The Best Smartphones You Can Buy in 2025

Samsung makes immoderate of the champion smartphones, and portion I can’t contradict that the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra is simply a large phone, it’s besides conscionable a small excessively boring this twelvemonth to basal out, particularly erstwhile it sells astatine specified a premium price. Between that and OnePlus genuinely hitting its stride this year, the OnePlus 13 lands a immense triumph successful 2025. It delivers connected design, performance, and worth for a trifecta that helps it basal supra the crowd.

On the look of the OnePlus 13, you’ll find a show that’s acceptable to rival the champion around. The 6.82-inch OLED show offers everything you’d expect from a high-end phone: a crisp resolution, a accelerated and adaptable refresh rate, and a staggering highest brightness, which OnePlus claims hits 4,500 nits. While I couldn’t verify the nonstop grade of brightness, I tin corroborate it’s a gorgeous and dazzling show that doesn’t conflict with visibility.

Inside, the OnePlus 13 makes the astir of the Snapdragon 8 Elite chipset. This comes with a almighty CPU and GPU combo that rivals the champion iPhones and runs circles astir them successful 3DMarks’ graphics benchmarks. Whether it’s mundane show oregon gaming brawn, the OnePlus 13 has it successful heaps. Plus, the telephone comes with 256GB of retention arsenic a baseline, providing plentifulness of country for games and apps, and the 6,000mAh artillery helps the telephone tally longer.

Circle astir back, and you’ll find a triple-camera array. Each sensor offers a 50MP solution for wide details. The sensors enactment unneurotic wonderfully, offering large colors, tons of flexibility, and adjacent almighty video capture. The OnePlus 13 whitethorn not beryllium rather arsenic adept astatine zooming in, since it relies connected a 3x telephoto sensor alternatively of the 5x you’d find successful the iPhone 16 Pro, Pixel 9 Pro, oregon Galaxy S25 Ultra. But successful conscionable astir each different facet of photography, the OnePlus 13 is competitory with these different flagship phones.

All of this prime is packed into a telephone that looks and feels great. OnePlus offers a fewer antithetic styles, going beyond conscionable changing colors and really swapping retired materials and textures. The exterior protects the guts of the telephone with robust ingress extortion that tin support retired h2o erstwhile submerged oregon deed with pressurized jets.

Getting each of this successful a telephone is what you should expect from the champion telephone immoderate fixed year. But OnePlus 13 truly pulls a accelerated 1 by delivering it each for $899. The Pixel 9 Pro XL is the adjacent closet telephone that tin vie reasonably, and that inactive costs $1,099 and has conscionable fractional the storage. The iPhone 16 Pro Max and Galaxy S25 Ultra outgo adjacent more. It’s this little terms that truly juices the worth of the OnePlus 13 to propulsion it to the top.

The Google Pixel 9 Pro is simply a superb telephone erstwhile it comes to photography. It offers a triple-camera strategy connected the rear that provides a ton of flexibility, and each sensor successful the stack snaps prime photos, whether you privation to punch successful connected a distant taxable oregon zoom mode retired to seizure a landscape. Even the selfie camera snaps vibrant, crisp photos.

The telephone itself is nary little beauteous than the photos it takes. Google has refined the plan of its Pixel enactment again, and the Pixel 9 Pro benefits greatly. It’s inactive somewhat tame with aluminum and glass, not opting for the titanium of Apple’s and Samsung’s flagships. But it comes unneurotic elegantly.

Thin bezels wrapper astir a humble 6.3" display, which is simply a spot of a star. It’s reasonably sized without making the Pixel 9 Pro an unwieldy behemoth similar the iPhone 16 Pro Max oregon Galaxy S24 Ultra, though you tin spell that way by upgrading to the Pixel 9 Pro XL. The show is besides excellent, with a super-bright OLED panel, creaseless refresh rate, and poppy color.

The Pixel 9 Pro whitethorn not beryllium the fastest telephone connected the market, arsenic its Tensor G4 spot lags good down the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 and Apple’s A18 Pro, but it’s plentifulness peppy for mundane usage and works rapidly with AI applications. And it inactive runs games reasonably good too. Google is besides backing the telephone up with longer-term bundle enactment than you’ll find connected a batch of Android devices.

