Currently, there are eight Apple phones on the market, and we’ve tested them all. Whether you need a superb camera, flagship power, or a simple first phone for your kids, here’s how to choose the best iPhone right now.
You may have heard that « the iPhone » is the most popular smartphone in the US. But that’s not quite accurate, because Apple currently sells a lot of different iPhone models (eight at the time of this writing). Survey the shelves at the three major US carriers, as well as Cricket and Metro, and that number rises much higher. Apple’s eight models each have a specific appeal, whether it’s in terms of price, size, features, or battery life. As for models that other carriers sell, we see arguments for the 13,12,11, SE, and 8 generations. But the X, XR, and XS are no longer good values compared with other phones available, while the 7 and 6s phones are slowing down because of age. We’ve tested every Apple phone since the first-generation iPhone in 2007. Here’s what we’ve learned about how to choose the best iPhone right now. When Is the New iPhone Coming Out? The next iPhone release will be the iPhone 14 line in September or October of 2022. The latest iPhone SE came out in March 2022 and the iPhone 13 line launched in late 2021. The Most Powerful iPhone Every year brings faster and more powerful iPhones. If you tend to play a lot of games or even surf a lot of image-heavy web pages, a faster processor is better. We expect a 15% to 20% jump in overall performance, including web browsing performance, for each new generation of Apple’s A-series chips. There’s not that big a difference between the A14 (in the iPhone 12) and the A15 (in the iPhone 13), but there’s a huge difference between either of those and the A9 (in the iPhone 6s). Do You Need a 5G iPhone? The iPhone 12 and 13 series are all 5G phones that support the new C-band networks. That’s a strong argument for not choosing anything older than the iPhone 12 on either T-Mobile or Verizon.
