Comparison of Over 15 Smartphone Gimbals to Find the Best

Our Favourite 3-Axis Smartphone Gimbals

This is what we believe is the best bang for your buck, best overall features and specs available and smartphone gimbal that can do almost anything asked of it.

Below we compared all 15+ smartphone gimbals in various different ways to see which ticks the most boxes and comes out on top and here in our opinion are some of the best smartphone gimbals on the market today.

The Best Smartphone Gimbal

After using a handful of gimbals and digging deeper to compare over 15 smartphone 3-axis gimbals.

The vote for the best smartphone gimbal from us, goes to.

Feiyu Tech Vlog Pocket 2

Is one of the best smartphone gimbals available and our best overall choice. It costs under $100 brand new and has some fantastic features and battery time.

Has a very nice look to it, it's light and portable, and is a fantastic all-rounder.

• Has one of the best battery life and charge times out of all smartphone gimbals
• Is one of the most affordable at under $99
• Is one of the lightest smartphone gimbals available

Runners Up

Close behind are two more smartphone gimbals we just love, the Hohem iSteady X and the DJI OM 4. They offer totally different things, with the Hohem iSteady X offering portability, small size and a smooth 3-axis gimbal setup.

The DJI OM4 is new for 2020, it costs a bit more than the other two here but has smart tracking features and is a fantastic gimbal.

Hohem iSteady X

Is one of the best smartphone gimbals available on the market today and is our go to choice for portability and a great price.

• One of the lightest smartphone gimbals
• One of the smallest smartphone gimbals
• Has plenty of features and modes
• Is one of the most affordable smartphone gimbals
• Has one of the best manoevrablity scores of any smartphone gimbal

DJI OM 4

Is one of the best smartphone gimbals available today with some fantastic features, like active tracking and a very user friendly approach.

• Has one of the best batteries and charging times
• Has unique physical features that make it quick and easy to use
• Has plenty of features and modes
• Brand new gimbal for 2020

What Smartphone Gimbals Are There

Right now on the market there are about 15 smartphone gimbals available made by a number of videography and tech companies.

We are continually scouring the internet for the best filming and photography gear, whether it's camera gimbals, action cameras or camera drones.

We then add our new finds and equipment releases to our one of a kind smart discovery comparison tools, like the gimbal comparison tool we have.

As we add new gimbals to the comparison tools database, they will also automatically appear here. So expect to see more smartphone gimbals added as this guide gets updated in to the future.

And from this we show you what is out there and what each smartphone gimbal can do. 

Below is a complete list of smartphone gimbals that are available to buy today.

What is the Best Smartphone Gimbal in Terms of Price

If you're looking for a smartphone gimbal based on price, you have a fixed amount available and you don't want to spend too much to see if film making and a phone gimbal is right for you, here we break down the prices available.

Smartphone Gimbals Under $50

You might want to see if there are any smart phone gimbal stabilisers under $50, and at the time of writing, there aren't any on the market.

You'll have to spend a little more to find a smartphone gimbal, with them ranging from prices just above $50 up to $300.

If they do appear, which we reckon they will in the next year or so as technology gets cheaper, they will automatically appear in the table below.

Smartphone Gimbals Under $100

If you have $100 to spend on a gimbal, you will have a few options, and this can get you a decent introduction to film making and videography with a gimbal.

Below is a table of all the options you have that are under $100.

For under $100, you get the choice of nearly half of the available smartphone gimbals today, which means you don't have to spend much to get yourself some smooth footage when using your smartphones camera.

They start at a price of $69 and go up to $99 for all those in this price category.

There are three brands that have the cheapest smartphone gimbals available on the market today, they are Hohem, Zhiyun and Feiyu Tech. These are probably some of the largest gimbal manufacturers making gimbals in the film industry today and they also create larger camera, DSLR and cinema camera gimbals too.

So not only are they making cheaper smartphone gimbals, they're making fantastic film and cinema worthy gimbals too that the professionals use around the world.

Each of these brands have an offering of $69, the Hohem is a pocketable and folding 3-axis smartphone gimbal. The Zhiyun Smooth X is one of the smallest on the market but is only a 2-axis gimbal and the Feiyu Tech Vlog Pocket is slightly larger than the other two but is a 3-axis smartphone gimbal with some fantastic features.

Smartphone Gimbals Under $150

If you have a bit more to spend, here you can see a number of smartphone gimbals that cost between $100 and under $150.

There are three at the time of writing in this range, costing $119 for the Zhiyun Smooth Q2 and the DJI Osmo Mobile 3 and $149 for the new for 2020 DJI OM 4 smartphone gimbal.

These three smartphone gimbals have a couple more features and the OM4 has a unique magnetic clasp function that hasn't been seen on any other smartphone gimbal before, making it a smoother and quicker process when connecting your phone and gimbal together to use.