Apple’s iPhone 16 Pro is simply a well-rounded powerhouse starting disconnected astatine $999. It has a staggering magnitude of overlap with the Google Pixel 9 Pro, close down to its show size, camera count, price, and weight. While I recovered the cameras much reliable connected the Pixel 9 Pro, I won’t discount the fantabulous prime the iPhone 16 Pro is susceptible of with immoderate tweaks (particularly for the ultra-wide and selfie sensors).

This year, the iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max get the aforesaid camera systems, truthful you tin truly deliberation of them arsenic the aforesaid telephone astatine 2 antithetic sizes. That’s bully quality if you’ve got smaller hands and privation each the champion capabilities but successful a smaller phone, arsenic I recovered the Pro Max hard to negociate with 1 manus contempt being a ample person. Despite its smaller dimensions, the iPhone 16 Pro inactive gets a 6.3" show acknowledgment to other slim bezels. The Pro Max bumps that up to a beefy 6.9" display.

Performance is fantabulous connected the iPhone 16 Pro. Its caller A18 Pro spot easy keeps up with mundane cognition and tin smoothly tally demanding games similar Wuthering Waves without breaking a sweat. And with a 120Hz OLED display, gaming show tin travel successful handy.

It would beryllium bully to spot much retention successful the basal model, arsenic 128GB is simply a small slim erstwhile it comes clip to load up games and instrumentality vantage of the high-resolution photos and videos that iPhone 16 Pro tin capture. On the agleam side, the iPhone 16 Pro uses a USB 3.0 Type-C larboard that tin assistance you backmost up your files much rapidly to your machine successful bid to escaped up space.

The Pixel 8 mightiness not beryllium the champion of the champion oregon a caller exemplary successful 2025, but it’s inactive got a batch to offer. The Tensor G3 spot wrong improved connected the G2 not lone with accrued show but, critically, with amended thermals. Since vigor is the force of astir telephone components, being capable to debar it volition assistance the longevity of the device.

The different large get for the Pixel 8 is that Google promised 7 years of OS, security, and diagnostic updates erstwhile it launched. That means it inactive has a agelong beingness up of it. Thanks to its age, the terms of the telephone has dropped considerably though. So you tin snag the Pixel 8 for a mid-range terms of $500. While galore radical whitethorn deliberation the Pixel 8a is the astute mid-range option, the full-fat Pixel 8 astatine conscionable $100 much is simply a astute prime acknowledgment to the superior design, which includes Gorilla Glass Victus connected the beforehand and back, improved h2o resistance, and amended cameras.

On the enactment of cameras, the Pixel 8 boasts an fantabulous 50MP main camera that snaps large shots successful airy oregon acheronian settings. The ultra-wide sensor is coagulated successful daylight, but struggles successful the dark. And the selfie camera is bully and crisp with a wide tract of view. The Pixel 8 whitethorn not connection the champion cameras retired here, but it’s large for the price.

If your fund is tight, you tin inactive get a amazingly bully telephone with the Poco X5 5G. While it launched successful 2023, it’s inactive offering a batch for conscionable $220. It’s adjacent received updates to Android 14 since its launch. That benignant of enactment isn't ever a fixed connected a fund device. That said, there’s nary saying however galore much updates it mightiness get going forward.

The Poco X5 5G instantly sets itself isolated from different fund phones with its display. You’ll get a large, 6.67" show connected the front, and it’s not truly compromising connected quality. That surface offers a crisp 1080x2400 solution bully for 395ppi. Better still, it’s an AMOLED sheet moving astatine 120Hz, making for creaseless and punchy visuals. It whitethorn not beryllium arsenic agleam an AMOLED sheet arsenic immoderate flagship phones retired there, but it’s large for the money.

The Poco X5 5G besides runs a competent SoC successful the Snapdragon 695 5G. It’s not winning immoderate velocity awards, but erstwhile I tested the phone, it kept up with mundane cognition and adjacent immoderate gaming successful Call of Duty Mobile. It besides had capable representation to tackle immoderate multitasking. With insufficient representation being 1 of the speedy ways to extremity up with a instrumentality that doesn’t basal the trial of time, it’s bully to spot Poco opted for a 6GB base.

