1. iPhone 7/ 7 Plus
The last entry on our list of 6 best smartphones with optical zoom is also the newest one. When iPhone 7 hit the market in September, its camera was described by Apple as “the best smartphone camera ever”. Back camera has f/1.8 aperture size, 12MP and quad-LED (dual tone) flash. Apple also claims that the camera has a 2x optical zoom. This is where it gets a bit tricky. Although we listed iPhone 7 on the list, the smartphone’s optical zoom is questionable. This is because there are no retractable lenses. Instead, the zoom is achieved by dual lenses. These indeed provide the 2x magnification, so technically the phone has an optical zoom. We decided to let iPhone slip through with this one, since the camera was highly praised, and this optical zoom looks like it’s doing what it should be. As our final thought, we will quote CNET. iPhone 7 is “everything you need in a phone, except the headphone jack.”
