Top 5 best phones in 2025

To find the finest phones at a variety of pricing points, we have evaluated dozens of devices.

We now have a ton of affordable phones to choose from after the first major phone release of 2025 propelled a new gadget to the top of our list of the best phones – congrats, Galaxy S25 Ultra. And that includes a possible candidate for the greatest phone under $500 title.

Google’s recently unveiled Pixel 9a, which ironically maintains the same $499 price as our current bargain pick, the Pixel 8a, would be that. However, as the Pixel 9a supports the same AI functions as the Pixel 9 flagship range, the feature set has grown significantly. In addition, it has a redesigned design and—above all—a larger battery.

We will have to test the phone to see how it stacks up against other recent low-cost releases like the iPhone 16e and Samsung’s impending Galaxy A releases because the Pixel 9a won’t be available until April. Watch this space for an update on the top phone for those looking for deals.

In the meanwhile, the finest phone in general is obvious. Hardware advancements help the Galaxy S25 Ultra, but AI is where it truly shines. Additionally, the Samsung Galaxy S25 delivers those same AI features for less money if you don’t want to spend $1,299 on your next phone.

That’s not to diminish Apple’s iPhone 16 Pro Max, our earlier choice for the greatest phone. Outstanding cameras and amazing battery life are features of the top iPhone. Additionally, it provides its own AI techniques through Apple Intelligence.

The OnePlus 13 and Pixel 9 Pro are good substitutes if you want to stop thinking about Samsung versus Apple.

For a more thorough look at the phones you should consider, I’ve examined a number of these phones myself, and the other members of the phones team at Tom’s Guide have added their opinions and observations. We have over forty years of experience reviewing phones from every perspective between all of our reviewers.

Our lab testing and practical experience with each phone we acquire inform our top phone selections. If you’re in the market for a new phone right now, these ten are worth considering.

The best phone overall:Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra
The best iPhone: iPhone 16 Pro Max
Best Smartest phone:Google Pixel 9 Pro
Best iPhone battery:Apple iPhone 16 Plus
Best cheaper & flagship phone:OnePlus 12R

Over Top Picks:

The best phone overall

1. Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra

For a more thorough look at the phones you should consider, I’ve examined a number of these phones myself, and the other members of the phones team at Tom’s Guide have added their opinions and observations. We have over forty years of experience reviewing phones from every perspective between all of our reviewers.

Our lab testing and practical experience with each phone we acquire inform our top phone selections. If you’re in the market for a new phone right now, these ten are worth considering.

Your tastes, hobbies, and activities are learned by the phone’s Personal Data Engine, which then populates a new Now Brief screen with pertinent information about forthcoming appointments, weather predictions, and other topics. Even though Brief is now rather basic, it promises to learn more about you over time and modify its suggestions accordingly. We’ll check to see if that’s the case after utilizing the Galaxy S25 Ultra.

Price and value: One drawback of the Galaxy S25 Ultra is that it still costs more than other flagship phones. This phone costs $1,299, which is $100 more than the most costly flagship models from Google and Apple. However, Samsung at least avoided raising prices this year, as the Galaxy S25 Ultra’s base model comes with 256GB of storage. Deals for the Galaxy S25 Ultra allow you to somewhat reduce the phone’s price.

Camera performance: The most significant mechanical modification to the Galaxy S25 Ultra’s camera configuration is the addition of a 50MP ultrawide sensor, which allows for crisper macros and more detailed photos. However, this year’s Galaxy devices have benefited greatly from improvements to the ProVisual Engine, which handles images, and the S25 Ultra is no exception.

In an 11-round photo face-off between the S25 Ultra and the iPhone 16 Pro Max, my colleague Mark Spoonauer’s S25 Ultra ended up winning more rounds. Samsung phones are especially good at taking selfies, zooming in, and taking pictures in low light. Additionally, the Galaxy S25 Ultra defeated the iPhone 16 Pro Max in our 200 macro photo contest.

Although there are still certain areas where the iPhone 16 Pro Max captures better images, the Galaxy S25 Ultra’s photo output has advanced to the point where I believe it to be the greatest camera phone available right now.

Battery and charging: This year’s model outlasted its predecessor by 45 minutes on our battery test, despite Samsung not increasing the battery size from the Galaxy S24 Ultra. For the greatest period of time we’ve seen for a Samsung smartphone, the Galaxy S25 Ultra was able to browse the web via cellular for 17 hours and 14 minutes. Give the phone’s Snapdragon 8 Elite credit for increasing power efficiency.

