We live in a world where selfie is in the dictionary and as such no self-respecting smartphone manufacturer can afford to ignore people’s desire to take pictures of themselves. It’s with that in mind that we’ve curated this list of the best smartphone cameras for selfies.
This list includes a range of handsets from numerous manufacturers, which just serves to highlight how important these cameras are to smartphone makers, with everything from the foldable Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 4 to the flagship iPhone 14 Pro and the massive megapixel count of the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra making the list – plus a number of other top selfie snappers for good measure.
Keep this page bookmarked, because we'll be updating it with the latest and greatest selfie snappers as and when new phones launch, but for now, as of September 2022, these are the five best smartphones for selfies money can buy - and they're all brilliant phones in other ways too.
Apple almost always includes great front-facing cameras on its phones, and with the iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max being its top handsets at the time of writing, they’re the best options.
On paper though their selfie cameras might not sound that special. After all, the two phones just have a 12MP f/1.9 sensor. But they can take high-quality shots, with a depth sensor allowing for brilliant portraits, and night mode meaning that selfies even look good when the light is bad.
Apple has also upgraded the selfie cameras for the iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max, offering a larger aperture than on the iPhone 13 range, so more light can be let in, for up to 2x better low light shots. Plus, there’s autofocus for the first time on an iPhone’s selfie camera.
The rear cameras excel even more, with a new 48MP primary sensor, a 12MP ultra-wide one, and a 12MP telephoto, all of which perform superbly in low light. And the iPhone 14 Pro and Pro Max also have excellent OLED screens for viewing selfies on.
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The Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra is – price aside – one of the very best smartphones you can buy, and that extends to its selfie camera, which has a higher megapixel count than almost any rival at 40MP.
So you can take seriously high-resolution shots, and you can also use it to record video in up to 4K quality at up to 60fps.
The rear camera experience on the S22 Ultra also impresses, in fact, arguably this phone also has the most versatile rear camera setup of any handset at the time of writing, so whatever type of photographer you are, it’s a top choice.
You get a quad-lens setup, with a 108MP main lens and a 10x optical zoom telephoto snapper, along with a 3x zoom for shorter distances and an ultra-wide.
Plus, the Galaxy S22 Ultra has another trick up its sleeve, as you can use the included S Pen stylus as a remote shutter for the camera.
The screen too is great. It’s an enormous 6.8-inch 1440 x 3088 one, and your selfies will look absolutely stunning on it.
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While – thanks to its wealth of lenses - the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra arguably has the most versatile camera setup on a phone, the Pixel 6 Pro arguably has its cameras beat for sheer quality.
The 11.1MP f/2.2 selfie camera is the weakest of its lenses, but being an ultra-wide one it still stands out from the crowd, as you can fit more people in your shots than with most selfie cameras.
And of course you could always use the other lenses for selfies – albeit slightly awkwardly – and these really excel. The 50MP main sensor coupled with Google’s excellent software and algorithms can capture some of the best images you’ll find from a phone, and the 12MP ultra-wide and 48MP telephoto (with 4x optical zoom) impress too.
And like most high-end phones, the Pixel 6 Pro also has a an excellent QHD+ OLED screen that’s great for viewing your selfies on.
One of the great things about foldable phones is that – while they typically do have dedicated selfie cameras – you can also just use the main cameras, as they can be folded in such a way that one of their screens is still visible to use as a viewfinder.
That’s the case with the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 4, which lets you use the tiny 1.9-inch cover display as a viewfinder when taking photos with the 12MP main or 12MP ultra-wide camera. Though there is also a 10MP selfie snapper if you’d rather use the main foldable display to frame your photos.
As a complete camera package the Z Flip 4 isn’t anything special, but that trick – and the fact that you can fold it in various positions to prop it up – make it a great choice for selfies.
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The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4 is the company’s top foldable phone at the time of writing, and it’s also a top choice for selfies.
As with the Z Flip 4 you can use the main cameras for selfies and still see yourself on one of the phone’s screens, but the Z Fold 4 has the edge over the Flip for a couple of reasons.
First of all, you can frame your shots using a larger 6.2-inch screen – that’s still the phone’s secondary display, but it’s a lot more useable than the 1.9-inch secondary one on the Galaxy Z Flip 4.
Secondly, the cameras here are just better, with a 50MP main one, a 12MP ultra-wide, and a 10MP telephoto, offering 3x optical zoom. And if you really want to use a dedicated selfie camera then there are two to choose from – a 10MP one and a 4MP one.
Plus, the main 7.6-inch foldable display gives you an almost tablet-sized canvas to view and edit your photos on.
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So there you have it. These are the five best smartphones for selfies you can buy right now and they’re all strong handsets in other ways too.
From the iPhone 14 Pro range through to the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra, the Pixel 6 Pro, and the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 4, with the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4 ranking as the very best smartphone for selfies.
Any of these phones will serve you well, but the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4 is the one to opt for if selfies are your top priority, while the iPhone 14 Pro Max and Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra are arguably the best all-round smartphones, and the Google Pixel 6 Pro is the most capable camera phone.
