Need a new smartphone but don’t know which one is the very best? Here’s a guide comparing the current top-end smartphones from Apple, Samsung, Huawei, OnePlus and others to help you pick the best handset for you.
There has never been a better time to buy a new flagship smartphone with many quality handsets available at a wider range of prices than ever before. Whether your priority is two-day battery life, fantastic camera performance or a spectacular screen, there’s plenty to choose from.
This Guardian buyer’s guide to top-end smartphones was last updated on 17 December 2019, and represents the best available models at the time. As new models are released and tested, this guide will be updated to help you choose the right flagship phone for you.
The monster 6.67in QHD+ AMOLED screen runs at 90Hz – compared with 60Hz for most of the competition – is arguably the best in the business. It’s bright, crisp and super smooth, plus it’s free of holes or camera notches. The selfie camera pops up from the top on command – a consistent crowd-pleaser.
The 7T Pro is the fastest-feeling phone – everything zips along. It has Qualcomm’s top chip, the Snapdragon 855+, 8GB of RAM and 256GB of fast UFS3.0 storage – plenty for practically everything. The optical in-display fingerprint scanner is even faster than before continuing to put the competition to shame.
The latest OxygenOS 10, the firm’s super-slick version of Android 10, is arguably the best in the business too, and you’ll get prompt updates for three years.
The triple camera system on the back is good too, combining a 48MP main, a 16MP ultra-wide angle and an 8MP telephoto camera. New for the 7T Pro is a super-macro mode, which is surprisingly good, producing crisp images up to just 2.5cm from the lens – great fun. The 7T Pro can’t quite beat the iPhone 11 Pro or Pixel 4XL, but it matches or beats the rest on detail and utility.
The 7T Pro lasts about 32 hours between charges, making it one of the better performers. Charging is exceptionally fast via the firm’s WarpCharge system too, hitting 70% in just 34 minutes via cable. There’s no wireless charging though.
Dual-sim support is handy for work or travelling. It’s water resistant to some extent, but has no IP rating. There’s a McLaren limited edition and a 5G version in the US, but not UK where the OnePlus 7 Pro 5G is still the current model.
Good things come in smaller packages. The iPhone 11 Pro isn’t the biggest or the most expensive of Apple’s 2019 smartphones, but it is the best and very nearly the best phone of the year.
The iPhone 11 Pro combines a stunning, big-enough 5.8in screen, svelte, luxurious-feeling body, top-notch performance and battery life to keep up with most of the competition.
Truth be told, the design is basically uncharged since the mould-breaking iPhone X from 2017. The back is now frosted glass, which looks particularly good in silver, and has a triple camera lump in the top left. The rest stays pretty much unchanged.
Apple’s Face ID is still the best, most widely-supported face recognition system in the business. The new A13 Bionic chip continues to lead the pack. The gesture navigation system continues to be one of the best, and you’re in line for around five years of iOS software updates from release – at least two more than any other manufacturer will provide.
This year the iPhone 11 Pro introduces a significantly improved triple camera with ultra-wide, wide and telephoto lenses, which matches the best rivals in photography and beats them in video. It even has an effective night mode now.
It’s not all gravy – starting with just 64GB of storage is poor. The old Lightning connector still persists, rather than the newer standard of USB-C. There’s no 5G option and it is exceedingly expensive – you don’t buy the iPhone 11 Pro looking for value for money. Plus iOS 13 has been a mixed bag since its introduction, with a lot of bugs that needed fixing.
But as a whole, no other phone can match the iPhone 11 Pro in power, capability and size. The iPhone 11 Pro is the smaller phone to buy and the best running iOS.
If you want the Android sweet-spot between a big, stunning screen and smaller phone size that’s easier to handle and fit in a pocket, that’s the Galaxy S10.
The 6.1in QHD+ AMOLED screen with a small hole-punch notch in the top right is one of the best on the market and is big enough to make the most of apps and movies look great.
Small bezels all round make the phone pretty compact compared with rivals, and it’s light too. It’s still a glass and metal sandwich, which means you might need a case to protect against falls.
