Rumors of the iPhone 16 Pro may promise improved optical zoom and a better wide-angle camera, but the new winners of the 2024 iPhone Photography Awards show you don’t need a new iPhone to take great photos.
The competition, now in its 17th year, runs independently of Apple, but has become a fixture on the smartphone snapping calendar. It claims to be the world’s longest-running iPhone photography competition – and as you might expect, there are some pretty good shots spread across its 15 categories.
The iPhone 15 Pro Max is, understandably, the most-represented camera at the awards – it featured in 10 of the 46 winning shots. The awards certainly aren’t dominated by new Apple models, though. The next-most popular phones were the iPhone 13 Pro and iPhone X, which featured in four winning shots each.
A few of the photos were even taken on iPhones that won’t even support iOS 18 when it comes out next month. The top spot in the “Animals” category (taken by Colin Hoskins) was taken on an iPhone 7 Plus, which launched in 2016. Meanwhile, the top spot in the “People” category (a creepy photo of some renovators in an LA motel by Brooke Wilen) was taken on an iPhone 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 are more important than hardware these days. Few shots look “straight out of camera,” and many show the telltale signs of color grading from top photo editing apps like Snapseed and Lightroom, or a tasteful black and white conversion.
While the contest rules state that “photos may not be edited in Photoshop or any other desktop image processing program,” that does leave room for mobile editors – and we’re fine with that.
Looking for inspiration for World Photography Day? Here’s a gallery of all this year’s award winners, and the iPhone used for each photo…
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Overall winner
Grand Prize Winner, by Erin Brooks (taken with an iPhone 15 Pro Max) (Image credit: IPPA Awards / Erin Brooks)
The jury chose the photo above, Boy meets shark by Erin Brooks, as their grand prize winner. Erin is no stranger to awards, having previously been runner-up in the Portrait category in 2022 and winning the Series category in 2021. The black-and-white photo was taken on an iPhone 15 Pro Max.
Shot in Tampa, Florida, the photo captures the moment a young boy gets close to a massive shark – at least behind the safety of glass – and the judges said it “symbolizes the innocence of youth combined with the mysteries of the deep sea.” The editing also, fittingly, gives it a picture-book quality.
However, it certainly wasn’t the only notable entry, as you can see below in the galleries of the other winners in these categories…
Photographer of the year
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First Place in ‘Photographer of the Year’, by Glen Wilbert (taken with an iPhone 11 Pro Max)(Image credit: IPPA Awards / Glen Wilbert)
Second Place in ‘Photographer of the Year’ by Anthony Maureal (taken with an iPhone 15 Pro)(Image credit: IPPA Awards / Anthony Maureal)
Third place in ‘Photographer of the Year’, by Wenlong Jiang (taken with an iPhone 14)(Image credit: IPPA Awards / Wenlong Jiang)
Abstract
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First place in the ‘Abstract’ category, by Jose Manuel Garcia Gonzalez (taken with iPhone 14 Pro Max) (Image credit: IPPA / Jose Manuel Garcia Gonzalez)
Second place in the ‘Abstract’ category, by Verity Milligan (taken with iPhone 15 Pro Max)(Image credit: IPPA Awards / Verity Milligan)
Third place in the ‘Abstract’ category, by Glenn Homann (taken with iPhone 11 Pro)(Image credit: IPPA Awards / Glenn Homann)
Animals
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First Prize in ‘Animals’, by Colin Hoskins (taken with an iPhone 7 Plus)(Image credit: IPPA awards / Colin Hoskins)
Second place in ‘Animals’, by Huapeng Zhao (taken with an iPhone 15 Pro Max)(Image credit: IPPA Prices / Huapeng Zhao)
Third place in ‘Animals’, by Rebecca Horrocks (taken with iPhone 13)(Image credit: IPPA awards / Rebecca Horrocks)
Architecture
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First Place in Architecture, by Leping Cheng (Photographed with iPhone 12 Pro Max)(Image credit: IPPA Awards / Leping Cheng)
Second place in ‘Architecture’, by Yixi Luo (taken with an iPhone 13 Pro)(Image credit: IPPA Awards / Yixi Luo)
Third place in ‘Architecture’, by Stephanie Weber (taken with an iPhone 11 Pro)(Image credit: IPPA Awards / Stephanie Weber)
