Best phones with dual cameras at different price points

Loads of phones come with dual cameras these days. There are also plenty of budget-friendly dual-camera handsets available, so you can capture those fancy bokeh images without breaking the bank.

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Even though more phones are now adding more than two shooters to the back, the dual camera phones can still take excellent photos, thanks in part to better hardware and more advanced software features. If you’re in the market for a phone with a dual-camera setup, keep reading. You’ll find the best ones you can get at different price points below.

Samsung Galaxy Note 9: the best sub-$1000 dual camera phone

The Samsung Galaxy Note 9 has two cameras on the back — the exact same set of dual 12MP sensors as the older Galaxy S9 Plus, including the wide-angle dual-aperture lenses it debuted. Like the one on the S9 Plus, the Note 9’s primary lens can alternate between f/1.5 and f/2.4 for taking better photos in various lighting conditions. The other sensor is a telephoto lens. The cameras can also capture 4K 60fps videos and can be create Samsung’s AR Emojis.

Read next: What the heck is the Galaxy S9’s dual aperture?

The Note 9 includes some software additions that actually make it a better camera phone than the S9 Plus. They include a scene recognition mode, which figures out what you’re taking a picture of and automatically adjust the scene’s colors to help create a better photo. The other new software feature is called “flaw detection” feature, which will alert you, via machine learning, if it thinks someone in your camera photo has blinked.

The Galaxy Note 9 is one of the most powerful smartphones around, with the latest and greatest Snapdragon 845 or Exynos 9810 chipset under the hood (depending on the region) and 6GB or 8GB of RAM. The handset is equipped with a large 6.4-inch curved display, packs a big 4,000mAh battery, and is IP68 rated.

Samsung launched the Galaxy Note 9 for $999.99 back in August. Since then promotions and discounts have lowered the price by a few hundred bucks. It’s still an expensive phone, but you will be getting the best dual rear camera smartphone ever made, at least for now.

General specs and camera specs

Read more

• Samsung Galaxy Note 9 review
• Samsung Galaxy Note 9 camera review

Honorable mentions:

Samsung Galaxy S9 Plus

As we mentioned, the Galaxy S9 Plus has basically the same dual 12MP camera sensors on the back, but lacks a couple of AI-driven software modes you may or may not want to use. If those modes are unimportant, you can get the S9 Plus for less than the Note 9. We would have added the Samsung Galaxy S10 to the list, but that one has three cameras. 

Read more

• Samsung Galaxy S9 and S9 Plus review: Top-notch notch-less
• Samsung Galaxy S9 Plus deep dive review: Best of the best

LG G8 ThinQ

LG’s recent flagship has one standard and one wide-angle lens. The main sensor is a 12MP shooter with an f/1.5 aperture, OIS, and dual-pixel autofocus. The secondary wide-angle sensor also has 16MP with a narrower aperture of f/1.9. and 16mm lens. It also has a lot of software features and modes, although its camera app can be confusing to use at first. It has an excellent portrait mode, and a dedicated food mode that takes great images for your Instagram account

Read more

• LG G8 ThinQ review: LG chooses to blend in rather than stand out
• LG G8 ThinQ camera review: average all around

HONOR View 20: best sub-$500 dual camera phone

The HONOR View 20 is a high-end smartphone on a budget. It comes with great specs and costs only $499 from amazon. The dual camera setup features a 48MP, f/1.8 aperture shooter and a ToF camera. It does use pixel binning for improving low-light capabilities and features a large 1/2-inch sensor that is rare in the smartphone world. 

Specs

Read more

• HONOR View 20 review: A hole-in-one!
• HONOR View 20 camera review: A very high score, and for good reason

Honorable mentions:

Motorola Moto Z3 Play

The Motorola Z3 Play is the first in the Moto Z Play series to pack in two rear cameras. However, only the main 12MP sensor is designed to actually take photos. The secondary 5MP sensor only creates depth information for the phone’s portrait mode. The phone’s camera app does include built-in Google Lens support, and you can also take cinemagraphs, which let you capture a picture with motion, and then you can select which parts of the photo move and which parts stay still. While we found the actual images taken with the Z3 Play pretty average, the addition of portrait mode and other advanced camera features for less than $400 is hard to beat.

Essential Phone

The Essential Phone didn’t quite catch on as Andy Rubin hoped, but it’s not a bad phone. It has a gorgeous design, a durable titanium frame with a ceramic shell, and lots of power under the hood. Of course, it also sports a dual-camera setup on the back with two 13 MP sensors (RGB and Mono). While the camera didn’t get the best reviews when the phone first came out, a number of software updates have improved things since then.

The smartphone is powered by the Snapdragon 835 chipset, backed by 4GB of RAM and 128GB of storage. It has a notch and no headphone jack — dealbreakers for some. The Essential Phone was announced in May 2017, initially priced at $699. You can get it on Amazon now for $499.99.

HONOR 7X: best sub-$300 dual camera phone

The budget-friendly HONOR 7X comes with a 16MP primary shooter, backed by a secondary 2MP lens. The second lens is for those popular bokeh shots, which blur the background and bring the subject matter into stark focus. It doesn’t do as well as flagship smartphones, but that’s understandable given its affordable $200 price tag. Surprisingly, the 8MP front-facing camera can also add the bokeh effect to images,  achieved through software trickery.

In their review, our very own Adam Sinicki and Lanh Nguyen called the HONOR 7X “arguably the best value Android device ever made.” The mid-ranger offers a lot for the money, packing in a 5.93-inch Full HD+ display and the Kirin 659 chipset. The U.S. version offers 3GB of RAM and 32GB of storage, and the rest of the world gets the 4GB RAM and 64GB storage variant. The smartphone also supports expandable storage, has a fingerprint scanner, and sports a metal body that looks and feels premium. All of that on a phone you can get for just under $200.

If you’re looking for a phone with dual cameras on a budget, the 7X might be up your alley. You can get it from HONOR’s website in red, blue, or black.

Specs

Read more

• HONOR 7X review
• HONOR 7X: Release date, availability, and price
• HONOR 7X becomes #1 bestseller in Amazon unlocked phones category

Honorable mentions:

HUAWEI Mate SE

The Mate SE is a slightly upgraded 7X sold under the HUAWEI brand. It comes with 1GB of RAM more (4GB) than the U.S. version of HONOR’s device and double the storage at 64GB. It looks more or less identical but comes in different colors.

The rest of the specs — including display, chipset, and battery — remain the same. That means the smartphone comes with a dual-camera setup featuring 16 and 2MP sensors, a 5.93-inch Full HD+ display, and the Kirin 659 chipset. It’s also super affordable, although it costs a bit more than the HONOR 7X. You can get it on Amazon for $239 in gold or grey.

Motorola Moto G7

The Moto G7 is another affordable phone with dual cameras, coming in at just $299.99. It sports a 12MP main sensor with a ƒ/1.8 aperture and a secondary 5MP depth sensor for portrait shots. While you won’t take impressive shots with this phone, it will do for casual users who want a phone that won’t break the bank. This one goes for only $299.99 from Amazon!

We think these are the best phones with dual cameras, but there are plenty of other great models out there. Which ones would you add to this list? Let us know in the comments!