The Android ecosystem is all about choice. While iPhone owners have a smaller pool of new devices to pick from when it’s time to upgrade, there’s a wider range of choices on Android. Some Android phones even fold in half! Imagine.
On the flip side, all that choice can make for some hard decisions. Here’s where I’d like to help; I’ve tested a whole boatload of recent Android phones, and I think there are some real winners in the current batch. It’s all a matter of what you’re looking for, what you’re comfortable spending, and what your definition of a “reasonably sized phone” is. (I have my own, personally.)
As you sift through the options, you’ll almost certainly come across tech’s favorite buzzphrase of the moment: AI. Generally speaking, AI has yet to really impress me on a phone. The Pixel 10 series has some useful features, including Magic Cue, which proactively aims to surface relevant information when you need it, and Galaxy devices can translate a phone call for you in real time. These things are nothing to sneeze at! But none of it feels like the platform shift that the big tech companies keep promising. Best not to put too much stock in any company’s AI claims just yet.
What I’m looking for
There’s no shortcut to properly testing a phone; I put my personal SIM card (physical or otherwise) in each phone I review and live with it for a minimum of one full week. I set up each phone from scratch, load it up with my apps, and go about living my life — stress testing the battery, using GPS navigation on my bike while streaming radio, taking rapid-fire portrait mode photos of my kid — everything I can throw at it. Starting over with a new phone every week either sounds like a dream or your personal hell, depending on how Into Phones you are. For me, switching has become so routine that it’s mostly painless.
A great Android phone will go the distance. I look for signs that the hardware and software will keep up for many years to come, including a strong IP rating for dust and water resistance (IP68 is preferred), durable glass panels on the front and back, and a sturdy aluminum frame rather than plastic. Samsung and Google flagships now offer seven years of OS and security updates, which is awesome. As a bare minimum, three years of Android OS version upgrades is preferred, along with a total of four or five years of security updates.
The best Android phones have plenty of resolution to cover their large display area, which means 1440p, ideally. A fast refresh rate of at least 120Hz is preferred — animations and scrolling look super smooth at that rate — and even better if it’s variable down to 1Hz to save on battery life.
Any phone can take a decent photo in good lighting, but the best phone cameras can handle low light and high-contrast scenes well, too. I look for optical (most common) or sensor-shift (rare) image stabilization, which helps compensate for hand shake and enables slower shutter speeds in low light to gather more light. A telephoto lens is great to have, too, though high-res sensors are starting to offer better lossless crop modes that mimic short zoom lenses well.
Most phones on this list offer wireless charging, though not all do. Lack of wireless charging isn’t a complete deal-breaker, but it’s becoming an essential feature for many people because it’s a convenient way to charge a wide range of devices.
If you live in the US, I have some bad news about the Android market, though. For complicated reasons having to do with “capitalism” and “geopolitics,” we don’t get nearly as many of the options as you’ll find in Asia and Europe — brands like Huawei, Xiaomi, Honor, and Oppo just aren’t available here. I’ve limited this guide to the devices I’ve personally tested in depth; thus, it is a fairly US-centric set of recommendations.
With that in mind, it’s also worth acknowledging that most people in the US get their phones “for free” from their wireless carrier. If you can manage it, buying an unlocked phone will give you the most flexibility and freedom if you end up wanting to change carriers in the near future. Phone manufacturers also offer financing and trade-in deals to make payments more manageable. But if you’re happy with your carrier and the free phone on offer is the one you really want, by all means, take the free phone. Just make sure you understand the terms, especially if you need to change plans to take advantage of the deal.
However you go about it, you have some fantastic options for your next Android phone.
