You should also know that absolutely all phones in this top phone list have been rigorously tested and used by the PhoneArena team. We run various performance tests, including thorough battery and camera testing, and use specialized equipment to measure display quality.
Apple iPhone 16 Pro Max
The iPhone 16 Pro Max keeps the signature features of the previous 15 Pro Max model – it has the same titanium material and 5X “tetraprism” camera – but improves in a few important areas.
The screen on the iPhone 16 Pro Max grows extra large to 6.9 inches, and the borders around it are now even slimmer. The new A18 Pro chipset is again faster, but the best improvement might just be the longer battery life.
Galaxy S25 Ultra
Samsung keeps the four cameras on the back, with two zoom cameras for an industry leading zoom performance. The new 50MP ultra-wide camera captures more detailed photos and macro captures are also crisper. The UI is also improved in subtle ways – switching cameras happens smoother, and you have welcome new controls like a dial for smooth zooming in video. Pros will also be happy to see the option for LOG video recording.
The anti-reflective Gorilla Armor screen, our favorite Galaxy Ultra feature, is back on the S25 Ultra in its second iteration with durability improvements. This makes the S25 Ultra easily the best phone for using outdoors.
We cannot help but notice, though, that the 5,000mAh battery here is smaller than other flagships (the OnePlus 13 come with a 6,000mAh battery).
iPhone 16
In fact, it does one important thing better: it lasts longer! The 16e has the best battery life of any 6.1-inch iPhone, so you can expect slightly longer runtime. It lacks a ProMotion display, which is bad, but so does the more expensive iPhone 16.
The two bigger omissions on the iPhone 16e are MagSafe (you have wireless charging, but at slower speeds and without the magnets) and the lack of an ultra-wide camera.
Google Pixel 9
The Pixel 9 comes with a brand new design with flat sides, and it feels more premium than earlier models by the company. The one area where it beats arch-rival Galaxy S25 is battery size. With a 4,700mAh battery on board, the Pixel 9 has a sizable advantage over the 4,000mAh battery on the S25.
There are three major upgrades in the Pixel 9: the phone now comes with 12GB of RAM, great for AI tasks, you get a new ultrasonic fingerprint reader, more reliable than the optical scanner used before, and finally, you get the same main and ultrawide camera as on the Pixel 9 Pro series.
Pixel 9 Pro Fold
Its big advantage over the Galaxy Fold series is a wider front screen, while the Samsung foldable has a narrow front screen, which is hard to type on and is far less functional.
Galaxy Z Flip 6
The Flip 6 seems to be one of the best rated phones in terms of build quality and most importantly, the essential hinge element feels a bit more refined on the Flip 6 than on the competition.
Samsung has also addressed users concerns about battery life with a bigger sized battery, it adds a welcome new 50MP main camera, but for all else the Flip 6 design feels very similar to the previous generation.
Galaxy S24 FE
The S24 FE comes with a big, 6.7-inch AMOLED screen with 120Hz fast refresh rate, it’s got three cameras on the back including a capable 3X zoom camera, and the battery capacity at 4,700 mAh is quite good.
In fact, we had to really nit-pick to find the little differences between the S24 FE and the S24 Plus. The S24 FE has less RAM on board (8GB), but that is still enough for Galaxy AI features. It uses an optical fingerprint reader rather than an ultrasonic one, its screen does not get quite as bright, charging is a bit slower and the zoom camera has slightly lower resolution. But that’s about it! And that is why it gets an easy recommendation for those looking to save a buck.
Google Pixel 8a
Google has not improved all that much on the Pixel 8a compared to the Pixel 7a or previous generations, but it has not broken anything either. And even though it is not one of the newest cell phones around, it is still great.
The Pixel 8a gets a new Tensor G3 chipset, which is still among the fastest in this price range (not the fastest, though – that would be the OnePlus 12R). It also has the familiar Google camera experience, with excellent quality photos from the main camera and very decent video recording.