Smartphone user left with mysterious dark circle on camera after taking photo of the sunset

You can't get more iconic than a sunset photo.

Especially with smartphone cameras being so much better in quality than they were 10 years ago.

For one, the upcoming iPhone 16 Pro is rumoured to feature an upgraded 48MP ultrawide camera with a large 1/2.6-inch sensor - which is good news for those to love snapping photos from their handheld device.

But one photo caused an unexpected mark on one person's smartphone.

The user shared their dilemma on Reddit: "Took a photo of the sunset because I thought it looked cool and now there’s a dark circle on my camera that won’t go away".

u/carrs-for-life-32/Reddit

The post shows two photos: one with a cracking sunset shot with the NYC skyline in the background and another displaying a dark grey circle in the centre but not where the Sun was, with a larger handdrawn circle around it.

"Dark circle doesn’t even match up to the sun while both photos are uncropped rather a glare spot. As I love taking photos this is a massive bummer," the post continued.

A fellow Reddit user made it easier for others to spot the dot by adjusting the brightness and contrast of the image.

To which one viewer commented: "Now without the circle. It looks like a silhouette of a moon or Death Star".

The post was only published a day ago and has since accumulated almost 10 thousand upvotes on the subreddit r/wellthatsucks.

Another user presumed what could have happened, writing: "You may have burned out part of the sensor.

The mark left on the camera /u/carrs-for-life-32/Reddit

"This is why people were warned NOT to take photos of the eclipse."

"The sun puts out a lot of energy on many dangerous wavelengths. The lens in front of it acts like a magnifying glass and will focus that energy on a very small area," another user expanded.

"This effect is even stronger with lasers and we have seen sensors damaged from very short exposures to lasers."

"In general if you would hesitate to look at it with your own eyes you shouldn't point the camera sensor at it either."

Meanwhile, others think it's a "dust spot" and the way to clear is to "have the sensor cleaned," to which another agreed: "looks like dust on the sensor. I shoot into the sun a lot, hasn’t destroyed my sensor but it does show me how dirty it is".