The best Android phone overall
$712
The Good
- Qi2 wireless charging with magnets is great
- AI is actually kind of useful, finally
- Telephoto camera is a nice addition
The Bad
- Main and ultrawide cameras aren’t quite as good as the Pro
- Battery life is just okay
Screen: 6.3-inch, 1080p 120Hz OLED / Processor: Tensor G5 / Cameras: 48-megapixel f/1.7 main with OIS; 13-megapixel f/2.2 ultrawide; 10.8-megapixel 5x telephoto with OIS; 10.5-megapixel selfie / Battery: 4,970mAh / Charging: 30W wired, 15W wireless (Qi2) / Weather-resistance rating: IP68
The Pixel 10 is Google’s latest take on the “just right” Android phone that introduces a few notable upgrades. For $799, you get a sharp 6.3-inch OLED screen, the same Tensor G5 chip found in the pricier Pro version, and Qi2 wireless charging with built-in magnets, no case required. The device is built to handle the day-to-day without fuss, and the whole thing feels straightforward instead of flashy.
This year, the Pixel 10 also adds a dedicated telephoto lens, a first for the non-Pro. Unfortunately, the main and ultrawide cameras are a step down from last year’s model. If you’re not scrutinizing every pixel or chasing low-light portraits, you’ll probably never notice. For regular photos, the Pixel 10 is great; it produces clean shots, solid performance, and enough versatility for the average user.
Photo: Allison Johnson / The Verge
What really sets the Pixel 10 apart, though, is how easy it is to use. AI features like Magic Cue are useful, proactively providing info without getting in the way. For example, it can surface a restaurant’s address or reservation details from your search history or confirmation email as you finalize plans over text. The phone runs cooler than previous versions, handles heavier workloads well, and shrugs off dust and water. If you want an Android smartphone that doesn’t overcomplicate things, the Pixel 10 is an easy recommendation.
Read our full Pixel 10 review.
The best budget Android phone
$399
The Good
- Robust IP68 rating
- Seven years of software updates
- Brighter, bigger screen
The Bad
- Missing a couple of AI features
- AI is occasionally handy, usually weird
Screen: 6.3-inch, 1080p OLED, 120Hz / Processor: Tensor G4 / Cameras: 48-megapixel f/1.7 with OIS, 13-megapixel ultrawide, 13-megapixel selfie / Battery: 5,100mAh / Charging: 23W wired, 7.5W wireless / Weather-resistance rating: IP68
The budget-friendly Pixel 9A nails the essentials, offering a bright 6.3-inch OLED display with a 120Hz refresh rate, IP68 water and dust resistance, wireless charging, and Google’s fourth-gen Tensor G4 chipset. It’s dependable and polished, with steady performance and a battery that lasts all day, even with the always-on display enabled. Overall, it delivers fantastic value for $499 — especially given it’s set to receive seven years of OS updates — and stands head and shoulders above the other inexpensive options we’ve recently tested.
Google’s entry-level handset does make some compromises to hit its lower price point, though. The 48-megapixel main and 13-megapixel ultrawide cameras are decent for everyday shots, but low-light performance and portrait mode lag behind the latest Pixel 10 phones (and even older Pixel 9 devices). Meanwhile, it runs a more pared-down version of Google’s on-device AI, so you miss out on some features, including the Screenshots app and Call Notes. The core experience is fantastic, though, and the long support window is among the best you’ll find in this price range. If you want a relatively inexpensive phone that feels just a step below today’s flagships, the 9A is an easy pick.
Read our full Pixel 9A review.
The best maximalist phone
$1000
The Good
- Excellent screen
- Improved ultrawide camera
- Rounded corners are comfier
The Bad
- Expensive
- Bulky
- AI is (still) hit or miss
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 Ready) / Weather-resistance rating: IP68
There’s still no phone quite like the Ultra. The Galaxy S25 Ultra is Samsung’s latest answer to the question, “What if your phone had all of the features?” It’s equipped with two telephoto cameras, a built-in stylus, and a big, bright screen. Good luck finding that combination in another phone. Related: this is one of the most expensive slab-style phones you can buy.
