2023 is well under way and we expect a ton of great new phones in the coming months, and we’ve already added two excellent new entry early doors from Samsung and OnePlus.
Thankfully, 2022 gave us some absolute stunners, the best of which we’ve ranked alongside the latest phones in this article. Whether you’re looking for performance, camera smarts, or value, our definitive list of the ten best phones has it all. Some of the prices will pleasantly surprise you.
The top phone on this rundown won’t be the ideal phone for everybody so make sure to check out all ten. The best phone for you is out there, depending on what you value most – camera, battery life, design, specs, price, and more to boot come into play.
Samsung and Apple feature here of course, but looking further afield to Android competitors such as OnePlus, Google, Oppo, and Xiaomi could mean you find your ideal pocket partner. Trust us, these phones all deliver – just all a little differently, and that’s a great thing. Good competition means better phones for everyone!
Best smartphone 2023
1. Google Pixel 7 – Best for most people
Pros
Good value for money
Excellent cameras
Nice 90Hz screen
Easy to use software
Cons
Slow charging speeds
Face Unlock is basic
We think the best phone for most people is the Google Pixel 7. It’s the best Pixel phone yet, and has tons of premium features for the frankly incredible price of $599/£599/€649/₹45,999
For less than the cost of any iPhone 14 or Galaxy S23 model you get a lovely 6.3in 90Hz OLED display, bright and customisable Android 13 software, a premium glass finish with wireless charging and amazingly good main and ultrawide cameras on the back. That main camera is the best point-and-shoot phone camera on the market, with stunning photos whatever you point it at thanks to the 50Mp sensor and Google’s top level photo processing.
You also get fun software tricks like Magic Eraser to rub out unwanted people or objects from your photos, and other Pixel-exclusive things such as call screening and a call holding feature so you dont have to sit on hold for ages with businesses – though several of these call perks are US-only.
You could opt for the Pixel 7 Pro if you want a bigger screen, better battery life, and an extra optical telephoto zoom lens.
2. iPhone 14 Pro – Best iPhone
Pros
Dynamic Island is genuinely great
First iPhone with always-on display
Phenomenal cameras
120Hz display
Cons
Battery life same as 13 Pro
No fast charging
More expensive in the UK
The regular iPhone 14 is a very minor update over the iPhone 13, so it’s a pleasant surprise that the iPhone 14 Pro is such a leap over its predecessor. Some of the change is only skin deep, but when such a visual overhaul as the Dynamic Island makes its debut, it’s hard not to notice.
Apple has shrunk its famous screen notch into a pill and circular shape below the top bezel but filled in the blank space with black pixels, and then used animations to have notifications and updates from apps originate from the space, creating a use for the cut outs now seen for cameras on most phone screens. It is very clever, and means you can see what music playing, timers, weather and more constantly at the top of the screen without having to hop into the app.
The phone’s cameras are also exceptionally good, with the first 48Mp sensor on an iPhone allowing for 2x zoom cropping in addition to the 3x telephoto lens and a capable ultrawide. Apple has also finally introduced an always-on display that simply dims your lock screen and pleasingly doesn’t affect battery life, in our testing at least. It’s not a huge upgrade on the 13 Pro but if your phone is three or four years old this iPhone will feel lightyears into the future.
3. Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra – The phone with everything
Pros
Outstandingly fast
Very good cameras
Excellent battery life
Lovely premium object
Cons
Slow 45W charging
Poor selfie camera
Huge premium object
If you want the phone on the market with the most features possible, the Galaxy S23 Ultra is it. It’s a big, expensive phone but you get every possible feature you could want in a smartphone in 2023 with incredibly good triple cameras, very good battery life that lasts well over a day, performance as fast as any rival phone, and of course, the now-unique S-Pen stylus tucked away in the phone for when you need it.
It’s one of few phones out there with a squared off body and screen, but it feels good to hold thanks to top build quality and nicely tapered edges and screen. This design rewards you with the best screen of any phone, perfect for any app you can throw at it, and superlative for watching videos.
The 200Mp main camera is outstanding, particularly if you like slightly saturated colours that pop more than they do in real life. That’s not to say they look artificial though – the quality is superb with the versatility of an ultrawide and two separate 3x and 10 optical telephoto lenses that are all excellent. It;s a shame the selife camera is terrible in low light.
4. Google Pixel 6a – Best value Android
Pros
Great performance
Solid battery life
Very good camera
Cons
60Hz display
Slow charging
Back plastic scratches easily
Although the Pixel 6 and 6 Pro have bigger, better screens and improved cameras, the $449/£399/€459/₹31,990 6a is better value and the Pixel phone most people should buy.
For the asking price you get the Google Tensor chip, the same as the 6 and 6 Pro, resulting in flagship level performance. Older A-series Pixels were sluggish – not this one.
You only get a 60Hz refresh rate screen, slow 18W charging, and a plastic back that we found scratches quite easily. There’s also only a 12.2Mp main camera, the same as on the Pixel 5, rather than the Pixel 6’s 50Mp shooter.
But aside from that this is close to the full Pixel experience at a superb price, with three years of Android OS updates and five years of security updates.
5. OnePlus 11 – Best value flagship
Pros
Excellent screen
Fast performance
Competitive price
Strong cameras
Five years of software support
Cons
No wireless charging
Not fully waterproof
OnePlus has nailed the balance with the OnePlus 11, bringing a fully-featured premium smartphone for an outstanding price. At $699/£729/€849/₹61,999, the only things it noticeably misses out on are wireless charging and full waterproofing (we are more annoyed about the latter than the former).
