Apple is one of the biggest and best camera phone manufacturers, and it offers a wide range of devices in its lineup. The iPhone has the best camera for selfies that lets you quickly and easily take high-quality photos and videos with a device that fits in your pocket.
Whether you want to spend a lot of money on the latest iPhone 16 series or settle for an older, cheaper model, we’ll help you find the best iPhone for photography.
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Which iPhone has the best camera for selfies?
If you have an unlimited budget and want the best that money can buy, the best iPhone for photography overall would have to be the iPhone 16 Pro Max.
Here are the other best iPhones that have the best camera for selfies.
1. iPhone 15 Pro Max
The iPhone 15 Pro Max has a selfie camera with a range of impressive specs, including autofocus, an f/1.9 lens, Smart HDR 5, Retina Flash, raw shooting, lens correction, and automatic image stabilisation. It can be used with Night mode, or with Portrait mode to create a blurred background.
You don’t have to switch to portrait mode, you can add this effect later, and even change the focus point after the fact. You can also record 4K video with the front camera, which is ideal for content creators. The downside is that the resolution is only 12MP.
However, in places where there is no bright light, I was very disappointed with the results I got from the iPhone. The results are very good when taken in sunlight, so if you mostly take selfies on day trips or vacations, they will be fine.
Images taken outdoors or indoors in very bright light have beautiful colors, lots of detail, and a fairly naturally blurred background. However, when the light gets dark, the details are very lacking and the selfies look blurry.
This is also the case when the “flash” (which turns the screen on to brighten the face) is turned on. However, the colors in the artificial light at least came out well, and the outdoor lighting level improved when I took the pictures around sunset.
To be fair, these selfies don’t look that bad on a smartphone screen, so if that’s the only place they can live, iPhone users shouldn’t feel too bad.
2. Apple iPhone 16
If you’re looking for the ultimate photography experience on your phone, the iPhone 16 (not the Pro) is a great generation to join in on the fun. Unlike previous years, Apple has given both iPhone 16-generation models (Pro or not) the A18 processor to power Apple Intelligence.
The iPhone 16 also rearranges its dual-camera system to a straight line rather than a diagonal one, allowing it to capture spatial images and video (though if you can afford the Vision Pro, you might as well pick up a Pro phone!)
Interestingly, Apple has also given the iPhone 16 a ‘camera control’ button, although it’s new to the Pro this year. At the same time, the iPhone 16 adds an ‘action button’, allowing you to interact with the phone in a very customizable way.
If you don’t need a telephoto lens but like the much more interesting colors offered on the iPhone 16, the difference is not as drastic this year, so this phone might be the one for you. The larger 48MP sensor allows you to crop out more without losing detail, making digital zoom a more viable option, but not at the level of an optical lens.
Serious photographers will miss the ability to shoot in RAW (.dng) format, so they can fine-tune the look of their images in a digital darkroom like Adobe Lightroom.
Apple has cut costs by making the iPhone 16 much less sophisticated than the Pro. It can’t shoot ProRes to an external SSD because of the slower USB-C, and the screen is 60Hz (yawn), but it still feels like a better upgrade than usual.
It doesn’t lag behind the Pro in two important aspects for photographers, especially thanks to the A18 chip and the camera control buttons.
3. Apple iPhone 14 Pro Max
The iPhone 14 Pro Max ticks all the boxes you’d expect from an Apple smartphone. A big, immersive screen. Stunning styling. Powerful performance. A large 1/1.28-inch 48MP sensor, and a front-facing camera with autofocus. Even though it’s last year’s model, it still offers a lot.
Yes, if you really need 5x zoom and a USB-C port, you’ll want the latest Pro Max. And while the older model had a slightly less-than-stellar processor for quick editing tasks, the A16 Bionic chip is plenty fast for everything this phone can do.
But otherwise, the differences between the two models are minimal, and if you can find one for a significantly lower price, it’s still very tempting.
The main difference between the iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max is the screen size. If you need a larger 6.7-inch screen for reviewing and editing images, shooting video, or even playing games, the Pro Max is definitely the one to go for—if you can afford the higher price tag, of course.
4. iPhone 15 Pro
For those just starting out on their iPhone photography journey, the iPhone 12 Pro Max is a great place to start. This older iPhone boasts a triple-lens setup with a 12MP main camera and an ultra-wide and telephoto lens, allowing beginners to learn how to use all the photo and video features of the Pro Max model without having to buy a newer, more expensive Pro Max phone right away.
