5 Android Phones That Had Variable Aperture Cameras Before The iPhone 18 Pro

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Long before Apple released the iPhone 18 Pro with a variable aperture on the main camera, which we consider the best smartphone camera of 2026, other Android players walked this path before — and eventually exited it. The first was Samsung with the 2018 Galaxy S9 and S9+. Over the years, other companies followed, like Huawei with the Mate 50 Pro, Sony with the Xperia Pro-I, and Xiaomi with its 14 Ultra phone. Always focused on the premium segment — and eventually expanding to the mid-range – what these smartphone manufacturers tried to achieve was a way to differentiate themselves from the wave of phones with similar specs.

By combining the expertise of famous brands like Leica and Zeiss, these smartphone manufacturers could bring more customization to their offerings as, usually, smartphones use a fixed aperture to capture the most light across several conditions. With variable aperture, customers can select manually how much light they want the phone to absorb, which can impact depth of field and offer more creativity when taking photos.

Variable aperture cameras on phones can be great for group photos, where you can ensure that several subjects remain in focus. Photos can also look sharper, and photographers can play with different lighting conditions, object movement, and more. Still, most of these companies eventually decided to phase out the technology, saving the extra effort that they would rather put somewhere else. These are some Android phones that had variable aperture cameras before the iPhone.

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Introduced in March 2018, the Galaxy S9 was the first smartphone with a variable aperture with a f1.5 and f.24 dual option. According to Samsung, this smartphone worked like the human eye, as it would adjust to different lighting conditions. Besides that, Samsung’s camera would also capture up to 12 versions of the same photo to ensure the image would have great contrast, while reducing noise. This camera was also responsible for Super Slow-mo captures at 960 frames per second, automatic Motion Detection, and Samsung’s AR Emoji, a response to Apple’s popular Memojis that you could even set as your own wallpaper. All that was possible thanks to a rear 12MP camera and a 12MP telephoto lens, and an 8MP selfie camera.

The Samsung Galaxy S9 also marked a few other improvements over the previous generation, which only had one main camera. While Apple was moving forward with Face ID technology, Samsung had a fingerprint sensor in the back of the phone — just underneath the cameras — which could become convenient once you discovered where to place your finger, but would most times just keep your camera lenses smudged with a ‘clean your lenses” notification before you could take any photo.

Samsung continued to offer a variable aperture with its subsequent releases, including the Galaxy S20 and the Galaxy Note 10. However, costs and complexity of the hardware made the company ditch the technology. While Galaxy S27 was rumored to bring the feature back, these remain the reasons why Samsung might never restore it back to its phones.

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In 2021, in partnership with ZEISS, Sony released the Xperia Pro-I smartphone. This device has been the only Sony phone with a variable aperture. With f/2.0 to f/4.0 aperture, the company promised “outstanding low light performance, high dynamic range, and beautiful bokeh.” Sony also promoted this Xperia Pro-I phone as the first smartphone to record 4K video at 120fps. While the PRO-I didn’t live up to the expectations of a second generation with variable aperture, Sony eventually switched to true continuous optical zoom with telephoto lenses moving the glass element between focal lengths like 85mm and 125mm.

The Sony Xperia Pro-I featured a 6.5-inch 4K HDR OLED display with 120Hz refresh rate. It had the Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 5G processor, 12GB of RAM, and 512GB of storage with up to 1TB of expandable storage via a microSDXC slot. Focused for photography enthusiasts, this phone featured a triple-camera system led by a 12MP 1.0-inch Exmor RS main sensor with variable aperture and 24mm Zeiss Tessar T optics. This phone also featured a 12MP telephoto lens with 2x optical zoom and a 12MP ultrawide lens. Sony also had a 3D iToF depth sensor to improve shots, in addition to an 8MP front-facing camera.

Even though Sony is currently absent from the U.S. market, it still sells smartphones in a few regions. Among its offerings, Sony has the Xperia 10 VIII, the Xperia 1 VII, and the Xperia 10 VII, tackling the mid-range phone segment.

