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 silver smartphone rig with two side handles and a circular camera lens attachment mounted over the rear camera array.

ShiftCam and Apple Partner on New ProRig for iPhone

ShiftCam Gear, best known for its iPhone camera lenses and grips, has announced ProRig. Launching later this month as ShiftCam's 10th Kickstarter campaign, the company says it partnered directly with Apple on the new product, an entire camera system built for iPhone.

A person holds a smartphone displaying a video editing application with color grading wheels and a timeline featuring a woman in a red dress.

Snapdragon’s New Camera Pipeline Has More Pixels and More Questions

Qualcomm thinks it has something big in its 6th-generation Snapdragon mobile device processors that we’ll see in phone cameras in the coming months and years. The Snapdragon 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6 and Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 were headliners at the company’s annual Snapdragon Summit 2026 in Maui, both built on a 2-nanometer process and promising imaging performance that pushes what phones can deliver.

A close-up of a camera lens aperture with a hexagonal opening, featuring the word "WHY?" in large white letters and an orange arrow pointing toward the center.

Apple Explains Why the iPhone 18 Pro Has a Variable Aperture

The Apple iPhone 18 Pro and 18 Pro Max have arrived, and their familiar outward appearance belies a major change to the main camera. For the first time, an iPhone features a variable aperture, and PetaPixel spoke with Apple to learn firsthand why it was created, how it works, and what it means for how people capture photos and videos on Apple's latest flagship phone.

Two white foldable smartphones are displayed against a gradient background, one showing a person's hands framing a view on the inner screen and the other showing the rear camera module and Apple logo.

The Beautiful iPhone Duo Has Serious Camera Compromises

As we have seen time and again, foldable smartphones very rarely offer the same camera and photo features as their slab phone counterparts. Apple's debut foldable, the eye-catching and highly hyped iPhone Duo is no exception. At least for now, mobile photographers cannot have everything. The iPhone Duo's Cameras Apple describes the iPhone Duo's camera system as a "48MP Dual Fusion camera system," a fancy way of saying it has two rear cameras, rather than the three found on the iPhone 18 Pro and …

A close-up of a smartphone camera module featuring a motorized gimbal-mounted lens, with text reading "F1.6 23MM 200MP / 4D GIMBAL" and "AiMAGE," next to a PetaPixel Hands-On logo.

Honor Robot Phone Hands-On: This Isn’t a Gimmick

The Honor Robot Phone is no longer a concept -- it’s a finished product now available in China. The first smartphone with a built-in motorized gimbal in its rear camera module is an engineering win for Honor, not least of which because it actually works. After spending hands-on time with the device, it’s clear enough this isn’t just another gimmicky half-baked experiment.