The BEST Smartphones of 2025!

Mrwhosetheboss

Whodunnit 👀 Get the Torras Ostand case this Christmas, to capture all the great moments (and bedazzle your phone with Christmas stickers in the process) 🤓 ​‬ 🌍Website: https://bit.ly/4pSgIAO 🇺🇸Amazon US: https://amzn.to/4qk0mkP 🇬🇧Amazon UK: https://amzn.to/4oKXmN6 🇩🇪Amazon DE: https://amzn.to/44Osjsq  Correction at 8:00: Vivo, Oppo and OnePlus WERE all owned by the same parent company BBK, but BBK was dissolved and deregistered in 2023

Transcript

00:002025 has been a weird and wonderful year for smartphones.

00:03It's the first time that you can buy an ultra-thin phone

00:05that won't snap like a breadstick,

00:07a normal-looking phone with a battery large enough

00:09to power a small vehicle,

00:11or a triple-folding phone,

00:13even if it does happen to cost you

00:15and your entire family's kidneys.

00:17But which ones should people buy?

00:19Welcome to the heavily revamped best smartphones of the year,

00:22starting with the Glow Up Award,

00:24the most improved phone from last year.

00:26And I'd say there are two,

00:27and only two obvious contenders here.

00:29So, Samsung's Galaxy Z Fold 7 feels like a massive change,

00:34simply because of how much slimmer and lighter it is

00:36than the Z Fold 6,

00:38while also bumping up pretty much all of its specs

00:40at the same time.

00:41This one generation is more than the difference in thickness

00:44between the last four generations of Samsung Folds

00:47put together.

00:48And then the one that, beginning of this year,

00:50I would have predicted to be the last phone

00:52to be sitting in this category, the iPhone.

00:55Not the 17 Pro, not the Pro Max, but the base iPhone 17.

00:58I distinctly remember casually strolling into the Apple event

01:01this year, being totally prepared for there to be like

01:03two changes max to this phone, like they usually are,

01:05only to end up scurrying out of there a couple of hours later

01:08when it finished, trying to piece together

01:09my entire page of notes.

01:11Basically, everything about the phone got better.

01:13They took the screen from easily the weakest

01:16in its price segment to probably the strongest,

01:18and even doubled the base storage of the phone

01:20without touching the price.

01:21It's enough improvements that ultimately,

01:23I'm gonna give the glow up award to the iPhone.

01:25There's never been such a sudden, obvious,

01:28best time to upgrade.

01:30Now, onto something new this year.

01:32The outside the box award.

01:34A phone that has some kind of unique trait,

01:36but that actually makes it better.

01:38So the ultra thin phones, for example,

01:39the iPhone Air, the S25 Edge,

01:41they hit the unique part,

01:42but I would say they're worse because of it,

01:44because they die literally 30% faster

01:47than their more traditionally proportioned brethren.

01:50More on these later, though.

01:50What was pretty cool, though,

01:52is the rear display from the Xiaomi 17 Pro.

01:55It feels like the most fully realized

01:58second screen experience.

01:59The personalization options are vast,

02:01and you can even game on the thing.

02:02But ultimately, I would say,

02:03while it does give you tons of small, useful tools,

02:07there are just very few big features

02:09that truly change how you use your phone.

02:11The minimal phone, though, is a full Android experience,

02:14but with this black and white e-ink display

02:16that drains much less power

02:18and creates less strain on your eyes.

02:20But this doesn't win either,

02:21because batteries are getting so good this year,

02:23even without a display like this,

02:25and trying to use your apps

02:27while they're refreshing like a slideshow

02:28is, well, its own kind of strain.

02:30So for me, the smartphone that ended up

02:33impressing me the most with its uniqueness

02:35is Samsung's Galaxy Z Trifold.

02:37I went into my first hands-on

02:38thinking it would feel interesting, but gimmicky.

02:41I came out searching for what the fastest way is

02:44to transfer everything over from my iPhone

02:46when the thing releases in the UK.

02:47It is thicker and heavier when closed up

02:50than a normal foldable,

02:51but the reward of this enormous 10-inch display

02:54it has on the inside that's widescreen,

02:56so content really makes the most of it,

02:57for me, finally makes the cost and sacrifices

03:00from carrying a foldable actually worth the pain.