The newest edition of the Ultra comes with rounded corners and flat edges, making it more comfortable in your hand. But if you’re looking for significant year-over-year improvements to the Ultra formula outside of that, well, you won’t find much. Samsung’s focus has been on software features, which is to say AI features. But AI on Galaxy phones remains a mixed bag — it’s certainly not the paradigm shift Samsung wants us to think the S25 series represents.
Photo: Allison Johnson / The Verge
All of that puts the Ultra in a place of slightly less distinction than previous versions. The biggest updates are software features available to the rest of the S25 series. The Ultra looks and feels more like other Galaxy phones this time around, too. More than ever, it’s hard to understand what Samsung means when it calls this phone “Ultra.” Still, it’s your best choice for a feature-packed Android phone — even if it’s not quite as ultra as it once was.
Read our full Galaxy S25 Ultra review.
The best Android phone that isn’t huge
$720
The Good
- The last reasonably sized Android phone
- Seven years of OS upgrades
- Very good camera
The Bad
- Samsung software is as cluttered as usual
- AI is still a mixed bag
Screen: 6.2-inch 1080p 120Hz OLED / Processor: Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite / Cameras: 50-megapixel main with OIS, 12-megapixel ultrawide, 10-megapixel 3x telephoto with OIS, 12-megapixel selfie / Battery: 4,000mAh / Charging: 25W wired, 15W wireless (Qi2 Ready) / Weather-resistance rating: IP68
Most people like a big phone, and I get that. I do. If you want a big Android phone, you have plenty of options. But some of us like a smaller phone — something that (kind of) fits in your pocket, or feels more comfortable in your hand. For us, there is but one option on Android: the Samsung Galaxy S25.
That’s the regular S25, not the Plus, which is a fine big phone. But the standard S25 is basically the last of its kind: a full-featured phone with a 6.2-inch screen. It’s not small, but it’s not huge, and we’ll have to take what we can get. And it’s a darn good phone that keeps up with the bigger devices in all the important ways: the battery goes all day, it comes with plenty of RAM, and it even has a real telephoto lens — not something you get on a basic, 6.1-inch phone on, say, iOS.
Photo: Allison Johnson / The Verge
The Galaxy S25 isn’t just a good, small-ish phone by default. It’s reliable, durable, and comes with the promise of seven years of OS updates. It’s not my pick for the overall best Android phone because Samsung software can be a bit much, but if you’re comfortable in the Samsung ecosystem and you just want a phone that fits in your dang pocket, then this is the one to go with.
Read our full Galaxy S25 review.
The best lightweight big phone
$800
The Good
- Like a regular phone, but slim
- Surprisingly lightweight
- Battery life isn’t as bad as I feared
The Bad
- No telephoto camera
- Battery life not as strong as a standard phone
Screen: 6.7-inch 1440p 120Hz LTPO OLED / Processor: Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite / Cameras: 200-megapixel f/1.7 main camera with OIS, 12-megapixel f/2.2 ultrawide, 12-megapixel f/2.2 selfie / Battery: 3,900mAh / Charging: 25W wired, 15W wireless (Qi2 Ready) / Weather-resistance rating: IP68
Big phones have a tendency to, well, look and feel big. The Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge, on the other hand, is different. Thanks to its slim, lightweight design, the device provides a welcome reprieve from the countless chunky, heavy alternatives. It’s thinner and lighter than the Galaxy S25 Plus, making it the big phone you can actually slide into your pocket or even your evening bag without it protruding.
So, what’s the catch? The S25 Edge’s battery life is fine. Not great, not terrible, but somewhere straight down the middle. To be fair, it held up admirably during a particularly strenuous workday, one complete with hours of screen time, mobile hotspotting, and live blogging, making it to bedtime with battery to spare. It also lacks a dedicated telephoto lens, though it does feature the same 200-megapixel main camera found in the S25 Ultra.
Even with those compromises, the S25 Edge is a very capable phone that offers similar performance and durability to other devices in the S25 lineup. You’ll just have to be a little more aware of battery life as the day goes on; however, unless you’re routinely streaming video or playing graphics-intensive games throughout the day, the noticeably thinner, lighter design offers a nice change of pace.
