The best phone to buy right now

The champion screens for surface time. | Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge

Haven’t you heard? Phones are boring now. And that’s conscionable fine! Most radical buying a caller telephone conscionable privation thing acquainted that works amended than the instrumentality they’re replacing. If that’s your MO, past you’re definite to find thing reliable successful my recommendations below.

But adjacent if you’re looking for thing a small much extra, you’ve got immoderate large options. They’re going to beryllium beauteous iterative compared to immoderate you’re utilizing present — we’re successful much of a bundle epoch than a hardware innovation rhythm these days — but you tin find a delightful caller device. We yet person a folding telephone that feels similar the close size and shape, flip phones connection a batch much than conscionable nostalgia, and you tin inactive bargain a telephone with no less than 4 cameras connected the back. Not atrocious for a boring play of telephone hardware.

A batch of radical successful the US get their phones done bearer deals, and nary judgement present if that’s the way you instrumentality — it’s however I bought mine. Just beryllium definite you cognize what you’re getting into and however galore years you’ll request to enactment connected that Super 5G Everything Unlimited Plus program to support the monthly instrumentality reimbursements coming.

If you’re looking to walk a small little and inactive get the champion smartphone connected a budget, you tin find thing truly bully for nether $600. For those recommendations, check retired our usher to fund smartphones.

The champion iPhone for astir people

Screen: 6.1-inch, 2556 x 1179 OLED, 60Hz refresh complaint / Processor: A18 Cameras: 48-megapixel f/1.6 main with sensor-shift IS; 12-megapixel ultrawide; 12-megapixel selfie / Battery: Not advertised / Charging: 27W wired, 25W wireless MagSafe, 15W Qi2, 7.5W Qi / Weather-resistance rating: IP68

From a hardware perspective, the iPhone 16 (or the 16 Plus) is an casual upgrade choice. If you’re switching from an iPhone 13, 12, oregon adjacent older, those 4 oregon 5 years of incremental show improvements adhd up. But there’s thing wholly caller this clip astir — well, 2 things: the Action Button and the Camera Control button.

The customizable Action Button, which replaces the mute power connected the near borderline of the phone, is simply a hand-me-down from the 15 Pro series. You tin acceptable it to unfastened a peculiar app, crook connected the flashlight, oregon astir thing other you mightiness privation astatine the interaction of a button. On the different broadside of the telephone is the Camera Control, which you tin usage to motorboat the camera app. With the camera open, it acts arsenic a shutter fastener with a afloat press, and a airy property brings up different vulnerability options you tin adjust. Even if you lone ever usage it to motorboat the camera, it’s beauteous handy, and it frees up the Action Button.

The iPhone 16 and its larger 16 Plus sibling usage Apple’s A18 chipset, which is successful the aforesaid household arsenic the 16 Pro’s processor. That bodes good for the phones staying connected the aforesaid bundle upgrade cycle. They some received Apple Intelligence successful the fall, which included AI-powered penning tools and notification summaries successful its earliest iteration, and eventually grew to enactment ChatGPT and a caller Visual Intelligence feature. But contempt the similarities, the regular 16 models lag down the Pros successful 2 important departments: the surface and the camera.

The Pros travel with dedicated 5x lenses and updated main cameras that bash a small amended successful debased light. And you’ll lone get a ProMotion show connected the Pro models; the regular 16 features a slower 60Hz screen. Basically each different high-end telephone connected the marketplace offers a 120Hz display, truthful that’s a disappointment. If those 2 drawbacks don’t fuss you — and astir radical astir apt won’t caput them — past the iPhone 16 makes for a large upgrade.

Read our afloat iPhone 16 review.

The champion Android telephone for astir people

Screen: 6.3-inch, 1080p 120Hz OLED / Processor: Tensor G4 / Cameras: 50-megapixel f/1.7 main with OIS; 48-megapixel ultrawide; 10.5-megapixel selfie / Battery: 4,700mAh / Charging: 27W wired, 15W wireless (with Pixel Stand 2) / Weather resistance: IP68

The Android ecosystem has been looking for a telephone similar the Pixel 9 for a portion now. It’s straightforward and unfussy, takes reliably bully photos, and comes with the polished hardware you’d expect from a high-end phone. It doesn’t person a dedicated telephoto lens, which the likewise priced Galaxy S25 does, but the bundle is little quirky than Samsung’s, making for a amended wide experience.

Outside of zoom capabilities, Google’s Pixel camera is conscionable arsenic reliable arsenic ever. The telephone comes with a Tensor G4 chipset that powers AI features aplenty, some wrong and extracurricular of the camera app. Some are promising and some are worrying, but there’s thing present that feels similar a existent game-changer. Which is fine.

