Best Phones of 2025

Overview

This review comes from an analysis of the features, functions and brand reliability of the individual phones and the companies behind them.

Here is our list of the best phones to buy or use in 2025.

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because we are not here to play here is the summary list
Quick list of our picks.
1. Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra

2. Apple iPhone 16 Pro Max

3. Google Pixel 9 Pro

4. Google Pixel 9a

5. OnePlus 13

6. iPhone 16

7. Nothing Phone 3a Pro

8. Samsung Galaxy S25

9. OnePlus Open

10. iPhone 16e


Thes phones offer un-paralelled technologies and are generally great options, the differences and advantages of one over the other can be seen below.
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Detailed review

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Samsung galaxy s25 ultra

Best phone overall

Specifications

Display: 6.9-inch OLED (3120x1440; 1-120Hz)
CPU: Snapdragon 8 Elite
RAM: 12GB
Storage / Expandable: 256GB, 512GB, 1TB / No
Rear camera: 200MP main (f/1.7), 50MP ultrawide (f/1.9), 50MP telephoto (5x, f/3.4), 10MP telephoto (3x, f/2.4)
Front camera: 12MP (ƒ/2.2)
Weight: 7.7 oz
Battery life (Hrs:Mins): 17:14

Reasons to buy

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Impressive AI agent upgrades
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Great Snapdragon 8 Elite performance
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Superb cameras

Reasons to avoid

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No Qi2 magnets built in
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S Pen loses Bluetooth

 

Samsung galaxy s25 ultra

Ignoring massive hardware changes year on year, Samsung focused on Galaxy AI in 2025. The new Galaxy S25 Ultra advances mobile A.I in general. 

The new S25 Ultra features cross app actions, allowing the use of a built-in digital assistant to communicate between apps on your galaxy. This feature applies to Samsung apps and Android apps, especially Google apps, Spotify, WhatApp, Google Maps and others. With a single command you can do multiple things, allowing you to look up info while chatting for example. 

The phone learns your habits and routines and creates what Samsung calls a "Now Brief" screen. This screen displays choice information on weather, calender evens and more. The feature learns as you use the phone over-time, growing in capacity with greater use of the Galaxy S25 Ultra.

The phone has  A.I apps tailored to Samsung. Circle to Search, Now Brief, Now Bar etc. These are similar but also quite different and better performing than iPhone's Live Activities platform.

Performance: The Snapdragon 8 Elite inside the Galaxy S25 Ultra does more than just help the new phone last longer on a charge. It also delivers some of the best performance we've seen on an Android device, especially since Samsung is using an overclocked version of the silicon. That helps the Galaxy S25 Ultra produce better benchmark numbers than the OnePlus 13, which also has a Snapdragon 8 Elite chipset. But the gaming-focused Asus ROG Phone 9 Pro can lay claim to the speed king title, thanks to its numbers on some tests. The neural engine on the Snapdragon 8 Elite coupled with 12GB of RAM on the base model give the Galaxy s25 Ultra enough processing muscle to handle more AI tasks on device. And the Galaxy S25 Ultra comes with a bigger, brighter display than last year's model so everything from gaming to streaming looks better on this new device. 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.

Camera: The Galaxy S25 Ultra presents an all new ultrawide sensor. The picture quality is upgraded to 50MP, allowing excellent detail and macros sharpness. There are upgrades to the ProVisual Engine. This processes photos excellently and adds to the brilliance of the camera of the Galaxy S25 Ultra. The S25 Ultra beats the iPhone 16 Pro Max, extensively in comparison, on many points of camera quality. Samsung's Galaxy S25 has excellent quick shots, selfie shots and shoots in low-light. It beats the iPhone 16 Pro Max in macro photos. With nice improvements to this model the Galaxy S25 Ultra becomes the best camera phone of 2025.

Battery/Power: The Battery on the S25 Ultra lasts longer than that of the s24. The stats show capacity for a little over 17 hours of online web browsing. The battery is supported by the Snapdragon 8 Elite chip which manages power use with ultra efficiency. In terms of charging it is very fast and supports Qi2 wireless charges. You may need a Qi2 adapted case in some cases because this model does not have a rear magnet.

