These stunning iPhone Photography Award 2024 winners show you don’t need an iPhone 16 upgrade after all
Most of the winning shots were taken on older iPhones
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TheiPhone 16 Prorumors might be promising some improved optical zoom and a better wide-angle camera, but the new winners of the iPhone Photography Awards 2024 show you don’t need a new iPhone to take great snaps.
The competition, now in its 17th year, runs independently ofApplebut has become a staple in the smartphone-snapping calendar. It claims to be the world’s longest-running iPhone photography competition – and as you’d expect, some fine photos are spread across its 15 categories.
TheiPhone 15 Pro Maxis understandably the most well-represented camera in the awards – it was used for 10 out of the 46 award-winning shots. However, the awards are by no means dominated by new Apple models. The second most popular phones were theiPhone 13 ProandiPhone X, which were used in four winning shots each.
A couple of photos were even shot on iPhones that won’t even supportiOS 18when it lands next month. First place in the ‘Animals’ category (shot by Colin Hoskins) was taken on aniPhone 7 Plus, which launched back in 2016. Meanwhile, the top spot in the ‘People’ category (an eerie shot of some renovators at an LA motel by Brooke Wilen) was taken on aniPhone 6S. ‘The best camera is the one you have with you’ may be a cliché, but it’s also true.
What’s clear from the winners below is that composition and a little editing both trump hardware these days. Very few shots appear to be ‘straight out of camera’, with many displaying the tell-tale signs of color tweaks from thebest photo editing appslike Snapseed and Lightroom, or a tasteful black-and-white conversion.
While the competition’s rules stated that “photos should not be altered inPhotoshopor any desktop image processing program”, that does leave the room open for mobile editors – and there’s nothing wrong with that in our book.
Looking for some World Photography Day inspiration? Here’s a gallery of all of this year’s award winners, and the iPhone that was used for each shot…
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Overall winner
The judges chose the shot above,Boy MeetsSharkby Erin Brooks, as their Grand Prize Winner. Erin is no stranger to the awards, having previously come second in the Portrait category in 2022 and winning the Series category in 2021. The black-and-white shot was taken on an iPhone 15 Pro Max.
Taken in Tampa, Florida, the shot captures the moment a young boy comes close to a huge shark – behind the safety of glass at least – with the judges stating it symbolizes “the innocence of youth juxtaposed with the mysteries of the deep sea.” The processing also fittingly gives it a picture-book quality.
It certainly wasn’t the only standout entry, though, as you can see in the galleries of the other category winners below…
Photographer of the year
Abstract
Animals
Architecture
Children
Cityscape
Landscape
Lifestyle
Nature
Other
People
Portrait
Series
Still Life
Travel
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Mark is TechRadar’s Senior news editor. Having worked in tech journalism for a ludicrous 17 years, Mark is now attempting to break the world record for the number of camera bags hoarded by one person. He was previously Cameras Editor at both TechRadar and Trusted Reviews, Acting editor on Stuff.tv, as well as Features editor and Reviews editor on Stuff magazine. As a freelancer, he’s contributed to titles including The Sunday Times, FourFourTwo and Arena. And in a former life, he also won The Daily Telegraph’s Young Sportswriter of the Year. But that was before he discovered the strange joys of getting up at 4am for a photo shoot in London’s Square Mile.
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