The important happening is that the Pixel 9 has the close worldly wherever it counts. It’s casual to use, and immoderate of the Pixel series’ persistent problems similar mediocre thermals and buggy bundle look to beryllium nether power successful this generation. The 9 Pro is simply a worthwhile upgrade if you privation that telephoto lens and a somewhat nicer screen, but successful immoderate case, the Pixel 9 feels similar a top-notch device, wrong and out.

Read our afloat Pixel 9 review.

The champion high-end Android phone

Screen: 6.9-inch, 1440p, 120Hz OLED / Processor: Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite / Cameras: 200-megapixel main with OIS; 50-megapixel 5x telephoto with OIS; 10-megapixel 3x telephoto with OIS; 50-megapixel ultrawide; 12-megapixel selfie / Battery: 5,000mAh / Charging: 45W wired, 15W wireless, Qi2 acceptable / Weather resistance: IP68

Samsung’s “Ultra” S-series telephone is inactive your champion stake for a maximalist Android phone, adjacent if ultra doesn’t rather mean what it erstwhile did. You inactive get 4 rear cameras — including a 3x and 5x telephoto — a monolithic screen, and a built-in S Pen stylus. The artillery goes each day, the processor is top-notch, and determination are AI features aplenty if you’re into that benignant of thing. There’s conscionable nary different telephone rather similar it.

This year, Samsung removed the Bluetooth features from the stylus. That stings a little, particularly considering that the institution swapped a 10x zoom for the shorter 5x camera the twelvemonth before. It inactive amounts to a large phone, but it’s 1 of the priciest slab-style phones you tin buy, and Samsung seems to beryllium cutting features without adding backmost immoderate other value. It’s inactive “ultra” alright, but it doesn’t consciousness rather arsenic peculiar arsenic it utilized to.

Read my afloat Galaxy S25 Ultra review.

The champion telephone for astir $500

Screen: 6.1-inch, 1080p OLED, 120Hz / Processor: Tensor G3 Cameras: 64-megapixel f/1.89 with OIS; 13-megapixel ultrawide; 13-megapixel selfie / Battery: 4,492mAh / Charging: 18W wired, 7.5W wireless / Weather-resistance rating: IP67

It’s hard to bushed the Pixel 8A connected sheer ROI. For $500, you get a precise bully fund telephone that comes with 7 years of OS and information updates; astir phones astatine this terms volition lone spot a fistful of OS upgrades, if that. The 8A besides comes with a bully camera that covers the basics. It’s not arsenic fancy arsenic the Pixel 9 oregon 9 Pro, but it won’t forestall you from capturing that once-in-a-lifetime shot.

The Pixel 8A provides a batch of different things you wouldn’t needfully expect from a $500 phone, similar wireless charging and an IP67 standing for absorption against afloat h2o immersion. Of course, you can’t person everything. The 8A’s backmost sheet is matte integrative alternatively than glass, sadly, and its 6.1-inch 1080p surface isn’t the champion successful its class.

There are different phones disposable for nether $500 worthy considering, galore of which are covered successful our usher to the champion inexpensive phones. But if you’re looking for the implicit astir worth you tin get from a $500 phone, past look nary further than the 8A.

Read my afloat reappraisal of the Google Pixel 8A.

The champion high-end iPhone

Screen: 6.3-inch, 2622 x 1206 OLED, 120Hz refresh complaint / Processor: A18 Pro Cameras: 48-megapixel f/1.8 with sensor-shift IS; 12-megapixel 5x telephoto with OIS; 48-megapixel ultrawide; 12-megapixel selfie / Battery: Not advertised / Charging: 27W wired, 25W MagSafe wireless, 15W Qi2, 7.5W Qi / Weather-resistance rating: IP68

Like each mainline iPhone 16 models, the 16 Pro gained the caller Camera Control button, but it got different important update, too: a 5x telephoto lens. In the 15 series, that longer telephoto lens was reserved for the bigger Pro Max model. This clip around, it’s connected the smaller Pro, too, making it a large enactment for idiosyncratic who wants to upgrade without upsizing their phone.

Like the Pro Max, the iPhone 16 Pro uses an A18 Pro chipset designed to enactment Apple Intelligence, which started rolling retired successful the autumn of 2024. The archetypal update included things similar notification summaries and the caller glowing-border Siri UI, which Apple centered its motorboat lawsuit on. Subsequent updates brought ChatGPT integration and Visual Intelligence. But don’t expect thing radical — astatine slightest astatine first.

Outside of AI, the 16 Pro is simply a reasonably iterative update. The caller Camera Control makes it easier to motorboat the camera and get close to taking photos, and it besides frees up the Action Button if you were utilizing it arsenic a camera shortcut. The surface is simply a small bigger astatine 6.3 inches compared to 6.1 inches, adjacent though the telephone is fundamentally the aforesaid size. You tin grounds 4K video astatine 120fps now. And the caller Photographic Styles, which are disposable connected each iPhone 16 models, fto you instrumentality much power implicit your photos than ever.