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Released in 2022, Huawei was another company to introduce variable aperture for its main camera. Called Ultra Aperture XMAGE Camera, Huawei Mate 50 Pro focused on a Professional mode that would give users 10 different aperture sizes to choose from. With a 50MP sensor, the company said the lens was able to absorb 24% more light than the previous model thanks to a ultra-large f/1.4 aperture and RYYB sensor. This sensor was also responsible for an improved Super Night Mode to give low-light ambient shots a new life.

This phone also featured a 64MP periscope telephoto lens with 3.5x optical zoom and a 13MP ultrawide lens. The selfie camera featured a 13MP camera with a 3D ToF sensor for 3D face unlock. The Huawei Mate 50 Pro had a 6.74-inch OLED display with 120Hz refresh rate, and it was powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 chipset with 8GB of RAM, and up to 512GB of storage.

Unlike Samsung, Huawei continued releasing smartphones with a variable aperture, which included the 2023 Huawei P60 Pro phones, the Huawei Pura 70 Pro lineup released in 2024, and more recently the Pura 80 Pro and 80 ultra in 2025. Even more interestingly, the company brought this technology to mid-range lineups with the Huawei Nova 13 Pro and Nova 14 Pro. They feature a 50MP RYYB sensor with an f/1.4 to f/4.0 aperture, which shows a unique case of a company that kept betting on this technology for its phones.

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Xiaomi was probably one of the loudest companies about the variable aperture feature. First partnering with Leica, the company offered a dual-step mechanism with the Xiaomi 13 Ultra in 2023, and then improved the technology by 2024 in the 14 Ultra with a stepless 10-blade aperture. However, after two big years of focusing on this function, the company silently removed the variable aperture with the Xiaomi 15 Ultra and moved back to a fixed f/1.63 aperture.

Among the reasons, Xiaomi focused on solving the “telephoto gap” problem by offering a continuous mechanical optical zoom with the 17 Ultra option, adding advanced sensors with dynamic range technology that could handle highlights and extreme light contrast directly at the pixel level, and also due to the weight and thickness of previous models. By dropping the extra mechanical motor, the company was able to make the main module simpler, lighter, and less prone to mechanical wear over time.

While Xiaomi moved away from the technology, at the time it launched, the company really promoted a phone focused on photographers, with a quad rear camera system sporting a main 50MP 1.0-inch sensor, and three additional 50MP lenses for ultrawide, 3.2x optical zoom, and 5x optical periscope telephotos. The phone also featured a 32MP selfie camera to take sharp shots, and a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 processor with up to 16GB of RAM and 1TB of storage.

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In 2024, Honor became the latest smartphone maker (before Apple) to bet on variable aperture. With its all-new Magic6 Pro, Honor opted for a 50MP main camera with variable aperture between f/1.4 and f/2.0, promising “to capture fast-paced moments in exceptional clarity without compromising on details.” The smartphone also featured a 180MP telephoto camera with 2.5x optical zoom, up to 100x digital zoom, and a 50MP ultra-wide lens.

Unlike Samsung’s Galaxy S9, where the primary focus was the variable aperture, this Honor release was a lot more than that, with a big focus on AI. The company touted improvements with the MagicOS 8.0, its own version of Android with Magic Capsule and Magical Portal features. For example, the Magic Portal would understand messages and user behavior to streamline tasks — like recognizing an address on a message and direct users to Google Maps. Magic Capsule, on the other hand, users would get more informational and related options on the notifications banner at the top of the screen.

This phone also featured a 6.8-inch OLED display with 120Hz refresh rate, Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 processor paired with up to 6GB of RAM, 1TB of storage, and a 5,600 mAh silicon-carbon battery with 80W of wired charging. What’s more interesting is that, so far, Honor continues to bet on variable aperture, as its latest Magic7 Pro model still features a physical two-step variable aperture.