The stacks of cameras that once filled the backs of smartphones are now slowly becoming a thing of the past. The long-standing race for more cameras is giving way to fewer but more powerful lenses. A recent report from market research firm Omdia illustrates this shift with figures.

Smartphone camera count is declining

The average number of cameras on phones has been steadily declining since peaking at 4.01 in early 2021. This figure fell to 3.19 in the second quarter of 2025. Last year, the average, which was 3.37, has been declining steadily for the last 13 quarters. This decline is almost entirely due to the decrease in the number of rear cameras. Naturally, the number of front cameras has remained unchanged.

The most common setup among currently released phones is those with two rear cameras. These models accounted for 41% of all shipments in the last quarter. Phones with triple cameras accounted for 36%. The proportion of phones with a single camera has also risen to 21%, driven by devices like the iPhone 16e.

Reducing the number of cameras improves quality. High-resolution sensors are now the industry standard. According to Omdia data, 50-megapixel sensors account for 58% of all shipments, while cameras over 100 megapixels account for 9%.

In contrast, lower-resolution sensors under 15 megapixels, which were present in more than half of phones five years ago, are rapidly disappearing. Today, their share is only 12%.

This shift is also evident in flagship phones. Manufacturers are now focused on getting the best performance from a single sensor, rather than the number of lenses. The real innovations now come in advanced HDR technologies, in-sensor zoom capabilities, and AI-powered low-light shooting capabilities.