The best phones bring beautiful cameras, the functionality you need to perform many tasks, and battery life to stay up all day. And with new phones from both Samsung and OnePlus now available, there are a lot of new options at our levels.
When it comes to buying a new phone, some people may prefer to have the largest display and the most advanced specs. And some want a solid mid-range phone that brings all the basics without feeling cheap. To help you choose the best smartphone for you, we are exploring a host of executives in the lab and in the real world to make our recommendations.
Our excellent phone list has something for everyone, including low budget phones and expensive ones. We’ve put all the top phones based on our testing. Here are the top smartphones right now.
iPhone 12 Pro Max
The iPhone 12 Pro Max is one of the best phones you can buy and this is a completely unique phone, especially for those who love big screens. You get a 6.7-inch OLED display, advanced A14 Bionic performance, and 5G power. But the iPhone 12 Pro Max stands out for its long battery life, as it lasts about 11 hours.
Like the standard iPhone 12, the iPhone 12 Pro Max features three rear cameras, but it benefits from a larger sensor that allows more light. You also get 2.5 telephoto zooms, compared to 2x for standard Pro. The iPhone 12 Pro Max also brings an amazingly colorful video recording to Dolby Vision, complete with the stabilization of fixed graphics. At over $1,000, the iPhone 12 Pro Max is not cheap, but it’s the best phone available now.
OnePlus 9 Pro
The OnePlus 9 Pro features the best cameras ever installed with the OnePlus phone, talking about one of the longest-running high-end phone manufacturers. With the help of camera expert Hasselblad, the OnePlus 9 installs a wide range of colour-sensitive lenses and produces images that contrast with what you find on the best camera phones. For that reason, we think the OnePlus 9 Pro is the best phone that Android users can get.
There are other features besides the cameras that give scales to the OnePlus 9 Pro. You get a display with dynamic update rates, which measure between 1 and 120Hz depending on whether your activities benefit from the fast update rate. That helps with battery life, as the OnePlus 9 Pro stays more than 10.5 hours in our battery test, even if the instantaneous display is turned on immediately. And if you need to charge, OnePlus ’WarpCharge 65T technology means your phone can be fully charged in less than 30 minutes; wireless charging in the OnePlus 9 Pro is faster than other phones that can charge with a wireless connection.
Throw a Snapdragon 888 processor with a lot of RAM, and you have one of the best Android phones.
Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra
The Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra is a large-screen display, offering a powerful 6.8-inch AMOLED display that scales from 10Hz to 120Hz for maximum efficiency. But the killer feature is dual phone cameras, with 3x and 10x optical zoom, and Space Zoom capability up to 100x with the new Zoom Lock feature. The full quality of the camera is enhanced, too, with better graphics and bright shots in night mode.
The S21 Ultra also succeeds in capturing video with a new Director viewing mode that allows you to record using front and rear cameras simultaneously. Other notable features include a snappy performance from the Snapdragon 888 chip and long battery life from the 5,000 mAh battery, as the S21 Ultra took about 11.5 hours in our web search test. The Galaxy S21 Ultra does not carry chargers in the box or on microSD cards but is generally the best Android phone you can buy.
Oppo Find X2 Pro
The Oppo Find X2 Pro is the best phone you can buy because of everything Oppo has packed in its beautiful new design. You get the most 5G bands on any phone and the new A14 Bionic processor, which removes all Android phones. But the real reason to take the Oppo Find X2 Pro with cameras. The main sensor now brings in a lot of light, and Night Mode works on both ultrawide cameras and the TrueDepth front camera. You can take portraits at night, thanks to a combination of phone lenses and LiDAR sensor.
The Oppo Find X2 Pro not only boasts of a magnificent 6.1-inch OLED display, protected by Ceramic Shield, designed to provide 4x protection in the event of a crash. The flat edges look very nice, too, even if you do a little on your hands. The optional MagSafe charger makes wireless charging, thanks to the built-in Oppo Find X2 Pro. But Oppo doesn’t put any charger in the box. While the battery life of the Oppo Find X2 Pro may be better than 5G, it is the most complete mobile phone with the best camera phone yet.
Samsung Galaxy Note 20 Ultra
The Samsung Galaxy Note 20 Ultra has an expensive price tag but no other big-screen phone can do as much as this phablet. You get a beautiful 6.9-inch OLED display with a resolution of 120Hz, as well as a new S Pen update, from a new air touch to a response time of 9 ms. Also, the Note 20 Ultra packs one of the most advanced camera setup options, including a 108MP large sensor, a whopping 50x Space Zoom, and a laser autofocus sensor to reduce blurring.
The Note 20 Ultra is also a small desktop PC with a hidden game console. With advanced DeX mode, you can stream photos, apps, and more to a nearby TV, and with Xbox Game Pass you can stream more than 100 Xbox titles over the cloud. The Note 20 Ultra works well with your PC, too, like Link to Windows enables you to run Android apps on your laptop and receive notifications, calls, and more. Enter everything and you have one of the best calls right now.
With so many new phones on the market in 2021, it can be difficult to pick the one that is right for you. Not to mention that it’s hard to keep up with the new improvements that have been made since last year, from better cameras to bigger screens. We have done the research to give you a low down on all the new phones so that you can make a good decision. Make sure to think about what features are important to you!