03:04Okay, I mentioned earlier that 2025 has been the year

03:07of normal-looking phones

03:08that just seem to have limitless endurance,

03:10but which is the best of these unkillable devices?

03:14Mind you, that doesn't mean which phone

03:16has someone just stuffed the biggest battery cell into.

03:19Optimization matters.

03:20Charging speed matters.

03:21And most of all, is this still a phone

03:23that I would recommend buying

03:24outside of its killer battery?

03:26The iPhone 17 Pro Max deserves a mention here.

03:28This is the first iPhone

03:29to have a 5,000-ish milliamp hour cell.

03:32When you combine that with Apple's optimization,

03:34it's the first ever mainstream phone

03:36that I would say has spectacular battery life,

03:39about 10% longer than Samsung's.

03:41But then you get to the super-sized battery phones,

03:43which are a tier above,

03:44but there's also something that you need to look out for,

03:47that because of EE regulation,

03:49there is actually a cap on how large your battery can be

03:51before it is classed as a dangerous good.

03:53So quite a few phones that have anything

03:55over about 5,500 milliamp hours,

03:58like the Vivo X300 Pro,

04:00which has a 6,510 milliamp hour cell,

04:03they actually ship a tweaked version of their phone

04:05with a smaller battery to European countries.

04:08So if you buy the phone here,

04:09you would only get 5,440,

04:12which is why this isn't winning the award.

04:14The clever thing, though,

04:15that some companies have done is two cells,

04:17two separate batteries

04:19that each sit under the EU cap,

04:21but combine to give you more.

04:23It is a little bit less space efficient

04:24because you now have to have

04:25two separate battery casings,

04:27but can't complain too hard.

04:28It gets you the capacity you want

04:30and it makes your charging faster too,

04:32because it allows the phone to split the load

04:35of current and heat between the two cells.

04:37All of which to say the real battery champs of 2025

04:40are the phones that have this dual cell design.

04:42So that is the Xiaomi 17 Pro Max

04:46with a ridiculous 7,500 milliamp hour overall capacity

04:50and a hundred watt charging.

04:52The only caveat is this whole rear second display

04:54is a little bit of a contradiction

04:56if you're purely optimizing for endurance.

04:58Even Realme's flagship phone,

05:00the GT8 Pro has a dual cell,

05:027,000 milliamp hour capacity with 120 watt charging.

05:06You gotta love this year of phones.

05:07And then the OnePlus 15 takes that 120 watt charging,

05:11pairing it with an even higher capacity

05:13of 7,300 milliamp hours.

05:15This also might just be the most comfortable

05:17that a phone has ever felt in the hands.

05:19It's like a baby's bottom.

05:21Don't know if that comes across right, to be honest.

05:24I'm just not a fan of the camera downgrades

05:26that have snuck in here.

05:27Compared to the previous OnePlus flagship,

05:29every one of these rear camera sensors is smaller,

05:32which I'm gonna explain why in a bit,

05:33but it doesn't bring joy.

05:36So the phone that I think wins the unkillable battery award,

05:40the phone I would choose to use if battery was the priority,

05:43is the Oppo Find X9 Pro.

05:467,500 milliamp hours,

05:48basically as big as you can get.

05:49A pretty similar spec sheet and design to the OnePlus 15,

05:52but instead of a camera downgrade, this is up.

05:54This is way up.

05:56The only catch is 80 watt charging,

05:58instead of the 100 plus that some of these phones can do.

06:00But then when you think about the fact

06:02that the iPhone is capped at 40

06:03and the Samsung is capped at 45,

06:06it doesn't feel like so much of a problem.

06:08Now, where I think this gets particularly interesting

06:11is when we talk about the Filmmaker's Choice Award.

06:13Exactly what it sounds like.

06:14It's the best camera, but with one clarification.

06:17This award also factors in the camera experience.

06:20Does the battery let you shoot for a long time?

06:22Is the screen bright enough so you can see outdoors?

06:24Is the camera app really polished and intuitive to use?

06:27So instead of thinking this is just best photos,

06:30best videos, think of it as which phone

06:32would I actually want to use

06:33to take those photos and videos?

06:35So let's get one thing out of the way.

06:36It is not the iPhone 17 Pro.

06:38It is not the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra.