It also features, like a couple of other more expensive smartphone gimbals, active tracking or object tracking which is a cool feature to have.

Smartphone Gimbals Under $200

If you have a bit more to spend, you can look at getting a smartphone gimbal for under $200.

These tend to be multi-camera gimbals which can also utilise and fit a smartphone on them as well as compact and action cameras.

You'll find that these are also slightly larger than the mobile only smartphone gimbals as they need to be to fit the point and shoot and small mirrorless cameras.

Below is a table which shows all options for smartphone gimbals that cost under $200.

Smartphone Gimbals Over $200

If you have no budget and are looking for one of the best smartphone gimbals you can buy, there are some available for over $200.

At the time of writing, the Feiyu Tech G6 Max is the only offering at $279, so more than $200 more than the cheapest smartphone gimbals on the market.

Which Smartphone Gimbals Are Lightweight

If weight is a priority and you want to make a decision based on what weight the smartphone gimbal is, you can compare here which are the lightest smartphone gimbals available on the market today.

You may want to pack the gimbal in your backpack or even pocket, which means having a lightweight smartphone gimbal will help with portability and travelling.

We can highly recommend those at the top of the list which are lightweight and the best smartphone gimbals for travelling and backpacking.

But because they are light, you might find that they miss other features that more heavier gimbals have.

Which is the lightest and which others are light?

The lightest smartphone gimbal you can get today is a smidge under 250grams in weight, in the form of the Zhiyun Smooth X and the Zhiyun Smooth XS, both coming in at 246 and 249grams.

You will find three others that come in at under 300grams and then there is a big jump to the next lightest smartphone gimbal at 390grams for the DJI OM 4.

The three under 300 grams are the Hohem iSteady X which weighs 259grams, the Feiyu Tech Vlog Pocket which weighs 272grams and the Feiyu Tech Vlog Pocket 2 which also weighs 272 grams.

To put that in perspective, the average smartphone weight and that of an iPhone is just under 200 grams, so you will find these smartphone gimbals weigh slightly more than the average phone.

If you want to keep weight down, you'll want to combine a light smart phone which has a great camera on it to that of a light 3-axis gimbal. This means when you are using them your arms won't get tired over time and you will feel happier using them to get the shots you want.

Which Smartphone Gimbals Are Small and Pocketable

Are there any pocketable smartphone gimbals? Are they even small enough to put in your pocket? You might have most of your questions in regards to smartphone gimbals around how small they are and whether you can take it with you, wherever you are.

You'll be in for a huge surprise hopefully when you realise just how small some of the smartphone gimbals on the market are today.

The smallest smartphone gimbal on the market today in terms of size is that of the Zhiyun Smooth X, with a volume of 527cm³. To put that in perspective, a can of fizzy pop is 330cm³. So roughly 200cm³ larger in terms of size but still able to fit on the palm of your hand.

There are only a few more which are of similar size to this, which you can see in the table below, along with their dimensions.

The Hohem iSteady X is slightly larger, but still smaller than 2 cans of pop, at 551cm³ in it's smallest form when folded up.

The DJI OM 4 comes in at 754cm³ in volume which is quite a jump from the smallest available gimbal. The Feiyu Tech Vlog Pocket 2 is 842cm³ in size when folded up in it's smallest form and the Zhiyun Smooth Q2 is 863cm³.

From here they only get larger and larger, which means heavier gimbals and less pocketable and transportable features.

Do All Smartphone Gimbals Have 3-Axis

This is a great question, to get the most out of a camera stabiliser, such as a gimbal, it should have 3-axis, tilt, roll and pan.

Do all smartphone gimbals have a tilt, roll and pan axis?

The answer is simple, not all do, most have 3-axis but a number, at the time of writing have only 2-axis which are motorised.

Below we have added a comparison table to show you which smartphone gimbals tilt, roll and pan, and most importantly, by how much!

We have made the table sortable, so you can sort each column to see which phone gimbals tilt the most, pan the most and roll the most.

But why would you want to know that? For instance, the inception or vortex mode that a lot of gimbals advertise is actually the gimbal being able to roll or pan 360 degrees. If it couldn't go 360 degrees, it would not be able to continuously move on this axis and stop short of a full rotation.

In the video above, you an see the videographer do vortex/inception mode, and this is the gimbal spinning on the roll axis continuously. So for this to work, you need to get a smartphone gimbal that can do 360° movement without limitation.

The same then goes for panning and tilt axis, the higher the number and closer to 360° they are, the more they can turn on that axis. If for instance they can turn 180° and you are facing forward, the gimbal will move the smartphone 90 degrees left and 90 degrees right from the direction you are facing.

Not All Smartphone Gimbals Have 3-Axis

By sorting the smartphone gimbals below you can see that two of them do not have a tilt axis. The Zhiyun Smooth X and the Smooth XS are both missing a motor here, which means that these two smartphone gimbals are only a 2-axis motorised gimbals and give way to the tilt.