Children
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First Prize in ‘Children’, by Daniel de Cerqueira (taken with an iPhone 11)(Image credit: IPPA Awards / Daniel de Cerqueira)
Second place in ‘Kids’, by Soledad Barranca Miron (taken with iPhone 12 Pro Max)(Image credit: IPPA Awards / Soledad Barranca Miron)
Third place in ‘Children’, by Ron Hendricks (taken with an iPhone 13)(Image credit: IPPA Awards / Ron Hendricks)
Cityscape
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First place in ‘Cityscape’, by Yanzhou Chen (taken with an iPhone 15 Pro Max)(Image credit: IPPA Awards / Yanzhou Chen)
Second place in ‘Cityscape’, by Aliaksandr Kaptsevich (taken with an iPhone X) (Image credit: IPPA Awards / Aliaksandr Kaptsevich)
Third place in ‘Cityscape’, by James Kittendorf (taken with an iPhone X)(Image credit: IPPA Awards / James Kittendorf)
Landscape
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First Place in ‘Landscape’, by Paddy Chao (taken with an iPhone 15 Pro Max)(Image credit: IPPA Awards / Paddy Chao)
Second place in ‘Landscape’, by Alessandra Manzotti (taken with an iPhone 12 Pro Max)(Image credit: IPPA Awards / Alessandra Manzotti)
Third place in ‘Landscape’, by Qu Lu (taken with an iPhone 13 Pro Max)(Image credit: IPPA Awards / Qu Lu)
Lifestyle
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First Place in ‘Lifestyle’, by Glen Wilbert (Photographed with an iPhone 11 Pro Max)(Image credit: IPPA Awards / Glen Wilbert)
Second place in ‘Lifestyle’, by Leo Huang (taken with an iPhone 11)(Image credit: IPPA Awards / )
Third place in ‘Lifestyle’, by Leo Huang (taken with an iPhone 13 Pro Max)(Image credit: IPPA Awards / )
Nature
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First place in ‘Nature’, by Shinya Itahana (taken with an iPhone 15 Pro)(Image credit: IPPA Awards / Shinya Itahana)
Second place in ‘Nature’, by Scott Galloway (taken with an iPhone 12 Pro Max)(Image credit: IPPA Awards / Scott Galloway)
Third place in ‘Nature’, by Linda Repasky (taken with an iPhone 15 Pro Max)(Image credit: IPPA Awards / Linda Repasky)
Other
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First place in ‘Other’, by Jun Hu (photographed with an iPhone 7)(Image credit: IPPA Awards / Jun Hu)
Second place in ‘Other’, by Shuo Li (taken with an iPhone 15 Pro Max)(Image credit: IPPA Awards / Shuo Li)
Third place in ‘Other’, by Chan Nyein Aung (Photographed with an iPhone 14 Pro Max)(Image credit: IPPA Awards / Chan Nyein Aung)
People
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First Prize in ‘People’, by Brooke Wilen (photographed with an iPhone 6S)(Image credit: IPPA Awards / Brooke Wilen)
Second place in ‘People’, by George Allen (taken with an iPhone 12 Pro)(Image credit: IPPA Awards / George Allen)
Third place in ‘People’, by Chi Zhang (taken with an iPhone XS)(Image credit: IPPA Awards / Chi Zhang)
Portrait
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First place in ‘People’, by Artem-Koleganov (taken with an iPhone X)(Image credit: IPPA Awards / Artem-Koleganov)
Second place in ‘People’, by Enhua Ni (taken with an iPhone X)(Image credit: IPPA Awards / Enhua Ni)
Third place in ‘Portrait’, by Manush Kalwari (taken on an iPhone SE)(Image credit: IPPA Awards / Manush Kalwari)
Series
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First Place in ‘Series’, by Xingping Zhou (Photographed with an iPhone 13)(Image credit: IPPA Awards / Xingping Zhou)
Second place in ‘Series’, by Wang WeiChao (taken with an iPhone 8 Plus)(Image credit: IPPA Awards / Wang WeiChao)
Third place in ‘Series’, taken with an iPhone 13 Pro(Image credit: IPPA Awards / Philip Parsons)
Still life
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First Prize in ‘Still Life’, by Dai Fushun (taken with an iPhone 15 Pro Max)(Image credit: IPPA Awards / Dai Fushun)
Second place in ‘Still Life’, by Yu Jiang (taken with an iPhone 15 Pro Max)(Image credit: IPPA Awards / Yu Jiang)
Third place in ‘Still Life’, by David Fish (taken with an iPhone 12 Pro)(Image credit: IPPA Awards / David Fish)
Travel
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First place in ‘Travel’, by Khalid Mahmood (Photographed with an iPhone 13 Pro)(Image credit: IPPA Awards / Khalid Mahmood)
Second place in ‘Travel’, by Hao Wen (taken with an iPhone 13 Pro)(Image credit: IPPA Awards / Hao Wen)
Third place in ‘Travel’, by Gyula Somogyi (photographed with an iPhone 15 Pro Max)(Image credit: IPPA Awards / Gyula Somogyi)