The Best Smartphones (2024)

Who it’s for: The iPhone 15 is ideal for someone who wants an iPhone and values getting one with the latest screen, camera, and processor, ensuring that it will look and feel good for years.

Why we like it: Gaining most of the features found in last year’s iPhone 14 Pro, the standard Apple iPhone 15 feels more high-end. Those features include the Dynamic Island front-facing camera cutout, as well as a brighter display, a faster processor, an all-day battery, and an upgraded camera with three optical-zoom lengths capable of excellent photos and 4K video.

The iPhone 15’s 6.1-inch OLED screen can reach up to 2,000 nits of maximum outdoor brightness, matching the iPhone 14 Pro and 15 Pro models—that’s up from the iPhone 14’s 1,200-nit screen. The pill-shaped Dynamic Island cutout originally featured in last year’s iPhone 14 Pro models shows information from background applications such as phone calls, Spotify or Apple Music, navigation, timers, and more while you’re using the phone. The iPhone 15 also gets the A16 Bionic chip that powered the 14 Pro, and it delivers a boost in everyday tasks.

Flaws but not dealbreakers: While the new USB-C port is a welcome addition for its fast-charging functionality, the standard iPhone 15 doesn’t get faster data transfers like the iPhone 15 Pro does with its USB 3.0 port. In addition, if you want features such as three rear-camera lenses, a titanium finish, or an Action button to replace the ring/silent switch, you have to splurge on the pricier iPhone 15 Pro.

Who it’s for: Those who prefer a smaller screen, want to spend less on a phone, or would rather have a fingerprint reader than Face ID should consider the iPhone SE.

Why we like it: The Apple iPhone SE (3rd generation) is the ideal choice if you want a small phone, prefer a fingerprint reader to Face ID, or don’t want to pay as much for a new smartphone as you would for a decent laptop. The iPhone SE is significantly cheaper than the iPhone 15, but in many situations it feels just as fast. It lacks the iPhone 15’s second lens and Night Mode camera setting, so capturing good photos in dark environments is harder. And whereas cheap Android phones often stop getting software updates soon after purchase, even the least expensive iPhones, including the SE, will receive iOS support for many years.

Flaws but not dealbreakers: If you use your phone for more power-hungry activities such as games, video, or voice or FaceTime calls over LTE/5G, the smaller battery in this model may not last all day. If you’re not a heavy phone user, it should survive throughout the day without having to recharge, but otherwise you may want to keep a charger or wireless charging pad handy.

If neither the iPhone SE nor the iPhone 15 sounds right for you, or if you’d just like to know more about the full range of iPhones that Apple currently sells, read our full guide to which iPhone you should get.

Who it’s for: The Pixel 8 is the best choice for people who want a fast, secure Android phone with the best camera and guaranteed software updates but don’t want to spend a thousand dollars.

Why we like it: The Google Pixel 8 offers the high-quality software and cameras that have made all of Google’s Pixel phones great. This phone comes with Google’s clean, responsive version of Android 14, and it’s guaranteed to get seven years of updates through fall 2030. The Pixel 8 has a dual-camera setup—with a sharp 50-megapixel main sensor and an upgraded 12-megapixel ultrawide sensor—that allows it to take better photos than almost any other Android phone.

Though it has only two camera lenses, Google’s amazing photo processing is borderline magical. The new ultrawide camera adds autofocus to capture sharp macro photos. The Pixel 8 still has Google’s Magic Eraser feature, which can remove distractions and unwanted background objects in photos, while the new Audio Magic Eraser uses AI to cut out unwanted noise in your videos. Google also added its Magic Editor feature, which allows you to move subjects in an image or change the background. And the new Best Take feature uses AI to stitch together a composite from multiple photos, helping you create a better group photo by allowing you to swap out inappropriate faces for smiles.

The Pixel 8 has a 6.2-inch OLED screen that stretches nearly edge to edge with minimal borders. Its new screen can reach up to 2,000 nits, becoming extremely bright for outdoor use, and it also has an extra-dim feature that makes the screen easier on the eyes in dark rooms.

Flaws but not dealbreakers: The Pixel isn’t the value smartphone it once was—the Pixel 8 is $100 more expensive than last year’s models. The $700 Pixel 8 is now just $100 less than the base-model iPhone 15 and Samsung Galaxy S23.

Who it’s for: People who want a bigger phone that captures the best images will like the Pixel 8 Pro.

Why we like it: The Google Pixel 8 Pro is a bigger, better version of the Pixel 8, and it includes a 6.7-inch OLED screen with a 120 Hz refresh rate. It also includes a fantastic 5x optical-zoom lens on the back.

The Pixel 8 Pro is one of the fastest phones you can buy. Scrolling and navigating apps is exceptionally smooth, and certain functions, such as Google Assistant responses, are much faster than on other phones thanks to Google’s third-generation Tensor processor. The new screen is bigger and even brighter than on the Pixel 8, as it’s capable of up to 2,400 nits of maximum outdoor brightness.

The Pixel 8 Pro is an upgrade over the Pixel 8 with an additional camera lens—it has a third, 48-megapixel lens on the back with a 5x zoom that retains detail even when fully zoomed in. It takes the best photos of any Android phone we’ve tested, and you don’t have to tinker with the settings to get stunning images, though the Pixel 8 Pro adds manual controls to adjust things such as white balance, focus, shutter speed, and ISO if you want more granular control of your photos. It can also utilize the full-resolution 50-megapixel main camera instead of relying on a compressed 12-megapixel image.

Flaws but not dealbreakers: The Google Pixel 8 Pro’s large size may be unwieldy even if you have big hands, and without a case, it’s slippery and hard to grasp. And as with the Pixel 8 and that model’s price increase, the Pixel 8 Pro is no longer the value flagship it once was—it now starts at $1,000.

Who it’s for: The Galaxy A15 5G is an excellent budget Android option that provides nearly everything you need, with very few trade-offs.

Why we like it: The Samsung Galaxy A15 5G costs only $200, and it offers a lot of value for that low price. It has a colorful 6.5-inch 90 Hz OLED screen, a MediaTek 6835 chip with solid performance, a large battery that can last for nearly two days on a charge, and a 50-megapixel main camera that can capture great results in good lighting. It runs the latest version of Android with up to five years of security updates, and it supports 5G, so it works on all three major carriers.

Flaws but not dealbreakers: Like many cheap phones, the Galaxy A15 5G has a plastic body and doesn’t have an official IP rating. That means you should avoid dropping it in water. It also lacks internal seals for additional protection, so you shouldn’t expose it to sand and dust.

The latest version of this article was edited by Caitlin McGarry.