This means that you have to physically move your gimbal down to make the camera on the smartphone point towards the floor and the same for looking up to the sky. These movements will not be as smooth as the other 2 axis because of this.

The Most Manoeuvrable Smartphone Gimbals

If you do wish to use vortex or inception mode, we have added that as a feature and a mode type further down and for each and every smartphone gimbal available, but as mentioned you can also look at how much they pan and roll.

If they can do either of these to 360degrees, they can continuously move around on this axis and do cool spinning shots with your smartphone.

Below you can sort the table by panning angle and see that the following smartphone compatible gimbals can do vortex and inception mode as they can spin continuously on this axis. These are the most manoeuvrable smartphone gimbals on the market today.

• Hohem iSteady Multi
• Hohem iSteady Mobile+
• Feiyu Tech G6 Plus
• Feiyu Tech G6 Max
• Zhiyun Crane M2
• Zhiyun Smooth Q2
• Moza Mini P

Manoeuvrability Score

We have created this score which shows how manoeuvrable a gimbal is across it's range of axis, tilt, roll and pan.

The higher the score, the more it can move about. Remember, some of this may be limited by a larger smartphone device and depends upon that and the length of the arms between each motor and is a guide only.

So if you're looking for a smartphone gimbal that can do the most amount of movement without hitting itself then check out those that have as close to a 360 degree range as possible on each axis and then a high manoeuvrability score.

Are There Any Weatherproof or Waterproof Smartphone Gimbals

Yes there are, and if this is a specific feature you would like, then you are in for a treat.

We use the IP rating, known as ingress protection rating on the gimbals to show how good they are in dusty and wet environments. Here is a guide as to what each IP rating represents and a table below that with smartphone gimbals that are weatherproof, dustproof and waterproof.

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There are a couple of smartphone compatible gimbals in the table below which have an IP rating. They are IPX5 and IP55 ratings which means that they are both protected against jetting water. The other gimbal, the Feiyu G6 Plus has an IP rating of IP55, which means it's protected from a large amount of dust, great for filming on beaches and dusty environments, as well as also being protected from water jets with that 5 water rating. 

Smartphone Gimbals Power

After making your footage look smooth, one of the main features we look for in a gimbal is that of battery life.

Without a decent battery life, or what we have coined, uptime, you'll find you will be charging the gimbal more than you would be using it.

Below we have created a comparison table of smartphone gimbals which shows their battery life, the charge time and their uptime score for each.

To understand the uptime score better, if a smartphone gimbal has 60 minutes battery life, and takes 60 minutes to charge, over that 2 hour span of it's battery cycle, it has a 50% uptime score as it is able to be used for 50% of the time. You'll want to look for as high a number as you can to find the best in this category.

You can sort by any of these specific features using the table below.

Battery Types Used in Smartphone Gimbals

There are quite a few different types of batteries used in gimbals and smartphone gimbals are no different. You will find replaceable, swappable, and inbuilt battery types throughout the options available.

All are rechargeable, with some having to be removed to charge but can be recharged using a USB cable with a power bank, or a main plug socket.

Our favourite types of battery are the 18650 cell, as they pack a punch for their size and have proven to be very reliable, fast charging and energy efficient. You'll find these cell sizes and lithium technology used in most laptops and even electric cars.

Smartphone Gimbals With the Longest Battery Life

Which smartphone gimbal has the longest battery life, by sorting the table below, we can get that answer.

The Moza Mini MX has by far the longest battery life compared to all other smartphone gimbals with an astounding 1200minutes of battery and use time.

From the same manufacturer, the Moza Mini P, which is a multi-camera gimbal has the same length battery of 1200minutes too. And you can pretty much guarantee multiple days of gimbal use with these gimbals and not have to recharge for a very long time.

This is a whopping 300 minutes, literally hours more compared to the second best battery length with the DJI OM 4 which has up to 900 minutes of battery life.

Most other smartphone gimbals have battery lengths of 400 to 900 minutes depending on the brand and model.

Smartphone Gimbals With the Quickest Charge Time

The quickest charge time out of all the smartphone gimbals is that of the Feiyu Vlog Pocket 2, which takes 90 minutes to charge fully, thats just 1.5 hours, incredible. It might not have the longest battery life, but it makes up for this with a super fast charge time.

Followed closely by the Zhiyun Crane M2, Hohem iSteady X and the original Feiyu Tech Vlog Pocket which all have charge times of 120 minutes, which is a total of 2 hours for a full charge.

Smartphone Gimbals With The Best Uptime Score

This is a feature we have coined  which works off of the battery life and it's charge time.

The smartphone gimbal with the best uptime score means that the smartphone gimbal charges quickly and has a very good battery life. This will get it the best score possible.

