These are the best phones for every budget based on our testing.
If you’re looking to upgrade, finding the best phone can be tricky. But we make it easier by spending a ton of time in our labs and in the real-world testing all of the top handsets and comparing them side by side.
The very best phones offer great cameras, the kind of performance you need to multitask and enough battery life to last the whole day. And we have our own web surfing battery test to put company's "all-day" endurance claims to the test.
To help you pick the best smartphone for your needs and budget, we also compare the best camera phones side by side to see which devices offer the best image quality in all sorts of conditions.
With strong options available at all price levels, you don't have to spend a lot to get something great. You can get a solid mid-range phone that delivers all the features you need for under $500.
Our best phones list has something for everyone, including great bargains and amazing flagships for those willing to pay a premium. We've ranked all the top phones below based on our testing. Just keep in mind that the Samsung Galaxy S23 is going to launch soon, with Samsung announcing a February 1 product event.
The iPhone 14 Pro Max is the best phone we’ve tested, and that’s because it has everything you could want in a flagship. You get a stunning 6.7-inch display with new always-on capability, which lets you check the time, battery status, widgets and notifications without turning the phone on. And the new Dynamic Island is a clever replacement for the notch that delivers everything from music playback status and timers to your next Maps direction towards the top of the screen.
Other highlights of the iPhone 14 Pro Max include a powerful A16 Bionic processor that smokes all Android phones and a powerful new 48MP camera that gives you the choice of brighter images or sharper resolution in ProRAW. See our ProRAW photo shoot to see the results. And the new Action Mode for video is super smooth and compelling. The best part is the battery life, as we saw over 13 hours in our testing, making this a total beast and worth the premium.
The Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra is the ultimate Android phone for power users. It delivers a built-in S Pen just like a Galaxy Note, and you get 70% less latency for smoother performance. The 6.8-inch display is simply the best we've tested, offering class-leading brightness and color saturation, making this panel easy to read outdoors in direct sunlight and fantastic for watching shows and movies.
The other big reason to buy the Galaxy S22 Ultra is the camera improvements. There's a larger main 108MP sensor that lets in more light, which means brighter pictures without having to use Night mode. And when you do engage Night mode, you'll get even better pics in some scenarios than the iPhone 13 Pro Max. Add in faster 45W charging and a sleek design and you have a winner. We just wish the battery life were a bit longer. Keep in mind that the new Galaxy S23 Ultra is right around the corner, with this S22 Ultra successor likely to headline Samsung's February 1 Unpacked eve
Apple’s iPhone 14 Pro is the best phone under $1,000, and that includes Android and iOS. That’s because you get best-in-class performance from the A16 Bionic chip and the best camera performance in a design you can use with one hand. The 48MP camera delivers sharper and brighter photos, and you’ll get excellent low-light results, especially outdoors from the iPhone 14 Pro’s Photoonic Engine.
Video is another strong point for the iPhone 14 Pro, as you get a super smooth Action mode along with a sharper 4K Cinematic Mode. Add in a very clever replacement for the notch with Dynamic Island and an always-on display and you have one of the best phones you can buy. We just wish Apple offered faster charging.
The Google Pixel 6a runs on the same Tensor processor that powers the Pixel 6. That means the same AI-driven features on that more premium phone are available on this sub-$500 model. And Google even ups the ante by introducing new capabilities to its stellar Magic Erase photo editing feature.
Speaking of photos, the Pixel 6a carries on the tradition of Google’s budget phones offering superior photo-taking skills. The camera hardware on the Pixel 6a doesn’t necessarily impress, but Google’s flair for computational photography means the photos you take with this phone will top images by similarly priced camera phones. You may even get photos that rival what a more premium handset can produce.
We wish the battery life on the Pixel 6a was better, but sometimes for a cheaper price, you make trade-offs. The great thing about the Pixel 6a is that those sacrifices are few and far between.
The Pixel 7 Pro is Google’s best phone yet, and certainly the most iconic. It features a refined design, brighter display, more powerful Tensor G2 chipset and stronger cameras. We just wish it had better battery life, though it has improved this year.
Tensor G2 offers some nice upgrades across the board, such as Photo Unblur, Cinematic Blur, and Active Stabilization. Google Assistant has also gotten a lot smarter, offering improvements to Direct My Call, transcription for voice texts, and better contextual understanding for voice typing.
With 5x optical zoom, the Pixel 6 Pro can pull off some fancy zoom tricks in combination with the enhanced Super Res Zoom. But we think the colors are a bit dull on the telephoto shots, certainly less vibrant than the iPhone 14 Pro in our testing. Regardless, the Pixel 7 Pro is the Android phone to get if you want the best cameras.
The iPhone 14 is the best new iPhone for those looking for an affordable option. For $799, you get improved cameras across the board with better low-light performance (thanks to Photonic Engine), and the new Action mode for video delivers super stable video when you’re in motion — no gimbal required.
The iPhone 14’s A15 Bionic is stolen from the iPhone 13 Pro, which results in stronger graphics performance. This phone could even save your life when its new safety features come online, including Emergency SOS via Satellite and crash detection. We’re not a fan of the same old design, and we wish Apple offered a 120Hz display at this price, but overall the iPhone 14 is a winner.