Read our full Galaxy S25 Edge review.
The best phone if you hate waiting for your phone to charge
$900
The Good
- Easily a two-day battery for almost any kind of user
- Big, sharp screen
The Bad
- OxygenOS is looking a little cluttered these days
- Silicon-carbon battery may limit device longevity
- Proprietary super-fast wireless charging feels increasingly irrelevant
Screen: 6.78-inch 1272p 165Hz LTPO OLED / Processor: Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 / Cameras: 50-megapixel f/1.8 main with OIS, 50-megapixel f/2.8 3.5x telephoto with OIS, 50-megapixel f/2.0 ultrawide, 32-megapixel selfie / Battery: 7,300mAh / Charging: 80W wired, 50W wireless / Weather-resistance rating: IP68 and IP69K
The OnePlus 15 takes the “never worry about charging” ethos of its predecessor and cranks it up a notch. Its massive 7,300mAh silicon-carbon battery comfortably delivers two days of real-world use — and that’s with every power-draining feature enabled, including the always-on display. You don’t have to baby it to get the best possible battery life, either. If you do need a quick top-off, the included 80W wired charger and patented USB-C cable can provide you with a full day of battery life in just 20-ish minutes of charging.
As for other specs, the 15 features a sharp 1.5K, 165Hz display and Qualcomm’s Snapdragon Elite Gen 5 chip, meaning there’s more to the handset than just battery life. That said, there are some tradeoffs given the newer technology. The chemistry of silicon-carbon batteries may degrade faster than that of lithium-ion batteries, though OnePlus claims the battery will retain over 80 percent of its overall health for the first four years. The 15 also lacks built-in Qi2 magnets, unlike the Pixel 10, so you may have to fiddle with the alignment on your wireless charger to get it just right. If absurd battery headroom is what you’re after, though, the 15 offers it in spades.
Read our full OnePlus 15 review.
$1799
The Good
- Full dust resistance! On a foldable!
- Qi2 support with built-in magnets
The Bad
- Heavy and chunky
- Cameras aren’t as good as the other 10 Pro phones’
- Pricier than a regular phone
Screen: 8-inch, 2076p, 120Hz OLED inner screen; 6.4-inch, 1080p, 120Hz OLED cover screen / Processor: Google Tensor G5 / 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 inner selfie camera / Battery: 5,015mAh / Charging: 30W wired, 15W wireless (Qi2) / Weather-resistance rating: IP68
The Pixel 10 Pro Fold brings better durability to a category that’s historically fragile. With an IP68 rating, it’s the first foldable to offer full dust and water resistance. In real-world use, that means the device can take a tumble at the beach and remain relatively unscathed. Plus, you get the convenience of Qi2 support with built-in magnets for snap-on charging and accessories, including Google’s excellent magnetic ring stand. Performance is smooth, too, and the slightly wider outer display feels more like a standard slab-style phone.
Battery life is also solid for a folding phone, lasting a full day with minimal use of the inner screen; however, spending more time multitasking on the larger display may leave the battery in the red by bedtime. While the 10 Pro Fold’s cameras are good, they lag behind Google’s other 10 Pro models. The foldable is also over 40g heavier than Samsung’s lightweight Galaxy Z Fold 7. If you’ve been avoiding foldables because of durability concerns, the 10 Pro Fold’s improved hinge design means exposure to dust and grains of sand doesn’t equal certain doom.
Read our full Pixel 10 Pro Fold review.
Other Android phones worth considering
There are many more great Android devices that weren’t covered here, and a few are worth calling out that didn’t quite make the cut for a recommendation.
- The Nothing Phone 3 is billed by the brand as its “first true flagship phone,” with a $799 starting price that competes directly with the iPhone 17, Galaxy S25, and Pixel 10. It boasts a 6.67-inch OLED display, a generous 5,150mAh capacity battery, and a Snapdragon 8S Gen 4 chipset, which is on the lower end of the flagship spectrum. It also looks different from previous Nothing devices. Instead of the iconic light strips on the back that glow and flash, the Nothing 3 features a small dot-matrix LED display that can show pictures and icons. Read our review.