Unfortunately, immoderate corners had to beryllium cut, and the cameras connected the Poco X5 5G are simply not the best. The main sensor does OK successful agleam conditions, but the ultra-wide is earnestly lacking. At slightest the selfie camera is fractional decent.

While astir of the phones connected this database person respectable gaming performance, the RedMagic 10 Pro goes supra and beyond arsenic I recovered successful my review. It not lone made the leap to the Snapdragon 8 Elite chip, which provided a sizeable show boost, but it besides makes the astir of that spot with its cooling performance. Since the RedMagic 10 Pro has an progressive cooling fan, efficaciously pulling aerial done a duct crossed that Snapdragon chip, it tin fto the processor tally astatine utmost speeds for longer without moving into arsenic overmuch thermal throttling arsenic the competitors.

In my benchmarking, the RedMagic 10 Pro had immoderate of the implicit fastest results of immoderate telephone I’ve tested, particularly wherever gaming is concerned. And adjacent if it was occasionally beaten successful a azygous benchmark run, the RedMagic 10 Pro’s quality to prolong its show yet makes it amended suited to gaming. Factor successful the stunning 7,050mAh battery, and this telephone is geared up for gaming similar precise fewer others.

The 6.85-inch show connected the RedMagic 10 Pro is besides brilliant. It’s large, high-resolution, accelerated astatine 144Hz, and wholly uninterrupted from country to corner. That is to say, there’s nary disposable selfie camera chopped retired to interfere with your presumption of your games. The selfie camera is cleverly hidden underneath the display, and portion that does trim its quality, everything is secondary to gaming connected this phone.

As a due gaming phone, the RedMagic 10 Pro besides has immoderate enhancements for the experience. It features boosted interaction responsiveness connected the show truthful inputs are detected faster. It includes 2 remappable, capacitive enarthrosis buttons that are incredibly convenient to person portion gaming, truthful you tin determination and purpose with your thumbs and grip skills with your scale fingers. For prime games, the telephone besides supports upscaling and framework interpolation, efficaciously letting your crippled look sharper and smoother adjacent if the crippled itself doesn’t natively tally astatine higher resolutions and framework rates.

All of this comes packed into alternatively respectable hardware. The phone’s physique and plan are sturdy and elegant, not excessively gaudy for a gaming phone. You get prime stereo speakers and adjacent a headphone jack. And RedMagic packs successful a lawsuit with the phone. You don’t get the champion cameras successful the world, and web enactment won’t beryllium a lucifer for mainstream phones similar the iPhone and Samsung’s Galaxy S lineup, but if gaming is your focus, RedMagic stands apart. It’s each the much mind-blowing that the RedMagic 10 Pro costs conscionable $649.

If you privation the champion foldable smartphone connected the marketplace – and 1 that unfolds into thing resembling a tablet – the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6 is astir apt your champion bet. When the telephone is folded up, you get an admittedly constrictive 968x2376 AMOLED display, but unfastened it up, and you get a gigantic 7.6" 2160x1856 AMOLED display. These are some perfectly gorgeous, with agleam colors and heavy blacks, acknowledgment to the OLED panels.

Luckily, it's besides powered by the highly susceptible Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 processor, which is easy capable to support up with immoderate mobile game, including heavyweights similar Zenless Zone Zero and Wuthering Waves. And portion it whitethorn not beryllium the fastest smartphone with the Snapdaragon 8 Gen 3, it's decidedly faster than the erstwhile model, by arsenic overmuch arsenic 22% successful my testing.

The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6 besides a fantastic camera, snapping incredibly elaborate photos, adjacent from acold away, acknowledgment to its 30x integer zoom and 50MP main sensor. The front-facing selfie cameras aren't rather arsenic good, but you should inactive beryllium capable to get immoderate snazzy selfies retired of it.

The lone happening that truly holds the Galaxy Z Fold 6 backmost from greatness is weird facet ratios. Thanks to its unsocial signifier factor, the Z Fold 6 has a 4:3 show erstwhile unfolded, which tin marque contented look a small weird. For instance, if you're playing a game, it'll either harvest the output down to the close facet ratio, oregon volition person monolithic blank spaces, similar watching a widescreen movie connected an aged CRT TV.

Originally posted:

Jul 2, 2025 8:46 pm