A camera phone is a mobile phone which is able to capture photographs. Most camera phones also record video. The first camera phone was sold in 2000 in Japan, a J-Phone model, although some argue that the SCH-V200 and Kyocera VP-210 Visual Phone, both introduced months earlier in South Korea and Japan respectively, are the first camera phones.
Most camera phones are simpler than separate digital cameras. Their usual fixed-focus lenses and smaller sensors limit their performance in poor lighting. Lacking a physical shutter, some have a long shutter lag. Photoflash is typically provided by an LED source which illuminates less intensely over a much longer exposure time than a bright and near-instantaneous flash strobe. Optical zoom[2] and tripod screws are rare and none has a hot shoe for attaching an external flash. Some also lack a USB connection or a removable memory card. Most have Bluetooth and WiFi and can make geotagged photographs.
Some of the more expensive camera phones have only a few of these technical disadvantages, but with bigger image sensors (a few are up to 1″), their capabilities approach those of low-end point-and-shoot cameras. In the smartphone era, the steady sales increase of camera phones caused point-and-shoot camera sales to peak about 2010 and decline thereafter. Most model lines improve their cameras every year or two.
iPhone camera
iPhoneography gained popularity with the constant improvement through generations of iPhone cameras. The first generation of iPhone was only equipped with a fixed-focus camera with no optical zoom or flash. As it evolved into the iPhone 3GS, the camera became more intelligent with autofocus, auto white balance and auto macro. The iPhone 4 was the first iPhone that could natively do high dynamic photography. The iPhone 4S and iPhone 5 were released with a panorama function available in the built-in camera app. The iPhone 6 and 6S further improved on functionality and performance, allowing more sophisticated manipulation and higher picture quality.