06:41We're at a point in the smartphone market where

06:43to actually take these cameras to the next level,

06:45one must pay the toll.

06:49Did it work?

06:50Is it nice and scary?

06:51You'd have to make your camera sensors wider.

06:52And then for those wider sensors to work,

06:54you'd also have to make them deeper,

06:56potentially making your phone top heavy,

06:57cutting into the battery,

06:58or God forbid turning your design into this.

07:01So for companies like Apple and Samsung,

07:04who are not trying to sell millions,

07:05they're trying to sell tens of millions

07:07of their flagships,

07:08they are going to be very resistant

07:09to making changes like this.

07:11That might feel like a compromise for 90% of people

07:14for the benefit of 10%.

07:16All of which to say, these guys can let themselves out.

07:19Pretty similar story for the Google Pixel 10 Pro.

07:22It has the highest number of intelligent camera features,

07:25but for someone who really knows what they're doing,

07:27you will be able to get more out of phones

07:29that have better camera hardware.

07:31And it's not quite the Oppo Find X9 Pro,

07:33although this is extremely close.

07:36It actually has almost identical camera hardware

07:38to the actual winner,

07:39which is the Vivo X300 Pro.

07:42A phone that I would actually say is two generations ahead

07:45of the already extremely capable mainstream flagships.

07:49The thing has a ridiculously bright outdoor display

07:51peaking at 4,500 nits.

07:54Its battery, while it's not the very top,

07:56is still well enough for a full day of shooting.

07:58And the camera itself is special.

07:59If you didn't know, Vivo, Oppo, and OnePlus

08:02are all owned by the same parent company, BBK.

08:05That's why there's so many parallels between their phones.

08:07But what's really interesting is this year,

08:09it feels like they're really trying to separate

08:12who each one is for.

08:13I think they've decided that OnePlus is pure performance.

08:15That's why the OnePlus 15 gets the fastest chip

08:18and huge battery, but scaled back cameras.

08:21And they've even scrapped

08:22the OnePlus Hasselblad camera partnership

08:24that's been going on for years now.

08:25It feels like Oppo is the halfway house.

08:27It's got most of the performance of OnePlus

08:29and most of the camera of Vivo

08:31because they want this to be the mainstream,

08:33all-rounder flagship.

08:34And then they want the camera enthusiasts to go to Vivo

08:37with its slightly scaled back battery,

08:39but the best camera sensors you can find,

08:41paired with the most advanced,

08:42smoothest damn camera software to ever grace an Android phone.

08:46And this specialization is kind of nice

08:47because it means that if you are someone

08:49who is going to take photos

08:50and really pour over the details

08:52and appreciate the perfect skin tones,

08:54the Vivo is worth every cent.

08:56Not to mention it's 200 megapixel telephoto camera,

08:59which is the closest I have ever been

09:01to owning spy equipment.

09:03Well, second closest.

09:06Last few holidays I've been on,

09:07I actually left my camera at home,

09:09just because I knew I had this X300 in my backpack.

09:12And I way prefer shooting with a phone if I can.

09:14That's actually the main reason we work with Taurus

09:16and why you'll always find me using

09:18one of their O-Stand cases on my iPhone.

09:19It lets you shoot from really unique angles

09:22by being able to hook this stand around things.

09:24It gives you the stability of a tripod anywhere.

09:27So whenever I stumble across a really cool scene

09:28that I'm probably never coming back to,

09:30I can just plop it down and take a time-lapse

09:32or a really high quality starry sky shot like this one.

09:35And it's got a strong magnet baked in,

09:37so you can snap it onto a surface

09:38and film yourself with your hands completely free.

09:40You can get these for iPhone, Samsung, Pixel,

09:42and it's all topped off with maybe

09:44the coolest new finishes ever,

09:45like this one, Christmas tree.

09:47Okay, enough about cameras.

09:48Which phone gives you the single most impressive

09:50sustained gaming experience,

09:53earning the Pocket Console Award?

09:54And I wanna stress here,

09:55the vast majority of people,

09:57even if you're playing big, intensive games,

09:59don't need a gaming phone.

10:00I'd actually say the best gaming phone for most people

10:03is just the iPhone 17 Pro Max.

10:05Apple just improved the thermal performance,

10:07the battery's amazing,

10:08the speakers are top-notch and games on iPhone

10:10are generally a little more optimized than Android.