With it's incredible battery life, the Moza Mini MX has an uptime score of 89/100, with three others close behind. That literally means that for every 100 minutes, the gimbal can be used for 89 minutes and charged for 11 minutes.

Making up the top four are the DJI Osmo Mobile 3 and DJI OM 4 with an uptime score of 87 and in third place, the Feiyu Tech Vlog Pocket 2 having an uptime score of 86.

After these four gimbals there is a bit of a gap as other smartphone gimbals take a little longer to charge or don't have as much battery life.

If having a smartphone gimbal on you that lasts a long time and also charges quickly means a lot, these four camera gimbals are definitely the best in the industry at staying on and charging fast, so that they're ready when you need them most.

Multi Camera Smartphone Gimbals

Some smartphone gimbals are not just smartphone compatible only, some are multi-camera gimbals which also fit smartphones.

This means that you can fit smartphones, action cameras, mirrorless cameras and compact point and shoot cameras to them as well. They have larger payloads and can carry more weight and different sized cameras and phones.

To work with a smartphone, most just come with an adapter that locks in just like a camera does with a 1/4" tripod screw.

Below you can see a list of which smartphone gimbals work with more than just smartphones.

Do They Hold Just Smartphones

Some of the smartphone gimbals are just that, whilst others are also multi-camera gimbals. Such as the Feiyu Tech G6 Plus and Moza Mini P, these camera gimbals can hold not just smartphones, but action cameras and small mirrorless cameras.

We have added them to this smartphone gimbal guide because they can also support a smart phone.

Below is a complete list of all smartphone gimbals stabilisers available on the market right now.

Smartphone Gimbal Modes

Which smartphone gimbals have a lot of modes or the modes you want? Below in the table you can see which smartphone gimbals have which modes.

We haven't used each and every single smartphone gimbal, but we have added the modes that they all advertise on their specs pages on their manufacturer website.

You'll notice modes like fast more and be thinking, what is this? We have changed this to say fast sport mode so that you can understand that the gimbal has a feature that lets it follow fast action and sports with ease and can move from one direction to another quickly and smoothly.

That is just one example of many of the types of modes they have.

Another you may be interested in is vortex mode otherwise known as inception mode and this is when the gimbal spins the phone around the centre position like a clock and everything in shot will spin around on that axis, which is usually the pan or roll axis.

Another one for the smartphone gimbals that might be important is that of portrait and landscape mode, and with this you can flip between the two angles effortlessly. This is even better for a smartphone and not often seen on a larger gimbal for DSLR cameras, because the smartphone can auto change the screens axis so that when you move from landscape to portrait, the screen will move with that.

This also makes it perfect for those that want to film specifically in portrait mode compared to landscape and wide field of views.

You should get pan, tilt and follow modes on most of the gimbals available and you always have a joystick on the gimbals to use to move the gimbal in the direction you want without having to rely on a specific mode to move the gimbal for you.

One of the newest features you'll find in the latest smartphone gimbals, is that of active tracking or object tracking. When you sync your phone up to the gimbal and use its app to control the device, you can use this mode and watch as the gimbal will move to keep the smartphones camera pointed at the object you wished to track.

This could be a humans face, a car or building, anything really and is a very powerful new feature in the world of smartphone gimbals.

We have found a joystick great for when the gimbal loses its horizon and isn't as straight as we needed, or if the gimbal is on a tripod, you can use the joystick to move the motors on the gimbal to point the phone in a direction you want, this is perfect for time lapses and other photography types.

Is Your Smartphone Compatible

More than likely, yes, your smartphone should fit on most of the gimbals in this guide. The odds that it doesn't fit on a smartphone gimbal are very very small. At the end of the day, they are all made to fit the most popular phones, iPhones and android devices like Samsung, Nokia, Hauwei, Xiaomi, LG and other manufacturer smart phones.

For each smartphone gimbal, we have added a width and thickness parameters which show what size smartphones are compatible with them in the table below.

The DJI OM 4 has a gimbal width compatible of 67 - 84 mm and is compatible with phones of a thickness of (less than or equal to) ≤ 10.00mm.

This means that iPhones from the iPhone 6, which has a width of 67mm, the iPhone 6S has a width of 67.1mm, the iPhone 7 has the same width of 67.1mm, the iPhone 8 and iPhone SE 2020 both have widths of 67.3mm.

These are some of the smallest model iPhones and all fit a DJI OM4. You then also have iPhones 6 Plus, 6S Plus, 7 Plus, 8 Plus, iPhone X, iPhone XS, and iPhone 11 Pro, iPhone 11 Pro Max, iPhone 11, iPhone XS Max and iPhone XR that all have widths that are compatible with this smartphone gimbal.

Below you will find a table of all smartphone gimbals with their width and thickness compatibility sizes so you can check if your phone works with a specific gimbal model before purchasing.