Top 10 most popular reviews of 2018: Q1

Alongside the top news stories we'll also look back at the most popular reviews of the past year. Taking three months at a time we'll see the tests of which phones gathered the most interest on our homepage.

The first three months of the 2018 saw the launch of some of the most important flagships of the year. And indeed reviews of flagships were popular, but (if anything) mid-rangers drew in a larger number of readers. Here are our most read reviews published between January and March of this year.

Our Redmi Note 5 Pro hands-on review attracted the most eyeballs – people were really excited about this phone (rumors about it were among the most read news articles). And with the Redmi 5 Plus review in fourth place, it's clear the Redmi 5 family in general was a big deal early this year (the Redmi 6 replacements came in the second half of 2018).

The Galaxy A8 (2018) review beat both the Galaxy S9 review and the S9+ review. This should serve as a warning that companies shouldn't neglect the mid-range and bet everything on a successful flagship.

Camera quality is one of the main things that drove people to upgrade their phones this year. A major rivalry was explored in the iPhone X vs. Galaxy S9+ shootout.

The iPhone X itself was the subject of a long-term review that covered the experience past Week 1.

Despite the emphasis on cameras, it’s not the P20 Pro review that is in the Top 10 – instead the Huawei P Smart review gets that honor. The Honor 7X review laid the groundwork, the two devices are quite similar.

Sony Mobile hasn’t had the best year, but fans eagerly read our Xperia XZ2 review, which covered the fairly major redesign of the XZ series.

Xiaomi Redmi Note 5 Pro hands-on review

While some phones are inspired by the ‘less is more’ mantra, Samsung’s Galaxy Note family has always proudly claimed that ‘more is more’. More features, more options, more settings, more ways to interact with your handset, more choice made possible by the use of the best components adding up to the biggest and baddest spec list. To paraphrase a well known...

Samsung Galaxy A8 (2018) review

Samsung Galaxy A8 (2018) is not a successor to a particular A-series phone. It’s more of a trimmed Galaxy S8 version for the masses with matching design, screen, and the current number 8. Or so Samsung would have us believe.

Samsung Galaxy S9 review

It's true what they say - you don't fix what's not broken. And that's what Samsung did for the Galaxy S9 - it didn't change what was already great, it just tweaked specs wherever possible. And it has worked out just fine for them.

Xiaomi Redmi 5 Plus review

So, no more Redmi Notes eh? The Redmi 5 Plus should clearly have been the Note 5, a successor of the Redmi Note 4, but Xiaomi wanted a fresh start. The fifth generation is trying to shake things up and the new look obviously called for a new name. So, Xiaomi retired the Note brand promoting the Plus from a mere qualifier to a proper name. The phablet lives on regardless, and goes all-in with a wide 6" screen.

Sony Xperia XZ2 review

You don't really have to look any further than the new Xperia XZ2 and its little Compact sibling for proof that Sony is evolving even if slowly. The 2018 flagship is different in a number of ways, some of which more controversial than others.

Samsung Galaxy S9+ review

Generation 9 in plus size - this is the Samsung Galaxy S9+. Unlike last year when the S8 and the S8+ had just size setting them apart, in 2018 Samsung's Plus means more than higher battery capacity and larger display diagonal.

Apple iPhone X long-term review

The introduction of Face ID and the removal of the Home button has resulted in a paradigm shift in the way we interact with our iPhones. Three of us have been using the iPhone X since launch and this long-term review covers what the iPhone X is like to live with on a day to day basis and we are ready to answer what's good and what's bad about it from a different perspective.

iPhone X vs. Galaxy S9+ shootout

So which phone do you get when you part ways with your Google Pixel 2 XL? If you are after a great camera, chances are you are going to pick either the iPhone X or the Galaxy S9+. Well, this is exactly what happened to two of our editors.

Huawei Honor 7X review

We’ve come to accept Honor devices as being great value. Relying on proven technology from its parent company Huawei, the Chinese brand has been consistently focused on bringing very good specs at tempting prices. That's no easy task, yet Honor makes it seem almost effortlessly natural at this point, with devices like the Honor 7X.

Huawei P Smart review

This one's perhaps a little unexpected given it was rumored to be the Enjoy 7S. It's by no means a nasty surprise though. In fact, quite the opposite. You see, Huawei's Enjoy phones aren't getting much love usually - either because they’re a strictly domestic lineup, known as the Y-series globally, or because they're ...well... easily eclipsed by the flagship P’s and the Mates.