The 2021 IPPAwards winners prove you don’t need a fancy phone

DSLR or smartphone? It’s a centuries-old debate that photographers, enthusiasts and journalists have been waging ever since phone cameras began to become flood-prone. Among gadget nerds, adding advanced lenses or improved camera software is often used to justify an upgrade of the phone, perhaps before you actually need it. However, many of the winning photos of the 2021 iPhone Photography Awards were taken on older iPhones and still look pretty amazing.

The grand prize winning photo, “Shepherds of Transylvania”, was taken by Hungarian photojournalist Istvan Kerekes during a iPhone 7. And that’s not an outlier either. Several winners in several categories were chosen from iPhones that are several years old. Contest rules also state that photographers cannot use desktop versions of photo editing software, although mobile versions are allowed.

Here’s a collection of some of our favorites, and you can check out the full list of winners. here. Remember: the best camera is the one you have with you.