India, Dec. 26 -- 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.

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.

The iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max feature identical camera hardware, and the...