10:13However, there will always be some people

10:14who decide that they want to go all in.

10:17And if you do,

10:17you can eek out that little bit of extra performance

10:20with the Red Magic 11 Pro.

10:24And this is a pretty sick phone

10:25because it's more than just the latest chip,

10:27most RAM and a vapor chamber to keep it cool.

10:29This is the first smartphone

10:31to also introduce active liquid cooling.

10:34So vapor chambers,

10:35which you've now started seeing even in mainstream flagships,

10:38are a passive form of cooling.

10:40Think of them like a metal block with some water inside.

10:43And that water is just continuously evaporating

10:45and condensing by itself as the phone heats up,

10:47which just helps to speed up the process

10:50of getting that heat out.

10:51This phone has an actual pump

10:54that is actively pushing coolant around the phone.

10:57It's more like the way that a top-end PC's

10:59cooling system would work.

11:00And when you combine that with the two other cooling systems

11:03also at play,

11:04well,

11:05you can play Call of Duty

11:07or Call of Duty

11:08in the slickest way possible.

11:10So I am crowning this the best phone for gaming.

11:13And it does that while also starting

11:15at a very reasonable $729.

11:18But then again,

11:18you can absolutely see where they've cut some corners

11:21when you start testing the cameras.

11:22This is why I'm a little hesitant to recommend gaming phone

11:25in the current meta.

11:27Also, if you're wondering, there was no ASUS ROG phone this year.

11:30Looks like it's been delayed to 2026.

11:33And now for possibly the most opposite vibe imaginable.

11:37Introducing the Grandma's Choice Award,

11:39the most hassle-free,

11:40it-just-works-well device

11:42for someone who's not as tech-savvy.

11:44There's a bit of a niche purpose-built option

11:46in the Chatsy phone

11:47that we tested in our Instagram ads video.

11:49It's very interesting.

11:50It's got this entirely new user interface

11:52built around older people being able to clearly understand it,

11:55which is absolutely a factor here.

11:57And the customer service is insanely helpful.

11:59But the hardware is extremely basic,

12:02considering it's near $400 price.

12:04Samsung is also a pretty safe recommendation.

12:06They're mid-rangers this year, like the A56.

12:09They've got these spacious, really readable screens.

12:11They've got big batteries.

12:12They're durable with good quality glass on the front and back

12:15and an IP rating.

12:16Plus, Samsung has easy mode,

12:17which is essentially built for parents and grandparents.

12:20But I wouldn't call Samsung the winner.

12:22I would say, by a fairly healthy margin,

12:25it's actually the Google Pixel 9a.

12:28It is a smaller phone,

12:29but I just think there is something beautifully simple

12:32about Google software that is great for this category.

12:34The fact that it's filled with really helpful tutorials,

12:37how it speaks to you at a very non-tech expert level,

12:40and also the fact that there is no bloatware,

12:42which also means none of that duplication of apps

12:45that you see on Samsung.

12:45So no one's getting confused here

12:47about when to use Google Photos

12:48and when to use Samsung's gallery.

12:50Google has their own version of easy mode called Simple View.

12:53And again, it's extremely effective.

12:55All finished off with this camera.

12:57While I don't think the camera on this pixel,

12:59or really any pixel, has the highest ceiling,

13:02what it does have is one of the highest floors.

13:04It makes it very easy to not take a bad photo.

13:07And should you still end up doing so,

13:09it's arguably the best toolkit to fix your images afterwards.

13:13Now the other area where Google Pixel also seems to shine

13:17is the one-handed hero category.

13:19Compact phones that make you question just,

13:21how did they squeeze all of that in?

13:23Because there are a ton of premium compact phones.

13:26You've got Samsung, you've got Apple, you've got Xiaomi,

13:28you've even got all the flip phones.

13:29It feels pretty overwhelming, but then you look closer

13:32and you realize that there's actually a very large range

13:35in terms of how much different phones give up to be compact.

13:39Like Samsung's Galaxy S25, for example.

13:41This is a safe, completely fine phone,

13:44but it is worse in every conceivable way

13:47compared to the company's bigger S25 Ultra.

13:50I'd say a little bit less so for the iPhone,

13:51but the smaller iPhone 17 does miss out on

13:54quite a bit of the battery life

13:55that you get on the bigger Pro Max.

