Can today's cheap smartphones beat mirrorless cameras?

Mirrorless cameras are at the forefront of modern high-quality photography, and smartphones are always trying to push the envelope. Do you think today's cheap smartphones are better than mirrorless cameras?

The phone is good enough if you give it a chance

People may carry cameras with them even though they have phones , but that doesn't mean they hate phone cameras. They can take great pictures, if you put in enough effort and creativity.

Note : The article will compare Fuji X-T20 (mirrorless camera) and Huawei P30 Lite (low-cost smartphone).

To give my old phone the best chance, I used plenty of light and Pro mode for better quality control. Ideally, I use the lowest ISO to reduce noise in phone photography.

On the Fuji X-T20, I'll use a wide focal length as close as possible to the P30 Lite and iPad cameras and the same angle so they look identical. I'll also close down the aperture to reduce background blur, making it easier to tell.

Hopefully, this will be a fun challenge to see which device produces better results. Another element of the challenge is the compression you get when uploading your photos online, which makes for a more realistic scenario since most of your photos will be viewed through those mediums.

Indoor photography with artificial light

Let's start with a more difficult challenge for smartphones: An indoor scene with some artificial lighting to give it a fighting chance.

These shots were taken indoors with the P30 Lite and X-T20 using overhead lighting. The lighting gave the phone its best shot, so I was able to drop the ISO to 50 in Pro Mode and get a lot of nice detail. The X-T20 had an easy time here, but can you tell the difference?

Take photos outdoors with natural light

This pair was shot outdoors with the same device. With so much natural light, the P30 Lite easily takes great photos despite its inferior sensor. The phone's images are surprisingly good; even when you put the photos side by side, the results are hard to tell apart.

Sometimes phones oversaturate the colors, making you think the image is higher quality. But is that true in this case? Here's another example of the same flower from a little further away. This should give you more detail to base your guess on.

Read more: iPad vs. mirrorless cameras

This final pair of images compares the results between the iPad and the X-T20. Mobile devices tend to overcompensate for very dark objects like this car, and you'll see some grain as they try their best to capture detail in the dark areas.

Phone cameras may be good, but they're not worth ditching

Camera technology has come a long way, but there's no substitute for quality optics and sensors. Mirrorless cameras have one job: to take high-quality photos. So they're equipped with the best sensor technology combined with great lenses.

Phone cameras focus on another aspect of photography: computational photography. Smaller sensors and lenses mean less light, so they're paired with the best processing software to create beautiful images. The software edits the image for you as soon as you press the shutter button, and you get a beautiful photo instantly.

Take a closer look and see where it falls short, especially in low light. With plenty of light, a good frame, and a good understanding of photography, you can take great photos with your smartphone .

All the photos on the right were taken with the X-T20 mirrorless camera. Can you guess all of them correctly?

Lesley Montoya

Update 25 May 2025