You will usually see digital cameras (and cameras in mobile phones) highlight the number of megapixels they capture. The higher the number, the better quality the image.
Digital cameras capture images in tiny little blocks called ‘pixel elements’, or ‘pixels’. One megapixel simply means one million pixels. The higher the number, the more tiny blocks the image is broken into, the better the resolution - that is the level of details contained in a photo.
An image taken on a camera with too few megapixels may appear unclear when printed out, and can look blurred or ‘pixelated’ (blocky) when expanded or cropped too much.
Here's an example of a pixelated image, which is not what you want!
Updated March 2023