These stunning iPhone Photography Award 2024 winners show you don't need an iPhone 16 upgrade after all

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A top-down photo of a child's head, a man wearing a yellow turban, and an abstract shot of pink tunnels

These three shots were all winners in the 'Children' (left), Portrait (middle) and 'Abstract' (right) categories at the iPhone Photography Awards 2024 (Image credit: IPPA Awards / Soledad Barranca Miron / Enhua Ni / Glenn Homann)

The iPhone 16 Pro rumors might be promising some improved optical zoom and a better wide-angle camera, but the new winners of the iPhone Photography Awards 2024 show you don't need a new iPhone to take great snaps.

The competition, now in its 17th year, runs independently of Apple but has become a staple in the smartphone-snapping calendar. It claims to be the world's longest-running iPhone photography competition – and as you'd expect, some fine photos are spread across its 15 categories.

The iPhone 15 Pro Max is understandably the most well-represented camera in the awards – it was used for 10 out of the 46 award-winning shots. However, the awards are by no means dominated by new Apple models. The second most popular phones were the iPhone 13 Pro and iPhone X, which were used in four winning shots each.

A couple of photos were even shot on iPhones that won't even support iOS 18 when it lands next month. First place in the 'Animals' category (shot by Colin Hoskins) was taken on an iPhone 7 Plus, which launched back in 2016. Meanwhile, the top spot in the 'People' category (an eerie shot of some renovators at 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 both trump hardware these days. Very few shots appear to be 'straight out of camera', with many displaying the tell-tale signs of color tweaks from the best photo editing apps like Snapseed and Lightroom, or a tasteful black-and-white conversion.

While the competition's rules stated that "photos should not be altered in Photoshop or any desktop image processing program", that does leave the room open for mobile editors – and there's nothing wrong with that in our book.

Looking for some World Photography Day inspiration? Here's a gallery of all of this year's award winners, and the iPhone that was used for each shot...

Overall winner

The judges chose the shot above, Boy Meets Shark by Erin Brooks, as their Grand Prize Winner. Erin is no stranger to the awards, having previously come second in the Portrait category in 2022 and winning the Series category in 2021. The black-and-white shot was taken on an iPhone 15 Pro Max.

Taken in Tampa, Florida, the shot captures the moment a young boy comes close to a huge shark – behind the safety of glass at least – with the judges stating it symbolizes "the innocence of youth juxtaposed with the mysteries of the deep sea." The processing also fittingly gives it a picture-book quality.

It certainly wasn't the only standout entry, though, as you can see in the galleries of the other category winners below...

Photographer of the year

A group of swimmers in red caps in a green river

Abstract

Animals

Architecture

An abstract shot of some colorful archways

Children

A child swinging in a blue hammock in front of a purple wall

Cityscape

A colorful playground in front of a river and industrial towers

Landscape

Lifestyle

A crowd of people wearing yellow swimming hats

Nature

A waterfall surrounded by trees in black and white

Other

A side-on photo of a woman leaning towards a horse's head

People

Two men in white overalls working on a white building next to white ladders

Portrait

A woman standing with her hands on her hips with eyes obscured by an umbrella

Series

Children jumping in the air on the side of a swimming pool

Still Life

Four slices of watermelon in a bowl in front of a blue wall

Travel

Camels riding through sand dunes in the Moroccan desert

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Mark is TechRadar's Senior news editor. Having worked in tech journalism for a ludicrous 17 years, Mark is now attempting to break the world record for the number of camera bags hoarded by one person. He was previously Cameras Editor at both TechRadar and Trusted Reviews, Acting editor on Stuff.tv, as well as Features editor and Reviews editor on Stuff magazine. As a freelancer, he's contributed to titles including The Sunday Times, FourFourTwo and Arena. And in a former life, he also won The Daily Telegraph's Young Sportswriter of the Year. But that was before he discovered the strange joys of getting up at 4am for a photo shoot in London's Square Mile.

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