Here are the best smartphones on the market today. From the iPhone 13 Pro to the Pixel 6 Pro; if you’re shopping for a new phone, we’re here for you.
We fully test every phone we can get our hands on here at Digital Trends, and after conducting hundreds of reviews, we’re confident in recommending whether a particular phone is a good buy for you. After much debate and soul searching, we landed on the Apple iPhone 13 Pro as our top pick for the best phone available right now. Though one phone doesn’t fit everyone’s needs, so we have plenty of other great picks depending on what you’re looking for. Android fans will love the Galaxy Note 20 Ultra, and those looking to save money, or get a smaller phone, have lots of choices as well. Here’s why the iPhone 13 Pro ultimately triumphed, and our picks for other smartphone categories. Of course, picking the best smartphone is only part of the battle — once you’ve decided which one is for you, you also need to buy it. Thankfully, we’re coming up to the best time of the year to buy. We’ll be keeping an eye on the best Black Friday smartphone deals and the best Black Friday deals to help you score a bargain. But, make sure you grab those deals when you can, as supply issues mean some may not hang around for as long as you might expect. Why you should buy this: It’s the best smartphone around, with zippy performance, a great camera suite, and some gorgeous good looks. Who it’s for: Anyone who wants the best smartphone money can buy. Why we picked the iPhone 13 Pro: If you’ve got the money, then the iPhone 13 Pro is absolutely the best smartphone around, and the device you should buy. Apple has pulled off another huge task, one-upping last year’s iPhone 12 Pro and upsetting a legion of other smartphone manufacturers. With top-tier flagship power, a stunning display, an extremely long-lasting battery life, and one of the best cameras around, the iPhone 13 Pro is a triumph and the best smartphone you can buy. We’ll start with the design because not much has changed here. The iPhone 12 Pro’s angular sides are still here, as is the stainless steel frame and range of gorgeous finishes. The notch is the largest design change made, though it’s still subtle. The new notch is slightly smaller, but also extends slightly deeper into the display, so doesn’t actually change much. Thankfully, the display it settles into is a stunner. The 6.1-inch Super Retina panel is clear and bright and finally uses the 120Hz ProMotion tech from the iPad Pro, making the performance seem even smoother and zippier. It’s not just the display that makes the phone seem fast, because it is fast. Apple’s new A15 Bionic processor is extremely powerful and capable of handling anything you’ll throw at it. It’ll stay that way for years to come as well, thanks to Apple’s extremely solid update record, and with storage options starting at 128GB, you’ll have room for plenty of snaps and apps. The battery is excellent too, lasting for well over a day, with the possibility of lasting into a second day on light use. The camera systems are, as we’ve come to expect, also excellent. The rear suite is comprised of three 12-megapixel lenses: A main wide-angle lens, a telephoto lens, and an ultrawide-angle lens. This trio is powerful and capable, providing strong color accuracy and plenty of detail. The telephoto lens also has a macro mode, which kicks in automatically, and shoots surprisingly good images. The Apple iPhone 13 Pro is perhaps the best all-around smartphone you’ll find, though it doesn’t come cheap. Prices start from $999, but you can also find it on every major U.S. carrier, and from a big range of retailers too.5G is also included, making this a strong future-proof option. Truly, the iPhone 13 Pro is the best smartphone you can buy right now. Apple iPhone 13 Pro review If the iPhone 13 Pro has one weakness, it might be that it isn’t as good a value prospect as the iPhone 13. While the iPhone 13 Pro is excellent, it isn’t actually that much better than its lower-priced sibling. At $799, the iPhone 13 offers much the same experience as the Pro version, with the same powerful A15 Bionic processor,5G, a strong battery, and the latest iOS 15. It does miss out in a few areas, obviously. The frame is aluminum, rather than steel, and you’ll miss out on the telephoto lens and 120Hz as well. But if those features don’t tickle your fancy, then the chance to save $200 is one that’s hard to turn down. Apple iPhone 13 review Why you should buy this: It’s the best of the best, with a huge and beautiful screen, good software, tons of features, and a great multi-lens camera. Plus, an S Pen stylus. Who it’s for: Anyone who wants a single phone that can handle productivity, gaming, video, and every bit of day-to-day use, all with strong battery life. Why we picked the Samsung Galaxy Note 20 Ultra: The Galaxy Note 20 Ultra lives up to its name and the legacy of Note phones. It’s the biggest in the series, and certainly an “ultra” phone, with a massive 6.9-inch AMOLED screen and seriously heavy 208-gram weight. But get past the overall size, and you’ve got one of the most powerful and capable phones available today. It’s also probably one of the last Galaxy Note phones to exist, so savor it while you can. It has Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 865 Plus chipset and a whopping 12GB of RAM, plus a sizable 4,500mAh battery that can last a full day of very hard use — plus, it has 5G connectivity for the future. The S Pen stylus defines the Note, and it’s better than ever with a low 9-millisecond response time and uses that go beyond just drawing — this is a productivity tool, too. The oversized camera module on the back has a great 108-megapixel main camera, plus a 12MP optical zoom camera, and an extra 12MP ultra-wide camera, and a laser focusing system that fixed the Galaxy S20 Ultra’s issues. It can take 5X optical zoom photos with no detail loss, and reach out from there. Plus it handles 8K video and has lots of fun shooting modes like Single Take mode. The camera is one of Samsung’s best yet. All of this comes before you see any additional features, like a wireless DeX mode that links your phone to a TV or monitor for a desktop-like experience, to the absolutely stunning display, and wireless reverse charging. On top of the standard features of a great hardware build quality, water resistance, wireless charging, and so much more. Downsides? Size aside, the in-display fingerprint sensor isn’t great… but that’s about it. The Galaxy Note 20 Ultra is expensive though and you’ll pay at least $1,299 to own one, but you really are getting the best Android phone available right now. Want an alternative? The Galaxy S21 Ultra is worth looking at, particularly if you don’t need the S Pen, but you get more for your money with the Note 20 Ultra. Samsung Galaxy Note 20 Ultra review Google is the only other major manufacturer that can exist in a similar space to Apple by offering smartphones intimately keyed into its operating system. That’s because Google creates and manages Android, so the Pixel series is always going to be the first device range to get access to the latest builds and updates of Android.
