We test and rate hundreds of mobile phones each year. Whether you’re looking for Android, iOS or a simple feature phone, these are our top picks for a variety of budgets and capabilities across the major US wireless carriers.
For most of us, mobile phones are at the center of our universe. The typical feature set of these palm-size marvels is astounding. It’s your phone, your messaging device, your web browser, your camera, your music player, your GPS, and more. The phone you choose will affect your life in a multitude of ways. That’s why we’re here to help you pick exactly the right one. Dial Up the Perfect Phone We’re a smartphone-dominated nation, with 4G LTE networks serving data faster than many home internet connections, and 5G spreading across the country. Though we’re now down to three major wireless carriers, virtual carriers such as Google Fi, US Mobile, and Visible keep competition alive and push prices down. But some of our choices have constricted a bit: The smartphone OS marketplace is basically down to Apple’s iOS and Google’s Android, and it’s hard to find a really good simple voice phone nowadays. Here at PCMag, we review almost every smartphone released on AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon Wireless, and many of their sub-brands such as Boost, Cricket, Metro, and Visible. Rather than purely choosing the phones with the highest ratings here, we’re trying to deliver a list of phones that are spread broadly across different price points. This list is focused on the hottest, newest devices, but you can also find great value in slightly older phones, so be sure to shop around. The Samsung Galaxy Fold3 5G is a good option for early adopters What should you be looking for when buying a cell phone? Here are some key points to consider. Which Cell Phone Carrier Should You Choose? Despite all the recent hardware and mobile software innovation, your wireless service provider remains your most important decision. No matter what device you buy, it’s a doorstop unless you have solid wireless coverage. Maybe you have friends and family on the same carrier that you talk to for free, and you don’t want that to change with your next phone. Maybe you’re lusting after a certain device—say, an unlocked smartphone for international travel. And of course, you want to choose a carrier that offers fair prices, and provides the best coverage in your area. These are all good reasons to put the carrier decision first. Our Fastest Mobile Networks report recently came out, and the winner is T-Mobile. During the past year, T-Mobile has expanded its «ultra capacity» mid-band 5G network to 165 million Americans, and that network’s performance is head and shoulders above AT&T and Verizon where it’s available. You’ll need a 5G phone to take advantage of the new network, though, and it’s mostly available in major metro areas. AT&T excelled in rural coverage in our tests, with the best performance of the three carriers in areas away from cities and off the interstates. And Verizon’s millimeter-wave 5G is spectacular when you can find it, though it’s still not widely available. We drove over 10,000 miles through urban and rural areas, testing all the way, so check the detailed results of our Fastest Mobile Networks tests to find the best provider for your area. US Cellular is only available in about half the country. It has a reputation for good customer service, but has been suffering recently in our surveys as readers have said its prices and LTE network quality don’t match up to some of the alternatives. There are also plenty of virtual operators that use the big three networks but offer lower monthly rates, cheaper international calls, or other benefits. They’re usually better for lighter users and most don’t have family plans. AT&T owns Cricket, T-Mobile owns Metro by T-Mobile, Verizon owns Visible, and Google owns Google Fi. Last September, Verizon made a bid for Tracfone and its spin-off brands, but the acquisition is under scrutiny from the FCC. We spotlight some of our favorite virtual operators in our roundup of the best cheap phone plans. Do You Need a 5G Phone? 5G arrived in 2019, and most new smartphones now support some form of it. But though 5G may change everything in the future, it’s not going to happen immediately. As a rule of thumb, if you’re on T-Mobile and you live in a city, a 5G phone is a good idea.