The iPhone 12 Pro Max is great for portraits, with Portrait mode with Depth Control, Night mode, and Apple ProRAW support. The phone is also great for selfies, with a 12MP front-facing camera with Portrait mode.
With sensor-shifting image stabilization, you can also experiment with a variety of photo types, including action and sports shots, landscapes, and more. If you’re looking to get started in the world of iPhone photography, the iPhone 12 Pro Max is a solid choice.
5. iPhone 13 Pro/Pro Max
Also Consider the iPhone 13 Pro and 13 Pro Max. They have the same cameras, but differ only in screen size and battery life. The iPhone 13 Pro/Pro Max are still fantastic cameras on any smartphone, whether iOS or Android. And you get great camera hardware and a great feature set.
The iPhone 13 Pro Max has a 12MP sensor resolution. And that’s about it for the cameras on the front and back of the phone. The front camera has a wide-angle lens with an f/2.2 aperture. This is perfect for taking great selfies!
Other photographers will be more interested in the rear camera. It’s a triple-camera setup with three separate lenses. There’s an ultra-wide lens with an f/1.8 aperture. There’s an f/1.5 wide-angle lens.
And there’s a telephoto lens with an f/2.8 aperture to complete the trio. The three lenses offer incredible shooting options. It’s a versatile smartphone for photographers.
The default camera app is packed with photo features. There’s a Portrait mode for both the front and rear cameras. There’s Depth Control for precise shots. And there’s Night Mode for taking photos in the dark. Smart HDR is great for still images, but it also allows HDR video recording.
The 13 Pro Max is also a fantastic video camera. It can shoot 4K Dolby Vision video at a frame rate of 60fps. And there’s Cinematic mode for pro-looking videos. Add shallow depth of field to your footage. And it can automatically shift focus from one subject to another.
We recommend the 512GB memory version, but if you need more storage, you can get the 1TB model. Battery life is one of the reasons why the iPhone 13 Pro Max is better than the iPhone 13 Pro. Battery life is improved, and the larger screen allows you to see your photos more clearly.
The iPhone 13 Pro is not only the latest great iPhone, but it is also the best iPhone for photographers right now. The triple-lens setup boasts a standard, ultra-wide, and telephoto configuration with equivalent focal lengths of 26mm, 13mm, and 78mm,
respectively. Improvements over the iPhone 12 Pro include a new Cinematic video mode for filmmakers, a new macro mode, and improvements to the camera’s low-light capabilities. The telephoto module has also been improved, now with a 3x range instead of a 2x one.
The iPhone 13 Pro Max is technically the best phone Apple has to offer right now, but there’s no real difference in camera tech between the 13 Pro and the Max. The Max’s main advantage is better battery life.
That said, for us, the iPhone 13 Pro is the best iPhone for photographers because it doesn’t have the astronomical price tag of the Pro Max. If you already own a 12 Pro, it’s not a huge enough change to warrant an immediate upgrade, but it’s better.
6. iPhone SE (2022)
If you want the photo smarts of the latest iPhones but are on a budget then the latest update to the iPhone SE is for you. It offers an impressive camera setup with a 12MP f/1.8 aperture wide camera on the back for a surprisingly low price (it’s Apple, after all).
It’s not quite in the same league as the iPhone 15 Pro Max, but this phone costs several times more than the SE.
The fast A15 Bionic chip makes everything run smoothly and beautifully, and photo-centric features like AI-enhanced Portrait mode and the same Smart HDR 4 tech as the iPhone 13 give you a range of great shooting options. For selfies, the front-facing camera (7MP, f/2.2) is pretty decent, too.
Elsewhere, the iPhone SE (2022) offers 5G, longer battery life, and improved durability. It’s IP67 rated for water and dust resistance, has a home button, and supports Touch ID and Apple Pay.
On the downside, the screen is quite small at 4.7 inches (unless you like small phones). There’s no zoom or ultra-wide lens. But overall, you get a very good camera phone for a reasonable price.
7. Apple iPhone 12 Pro
It’s no surprise that the iPhone 12 Pro camera is the most powerful, after all, after all, it’s the latest and most sophisticated iPhone. The phone’s 12MP camera sensor might not seem like much at first, but more megapixels don’t always mean better quality.
A triple-camera unit with a 26mm wide-angle, 13mm ultra-wide, and even a 52mm telephoto (equivalent focal length) camera is just one of the many imaging options available here. The front-facing TrueDepth camera, which adds incredible clarity to your photos, is another helpful feature.
The Pro models can handle Apple’s new ProRAW file format and feature a LiDAR scanner for better focus in low light.
Conclusion
So overall these are the best iPhone that has the best camera for selfies.