The iPhone 14 Plus is what happens when Apple listens to its customers. This new model replaces the iPhone mini with a large 6.7-inch OLED display, which is great for watching movies, playing games and more. And at $899 you don’t have to pay the iPhone Pro Max premium. Plus, you get the same great camera upgrades as the regular iPhone 14, including a larger main sensor and Photonic Engine for better low-light performance.
The other big reason to go for the iPhone 14 Plus is the battery life. This handset lasted nearly 12 hours on our testing, which is about 2.5 hours longer than the regular iPhone 14. Add in strong A15 Bionic performance and you have a winner. But we do wish Apple offered a 120Hz display and telephoto lens at this price.
When it comes to the iPhone SE (2022), you really are getting a lot for your money. At $429, the newest budget iPhone outperforms anything else in the price category and even puts the highest-end Android phones on their toes. With the same A15 Bionic that powers the iPhone 13, the SE is a little beast.
But like its predecessor, it recycles the iPhone 8 body. That means huge bezels, but you get a Touch ID home button. This tired design won’t be to everyone’s liking, nor will the lack of Night mode. This glaring omission is one reason why the new iPhone SE doesn’t rank higher. And you also lose out on Verizon’s Ultra-Wideband network.
The iPhone SE (2022) offers a lot and is one of the best phones under $500. It trades blows with the Pixel 5a, meaning that iPhone buyers on a budget have two great options to look at. (The other being the $499 LTE-only iPhone 11.)
The OnePlus 10 Pro is a powerful Android handset with a gorgeous design, beautiful display, and the best cameras we’ve ever seen on a OnePlus device. The Chinese phone maker has come a long way in the last year or two with photography power that can sometimes keep up with the likes of the Pixel 6 Pro and iPhone 13 Pro Max.
With stellar battery life and peak performance, the OnePlus 10 Pro handles any task you could want. Thanks to the new cooling system, the phone is also a powerful gaming device. The Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 processor doesn’t get as hot, so it doesn’t need to throttle as much as some other Android phones.
In our battery life testing, the OnePlus 10 Pro went for nearly 12 hours in its adaptive 120Hz refresh rate mode. That easily beats the Galaxy S22 Ultra and comes close to the iPhone 13 Pro and iPhone 13 Pro Max. And with 65W charging, you can nearly recharge the phone from empty to 100% in 30 minutes. The best part is that you get all of this for $899.
Just as Samsung is updating its smartphone lineup in February, we'll also see a new OnePlus phone that month, with the OnePlus 11 debuting at a February 7 event.(opens in new tab)
It may not have the S Pen support or the other maxed out features found on the Galaxy S22 Ultra, but the Galaxy S22 does have something more important for people who want ones of the best phones but don’t want to break their budget getting one — a low price tag. At $799, the Galaxy S22 matches the price of the iPhone 13 while letting you save the couple hundred bucks that a more expensive S22 model commands.
You don’t have to make a lot of trade-offs for that lower price. The same Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 chipset that powers other S22 phones in the U.S. ships in this model. Samsung also includes the same camera improvements — a more powerful main lens, a bigger sensor for better low-light shots and a 3x optical zoom — added to the Galaxy S22 Plus. In short, this is the Samsung phone to get if you want all the great Galaxy S22 features without having to swallow a four-figure price tag. Again, this phone will soon be replaced by a successor, the Galaxy S23, but that's also causing S22 prices to drop if you're looking for a deal.
The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4 takes the best foldable phone and makes it better in multiple ways. For one, Samsung and Google made it much easier to multitask by adding a taskbar, and you can now drag and drop content between more apps when you're running them side by side.
We also really like the improved camera system on the Galaxy Z Fold 4, headed up by the same 50MP main sensor as the Galaxy S22 series. In our testing, the Fold 4 held its own against the iPhone 13 Pro Max and beat it in a few shots.
Other highlights of the Galaxy Z Fold 4 include a slimmer hinge and narrower bezels, as well as a brighter main display. The battery lasted longer, too, in our testing.
However, $1,799 is still a lot to spend on a phone — even one that doubles as a tablet — and this is still one thick and heavy device. But if you want a foldable phone that can do it all, this is it.
How to choose the best smartphone for you
- Android or iPhone? Android phones give you more choice in terms of price, size and innovative designs. However, iPhones offer speedier software updates, better games and apps and better security and privacy.
- Unlocked or carrier? Most shoppers in the U.S. buy new phones through their wireless carrier. But an unlocked phone gives you the freedom to buy the device without any sort of contract and then bring it to the provider you want to use.
- Screen size: If you're looking for a big phone, 6 inches and up is a good place to start. The biggest phones are 6.5 to 6.8 inches. If you want something you can easily use with one hand, go with one of the best small phones with a screen under 6 inches.
- Cameras: Don't pay attention to the megapixel count. Instead, look at camera face-offs between phones to see the photo quality and look for special features like Night Mode to get better quality in low light.
- Battery life: Generally, phones with larger batteries (measured in mAh) offer the longest battery life, but that's not always the case. That's why we run our own battery test.