Best Smartphones of 2023
Searching for a smartphone with great battery life? Awesome cameras? A reasonable price? Take a look at these options.
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Whether youāre looking for the latest and greatest flagship phone or a more modest model for talking and texting, thereās no shortage of well-made devices in our smartphone ratings (available to CR members).
Consumer Reports tests dozens of smartphones each year, checking the basics, including how long the batteries last and how bright the displays are, along with premium features such as multicamera setups and the hinges on āfoldableā phones.
But even the most lackluster of smartphones represents a leap in technology from a decade ago. And that means you donāt have to buy the No. 1-rated phone to get a great product.
All but 19 of the 55 smartphones currently in CRās ratings have earned our recommendation. And the top 20 are separated by just a few points.
So which is the best smartphone for you? Well, that depends. Are you willing to spend a little or a lot? Is daylong battery life your first priority, or is it a cutting-edge camera setup?
To help you out, hereās a range of smart options, based on our extensive lab testing.
Best iPhone
Overall Score: 86
List price: $1,100 and up
Appleās supersized, 6.7-inch flagship phone offers handy features such as an always-on display and what the company dubs the Dynamic Island, an interactive pill-shaped cutout at the top that can show system alerts and notifications.Ā
CR testers give the cameras (front and back) top marks for selfie, still image, and video quality. The phone also has an impressive battery life, clocking in at 50 hours on one charge in our labs. That is slightly less than the 52.5 hours logged for the iPhone 13 Pro Max, which has the longest battery life of the phones in our ratings but is no longer available directly from Apple.
On the flip side, the Pro Max is significantly heavier than the 6.1-inch 14 Pro and can be tough to use one-handed, even for people with long fingers. So if youāre wary of bulky phones, you might be happier with the Pro, which also performs admirably in CRās tests and costs $100 less.
Interested in other iPhone models? Take a look at which iPhone you should buy.
Best Android Phone
Overall Score: 82
List price: $1,200 and up
The S21 Ultra is the first device in Samsungās S series lineup to support on-screen scribbling with an optional ($40) stylus, borrowing that capability from the now-extinct Galaxy Note line. The new Galaxy S22 Ultra comes with an S Pen tucked inside an onboard silo, fully embracing the Noteās design, but it scores just a hair below the older model in our tests.
All the Galaxy S21 and S22 phones performed well in our labs, but perhaps the most mind-blowing thing about them is that they cost $200 less than the comparable S20 models that debuted in 2020.Ā
With the S21 Ultra, you also get those premium big-phone perks weāve all come to expect: great battery life, a fancy zoom camera, and a huge, 6.8-inch Netflix-worthy display.
Prefer a phone not made by Samsung? Check out these other great Android smartphones.
Best Low-Priced (Under $500) Android Phone
Overall Score: 72
List price: $450 and up
Googleās latest entry-level smartphone offers a lot for a relatively small price tag. It has a bright, 6.1-inch OLED display; two rear cameras instead of the one typically found in phones in this price range; and a clean and simple Android interface.
The Pixel 6a runs on the companyās home-brewed Tensor chipset, which Google says enables the phone to perform advanced tricks like digitally erasing people and objects from your photos. CR testers give the phone high marks for still image and video quality, as well as for the deviceās overall performance.
On the downside, the Pixel 6a lasted just 30.5 hours on a single charge in CRās battery-life tests, which is significantly lower than the now-discontinued Pixel 5aās 43.5 hours.
Best Low-Priced (Under $500) iPhone
Overall Score: 75
List price: $430 and up
The iPhone SE has a 4.7-inch display and starts at $430, making this the smallest and least expensive model from Apple. But donāt let that relatively modest price tag fool you: The SE earns a Very Good rating overall.
The camera setup is pretty basic for an iPhoneājust one 12-megapixel camera on the back and a 7-megapixel camera on the frontābut the still image quality and video quality impressed CRās testers.
What else do you give up at this price? The SE has a retro-y home button rather than support for Face ID to unlock the device, and it lacks Appleās MagSafe technology for quickly connecting the device to wireless chargers and other accessories. Battery life is about average, at 30 hours.
Learn more about great low-priced smartphones.
Best Android Phone for Battery Life
Overall Score: 70
List price: $400 and up
At just under 53 hours, Appleās iPhone 13 Pro Max boasts the longest battery life in our smartphone ratings. Its smaller sibling, the iPhone 13 Pro, clocks in at 40 hours.
But there are great Android phones with long battery life, too.
The Samsung Galaxy A42 5G delivers an impressive 49 hours, for instance. Itās a budget model with midrange scores for performance and camera quality. But for $400, it delivers a very good 6.6-inch display and even has a memory card slot for expanded storage. Not too shabby.