

Smartphone cameras have become one of the main ways everyday people capture photos and document life, and even professional photographers may use phones to shoot paid work. PetaPixel covers the latest news and information on how smartphones are transforming the way photographs are made.
A hand holds a smartphone displaying the white Instagram logo on a screen with a vibrant pink, orange, and yellow gradient background.

Facebook and Instagram Were Down for Nearly Three Hours Today

Meta's social media platforms, including Facebook and Instagram, are experiencing widespread issues today, with users reporting login failures, unexpected account logouts, and problems accessing both websites and mobile apps. The Meta Business Suite is also down as of the time of writing.

A gold-colored smartphone with a large circular camera module is propped up on a wooden surface. The “PetaPixel Reviews” logo appears in the bottom left corner of the image.

Honor Magic V6 Review: A Foldable Phone That Takes Photos Like a Slab

Not everyone needs or wants a foldable phone but if it’s thin and light enough to feel more like a standard smartphone, then is it worth taking the plunge? In many ways, this forms the basis of Honor’s pitch for its foldable lineup, the latest being the Magic V6. Rather than reinvent the category, it simply aims to build off the solid foundation it comes from.

A blue Xiaomi smartphone with triple camera lenses lies among green leaves and small blue flowers. The image has a "PetaPixel Reviews" label in the top left corner.

Xiaomi 17T Pro Review: High-End Photography Without the Flagship Price

The new Xiaomi 17T and 17T Pro feature impressive cameras, due in large part to Leica's engineering expertise and Xiaomi's commitment to mobile photography. During extensive hands-on experiences in beautiful Vienna, Austria, I tested Leica's imaging influence, low-light performance, telephoto capabilities, battery life, and all the other features that help set the Xiaomi 17T Pro and its more affordable sibling apart from the competition.

Four smartphone screens display an astronomy app showing forecasts for the Milky Way, aurora, golden hour, and moonrise, each with vivid background images and forecast ratings at the bottom.

Atmos Is a Weather App By Photographers, for Photographers

As photographers know, light is extremely important. And for outdoor photographers, nothing affects the quality of light quite like the weather. Photographer Matthew Raifman wanted to build a weather app for people like him, photographers who want to know not just what the weather forecast is, but whether or not the conditions will be any good for photography. Enter Atmos for Weather & Photo, also known as Atmos.

A close-up of a camera screen showing a soccer match near the goal, with players in action. Next to it, a reflection of the match can be seen through the lens of binoculars.

How Apple Shot an Entire MLS Game Using Only iPhone

Apple made sports broadcasting history on Saturday night by shooting an entire Major League Soccer (MLS) game using iPhone 17 Pro Max smartphones. Now that the historic broadcast happened, it is worth taking another look to see not only how it went, but how Apple pulled off the impressive feat.

A collage with three panels: a person standing in tall dry grass outdoors, a close-up of a sandwich with lettuce, tomato, and ham on a croissant, and a single yellow flower in a brown glass vase on a wooden table.

Sony Xperia AI Camera Assistant Ads Are Getting Ripped Apart

Sony unveiled the Xperia VIII smartphone this week, boasting photographer-focused upgrades and improvements. American buyers, who are yet again missing out on the latest Xperia, may have felt a little left out. Looking at the phone's new AI Camera Assistant with Xperia Intelligence and its terrible results, perhaps U.S. buyers aren't missing out on much at all.

Three smartphone screens show the Instants app: a login page, an introduction screen about sharing photos that disappear, and a photo reply screen with creative flower stickers and emoji reactions.

Instagram’s Instants Lets You Share Photos That Disappear After They’re Seen

Instagram has launched a new feature called Instants, a disappearing photo-sharing system designed around fast, unedited sharing with close friends. Available both inside Instagram and through a new standalone Instants app, the feature pushes even further into real-time photography and casual social sharing, with a strong emphasis on authenticity and privacy.

A green leaf icon, representing the Snapseed app, is centered over a blurred background showing photo editing interfaces and tools on a smartphone screen.

After Years of Waiting, a New Snapseed Finally Arrived on Android

Mobile photographers could have been forgiven for thinking that the beloved Google-owned photo editor Snapseed was dead before it received its first major update in years last June, bringing the app to version 3.0. Good news for Snapseed fans, the wait for the next major update was much shorter, and Snapseed 4.0 has arrived on iOS and Android.