Samsung has ostensibly introduced Qi2 wireless charging compatibility, although charging speeds remain the same as the previous Ultra models. However, unless you purchase a Qi2-ready cover, you will lose many of the advantages of the new charging standard because the phone lacks magnets on the rear for a more stable fit with Qi2 charging stations.

Overall performance: The Galaxy S25 Ultra’s Snapdragon 8 Elite isn’t simply there to extend the phone’s battery life. Additionally, considering that Samsung is using an overclocked version of the chipset, it offers some of the finest performance we’ve seen in an Android smartphone. Because of this, the Galaxy S25 Ultra outperforms the OnePlus 13, which likewise has a Snapdragon 8 Elite chipset, in benchmark figures. However, based on its performance in some tests, the gaming-focused Asus ROG Phone 9 Pro can claim the title of speed king.

The Galaxy s25 Ultra has adequate processing power to manage additional AI activities thanks to the Snapdragon 8 Elite’s neural engine and the base model’s 12GB of RAM. Additionally, the Galaxy S25 Ultra boasts a larger, brighter display than the previous generation, making everything on the new device—from streaming to gaming—look better.

Verdict: The Galaxy S25 Ultra proves that big hardware changes aren’t necessary to make a splash in the smartphone world. The Galaxy AI features debuting on this year’s premium Samsung phone are reason enough to upgrade, especially if you’ve got an older phone. And the improved cameras, longer battery life and brighter screen add to the value, even if you find the Galaxy S25 Ultra’s high price a little hard to swallow.

The best phone overall:Amazon, Best Buy, or Wallmart.

The best iPhone

2. iPhone 16 Pro Max

The Galaxy S25 Ultra’s sophisticated AI is more likely to be the reason why the iPhone 16 Pro Max is no longer the greatest phone we’ve tested. Although it’s a little frustrating that the expected Siri upgrades have been delayed, Apple may soon fix this issue when it continues to roll out Apple Intelligence in 2025.

There are several positive aspects of the iPhone 16 Pro Max, even if Samsung now has the upper hand. This variant has a speedier processor, an improved ultrawide camera, and a larger screen (without significantly increasing its total size compared to the iPhone 15 Pro Max).

If you updated in 2023, you won’t have to give up your iPhone 15 Pro Max, and those who are concerned about losing out on the initial wave of Apple Intelligence features may rest easy. Although it’s a solid first step, Apple Intelligence is currently more of a nice-to-have than a need.

Nevertheless, there are several strong arguments for upgrading to the iPhone 16 Pro Max, especially if you currently own an iPhone that is at least a few years old.

Price and value: Although this model costs the same $1,199 as its predecessor, you get more for your money because it has a larger 6.9-inch screen and a larger battery. This is especially true now that Samsung’s Galaxy S flagship Ultra variant costs $100 more than Apple’s top model.

“Less expensive” is a relative term, though, as some consumers find the iPhone 16 Pro Max’s $1,199 starting price to be prohibitive.

Camera performance: iPhones live and die by their cameras, and the telephoto lens on the iPhone 16 Pro Max offers some notable improvements to both its main camera and its ultrawide lens. These complement the 5x telephoto lens that returns from the iPhone 15 Pro Max.

Because the iPhone 16 Pro features the same camera setup for $200 less, we’d steer more people toward that phone, but you won’t be disappointed with what the iPhone 16 Pro Max cameras produce.

To determine an undisputed champion, we even put it through a 200-photo face-off with the Galaxy S24 Ultra. The iPhone 16 Pro Max won because of its better dynamic range and low-light shooting capabilities. Although the Galaxy S25 Ultra has temporarily taken the top, the iPhone 16 Pro Max is still a fantastic photographic phone.

Battery and charging: In our battery test, which involves having a phone browse the web until its battery dies, the iPhone 16 Pro Max’s battery lasts more than 17.5 hours. At that point, the iPhone 16 Pro Max was only warming up, whereas the typical phone hardly lasts more than ten hours. The iPhone 16 Plus comes the closest with an average result of about 16.5 hours, but no other iPhone has ever lasted that long.

If only the iPhone 16 Pro Max could charge faster; MagSafe charging has been enhanced to 25W.

Overall performance: Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Elite is giving the iPhone all it can handle, but the A18 Pro chipset powering the iPhone 16 Pro Max turns out to be a very fast chip on its own.

We noticed the extra oomph when using the iPhone 16 Pro Max to perform everyday tasks and switch between apps. When we used the iPhone 16 Pro Max to transcode a video, the task took half as long as it did on the Galaxy S24 Ultra, and it bests the Galaxy S25 Ultra in that test, too.