- The Galaxy Z Flip 7 is Samsung’s other new foldable device. Unlike previous Flip series devices, the company’s latest flip phone ditches the file folder-shaped look for a 4.1-inch, edge-to-edge display that wraps around the cameras. The larger screen is a joy to use, making it much easier to quickly respond to texts and manage full apps. While the design is a big upgrade, the device still offers no protection against fine particles like dust or sand, raising concerns about how the device will hold up over time. Read our review.
- The Pixel 10 Pro is Google’s most refined flagship yet, and a great showcase for the Android ecosystem. It features a premium design and big hardware upgrades over its predecessor, like a Tensor G5 chip and Qi2 wireless charging with built-in magnets. It also offers genuinely useful AI features, and the camera’s portrait mode is much improved over its predecessor. However, while the 10 Pro’s battery capacity is a bit larger this time around (4,870mAh vs. 4,700mAh), the battery life is just okay. We also feel uneasy about generative AI being inside the camera app. Read our review.
- The Galaxy Z Fold 7 is a thin, lightweight foldable that feels like a regular phone when folded shut. It has a spacious inner display that’s great for multitasking and gaming, and its battery can last all day with moderate use. That said, the device has a starting price of $2,000 — $200 more than the Pixel 10 Pro Fold — though we’ve seen it drop as low as $1,529.99. It also has an IP48 rating, meaning it’s fully water-resistant but not completely immune to tiny specks of dust. Read our review.
- As is typical for OnePlus’ budget phones, the pared-down OnePlus 15R launched shortly on the heels of the OnePlus 15. The $699 phone poses a bit of a condundrum in that it costs $200 less than the 15 and $200 more than the midrange Pixel 9A, the latter of which offers both better camera camera performance and wireless charging. That said, it does pack a massive 7,400mAh battery that lets you eke out several days on a single charge, not to mention top-tier performance in the form of Qualcomm’s last-gen Snapdragon 8 Gen 5 chipset. Still, the $200 markup over the Pixel 9A is painful, making it hard to recommend. Read our review.
- Samsung recently announced the Z TriFold after teasing it over the summer. The new foldable is set to arrive on January 30th in the US and features not one but two hinges, which open to reveal an inner screen measuring 10 inches diagonally, with a resolution of 2160 x 1584 and a 120Hz adaptive refresh rate that can drop all the way to 1Hz. The 1080p outer display, meanwhile, measures 6.5 inches and features a 21:9 aspect ratio, while the device itself is 12.9mm thick when folded shut. It also has a ceramic-glass, fiber-reinforced polymer back panel that’s designed to resist cracking, along with an IP48 rating, meaning it’s fully water-resistant but not dust-tight.
- While an official launch is likely still months away, we’re already starting to hear murmurs about Google’s Pixel 10A. The device is expected to look similar to the Pixel 9A, according to leaked CAD renders, and carry over some features from the Pixel 10. That means we could see the entry-level 10A launch with Google’s powerful Tensor G5 processor, offering the same great performance as the brand’s best device.
- The Razr Fold, Motorola’s first book-style foldable, is set to launch in the US this summer at an undisclosed price. It features some of the nifty software tricks found on Motorola’s clamshell-style foldables, along with a 6.6-inch outer screen, an 8.1-inch 2K LTPO inner display, three 50-megapixel rear cameras, a 32-megapixel selfie camera, and a 20-megapixel shooter on the inner screen. We know little else, though, having recently spent some time with an early production sample, we can attest to the phone’s thinness and the quality of the back panel finishes, which are quite nice.
Update, January 27th: Updated pricing / availability and added the Motorola Razr Fold to the “What’s coming next” section. Brandon Russell and Brandon Widder also contributed to this post.
