The Apple iPhone 13 Pro has won the MKBHD award for the best camera phone in 2021. This may not come as a surprise to many considering all of the latest improvements and advancements in the latest iPhone cameras. Honorable mentions included the Google Pixel 6 Pro and the Vivo X70 Pro Plus.
Marques Brownlee recently uploaded his annual smartphone awards video, and the Apple iPhone 13 Pro won the all-important category for the best camera phone. Brownlee goes on to mention the Google Pixel 6 Pro and praises the results it produces. Another smartphone that has managed to create a lot of waves in the camera phone market is the Vivo X70 Pro Plus.
The cameras in the latest Vivo phone are impressive for a number of reasons and it certainly has caught a lot of attention. This year's smartphone awards include several categories including the "Bust of the year. "
The unfortunate winner for the bust of the year award 2021 is the Microsoft Surface Duo 2. With a price point of $1,500, you'd expect some of the best performance. However, Brownlee goes on to explain and offers several reasons behind the decision.
Check out the full video linked above to see all the categories and winners.
MKBHD... ahahahahahah
And for Google the best one was the Pixel, I think
Did I get the MKBHD part wrong?
I think it's more just that "best camera phone award" from a youTuber isn't all that impressive. Especially one who is very pro-Apple.
He's getting views that many TV award shows don't get. The Golden Globes gets around 5 million views and that's a huge production. This is one guy and he's almost at 3 million.
I'd say it's more impressive. It's likely that he has more of an impact than any other smartphone camera award on the planet.
Also, it should be noted that Samsung won phone of the year, which is the main award.
Thats fair, but he also is very open that the awards are entirely based on his and only his opinion which means he will bias towards features and design elements that he, as an individual, prefers. At least for awards that are based on the consensus of a group the impact of a single individual's preference is much less dominating.
Like, no arguing that his audience is huge but awards based on a single guy's personal preferences will always lack credibility.
Imo it would be way more interesting if a bunch of elite tech creators got together and did the awards as a collaboration. (LTT, MKBHD, iJustine, Sarah Dietschy, etc)
Fair point :).
I wander why there are so much made of camera phones, as long as it takes a pleasingly clear and colourful snap that’s about it, isn’t it?
Well, when it comes to something like the 13 pro, the camera set up on that device isn't designed for just taking snapshots as you mention. It's designed for professional creators who use the recording functionality of the phone as part of their workflow and thus have a need for a device capable of creating high-quality footage. This is why it can do things like record in ProRes; so that it can be worked into a professional workflow for maximum quality.
Lots of people buy it that aren't pros because it's the biggest coolest phone Apple sells and they feel like they have to buy the highest-end model. In fact, I imagine that over 90% of 13 pro owners don't use it as part of any professional workflow but that doesn't change the fact that it is designed "for" professional users. (hence its name)
I can’t agree about the ‘pro’ branding meaning professional. You don’t get (for instance) a Nikon Z9 Pro or, hehe, a Canon RF 70-200mm f2.8L IS USM Pro. Pro generally means casual consumers might think they are buying a professional product.
Maybe a phone would be handy for b-roll or whatever, but surely no-one would turn up to a professional video or stills shoot with just a phone? Perhaps if anyone does they could comment…
My thought for stills is you can buy a camera system for a fraction of a cos something like an iPhone 13 that will just kill it in terms of image quality.
Pro branding means that it has features targeted at professional users. That's it. Not that all professional gear has the "pro" moniker, just like everything else, every brand is different. Apple has chosen "pro" for devices targeted at professional users. iPad Pro, Mac Pro, Macbook Pro, etc all target pro users.
You are right in that most professional cinematographers are not showing up to a commercial video shoot with the intention of shooting on an iPhone unless they are using it as a gimmick. They aren't the sort of "professionals" that Apple is targeting here. The target users for this phone are professional content creators who need high-quality footage in a versatile small package coupled with the ability to process/edit that footage and deploy that content immediately all in a single device. Youtubers, Instagram influencers, Tiktok creators, etc are pro users Apple is targeting here. It is very common for extremely successful content creators to record every second of their footage on a phone and it is hard to not call them pro when some of them are so successful that we are talking about millions of dollars of revenue per month. It's just a different kind of "pro" but is a pro nonetheless.
I use my iPad pro to play Words with Friends and to comment on FStoppers articles ;) My original comment was really about stills and I hadn’t thought about that sort of content creation, thanks.
haha yeah and totally fair which is why I mentioned that I expect that over 90% of "pro owners" don't actually use the pro features.