The Best Smartphones of 2024

Android or iOS, we've got the best of both

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The best smartphones are fast and long-lasting, with beautiful displays and top-notch cameras. These five smartphones meet those expectations varying only in price, OS (Android and iOS), and extra features.

Best iPhone

Apple iPhone 15

Apple iPhone 15 smartphones in six colors.

Apple

Pros
  • USB-C connectivity

  • Dynamic Island features adapts to your activities

Cons
  • Lacks the 15 Pro's Action button

The iPhone 15's standout feature is probably its USB-C port, which replaces the Lightning connector.

The phone features a high res 6.1-inch display and a dual camera system which consists of a 48MP primary camera and a 12MP Ultra Wide lens with 2x zoom.

Finally, the Dynamic Island feature gives shortcuts to music controls, GPS navigation, sports scores, and more.

Compare all current iPhones including the 15 Pro and Pro Max.

Screen Size: 6.1 inches | Resolution: 2556x1179 | Processor: A16 | Camera: 48MP/12MP | Battery: 3349 mAh

Best Pixel

Google Pixel 8

Google Pixel 8.

Best Buy

Pros
  • Excellent camera

  • Gets 7 years of OS updates

Cons
  • Pricey

The Pixel 8 smartphone from Google is smaller and lighter than the Pixel 7 and has an improved camera with a handful of nifty photo editing tools.

The Pixel 8 Pro has a larger screen (6.7 inches) and a 48MP telephoto lens.

Screen Size: 6.2 inches | Resolution: 2400 x 1080 | Processor: Google Tensor G3 | Main Cameras: 50MP/48MP ultrawide | Battery: 4575 mAh

Best Samsung

Samsung Galaxy S23

Samsung Galaxy S23.

Best Buy.

Pros
  • Excellent battery life

  • Gets 5 years of software updates

Cons
  • So-so design

The Galaxy S23 has a powerful Android chip, a beautiful screen wrapped with Gorilla Glass Victus 2, and excellent battery life. It has the same cameras as the pricier S23+ and should suffice for most people. Samsung will provide five years' worth of updates, including 4 OS updates.

Its battery life is much better than the S22, its predecessor. The series has two other models: the S23+ and S23 Ultra. The base model has a 6.1-inch display, the S23+ has a 6.6-inch display, and the S23 Ultra has a 6.8-inch display. Other enhancements include larger memory options (storage and RAM), bigger batteries, and fancier cameras.

Screen Size: 6.1 inches | Resolution: 2340x1080 | Processor: Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2| Camera: 12MP/12MP/50MP/10MP | Battery: 3900 mAh

Best Foldable

Samsung Galaxy Z Fold5

Samsung Galaxy Z Fold5

Samsung

Pros
  • Slim

  • Supports wireless fast charging

Cons
  • Pricey

The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold5 has a redesigned hinge that folds flat. The gorgeous screen measures 7.6 inches when unfolded, about the same size as a small tablet.

The cameras are the same as the Fold4, featuring a 10MP cover camera, a 4MP under-display camera for selfies, and three rear cameras: 12MP ultra-wide, 50MP wide angle, and 10MP telephoto.

The Z Fold5 has a dust and water resistance rating of IPX8.

Screen Size: 6.1 inches and 7.6 | Resolution: 2316x904 and 2176x1812 | Processor: Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2| Camera: 50MP/12MP ultrawide/10MP telephoto | Battery: 4400 mAh

What to Look For in a Smartphone

When shopping for a smartphone, the first choice is whether you want an Android or an iPhone.

Once that's decided, you'll want to consider other factors, including the amount of storage, screen size, battery life, and camera quality. Budget is also a huge consideration.

Processor

The processor is essentially the brain of a computer, or in this case, a phone. More powerful processors mean your phone can "think" faster, meaning tasks are completed quicker, multitasking is zippier, and your phone will perform longer. Longevity is essential here: A phone with a sub-par processor might be perfectly fine at handling current apps, but that may not be true of the apps being released in two years.

If you want more powerful processors, look for ones with multiple "cores." Traditional processors can only perform one task simultaneously, but a dual-core processor can process two, and a quad-core processor can process four.

Storage

Storage is the most important thing for most people to consider. The more storage you have on your phone, the more files, apps, photos, videos, etc., you can keep on there. It’s easier to get by with less storage if you use cloud storage like Apple Photos or Google Drive, but some things can’t work without being stored on your phone.

We recommend getting a phone with at least 16GB of storage (for light users), though 32GB is going to be much better, and 64GB or more should be enough for heavy users.

Display Type

There are a few types of smartphone displays, and they’re not all created equal.

The LCD or Liquid Crystal Display is the most common in mid-range and low-end phones. LCDs are inexpensive to produce, but they consume a lot of battery life and generally don’t produce the deepest blacks or brightest colors.

Manufacturers are gradually doing away with LCDs in favor of OLED displays. Because OLED displays light up individual pixels rather than the display as a whole, saving battery life. On top of that, when black shows up on the screen, OLED displays don’t light it, meaning that blacks look deeper, and contrast ratios are higher. You might see “Super AMOLED” displays, which is Samsung branding for its OLEDs.

Biometric Authentication

Most smartphones have a fingerprint sensor built into them, ensuring you can get into your device quickly, easily, and at the touch of a sensor. Higher-end phones also have other forms of biometric authentication, like iris scanning or facial recognition.

Many consider fingerprint sensors the easiest way to authenticate, though it depends on their placement. While some phones mount a fingerprint sensor on the front of the device, others have a sensor on the back, making it easy to quickly scan your fingerprint as you take your device out of your pocket.

We recommend a phone with at least a fingerprint scanner, though other authentication methods can also be helpful.

Battery Capacity

Not all batteries are the same size, and a smaller battery can seriously impact how long your phone lasts on a single charge. Battery capacity is measured in milliampere-hours, or mAh—where a higher number represents a larger capacity. Of course, it’s not always as simple as "larger batteries make your phone last longer." A phone with a larger battery but an equally high-resolution display and a power-hungry processor may not last as long as a phone with a smaller battery, lower-resolution display, and less intense processor.

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