(Image credit: John Velasco / Tom's Guide)
Ask almost anyone why they upgrade their phone, and you’re likely to get this answer: the camera. We’ve been conditioned to believe that if you want rich colors, sharp details, and crisp low-light shots, you need to shell out four figures for the latest flagship. In contrast, even the best cheap phones carry the stereotype of taking cheap-looking photos that look awful as physical printouts.However, the dynamics have changed because people are mostly sharing photos on social media. The canvas where they’re shown remains small, so those deficiencies don’t look as glaring. Yet, the price gap between budget and ultra-premium handsets has never felt wider — and this TCL NXTPAPER 70 Pro vs. iPhone 17 Pro Max photo shoot out is further proof.To put this assumption to the test, I took these two wildly different devices into real-world situations to see what, if any, meaningful differences there are in their camera performance. There’s the $329 TCL NXTPAPER 70 Pro, which boasts an attractive price, while the $1,199 iPhone 17 Pro Max is considered the best phone out there for good reason.Is the flagship truly four times better, or are affordable cameras finally catching up to the point of diminishing returns? Here’s what I found.TCL NXTPAPER 70 Pro vs. iPhone 17 Pro Max: Camera specifications
