The growth of the smartphone industry in Nigeria over the last couple of years has been massive with companies recognizing the country’s market potential and making phones tailored specifically for the Nigerian [Sub-Saharan] climate.
Photography plays a huge deciding factor in whether most people get or ignore a smartphone and to most, the larger the megapixels packed onto a camera lens, the better it is (We’ve debunked this theory, click here to read more on that) but either way, it’s no news that there’s been quite a number of impressive smartphones out there with their budget-cutting across the entirety of the economic sphere and today, we’re going to take a look at the top 5 Smartphones for mobile photography (and Cinematography);
- Samsung Galaxy Note 20 Ultra: Samsung is a leader in the smartphone industry and the top of the line Galaxy Note 20 Ultra is nothing short of perfection. The phone has a triple rear camera set up with a stunning 108 f/1.8 megapixels wide-angle lens, a 12-megapixel ultra-wide lens, and a 12 megapixels 5x telephoto lens. This is amongst one of the best smartphone cameras of 2020 with its major competitors being the Huawei Mate 40 Pro and the iPhone 12 Pro Max (which is yet to hit the Nigerian market). On the video side, the camera is capable of shooting 8K video at 30 frames per second as well as 4K and 1080p at 60/30/24fps respectively. The phone costs N525,000 (Basically half a million naira plus change) but if you can afford it, it’s worth every penny.
- iPhone 11 Pro Max: Yes, the iPhone 12 (and its brothers or sisters depends on how you ‘genderize’ your phones) is out but until it hits shelves here in Nigeria, we’d have to stick with its predecessor; the iPhone 11 Pro Max. This smartphone broke the Apple camera benchmark with its triple camera set up and design. Building upon the impressiveness of the iPhone X, the 11 Pro Max has a triple 12-megapixel setup [iPhone has never been big on pixel resolution] with a f/1.8 wide angle, f/2.0 telephoto, and f/2.4 ultra wide-angle lens. The iPhone 11 Pro Max set the bar for computerized photography in 2019 and all eyes are currently on the 12 Pro Max to set how it holds up. The phone costs around 540,000 (should be considerably cheaper now that the 12s are out).
- Xiaomi Note 10 Pro: Xiaomi shocked the world when it introduced the Note 10 Pro in November of 2019 (Yes, the phone is one year old) as the phone spotted the world’s first smartphone to have a Penta camera set up (5 cameras) with its main camera spotting a stunning 108 megapixels. The phone is capable of 4K video and very detailed images, even when cropped. It has a 108-megapixel wide-angle lens, a 20-megapixel ultra-wide-angle lens, a 15 megapixel 2x telephoto lens, a 5 megapixel 5x telephoto lens, and a 2-megapixel macro lens providing an option of every possible shot you might want. The phone costs about N200,000.
- Xiaomi Note 9 Pro:
The Xiaomi Note 9 Pro (also known as Redmi Note 9 Pro) was released in March of this year and spots a Quad camera setup with the primary camera holding a 48-megapixel f/1.7 lens and the three remaining cameras spotting 8 megapixels ultra-wide-angle, 5 megapixels telephoto and 2-megapixel macro (the macro lens seems like a standard across the smartphone board these days). The Note 9 Pro is capable of 4K video as well as 1080p/240fps. It is ideal for mobile documentary photographers who want to shoot on the go as the sensor retains as much detail as is needed to effectively tell the story. The phone costs around N115,000.
- Oppo Reno 4 Pro: Oppo came onto the map in Nigeria in 2019 and since then, they’ve been creating wonders with the Reno flagship lineup of smartphones and the latest; the Reno 4 Pro is the last on our list. The phone has a triple rear camera setup with the main wide-angle camera spotting 48-megapixels with an f/1.7 aperture whilst the other two hold 13 megapixels telephoto lens and a 12-megapixel ultra-wide-angle respectively. The Oppo Reno 4 Pro was released in June and costs about N205,000.