Verdict: The iPhone 16 Pro Max receives high praise for its performance, design, and photography. Although it’s quite pricey in comparison to some of the other phones on this list, you get a lot of power and polish for your money, and the digital zoom and charging speed may be improved. The only thing left to do is for Apple to fulfill its promises to improve Siri.

The best iPhone:Amazon, Best Buy, or Wallmart.

Smartest phone

3. Google Pixel 9 Pro

Since Apple and Samsung have been incorporating AI-powered capabilities into their phones for the past year, AI is currently the most popular feature on smartphones. However, with the Pixel 6, Google made the switch to the AI-focused Tensor processor, so they are an old hand at this.

We’re now using Tensor G4 on the Google Pixel 9 Pro, and after utilizing Google’s AI tools, Apple Intelligence, and Galaxy AI, I believe Google has the best AI available. Several of my favorite AI phone features were undoubtedly added to the Pixel 9 phones, including the 9 Pro, during the past year.

According to Google, consumers desired a smaller Pro model to complement the large-screen model. The Pixel 9 Pro XL, which offers the same capabilities as the standard Pro but a 6.7-inch display and a larger battery, is a good option if you want extra screen space. In my experience, using it with one hand is also more difficult.)

Price and Value:The Pixel 9 Pro costs the same $999 that Google charged for the Pixel 8 Pro. But that older phone had a larger screen, which makes me feel like I’m being asked to pay more for less phone. Then again, with the improvements to battery life and display brightness — not to mention the latest AI features — you can’t really claim that Google is shortchanging you on anything other than size.

Bargain hunters may want to wait to see how the Pixel 9a fares in our testing, as that phone costs just $499, but shares almost all of the AI features found on board the Pixel 9 Pro. You won’t get a telephoto lens with the 9a, though, so if that’s a non-starter, read on.

Camera performance: Actual Pixel 9 Pro camera improvements are modest — a new ultrawide sensor adds a Macro mode that performed very well when I tried it out. That said, I think the iPhone 16’s macro photos are a little sharper. (They’re different phones, but the iPhone 16 Pro Max vs. Pixel 9 Pro XL photo face-off John Velasco did illustrates the superiority of Apple’s macro images.)

The front camera on the Pixel 9 Pro also has an improved sensor, but I believe Google should lessen the camera’s propensity to make faces appear overly smooth.

However, the Pixel 9 Pro’s camera performance really depends on its picture processing, which is still outstanding. In my tests, the cameras produced well-composed images that highlighted small details.

Battery and charging: Recent Google phones have struggled with battery life, but the Pixel 9 Pro ends that trend. In our web browsing test, the Pixel 9 Pro, equipped with a 4,700 mAh battery and a more efficient Tensor G4 chipset, lasted an average of 13 hours and 30 minutes. This was more than the 10-hour average for other smartphones, but still below the same sized iPhone 16 and Galaxy S24 models. I’m pleased with the Pixel 9 Pro’s capacity to last the entire day on a single charge because other Pixels have trouble even reaching that threshold.

Overall performance: In benchmark testing, the Pixel 9 Pro’s Tensor G4 processor lags behind the iPhone 16 and is unable to match other leading Android phones. However, Tensor isn’t focused on that.

Rather, it enables several useful AI features, such as Call Notes, which records and summarizes phone calls, Add Me, which allows you to add individuals to group photos, and Pixel Screenshots, which makes it simple to search for content within screenshots. Gemini Live, a more intelligent Google Assistant, might be the greatest upgrade. Gemini Advanced, which supports advanced features, is free for a year for users of Pixel 9 Pros.

Even though the AI tools are currently more advanced than Apple Intelligence features, some still require improvement. Since I frequently capture screenshots to help me remember critical details, Pixel Screenshots has been the most helpful addition for me thus far. I can use Pixel Screenshots to search for those photos based on their content, and the Pixel 9 Pro is intelligent enough to display results that are pertinent.

The Pixel Studio generative AI tool allows you to generate things with just text suggestions if you’re more interested in creating graphics from nothing. A recent feature update now makes it possible to produce photos of people.

Verdict: The Pixel 9 Pro’s bright display, greater battery life, and camera capabilities should be sufficient to provide you with a fantastic device right now if you’re ready to wager that its AI features will advance over time.

Smartest phone: Amazon, Best Buy, or Wallmart.

The best iPhone for battery life

4. Apple iPhone 16 Plus

Although the Apple iPhone 16 Plus costs only a little more than the iPhone 16, it has a significantly larger screen and a larger battery because of its greater size. This makes the iPhone 16 Plus the greatest option for battery life if you need your iPhone to survive the longest, in addition to being a terrific deal when compared to the iPhone 15 Pro Max.