If you can forgo those nice-to-haves then you’ll find yourself with a phone that has everything else you could want: amazingly fast performance, an excellent display, strong cameras including a very good main 50Mp lens, and four years of Android updates and five of security updates. That’s only matched in the Android world by Samsung and Fairphone (iPhones get the longest software support at more than five years).
The OnePlus 11 is also a slim and svelte phone despite its 6.7in screen, which isn’t the case with other huge phones. You can go for the green glossy model or the black version that has a matt, almost-silk like finish to the back glass. It means it gets zero fingerprints, but it’s one of the slipperiest phones out there.
So long as you don’t mind the slight laboured newer version of OxygenOS that often changes Android for change sake, then this is a great phone at a price that ensures you’ll get your money’s worth if you can make it last five years.
6. iPhone 14 – Superb all-rounder
Pros
Outstanding battery life
Great performance
Superb dual cameras
Top build quality
Cons
60Hz display
Slow charging
No RAW photo shooting
The iPhone 14 isn’t as good as the iPhone 14 Pro but it costs less – even if it is pretty much an iPhone 13 with a new name. The only things of note it adds to the 13 is a very slightly improved main camera and the admittedly impressed stablisation video mode called Action Mode.
The iPhone 14 isn’t as good as the iPhone 14 Pro but it costs less – even if it is pretty much an iPhone 13 with a new name. The only things of note it adds to the 13 is a very slightly improved main camera and the admittedly impressed stablisation video mode called Action Mode.
As ever with Apple, built quality is the best in the business, and iOS is extremely stable software. You’ll also get software updates for about five years, and can get a repair done at any Apple Store. If you want a larger screen and more battery, you could opt for the iPhone 14 Plus, but we prefer this smaller model.
7. Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 4 – Best foldable
Pros
Superb performance
Solid battery life
Folds in half
Cons
Durability questions
'Slow' 25W charging
No telephoto camera
Samsung has addressed the Z Flip 3’s issues of bad battery life and middling camera performance for the price and made the Z Flip 4 an all-day phone with the same main and ultrawide cameras as the Galaxy S22 and S22 Plus.
It means this is the best foldable phone you can buy today, at a price similar to flagship slab smartphones. While durability questions remain over the display and the crease in it, we can’t test that – but Samsung says the Flip will last for at least 200,000 open and close motions, which roughly equates to five years of average use.
It means this is the best foldable phone you can buy today, at a price similar to flagship slab smartphones. While durability questions remain over the display and the crease in it, we can’t test that – but Samsung says the Flip will last for at least 200,000 open and close motions, which roughly equates to five years of average use.
For all intents and purposes, this is an S22 with a better processor that folds down to half its size. It’s compelling, and one of the best phones full stop.
8. Motorola Moto G62 – Best budget option
Pros
Tidy hardware & software
120Hz display
5G connectivity
Strong battery life
Cons
Performance isn’t 120Hz-worthy
Slow 15W charging
Camera struggles in less than optimal lighting
The phone that sits atop our best budget phone round up should rightly get a mention as one of the best phones overall – not every great phone has to cost the earth.
The Moto G62 is a sub-£200 handset with all the basics covered – a solid 120Hz screen, attractively simple Android software, very good two-day battery life and a chipset with a processor strong enough to keep up with normal everyday phone tasks (unlike other cheaper phones).
A 50Mp main camera is also nice to find at this price, but there’s no stablisation tech so you’ll need a steady hand, while the ultrawide and macro lenses aren’t anything to write home about. But at this price, a camera that takes bright, sharp images in daylight is all you could want.
With 5G built in then you’re set for a few years of use on new networks, though we don’t expect the G62 to get many software updates. Motorola doesn’t sell this phone in the US, but it sells plenty of equivalent solid Moto phones for around the ₹17,998 price point.
9. Samsung Galaxy S23 Plus – Goldilocks Android
Pros
Bright, sharp, flat screen
Great battery life
Five years of software support
Solid, versatile cameras
Cons
Expensive
45W charging a little slow
Software takes some tweaking
The Galaxy S23 Plus is a great choice if you don’t want a truly enormous Samsung phone with a pen (S23 Ultra) but do want a decent size display, top battery life and the best software support in the Android game with five years.
We found the phone performed excellently in testing and comes equipped with three capable rear camera lenses without the bulk of other triple-camera phones out there. The design is a little plain, sure, but once you’ve got it in a case then you won’t mind anyway. The software takes more tweaking to get it to your liking compared to Pixel phones, but Samsung’s OneUI is more customisable than Google’s version of Android.
The phone feels premium in aluminium and glass, the display is truly excellent with good outdoor visibility and if all this seems great apart from it being to big for you then fear not – there’s also a regular Galaxy S23 that has a smaller display.
10. Xiaomi 13 Pro – The newest camera tech
Pros
Class-leading performance
Excellent cameras
Impressive 120W charging
Solid battery life
Cons
Unintuitive software
Huge rear camera module
Expensive
We’ll say it up top – this phone would be higher in this chart if Xiaomi’s MIUI software was better and more pleasant to use than it currently is. It’s a shame, because the Xiaomi 13 Pro has some of the most accomplished hardware in the smartphone world.
We’ll say it up top – this phone would be higher in this chart if Xiaomi’s MIUI software was better and more pleasant to use than it currently is. It’s a shame, because the Xiaomi 13 Pro has some of the most accomplished hardware in the smartphone world.
The phone runs the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chipset, powering through every task with ease, and it has great battery life to boot.
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