OwlHarbor Loc: Pacific North West USA

I asked the question this evening, "Why do phones have more advanced technology than cameras" and part of the answer, "One reason why phones may have more advanced technology than commercial cameras is that phones have a larger and more diverse user base than cameras. According to a report by Statista1, there were about 5.22 billion unique mobile phone users in the world as of January 2021, compared to about 1.43 billion digital camera users in 2022. This means that phone manufacturers have more potential customers and more incentive to invest in research and development of new features and technologies for their devices"

Phones keep getting better and many are cheaper, the flagship phones continue to be the most expensive. I'm not getting rid of my Canon 90D and lenses but I'm very hesitant to change when really our newest cameras all brands are living in old technology compared to phones. In 1980 cell phones were a huge brick, with no text, no camera and they were dumb as a brick but they were a mobile phone. I read that the first shared cell phone pic was in 1997. Maybe the dates and info are off but the cameras we know and love/hate are falling behind and it doesn't appear that the big companies care or have a plan to meet the challenge. What are your thoughts?

lukevaliant Loc: gloucester city,n. j.

i'll put my camera against any cellphone camera !

blackhound Loc: East Stroudsburg, PA

I think you should do a little more research before making such a silly, uninformed statement.

MrBob Loc: lookout Mtn. NE Alabama

The " Legacy " members of this group DON't want to hear about ANY phone challenging their tried and true REAL cameras... THEY don't want to hear just WHERE the markets are that drive demand and sales... They just cling to the EVER shrinking margin of REAL camera IQ over Phone cam IQ... Times they are a changing; won't be long !

ken_stern Loc: Yorba Linda, Ca

Simply put the difference between the two devices is:

One is an amazing toy while the other is a real Camera

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

My sides hurt.

User ID

How Valiant of you !

delder Loc: Maryland

Thoughts:
Smartphones are multi purpose technology bundles. Processing, Power & GPU are available to MULTIPLE product applications.
Flagship Smartphones now have transistor counts of 16 BILLION!
These processors are built in HUGE quantities for international sales in the MILLIONS of Smartphones.
It is hard to compare the scale between Smartphones & Pro Cameras 📷 .

Retired CPO Loc: Travel full time in an RV

I agree!

Retired CPO Loc: Travel full time in an RV

And I disagree!

larryepage Loc: North Texas area

I don't know your background and experience level, but in general it seems to me that most camera owners tend not to be particularly aware of just how sophisticated and capable their cameras really are. My first suggestion would be to get friendly with a local camera shop. Have them show you a recent camera that is disassembled, preferably a fairly high-end model. Ask them to point out the various circuit boards and systems and provide a brief overview of how everything fits and works together. Find a non-working recent cell phone and crack it open. Do the same sort of visual survey of what's inside. You will find the technology inside the camera to be not only more extensive, but also much more varied in both form and function.

Now set about to learn just what all your camera can do for you. Note also the level of customization that it is capable of. If you use your camera as more than a box with a hole on one side for a lens, you will gradually discover that it has a hugely long list of capabilities which it can execute smoothly and predictably.

It is undeniable that phones present a long list of functions as well. The difference, though, is that the phone itself is not capable of intrinsically performing all of those functions. The capability to perform the functions rests on the phone, but the actual functionality arises not from the phone itself, but from each of the software applications, or apps. Of course, the camera runs firmware, but that is really a fairly small piece of software, nowhere near the gigabytes and gigabytes of software which run on the phone.

So I would argue that the camera holds its own very effectively in the technology department. And yes, software is technology, too, but from the perspective of what comes from the store in the box, the camera holds up just fine. Probably ahead in the technology department.

Retired CPO Loc: Travel full time in an RV

I'll buy that!!! Where is your tip jar!?
I'm a retired electronics tech.

gtilford Loc: Woodstock, Ontario, Canada

So it all depends on what your taking photos of, landscape the camera can be a pretty close comparison, macro, yes you can do fairly well with that, wildlife and birds not a hope yet. Now with that said it really depends on how they are going to be used, if they are just for social then the phone camera is fine probably 75 percent of the time but if you actually want to do anything else with the photo then it becomes a bit more challenging, but with that said the software available today can allow you to do some amazing editing with a shot from a phone, I will post a shot tonight that I took on my phone a month or two ago and edited with DXO and Affinity Photo and it came out great........in the end the only good camera is the one that you have with you!

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

ken_stern Loc: Yorba Linda, Ca

Current Smart Phones are Amazing Devices

FORMAT??

Why I use a camera for shots I keep & often print