Design:You won’t receive the titanium frame because the iPhone 16 Plus looks like the iPhone 16 and not the Pro models, but you will have more vibrant color options. Both the Dynamic Island camera, which was previously reserved for Pro iPhone users, and the USB-C port are included.

Display: With its 6.7-inch screen, the iPhone 16 Plus is 0.6 inches larger than the iPhone 16—and Apple didn’t just boost the resolution; you get extra pixels to maintain the same crispness as the smaller iPhone.

Camera: Even though the iPhone 16 Plus only has two cameras—a 48MP primary camera and a 12MP ultra wide—it still takes amazing pictures because, well, it’s an iPhone.

Performance: Due to the new Apple A18 chipset that powers the iPhone 16 Plus, it is prepared for the Apple Intelligence AI features that will be incorporated into more potent iPhone and iPad models within the next month or two. This phone is a strong tool that could easily handle anything I threw at it, even before the AI arrives.

Battery life: The iPhone 16 Plus was only a few minutes behind the far more costly iPhone 16 Pro Max in our battery testing at Future Labs, making it the second-best iPhone I’ve ever tested. Unlike the smaller iPhone 16, which had a battery life of only 12 hours, it had a runtime of well over 16 hours.

Value for money: If the iPhone 16 was already on your radar, you should probably pay a little extra money to get a larger display and longer battery life. The upgrade that hurts the wallet the most is the next one, to the Pro-level processors.

The best iPhone for battery life:Amazon, Best Buy, or Walmart.

Best cheaper & flagship phone

5.OnePlus 12R

We were previously delighted by the OnePlus 12’s incredible battery life and excellent performance, but if the $800 starting price is too high, you might want to look at the $500 (£649, or about AU$1,250) OnePlus 12R instead. Along with a respectable battery life and strong performance, this Android substitute has some of the same visual cues as its more expensive sister. Its lower starting price is the result of some significant trade-offs.

Instead of using the OnePlus 12’s brand-new 8 Gen 3 processor, the 12R uses a slightly older Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 processor, but it still packs a lot of power. The 12R has a pared-down camera setup with a 50-megapixel primary camera, an 8-megapixel ultrawide camera, and a 2-megapixel macro lens. It takes good pictures in a variety of lighting conditions, but those who want a more feature-rich photography experience will want to choose its flagship sibling.

The phone’s remarkable 5,500-mAh battery is a plus. Actually, it’s larger than the one in the OnePlus 12, which did incredibly well in our drain testing. Because each phone CPU has a different power efficiency, the 12R didn’t perform as well as its more expensive sister. Nevertheless, a full day of mixed use is totally reasonable, and battery life is still far superior to average.

Similar to the OnePlus 12, the 12R has incredibly quick 80-watt wireless charging, allowing it to go from empty to full in just over half an hour. The 12R really has 100-watt fast charging available in the UK, which drains the battery even more quickly. Since a compatible fast charger is included in the package, you don’t have to budget for the purchase of a power adapter. Wireless charging is not available on the 12R, in contrast to the OnePlus 12.

Best cheaper & flagship phone:Amazon, Best Buy, or Wallmart.

How we test smartphones

A smartphone must perform very well on a number of tests we run on each device in order to make our list of the best phones. Some of these tests are conducted in the real world, while others are conducted in our laboratory.

In order to assess graphics performance, we use artificial benchmarks like Geekbench 5 and 3DMark’s Wild Life Unlimited. We can compare the performance of Android and iPhone devices thanks to these tests. Additionally, we use the Adobe Premiere Rush program to transcode a real-world video on each phone and timing the outcome.

We conduct laboratory tests to measure the brightness of the panel (in nits) and the color gamut (DCI-P3) of each screen in order to assess the quality of a phone’s display. Higher numbers are preferable in certain situations. Each panel’s color accuracy is also evaluated using a Delta-E rating, where a score of 0 indicates perfect color accuracy and lower values indicate improved color accuracy.

The Tom’s Guide battery exam is among our most crucial assessments. Until the battery dies, we test web browsing over 4G or 5G at 150 nits of screen brightness. As previously said, phones with a battery life of over 10 hours are considered to have good battery life, and the longest-lasting phones we’ve tested are those that last 12 hours or more.

Last but not least, we test the top phones in the field by taking pictures of them indoors, outdoors, and in low light at night to compare their performance to that of their nearest rivals. In addition to taking pictures of food, landscapes, portraits, and other subjects, we also let you make the final decision by comparing them side by side in our reviews.

For more information, check out our how we test page for Trusty Adviser.