If you are reading this on your smartphone, you probably have at least 2 cameras on you right now. The quality of smartphones cameras has dramatically improved over the last 5-10 years as a result of technological improvements in camera sensors and lenses. Most people now use their smartphone as their primary camera to take pictures during vacations and for social media. In fact, smartphone cameras have the potential to completely replace point and shoot cameras as developers look to stretch the limits of smartphone cameras.

Pros:

-Convenience(Everyone always has a phone on them)

-Sharing(It is easy and quick to share pictures after taking them on the phone)

-Discreet(It is less obvious and obtrusive than a big camera)

Cons:

-Quality(because of sensor and lens but also because it is possible to take too many pictures)

-Low light(Most smartphones are extremely poor in low light)

-Battery life(A smartphone is a lot more than just a camera so you are likely to run out at the wrong time)

-zoom(Most smartphones only provide digital zoom as opposed to optical zoom on point and shoots and DSLRs)

Smartphone cameras are certainly getting better over time, but it is not yet good enough to replace the DSLR or even a point and shot, but the Galaxy S9 with its dual aperture and the Huawei P20 pro with its triple camera set up and good low light performance are indications of what is yet to come in smartphone camera technology

A particularly interesting smartphone is Google`s pixel phone. Despite having only a single camera with a fixed aperture it is able to recreate depth of field and dynamic range that mimics professional cameras. It is interesting because it is the software that processes the image that makes the pictures look great. It is possible that in the future all cameras will use post processing software to make pictures look better without actually needing the hardware to do it.