13:57This is not the case for Google.

13:59I mean, while I don't think the plus size Pixel 10 Pro XL

14:02is like the best big phone,

14:04I would say the smaller 10 Pro is a cracking compact phone,

14:07because it has just bottled the entire experience of the XL

14:11with almost zero compromise, including the battery life.

14:14But there is one phone that I think embodies

14:16the one-handed hero concept even more so than Google,

14:19and that is the Xiaomi 17 Pro.

14:22This not particularly large device retains every single one

14:25of the bells and whistles from the bigger Pro Max,

14:28including, by the way, this whole second screen.

14:30And then, unlike the Pixel 10 Pro,

14:32which has a weaker than average Google Tensor chip,

14:35Xiaomi has a well above average

14:37next generation Snapdragon chip.

14:38And unlike the Google,

14:39which I'd say already has great battery life,

14:42this compact phone, I would go as far as to say,

14:44has extraordinary battery life.

14:47If you are specifically looking

14:48for one of the flippers, by the way,

14:50then I personally rate Samsung Z Flip

14:52just a tiny bit higher than Motorola's Razer 60 Ultra,

14:55but they are both great.

14:56The Moto has got a bigger battery

14:57and slightly better specced cameras,

14:59but Samsung's thinner, it's lighter,

15:01and I think Samsung's tuning lets it still take

15:04better photos than Moto's.

15:08Right, it's time for the one

15:10that I take no pleasure in awarding.

15:12Who am I kidding?

15:13It's like my favorite category.

15:14The Why Does This Exist Award

15:17for the most disappointing

15:18or confusing launch this year.

15:20And there's only one runner up,

15:22the Nothing Phone 3.

15:24I would say Nothing's budget and mid-range phones

15:26have been, well, nothing short

15:28of category-defining devices.

15:30Their flagship though,

15:31which they waited three full years before making,

15:34was just very similar, but with a spec bump.

15:37And then to make it feel like a distinct step up,

15:40they added this weird dotty rear screen

15:42that actually just felt less cool

15:44than the Matrix lights

15:45from their previous more affordable phones.

15:47I still don't think it's a bad phone.

15:49It's just a slightly disappointing one,

15:51especially considering its $800 launch price.

15:54As for who wins then, or loses,

15:57you know what, no, it's an achievement.

15:59Let's go with wins.

16:00I wanna hand it to both of these phones,

16:02the two-dimensional twins of 2025,

16:05Samsung's S25 Edge and Apple's iPhone Air.

16:08And it's not because I think these things are unusable,

16:10or because I think they're not a feat of engineering,

16:13because they are.

16:14It's still impressive to me,

16:15and I've had this S25 Edge for six months now.

16:18It's that I think both of these devices

16:20are absolutely beautiful traps.

16:23This shiny, alluring new form factor

16:25that is going to sway a lot of people in the short term

16:28when they're making that buying decision.

16:30But then long term,

16:31when you stop noticing that form factor

16:32and the battery degradation starts to set in,

16:35I think most of those users

16:36will start to become worse off because of it.

16:38They'll start to wonder,

16:39why are my photos so grainy when I try and zoom in?

16:41Why am I having to use power saving mode every day?

16:43Why is my phone starting to feel choppy

16:45after 20 minutes of gaming?

16:46Which are not things that you want to be wondering,

16:49when you have still forked out a grand to get one of these?

16:52So what if you wanted to specifically protect your wallet?

16:55If you wanted to spend no more than $300,

16:57but get the most smartphone possible?

17:00Well, as with every other year before,

17:02POCO is waiting for us with open arms.

17:05I gotta say, their X7 Pro,

17:07excuse my extremely bright Avengers edition over here,

17:10this thing is the most appealing that a POCO has ever been.

17:14The fact that $300 now gets you a phone

17:16that can take great photos on its 50 megapixel main camera,

17:20is extremely readable in any lighting

17:22with 3,200 nits of peak brightness,

17:24and lasts for at least a day and a half on a charge

17:26with its 6,000 million power battery, is so cool.

17:30So this is the clear spec maxing option.

17:32When you factor in though the overall phone experience,

17:35I would side very slightly

17:37with the CMF Phone 2 Pro by nothing.