There’s thing present that idiosyncratic with an iPhone 15 Pro should upgrade for, but it’s an all-around coagulated instrumentality that volition delight Apple devotees, particularly those who similar a telephone that isn’t excessively big.

Read our afloat iPhone 16 Pro review.

The champion flip phone

Screen: 6.7-inch, 1080p, 120Hz OLED interior screen; 3.4-inch, 720p, OLED screen surface / Processor: Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 / Cameras: 50-megapixel f/1.8 main with OIS; 12-megapixel ultrawide; 10-megapixel selfie (inner screen) / Battery: 4,000mAh / Charging: 25W wired, 15W wireless / Weather resistance: IP48

The Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 6 isn’t the astir fun flip telephone you tin bargain close now; that would beryllium the 2024 Motorola Razr Plus. But amusive lone goes truthful far, and the Z Flip 6 is the much reliable of the two. When it comes to the instrumentality you usage time successful and time out, reliability counts for a lot.

Motorola’s instrumentality connected the modern flip telephone embraces nostalgia with cute animations and a mode that sends the full instrumentality backmost to the aboriginal 2000s. The Z Flip 6 lacks this benignant of charm, but you bash get an updated screen surface UI that’s much customizable than the Z Flip 5’s. The Flip 6 besides comes with 7 years of bundle updates, which matches the champion bundle policies connected the market. The hardware volition astir apt springiness retired agelong earlier the software, honestly.

That’s the different broadside of the flip telephone coin: semipermanent durability is iffy. Sure, the Flip 6 is built to withstand afloat h2o immersion, but it inactive doesn’t person immoderate ceremonial particulate resistance. For that reason, it isn’t a telephone I would urge to conscionable anyone.

That said, the Z Flip 6’s outer surface does travel successful handy. You tin bash a batch with the prebaked widget options disposable to use, and if you’re conscionable a small adventurous, you tin tally immoderate app you privation connected the small screen. Starting a Strava workout oregon sending a speedy substance is simply a cinch, which is simply a large portion of the entreaty of a flip phone. Just, you know, support this telephone distant from the beach.

Read my afloat Galaxy Z Flip 6 review.

The champion folding phone

Screen: 8.0-inch, 2076p, 120Hz OLED interior screen; 6.3-inch, 1080p, 120Hz OLED screen surface / Processor: Tensor G4 / Cameras: 48-megapixel f/1.7 main with OIS; 10.8-megapixel 5x telephoto with OIS; 10.5-megapixel ultrawide; 10-megapixel selfie (cover screen); 10-megapixel interior selfie camera / Battery: 4,650mAh / Charging: 21W wired, 7.5W wireless / Weather resistance: IPX8

It’s hard to convey conscionable however nice the Pixel 9 Pro Fold is to use. It’s the archetypal book-style folding telephone that afloat delivers connected the committedness of a foldable: it’s a tablet erstwhile you request it and a regular telephone erstwhile you don’t.

Samsung’s Z Fold bid feels a small excessively narrow and cramped successful its closed configuration, and the archetypal Pixel Fold was excessively bulky and dense to usage comfortably. The 9 Pro Fold is lighter, and utilizing its 6.3-inch outer surface feels fundamentally similar utilizing a mean phone, which is simply a large win.

That’s truly the taxable of the Pixel 9 Pro Fold: it conscionable feels normal. But determination are a mates of decidedly not-normal things to consider: terms and durability. The 9 Pro Fold costs $1,799, which is fundamentally the going complaint for a book-style foldable but remains a batch of wealth for a phone.

And semipermanent durability is unclear, particularly fixed that this is lone Google’s 2nd folding phone. It’s rated to withstand afloat h2o immersion, but arsenic with immoderate foldable, particulate is simply a concern, truthful you’ll privation to instrumentality a small other attraction with this device. All that said, idiosyncratic with the tummy (and wallet) for the 9 Pro Fold volition find it a precise rewarding device.

Read my afloat Pixel 9 Pro Fold review.

The champion telephone for thing wholly different

Screen: 6.7-inch, 1080p, 120Hz OLED / Processor: Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Plus Gen 1 / Cameras: 50-megapixel F/1.9 main with OIS; 50-megapixel ultrawide; 32-megapixel selfie / Battery: 4,700mAh / Charging: 45W wired, 15W wireless / Weather resistance: IP54

The Nothing Phone 2 isn’t for everyone, but for the close benignant of person, it’s a precise bully alternate to the Galaxies and Pixels of the world. It’s a style-driven device, from the dot-matrix-inspired UI to the flashing airy strips connected the backmost panel. Will its unsocial hardware and bundle features assistance you instrumentality backmost your attraction span arsenic Nothing claims? Eh, astir apt not. Mostly, it’s conscionable a cool-looking gadget and a thoughtfully designed device.

