Nearly every phone has this one annoying hardware feature – it's time for phone makers to ditch ultra-wide cameras

Apple iPhone 16 Review
The iPhone 16 (Image credit: Future)

Pick up any modern phone – be it one of the best iPhones or best Android phones – and you’re likely to find a rear panel adorned with two, three, or even four cameras. In most cases, at least one of these cameras will be an ultra-wide lens – commonly referred to as a 0.5x or 0.6x zoom, compared to the main snapper.

Apple, for example, markets the base-model iPhone 16 as having a 4x optical zoom range thanks to an inner crop on its main camera and the 0.5x “magnification” offered by the ultra-wide camera.

But beyond neat figures for marketing and pseudo-zoom trickery, can any of us actually remember if we even wanted an ultra-wide camera to begin with?

The first phone to really make an impact by having two cameras was the iPhone 7 Plus, which pushed the idea of the dual camera setup into the mainstream. It came equipped with a wide-angle main camera and a 2x telephoto camera, at a time when even decent digital zoom wasn’t a given on smartphones.

The iPhone 7 Plus launched in 2016 with a dual camera setup

The iPhone 7 Plus launched in 2016 with a dual camera setup

The revolutionary iPhone X, and its follow-up the iPhone XS, kept this momentum going, and the rivals of the day followed suit, with the Samsung Galaxy S9 Plus also sporting a telephoto camera.

Ever since the iPhone 11, though, it’s been seen as normal to fit premium, flagship handsets with ultra-wide secondary cameras, and the more useful telephoto lens has increasingly become a tertiary luxury. And in the budget world, telephoto lenses are a real rarity compared to the common – and presumably cheaper – ultra-wide option.

Ultra-wide cameras have their uses. The lesser focal distance of an ultra-wide camera means you can get up close to subjects, enabling macro photography. And sometimes you just need to fit more stuff in the frame.

However, for day-to-day photography – which is the majority of photography done with a smartphone – even a 2x telephoto zoom is so much more useful; it virtually extends the photographer's reach to help them capture a wider variety of day-to-day happenings – not to mention better-looking portraits and detailed close-ups.

The ultra-wide cameras affixed to smartphones are also rarely meaningfully corrected by the phone’s image processing pipeline, meaning people and objects at the fringes of the image appear unnaturally stretched out.

A hand holding the Xiaomi Mix Flip phone on a blue and green background

The Xiaomi Mix Flip doesn't have an ultra-wide camera (Image credit: Xiaomi)

Luckily, there does seem to be a course correction in motion. Xiaomi affixes telephoto cameras to several of its mid-range models, and even the new Xiaomi Mix Flip foldable has a 2x zoom as its sole backup. The Samsung Galaxy S24 family all carry an optical zoom camera of some description.

And I’m even glad of the rumors that suggest the next-generation iPhone SE will continue the single-camera tradition, as this means more investment and design resources can be allocated to things like performance and battery life instead of a camera with very limited use cases.

Hopefully, these choices begin to trickle down towards the best cheap phones over the coming years, but until then, it seems I’ll have to keep chasing the highest-performing phones for a secondary camera that I actually want to use.

You might also like

TOPICS
Jamie Richards
Mobile Computing Staff Writer

Jamie is a Mobile Computing Staff Writer for TechRadar, responsible for covering phones and tablets. He’s been tech-obsessed from a young age and has written for various news and culture publications. Jamie graduated from Goldsmiths, University of London in 2024 with a bachelor’s degree in Journalism. Since starting out as a music blogger in 2020, he’s worked on local news stories, finance trade magazines, and multimedia political features. He brings a love for digital journalism and consumer technology to TechRadar. Outside of the TechRadar office, Jamie can be found binge-watching tech reviews, DJing in local venues around London, or challenging friends to a game of Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.

Read more
An image of the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra from a hands-on event
Samsung’s Galaxy S25 Ultra brings in the camera upgrade I’ve been waiting for – Apple should be taking notes
Samsung Galaxy S25 in every color corner to corner touching near the cameras
I can’t believe the Samsung Galaxy S25 is still the only phone of its kind to have this one crucial feature
iPhone 16 Camera Control
I hope this new iPhone feature becomes industry standard in 2025
Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra vs iPhone 16 Pro Max cameras
Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra cameras versus iPhone 16 Pro Max cameras – 12 hours with two of the best, and I am spoiled for choices
Axel testing the Honor Magic 7 Pro in Slovenia
I went to the Alps to test Honor’s AI Super Zoom camera and the results are both fascinating and frightening
Samsung Galaxy S24 hands on handheld back straight white
Mobile phones turned 40 in 2024, but there’s no need for a foldables or AR glasses fueled midlife crisis before they're 50
Latest in Phones
Android 16 logo on a phone
Here's how Android 16 will upgrade the screen unlocking process on your Pixel
Apple iPhone 16 Review
New iPhone 17 report lends weight to rumors of major display and camera upgrades, and a pricey Apple foldable
Apple iPhone 16 Review
The latest iPhone 18 leak hints at a major chipset upgrade for all four models
Google Pixel 9 Pro Fold main display opened
Apple is rumored to be prioritizing battery life on the foldable iPhone – which could also feature a liquid metal hinge for added durability
Google Pixel 9
The Google Pixel 10 just showed up in Android code – and may come with a useful speed boost
The home screen on an iPhone 16e smartphone
I think the iPhone 16e is too expensive – and as it turns out, so does nearly everybody else
Latest in Opinion
Judge sitting behind laptop in office
A day in the life of an AI-augmented lawyer
Cyber-security
Why Windows End of Life deadlines require a change of mindset
Polar Pacer
Polar's latest software update might have finally convinced me to ditch my Garmin
An image of the Samsung Display concept games console
Forget the Nintendo Switch 2 – I want a foldable games console
Image of Naoe in AC Shadows
Assassin's Creed Shadows is hands-down one of the most beautiful PC ports I've ever seen
Apple CEO Tim Cook
Forget Siri, Apple needs to launch a folding iPhone and get back on track