17:40You are getting a bit less hardware, but it's cheaper.

17:42At $250, it's got that nothing level of polish

17:45that makes it feel a little more expensive

17:47than its pared back stats might suggest.

17:49The software's really optimized, the bloatware's minimal,

17:52and the phone takes surprisingly good photos

17:54with two 50 megapixel cameras on the back.

17:56Oh yeah, plus, the thing's modular,

17:58with the ability to screw in a stand or camera lenses,

18:01or just swap out the back plate entirely.

18:03So there are a couple of other options from nothing

18:06floating around this $300 price point.

18:08But frankly, the CMF Phone is the best value option.

18:12The Overachiever Award though,

18:14goes to the mid-range phone

18:15that gives you far more than you expected.

18:17Enough to take it into flagship territory,

18:19and even beyond in some ways.

18:20And the phone that wins this award in 2025

18:24is probably the most immediately impressed I've been in years.

18:27So this is yet another one of those categories

18:29where I don't think the Apples and Samsungs take it.

18:32Those are companies whose entire business model

18:33revolves around protecting their flagships.

18:36And who don't particularly fight to over-deliver on value.

18:39And even these phones,

18:40the very well-rounded Xiaomi 15T and 15T Pro,

18:44which now run the slicker, more stylish HyperOS 3 Android skin,

18:48the competition is heated enough this year

18:50that even they can't burn through.

18:51The two phones that truly do punch above their weight are,

18:55one, the Realme GT8 Pro that I mentioned earlier.

18:58This is by far the most stacked smartphone

19:01to ever come out of this company.

19:03Like, think of a current cutting-edge smartphone spec.

19:05This thing has it.

19:06All for around $750.

19:08And it comes with a screwdriver,

19:11so that you can swap the shape of your camera module into a rectangle.

19:15It's probably the strangest extra on a phone,

19:18so laser-focused on price to performance.

19:20But even with its screwdriver, it's not the winner.

19:23I am giving that award to the POCO F8 Ultra.

19:26A phone that has not just surpassed my expectations,

19:29it has walked in, it has slapped them across the face,

19:32and rewritten them from scratch.

19:34Because spec-wise, this is very close to the extreme Realme phone,

19:38but it's a little bit more affordable.

19:39It's $679.

19:41It actually looks really smart and unique with this denim finish

19:44that has actually immediately become one of my favorite smartphone finishes,

19:48because it's so grippy, it doesn't scratch at all,

19:51and it shows no fingerprints.

19:52And then, the speakers here are incredible.

19:55The phone's a partnership with Bose,

19:57and so what they've done is built an entire extra subwoofer on the back,

20:00which is all I've been dreaming of from a phone for a long time.

20:04Now, I will say, temper your expectations.

20:06This doesn't suddenly turn your smartphone into giant Bluetooth speaker levels of depth or richness,

20:11but it's enough to make even one of the best sounding phones,

20:13the iPhone 17 Pro Max, sound a little compressed side by side.

20:18And I think that's quite the achievement,

20:19which leaves us with just one award to give.

20:22For the person who wants to pay flagship money and just wants the very best.

20:26So the contenders are Samsung S25 Ultra, of course, for just being so well-rounded.

20:31Everything about it is at least good.

20:33It's just that we're at a stage now where the chip and battery inside are fairly outclassed.

20:38iPhone 17 Pro and Pro Max. I love the focus on battery,

20:41and I would actually say the improved signal has been

20:44one of the most impactful upgrades for me in the last five years.

20:48But it's also not this, because Siri and, to be honest,

20:50iOS in general just feels like it's lagging behind.

20:53Xiaomi's 17 Pro Max is also fascinating.

20:56It's just for me, I wouldn't deprioritize the cameras like this

20:59to prioritize a second display.

21:01I absolutely love the Vivo X300 Pro, as you've seen,

21:04and it is so close to perfect.

21:06It's just slightly lacking in the battery department to be called winner,

21:10which means overall smartphone of the year is going to its very similar cousin that isn't,

21:17the Oppo Find X9 Pro.

21:19I think that's the closest we've ever been to a flawless phone.

21:22The only flaw being that you might struggle to get one,

21:25depending on where you live.

21:26They even pre-installed the screen protector.

21:29Just...

21:30Wow.

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