A hand holding a smartphone displaying a photo of several white ducks standing together outdoors, with a "PetaPixel Reviews" logo on a dark background to the right.

Tecno Camon 50 Ultra Review: Decent Cameras Buried by AI

The best camera features generally go to top flagships for good reason, but mid-range brands like Tecno always try to punch above their weight. The Tecno Camon 50 Ultra may be a phone you’ve never heard of, yet its camera system is varied enough to stand out.

Close-up of a green smartphone with a large circular Leica camera module. Text on the right reads, "THEY'RE GREAT BUT..." against a black grid background.

Even Tech Reviewers Don’t Think Smartphones Can Replace Cameras

In his review of the new Oppo Find X9 Ultra, famous tech YouTuber and enthusiastic photographer Marques Brownlee (MKBHD) not only evaluates Oppo's latest slab phone, but he also waxes poetic about mobile photography and smartphone cameras in general, arguing that no matter how good phones get, they won't replace dedicated cameras for hardcore photographers. He's right, and it's refreshing to hear someone in the broader tech space say so.

Two iPhones side by side: the original iPhone with a silver back and black bottom section on the left, and a modern iPhone with dual rear cameras and a dark finish on the right, both showing the Apple logo.

See How Far iPhone Camera Performance Has Come in 19 Years

While PetaPixel readers are particularly passionate about serious, dedicated cameras with the latest and greatest features, one of the most popular cameras in the world is the iPhone. Nearly every year, Apple touts improved photo quality on its latest handhelds, often due to a combination of better hardware and more sophisticated software.

A modern smartphone with a large display and prominent circular rear camera module is shown from multiple angles, including front, back, sides, top, and bottom, against a white background.

Vivo’s New X300 Ultra Shows How Seriously it Takes Photography

Vivo officially launched its latest flagship smartphone, the X300 Ultra in China. Vivo says its new phone features Vivo's best-ever suite of cameras and photography features, and the company promises that the X300 Ultra redefines mobile imaging for still photography and video.

A camera app icon with a lens and neon lines is on the left, while on the right, a smartphone screen shows a camera app taking a photo of trees under a blue sky. Both images have a gradient pink and blue background.

DualShot Recorder App Captures Vertical and Horizontal Video at the Same Time

A new mobile app, DualShot Recorder, skyrocketed up the App Store charts this weekend. DualShot Recorder enters the content creation space with a focused promise: eliminate the need to film the same scene twice for different aspect ratios. Designed for iPhone users, the app enables simultaneous recording in both portrait (9:16) and landscape (16:9) formats, producing two synchronized video files from a single tap.

Close-up of a smartphone with three rear cameras and an attached round device labeled "SELFIX," with the Petapixel Hands-On logo in the background.

Dockcase Selfix Hands-On: The Case That Replaces Your Selfie Camera

If you ask me, some of the worst smartphone photos are those people take with front-facing cameras. Smaller sensors, smaller lenses, and fewer resources are big reasons why, and as rear cameras continue to evolve (some more than others, anyway), products are released to encourage users to turn their phones around and use the rear lenses instead.

A close-up of a rose gold smartphone’s rear camera module with three lenses and a flash. The words “Reno AI Camera” are engraved. The Petapixel Reviews logo appears at the bottom right corner.

Oppo Reno 15 Pro Review: High-End Cameras at a Mid-Range Price

I had no idea what to expect with the Oppo Reno 15 Pro once I unboxed it and started setting it up. Billed as an “all-in-one creative partner,” the general premise is to impress with the images it captures, and using it as much as I have, I’m surprised at what it delivers considering the specs.

A white smartphone with multiple rear cameras lies on a textured gray surface. At the bottom left, the words "PetaPixel Reviews" appear in a white and blue banner.

Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra Review: The Photographic Lines Are Even Blurrier

A wet and rainy San Francisco was the venue for this year’s Galaxy Unpacked launch event and the testing ground for shooting the new Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra. The Ultra model is priced at $1,299, which is the same as last year’s model. I’m going into this review with the usual intention of testing this phone more as a camera and seeing how it stacks up as a creative tool.