Smartphone camera evolution in 21st century

The launch of smartphones in the market has brought a revolutionizing change in the lives of people where we have transformed the way technology has impacted us for the betterment of people. We have a device in our pockets that not only swayed the handheld device market but also brought a great change in the world of photography. Nowadays, people have developed a great liking for high-resolution clear pictures which they can post on Facebook, Instagram, etc and the selfie craze is ever increasing.

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Indian PM Narendra Modi taking selfie with the youth
Photography has become a big reason for the success of smartphones and smartphone photography has gained so much popularity these days that it has almost killed the compact camera market. There are many important milestones in the way how smartphone photography has developed through the years, so let us have a quick glimpse of the interesting phenomenon behind the story.

Initial phase

We must have a look towards the initial cameras in the earlier smartphones and how did a transition occur from that initial phase. There were two smartphones that arrived with the camera onboard. One was the initial iPhone which had a two-megapixel rear camera which was unable to record video and the other was HTC Dream (T-Mobile G1) with a 3.15-megapixel sensor that touted autofocus capabilities but again no video shooting options. Photography expectations were much lower those days as compared to today’s smartphones which have advanced features like low light performance, optical image stabilization, and 4k video recording.

The outburst of selfie shooter

In 2003, Sony Ericsson’s Z1010 was the first phone with a front facing camera but the selfie phones reached the smartphone market in 2010 when handsets like iPhone 4 and HTC Evo 4G were launched. Originally, these tiny sensors had no extra features and the front-facing camera was considerably poorer than the rear camera on a phone. In early days, the front-facing cameras were popular for video calling rather than taking stylish selfies. But these days, we have a completely different scenario, people are crazy after selfies. We have smartphones that boast about the capabilities of their front-facing camera like flagships from Samsung, HTC and others that offer 8 to 16 megapixels in their front-facing cameras with aperture and lens configurations that match up their rear camera setups, producing much better results. Also, the beautification of pictures has really seen a tremendous change on the software side going in hand with the ever-increasing selfie trend.

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Oppo F3
The new Oppo F3 is the first phone to feature the advanced technology of dual front-facing camera with one 16 megapixel and the other 8 megapixels, with wider shooting options to produce better-looking selfies. Oppo also picked up this trend earlier with the launching of its N1 phone with a swiveling camera setup to deliver equal quality selfie and regular shots.

Also Read: Best camera phones of 2016–17

Resolution Race

Although the resolution is not everything in a smartphone camera but the higher numbers always attract the customer’s eye. Apple’s iPhones are considered the best shooters and they marked a gradual change from 5 to 8 then to 12 megapixels and in a similar manner, between the launch of Galaxy S2 in 2011 and Galaxy S4 in 2013, Samsung moved from 8 to 13 megapixels and in 2014 it had Galaxy S5 with 16 megapixels. Sony and Nokia Lumia were also ahead in the race. In 2013, Sony launched Xperia Z1 with 21 megapixels camera but it was overshadowed by the Lumia 1020’s 41-megapixel camera in the same year which was much acknowledged by people.

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Nokia lumia 1020 with 41 MP rear camera
The smartphones in general quickly averaged the rear camera resolution at around 13 megapixels after just 3 generations. Not only resolution but advanced features like optical image stabilization also bloomed in 2014.

Dual Cameras and the Future

Nowadays, as Smartphone companies are continuously improvising camera quality, some companies have drifted from this normal trend and differentiated themselves with Dual Cameras with more cost conserving sensors.

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Apple iPhone 7 Plus
Previously also some companies have tried this like HTC One M8 in 2014, LG Optimus 3D in 2011. It can be clearly foreseen that the efficient image processing and an increase in the mobile memory bandwidth will lower down the demands for cream layer Smartphone companies, supporting the changed hardware configurations with multiple cameras and allow more robust image processing.

Also Read: Oneplus 5: A phone that gives a neck to neck competition to iPhone

So why are you still struggling with your old low-quality camera phones? Upgrade your phone to upgrade yourself and flaunt your beautifully captured high-quality images to the world but do not forget to sell your old smartphone responsibly at the reliable platform of InstaCash.