The Phone 2 is equipped with a Snapdragon 8 Plus Gen 1 chipset, which is simply a somewhat older but inactive precise susceptible processor. Its 6.7-inch, 1080p surface supports a accelerated 120Hz apical refresh rate, and its lowest 1Hz refresh complaint allows it to connection an information-rich always-on display. The camera strategy is good, though not rather arsenic accordant arsenic the Pixel 7’s. There’s wireless charging, accelerated 45W wired charging, and an all-day battery.

That’s each of the bully news. The atrocious quality is that it’s lone rated IP54, meaning it’s not afloat dustproof, and it’s lone resistant to splashes alternatively than afloat immersion successful water. Most different phones astatine this terms connection a afloat IP68 rating, and a mates of cheaper midrange phones, similar the Pixel 8A, inactive see IP67 h2o resistance. The Phone 2 besides lacks authoritative enactment for Verizon’s network, which rules it retired for a batch of radical successful the US.

There’s the Glyph Interface, excessively — those lights connected the backmost of the phone. It’s a neat thought with immoderate absorbing applications if you put a small clip successful tweaking it. You tin flip it implicit to soundlessness notifications erstwhile you request immoderate clip to absorption and handpick definite “essential” alerts to airy up the Glyph. Personally, I find it little adjuvant than a accepted absorption mode oregon adjacent the Phone 2’s always-on display. But others mightiness find it useful, and if thing else, it looks neat.

The Phone 2 isn’t the champion prime for sheer worth — the Pixel 8A is simply a overmuch amended deal. It’s not the champion prime for idiosyncratic who conscionable wants a telephone to get them done their time with minimal hassle. But it’s undeniably different, and if you’re looking for thing extracurricular of the mean with a definite ocular appeal, past it’s a worthy candidate.

Read my afloat Nothing Phone 2 review.

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Other phones we tested

• The Samsung Galaxy S25 is simply a precise bully device, and it’s fundamentally the past small-ish Android telephone you tin bargain successful the US. I find the bundle to beryllium fussier and much cluttered than the Pixel 9’s, truthful it’s not my wide pick, but it’s a reliable instrumentality — and your champion stake for a telephone that isn’t gigantic.
• The 2024 Motorola Razr Plus is simply a delightful flip telephone with tons of nostalgic vibes, with a large screen surface that’s useful for accessing speedy tasks without opening the phone. But Motorola’s way grounds for timely bundle updates isn’t great, making it hard to afloat endorse the Razr Plus.
• The iPhone 16E is simply a large telephone that makes a batch of absorbing trade-offs. Apple’s latest entry-level telephone starts astatine $599 and comes with the company’s latest A18 processor, USB-C and wireless charging, a 60Hz OLED display, and the customizable Action Button recovered connected Apple’s much premium handsets. The 6.1-inch telephone doesn’t person MagSafe enactment oregon a Camera Control button, though, and it’s constricted to a azygous 48-megapixel Fusion camera (sorry, ultrawide stans). That makes it hard for america to urge implicit the modular iPhone 16, adjacent if it does commencement astatine $200 less.

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What’s coming next

• Samsung has two caller fund phones, the $399 A36 and the $299 A26, some of which enactment Google’s Circle to Search diagnostic and immoderate of the AI-powered editing tools already disposable connected Samsung’s S25 bid phones. Both person a 6.7-inch afloat HD Plus show with an up to 120Hz refresh rate, a 5,000mAh battery, and vessel with Android 15; however, the A36 offers a speedier Snapdragon 6 Gen 3 spot and 45W wireless charging, not to notation a “larger vapor chamber” for amended performance.
• Following a abbreviated delay to code prime concerns, the Pixel 9A volition launch connected April 10th and commencement astatine $499 for 128GB of storage. The fund follow-up to the Pixel 8A sports a somewhat larger 6.3-inch show with a 120Hz refresh rate, 8GB of RAM, a bigger 5,100mAh battery, and Google’s Tensor G4 chip. It besides ditches the camera bump successful favour of flush housing, allowing it to prevarication level erstwhile placed connected a table.
• In the flip telephone space, determination are 2 models to support an oculus on: the rumored Galaxy Z Flip 7 and this year’s Motorola Razr Plus. According to recent leaks, the archetypal volition don an edge-to-edge screen surface with holes for the cameras and flash (the interior show is besides supposedly 6.8 inches, up from 6.7 inches connected the anterior model). The plan of the caller Razr Plus, meanwhile, looks astir identical to past year’s model, lone with a stitched faux leather finish.

Update, April 1st: Adjusted pricing/availability and added a notation of respective caller phones, including the rumored Galaxy Z Flip 7 and this year’s Motorola Razr Plus. Brandon Widder besides contributed to this post.