Best smartphones of 2025 - buyer’s guide
Last updated: February 23, 2025
Welcome to the always-up-to-date GSMArena Smartphone Buyer's Guide where we round up the best smartphones you can buy.
You will find the different categories of phones below with our top pick as a highlight. Click on the category to see the other suggested options.
Flagship phones
Apple iPhone 16 Pro Max
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256GB 8GB RAM
$ 919.33
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512GB 8GB RAM
$ 1,099.99
You do not get the most premium iPhone for a single feature. The iPhone 16 Pro Max is worth getting for its well-rounded user experience, luxurious design, its premium services and warranty, for its clockwork iOS, and for its versatile camera experience with great photos and exceptional videos. And a thousand other little things we cannot fit in here.
Continue readingFlagship killers
Xiaomi Poco X7 Pro
The Poco X7 Pro turned out to be an excellent bang for the buck offer as it offers unmatched flagship performance for its price class. It also has a cool and stylish design, a great AMOLED screen and an attractive design with a solid build. The battery life and the charging are quite alright, and so are the speakers.
Continue readingCamera phones
Xiaomi 14 Ultra
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512GB 16GB RAM
$ 1,250.00
The Xiaomi 14 Ultra is one of the best cameraphones in 2024. A favorite cameraphone in the office, the 13 Ultra didn't leave a lot to ask for, yet Xiaomi did find a few areas to touch up for the 14.
Continue readingGaming phones
Asus ROG Phone 8 Pro
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512GB 16GB RAM
$ 779.99
Nobody does smartphone gaming quite like Asus. Four iterations into the ROG Phone line, that remains a fact.
Continue readingBattery life champions
Apple iPhone 16 Pro Max
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256GB 8GB RAM
$ 919.33
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512GB 8GB RAM
$ 1,099.99
We are putting the iPhone 16 Pro Max as our top pick here for being not only one of the best flagships, but also one of the phones to offer the longer battery life nowadays.
Continue readingCompact phones
Motorola Razr 50 Ultra
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512GB 12GB RAM
£ 685.00
Goodbye iPhone 13 mini, hello Moto! Yes, we are putting a clamshell for the first-time as our top pick for this category, but it surely deserves it! The Motorola Razr 50 Ultra offers a ton of flagship features in its super compact body.
Continue readingPremium all-rounders
Xiaomi 14T Pro
The Xiaomi 14T Pro is among the best phones you can get for about €600. It delivers on every single promise and has plenty of flagship-grade, class-leading features. It's among the fastest charging phones in the industry and it's got a 144Hz display, and that's in addition to a high-end chipset and a camera system that only falls short in one or two niche areas
Continue readingMidrange phones (around €400)
Xiaomi Redmi Note 14 Pro+ 5G
The price of the Redmi Note 14 Pro+ has quickly dropped down since its premiere and we cannot but recommend it. There are quite a few things to like in the Redmi Note 14 Pro+, like the extra durable build and smooth design, the very nice screen, the new battery chemistry, the solid performance with awesome thermal stability, the great video recording and the very fast charging. Convinced, yet?
Continue readingMidrange phones (around €300)
Xiaomi Poco X7 Pro
The €330 Poco X7 Pro turned out to be an excellent bang for the buck offer as it offers unmatched flagship performance for its price class. It also has a cool and stylish design, a great AMOLED screen and an attractive design with a solid build. The battery life and the charging are quite alright, and so are the speakers.
Continue readingMidrange phones (around €200)
Xiaomi Poco X7
The Poco X7 is not a major step up from the Poco X6, but still a very good offer. It is also a reworked version of the recent Redmi Note 14 Pro 5G and since it is cheaper than its Redmi counterpart, it easily made it to the top spot in this category.
Continue readingEntry-level phones
Xiaomi Redmi Note 13
We generally enjoyed our time with the Redmi Note 13 5G. It is a solid device overall that does not disappoint, given its reasonable price point. It looks and feels good, runs mostly smoothly, and its main and selfie cameras are very dependable.
Continue readingUS market phones
Apple iPhone 15 Pro Max
The iPhone 15 Pro Max is Apple's current best iPhone and we think it’s the best phone you can buy in the US. The iPhone 15 Pro Max is worth getting for its well-rounded user experience, luxurious design, its premium services and warranty, for its clockwork iOS, and for its versatile camera performance with great photos and exceptional videos. The great battery life doesn't hurt, and the introduction of USB-C means one fewer built-in shortcoming too.
Continue readingBest phones by category
Reader comments
- Anonymous
- 11 Apr 2025
- fxN
No offense but, I feel GSMArena being it as one of a big viewing site of the world's mobile phones but actually tested or tried that few. Worse off, the 1st of its list is an iPhone. If wanna be fair, go for at least 2 categories of phone...
- MasEnha
- 08 Apr 2025
- uCh
I see my friends' iPhones and those are indeed lagging overtimes. What is better is the OS, indeed it's more optimized and doesn't have additional layer to process.