The Galaxy S10 was recently updated with Samsung’s new One UI 2 software, based on the latest Android 10 including much-improved navigation gestures. You should get about three years of software support from release from Samsung, although the company is usually slower than Google and OnePlus to deliver big Android version updates.
The rear triple camera is good allowing you to zoom from 0.5 through 2x, and on to a 10x hybrid zoom. It won’t beat the Pixel 4 XL or iPhone 11 Pro, but gets the job done. The selfie camera pokes straight though the screen and is one of the better ones on the market.
Performance is good but battery life is a bit weak, lasting a day of usage but not much more. The ultrasonic fingerprint sensor mounted under the display has proved to be a bit slow and finickity over time, which can be annoying.
The best camera on a phone is the Huawei P30 Pro by some margin. Even at the end of 2019, no other phone provides as comprehensive a combination as Huawei’s new Leica quad camera.
The 20MP 0.6x ultra-wide angle camera is fun, the main 40MP camera is terrific and it’s joined by a new periscopic 5x optical zoom camera that gets you closer than any other smartphone. If five times magnification wasn’t enough, there’s an excellent 10x hybrid zoom on top and then a digital zoom all the way up to 50x. A 3D depth-sensing time-of-flight sensor rounds out the modules on the back.
Remarkable levels of zoom aside, the P30 Pro also has low-light performance that instantly turns night into day without having to wait for a couple of seconds of capture. The P30 Pro might not have the best Night Sight rival, but most of the time it simply doesn’t need it.
The rest of the phone is excellent, too, with stunning colour options. The large 6.47in FHD+ OLED is great, with a small notch in the top containing the selfie camera and slim bezels all round. The curved edges keep the width of the phone to a narrow 73.4mm wide, meaning it’s still relatively manageable and easier to wield day-to-day particularly compared with the OnePlus 7T Pro or iPhone 11 Pro Max.
The in-screen optical fingerprint sensor is second only to the OnePlus 7T Pro’s. Huawei’s Kirin 980 processor, 8GB of RAM and 128GB of storage, provides great performance and a battery that will last about two days. Plus the battery charges super fast and has wireless charging and power sharing.
Huawei’s modified Android 10, EMUI 10, is highly customisable and has plenty of features but may not be to everyone’s tastes. Huawei is still facing sanctions from the US as part of the US-China trade war, which makes its future uncertain. The P30 Pro’s recent Android 10 update showed that it should continue to receive updates as normal, however.
Pound for pound the OnePlus 7T offers the best performance, design and experience than any other smartphone.
It’s got the big, good-looking 6.41in full HD OLED screen, with a small, widow’s-peak-like notch at the top for a selfie camera. New for the 7T is a 90Hz refresh rate, which like its bigger sibling the 7T Pro, makes even the mundane silky smooth.
It’s got 2019’s top-of-the-line Snapdragon 855+ processor, 8GB of RAM and 128GB of fast UFS3.0 storage. It also lasts a good 31 hours on a charge, and its OxygenOS 10 Android software is fast and slick. OnePlus guarantees two years of software updates and an additional year of bi-monthly security updates from the release date of the phone too.
It even has the fastest and best in-display fingerprint scanner currently available, which is as good as the best dedicated capacitive sensors, good haptics and dual-sim support for having two mobile phone network connections at the same time.
The triple camera is good too, with ultra-wide, wide and 2x telephoto lenses, plus a dedicated macro mode, but it can’t beat the very best in the market. There’s no formal water resistance rating and no wireless charging, but WarpCharge sees it hit full charge in 60 minutes flat.
Apple’s cheaper iPhone 11 is the follow-up to last year’s iPhone XR and offers most of the features of the iPhone 11 Pro. It has slightly battery life too, but is missing the excellent ultra-wide angle camera, has a slightly larger, but worse screen. It is made of aluminium and glass, instead of stainless steel, losing its luxurious feel and the knowledge that it’s the best Apple can make.
The iPhone 11 looks great in red or white, but it’s not cheap by any stretch of the imagination, costing as much or more as true flagship phones from competitors. The iPhone 11 certainly holds its own for the money, but the iPhone 11 Pro still the one to buy if you want the best iPhone. If you want a cheaper phone, switch to Android or buy last year’s iPhone XR.
