Among all the phones I reviewed in 2025, these had the best cameras

Artsy, capable, and full of substance. These three phones got it right. Here’s my take on the Vivo X200 Pro, iPhone 17 Pro, and the Realme GT 8 Pro.

The Vivo X200 Pro, iPhone 17 Pro, and realme GT 8 Pro were the most fun I had in 2025 when it came to camera systems. In many ways, they pushed boundaries, whether in video, creating an artsy look in photos, or redefining what smartphone portrait photography can achieve. Having used these phones extensively, I feel they lay a solid foundation for what we can expect from phone cameras in 2026, as they continue to improve year after year.

Realme GT 8 Pro and the Vivo X200 Pro. (Shaurya Sharma/HT)

By Shaurya Sharma

Shaurya Sharma is the Technology Editor at Hindustan Times Digital Streams, where he oversees technology coverage across digital and social platforms. With over eight years of experience across editorial, video production, and digital media, his work focuses on smartphones, AI, consumer gadgets, and shaping audience-first content strategies for modern tech consumers.

He began his career in 2018 as a fashion cinematographer before turning his lifelong passion for technology into a profession. From spending his childhood immersed in tech magazines, video games, and the latest gadgets to covering the global consumer tech industry today, technology has remained a constant throughout his journey.

Over the years, Shaurya has worked with some of India’s leading media organisations, including CNN-News18, Sportskeeda, and Guiding Tech, where he led video initiatives that combined strong editorial storytelling with engaging visual and social-first execution.

A graduate in Journalism and Mass Communication from Manipal University, Shaurya has reviewed hundreds of products across categories including smartphones, laptops, gaming consoles, cameras, and wearables. Beyond work, he is passionate about animal welfare, environmental causes, and automobiles, particularly turbo-petrol cars

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While many upgrades have been incremental, these year-on-year improvements have clearly compounded. As a result, smartphone camera systems now feel almost too good to be true, but they are very much real.

iPhone 17 Pro

The iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max feature identical camera hardware, and they have genuinely pushed the envelope on the video front. This is largely thanks to the introduction of ProRes RAW video capture. Previously, iPhones could shoot ProRes Log video, but the ability to capture RAW video takes things to another level. This is the same cinema-grade format used by professionals in filmmaking.

The flexibility here is unmatched. You can adjust exposure and fine-tune details even after shooting the video. Yes, the file sizes are massive. Yes, the learning curve is steep. And yes, you will need professional software like DaVinci Resolve to grade this footage properly. But if you know what you are working with and what you are working towards, ProRes RAW on the iPhone 17 Pro is a genuine game-changer. You can create truly professional-looking results.

Apple has also introduced a much improved telephoto camera this year, a 48MP sensor with a significantly larger sensor size compared to the iPhone 16 Pro. This makes for a far more complete camera setup overall. The front-facing camera has been excellent as well. I have captured some high quality front-facing portrait videos in both landscape and portrait orientations, without needing to manually rotate the phone. The new square sensor handles it seamlessly within the camera app. All things considered, this is one of the best video experiences you can currently get on a smartphone.

Vivo X200 Pro

Yes, I am not mentioning the Vivo X300 Pro here, simply because for the majority of the year, I was using the Vivo X200 Pro. While the X300 Pro does offer even better image quality, going back to the X200 Pro, I still believe it was the best photo-focused camera system on a smartphone for most of 2025, at least until the X300 Pro arrived in India.

The portraits I have captured on this phone have been truly sensational. I took it along on leisure trips to Thailand and Malaysia and returned with some incredible shots. So much so that people were genuinely surprised when they found out what camera I had used. Little did they know those photos came from a phone that sat in my pocket.

The telephoto lens is easily one of the best I have used on a smartphone. It delivers sharp, consistent results and blows most competitors out of the water. Portraits, especially in good lighting, look like they have been shot on a professional camera.

Over the last few updates, Vivo has added several creative features, including film stock and film emulation modes. You can shoot portraits and standard images using positive and negative film profiles, along with a wide range of other options. It is a genuinely feature rich camera system. And it is not just about photos, the video performance is excellent as well.

Realme GT 8 Pro

The Realme GT 8 Pro was one of the biggest surprises of the year for me. It is the phone I had the most fun shooting with, not because it offers the best image quality or the best video. Those titles still belong to other phones from 2025. What stood out instead was the shooting experience.

The Ricoh collaboration plays a huge role here. The film emulation on this phone genuinely blew me away. I am a big fan of the way film simulations work on modern cameras like the Ricoh GR III, Ricoh GR IV, and Fuji’s X-series cameras. Having that kind of creative control on a phone is personally priceless for me.

I took the Realme GT 8 Pro to Goa earlier this year and have used it on and off during weekend leisure trips. Every time, it impressed me. The way high contrast images are rendered, and how the positive and negative film profiles behave, feels unlike what most phones offer today.

The overall camera system is also a clear improvement over last year. Images are sharp without being overly saturated, with just the right amount of detail. At times, they are soft enough to resemble output from a professional mirrorless camera. Even the grain looks realistic. It is also the little things that elevate the experience, like the shutter sound when you switch to Ricoh mode. All of it comes together to make the Realme GT 8 Pro a genuinely fun phone to shoot with.