Price and value: The Galaxy costs more than the competition at $1,299, this means that it is $100 more expensive than similar main offerings by Google and Apple and even more expensive more moderate competition like OnePlus. This is still the same price point as the last S24 and so no price up from the last model is seen. Their Base model of the Galaxy S25 comes with a 256GB storage but more more can be had for a little more money. Samsung also offers some Galaxy S25 Ultra deals that can help you get the phone for less depending on where and how you buy so ask questions.

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iPhone 16 Pro Max

Brand flagship

Specifications

Display: 6.9-inch OLED (2868x1320; 1-120Hz)
CPU: A18 Pro
RAM: 8GB
Storage / Expandable: 256GB, 512GB, 1TB / No
Rear camera: 48MP wide (f/1.78), 48MP ultra wide (ƒ/2.2), 12MP telephoto (5x zoom; f/2.8)
Front camera: 12MP (ƒ/1.9)
Weight: 8 oz
Battery life (Hrs:Mins): 17:35

KEY UPSIDES

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Long lasting battery life
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Useful Camera Control button
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4K 120 fps video capture

MAIN DOWNSIDES

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Slow charging speeds

 

iPhone 16 Pro Max

The iPhone 16 Pro Max has been relegated to number 2, this is not because it has fallen below its predecessor but because of the massive improvements on the functions and abilities of the almighty A.I driven, Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra.

We are sure that the big minds at Apple are already hard at work trying to remedy this with new Apple Intelligence releases this year but for now, the Samsung takes the lead in 2025. In the iPhone however delays are also to blame with delays on a an iOS 19 update and to the Siri assistant system. These can come anytime in 2025 and give a boost to the iPhone 16 Pro Max.

This model saves itself with a much larger screen than the 15 Pro Max, a faster processing capacity and an ultrawide camera. But it doesn't leap enough forward to justify a move from an iPhone 16 Pro Max. If you have an iPhone 14 or 13 however, just is quite a good reason to buy a new iPhone in 2025.

In Performance and Design the iPhone is deserving of applause. It has good charging speed, excellent camera performance with a nice digital zoom but it lags in the area of price being one of the most expensive phones on out top 10 list. The habit adaptive NOW BRIEF also makes regular tasks easier and if the Siri updates come should make the phone more loveable.

Performance: The iPhone 16 Pro Max sports the proprietary A18 Pro chipset. The chip is quite fast and measuring up to the competition when compared to the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite that runs the OnePlus and Samsung Galaxy lineup. In fact, compared to the Galaxy Ultra the 16 Pro Max was faster in switching between programs and doing basic phone stuff. Verdict: The iPhone 16 Pro Max wins top marks for design, photography and performance. Charging speed and digital zoom features could be further refined, and it's very expensive relative to some of the other phones on this list, but you definitely get a lot of power and polish for your money. Now it's just a matter of Apple delivering on the Siri improvements it promised. The phone learns your habits and routines and creates what Samsung calls a "Now Brief" screen. This screen displays choice information on weather, calender evens and more. The feature learns as you use the phone over-time, growing in capacity with greater use of the Galaxy S25 Ultra.

Camera: From inception the iPhone has been about the camera as much as it has been a phone. The iPhone 16 comes with a telephoto lens and sports advancements in its main and ultrawide lens cameras. It sports a 5x telephoto lens and offer nice zoom functions. Compared to the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra the iPhone 16 Pro Max wins but it still loses to the reigning King, the Galaxy S25 Ultra. In all however, the iPhone 16 Pro Max has a very good camera that does not disappoint.

Battery/Power: The iPhone 16 Pro Max can surf the web for over 17 and a half hours. Note that the global average is 9-10 hours while new. Also, this is the best performance of and iPhone ever. In terms of charging, it sports a 25w charger but is not a pack leader in charging speed.

Price and value: The Pro Max costs about $1,199 cost as its predecessor, but in comparison to its predecessor this is cheaper because even thought to total amount is the same the iPhone 16 Pro Max comes with a 6.9-inch screen (larger than the iPhone 15 Pro Max) and has a much better and longer lasting battery still. It is also important to note that it is $100 cheaper than its Samsung equivalent.

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