The megapixel war seems to be back on again, and raging even harder this time with some phones boasting megapixel counts as high as 108MP. Whether or not mobile cameras need that many megapixels is another topic on its own.
If you’d like to check how many megapixels your mobile camera/s has/have, there are four simple ways in which you can do so.
Online search
The quickest and easiest way to check how many megapixels your camera has is by doing an online search. If you enter your phone model into Google and search for its camera specs, you should get plenty of websites that will give you the information you need and perhaps more.
Most sites that focus on smartphone cameras give you a lot of details on quite a number of their specs, from megapixels to pixel size, and from focal length to optical zoom, etc.
Screenshot of the GSM Arena website with the specs of the Motorola Edge+ displayed
In the camera app
Most camera apps allow you to change the resolution of the images you want to take in the app’s settings menu. From the resolution options the app gives you, you can see how many megapixels your camera has based on the highest possible resolution available.
For example, if your camera gives you the option to take a 4MP, 8MP, or 16MP picture, it means that the camera has a 16MP resolution camera. And if you wish, you can lower the resolution to 8MP or 4MP.
The EXIF data
Every digital camera saves information relating to the photo, known as EXIF data, within the image file. EXIF data is also sometimes referred to as metadata.
Among all the information saved in the EXIF data is the resolution of the image. Depending on the app or software you’re using to view the EXIF data, the resolution may be displayed in megapixels, height by width pixel counts, or both.
To get the megapixel count from a resolution shown in height(h) and width(w) (eg. 3000 pixels x 4000 pixels), multiply the (h) by the (w) and you’ll get the megapixel count.
For example:
3 000px (h) x 4 000px (w) = 12 000 000px
12 000 000px = 12MP
It’s common to have camera resolutions with perfectly round numbers. Whatever the final multiple is, it’s usually rounded off when expressed in megapixels.
For example:
1944px (h) x 2592px (w) = 5 038 848px
5 038 848px = 5MP
You can view the EXIF data easily from your phone, mobile device or computer. All you have to do is navigate to any image captured with your smartphone camera and open it to look at its EXIF data.
Android
To view a photos EXIF data on an android device, you can use any file manager or photo explorer app of your choice. For this quick walkthrough, I will use Google Photos since it’s available on pretty much every Android device.
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- --> Launch Google Photos
- --> Complete the setup process (for first-time users)
- --> Open a photo that you shot with your mobile camera
- --> Click on the “i” with a circle around it.
- --> The image’s EXIF data should appear on the screen
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Details about your mobile photo as they appear in the Google Photos app. Ignore the date in this example 🙂
iOS device
Checking an iPhone photo’s EXIF data is a bit tricky. The easiest way for you to do so is with the Files app.
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- --> Open the Photos app
- --> Navigate to the photo and tap the Share button
- --> Scroll down to the “Save to Files” option
- --> Choose or create a folder and save the photo
- --> After the photo you’ve saved the photo, open the Files app
- --> Find the folder that you saved the picture to
- --> Force Touch on the picture until a menu appears
- --> Tap “Info” and then “Show More”
- --> The EXIF data for that photo should appear on your screen.
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Windows computer
- --> Open the folder where your image is located
- --> Right-click on a photo taken with your mobile camera and then select Properties
- --> Click on the Details tab
- --> The image’s EXIF data should now be displayed
Image EXIF data as it appears on a Windows 10 computer
Apple computer
- --> Open Photos for macOS
- --> Open an image captured with your smartphone
- --> Tap the ”I” button on the top-right
- --> You can now view the EXIF data for the photo
Phone info app
And finally, you can also download an app on your phone that will give you all the information about your device, including the camera/s.
Unlike with checking the metadata of the picture, phone info apps give you a lot more information about your camera, some of which may be too technical for you to worry about.
Most importantly, you can easily see how many megapixels your camera/s has/have, and what other resolution it supports. You’ll also get info on your phone camera’s video capabilities.
One such app you can use on Android devices is Droid Hardware Info. Once you have installed and launched the app, you’ll notice that it gives you a ton of information about the make of your phone, its hardware components, memory, and the camera/s.
Screenshot of Droid Hardware Info app
If you’re crazy about smartphones, their insides, and how they work, this is a great app to have in order to further understand your smartphone as a whole.
Conclusion
So, there you have it. Four ways in which you can check to see, not only the megapixel count of your phone’s camera but in most cases, other camera specs as well. Just remember not to fall for the megapixels hype.
More megapixels do not necessarily mean better photos. To learn the REAL truth about smartphone camera megapixels, click here.
If you want to take good photos with your phone, don’t just rely on the megapixels. You need to learn more about your phone’s camera and how it works so that you can take advantage of what it has to offer.
To help you start your journey to improving your mobile photography, I have put together a simple yet informative free guide that you can download for free. There is so much you can do with your mobile photos. And the better they are, the likelier your chances are of even making money with your smartphone photos.
If you’re interested in learning how to improve your phone photography, download the 5 Ways To Improve Your Smartphone Photography ebook by clicking on the banner above or by clicking here. There’s a lot to learn in its 22 pages of content and it’s ABSOLUTELY FREE!!!
Comments 2
This is such a nice way to check the megapixels in our smartphones. Thanks for sharing these tips I really loved it. I just bought the Vivo X50 pro with gimbal camera which is really awesome and let me know how to verify this feature.
Author
Glad you enjoyed it