The best Android phones in 2025 are going to be all about variety. We're going to see phones at every price range, and with vast capabilities. From the best foldable phones, to the latest ultra-thin models like the upcoming Galaxy S25 Edge, I expect Android phones will be more diverse this year than we've seen in more than a decade.
Android phones are also the most powerful phones you can buy right now, thanks to advances from Qualcomm and the Snapdragon 8 Elite chipset. I've reviewed all of the best phones, including the best Android flagship phones, from the OnePlus 13 to the Galaxy S25 Ultra, and these phone offer power like I've never seen.
Most of that power is going to AI features, especially on flagship Android phones from Samsung and Google. You can still avoid AI a little bit with amazing phones from OnePlus, but not entirely. Better to embrace the AI features now, because it's not going away.
The best thing about Android phones is you can find great phones cheap. The best cheap phones are Androids, and now that Apple has jacked up the price on its cheapest iPhone 16e, I expect to see even more great phones available for less, if you prefer Android.
Now, read on for the best Android phones you can buy today.
Quick List
The OnePlus 13 simply blew me away with amazing performance, superlative battery life, and the most durable and lasting design OnePlus has created. The software is the best Android interface design, and I could simply go on and on about how much I enjoyed this phone.
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The Google Pixel 9 Pro and Pixel 9 Pro XL bring an all-new look to the Pixel family, with premium materials and cool color options. They also have fun AI features, with more on the way, and the best cameras I've used on a Pixel phone. If you want the latest AI features from Google, you need to have the Pixel 9 Pro.
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A titanium design, a new 50MP ultra-wide camera, rounded corners and a whole lot of AI make the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra one of the very best Android phones money can buy right now.
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The Samsung Galaxy S25 Plus is the best premium Android phone, with great features stolen from the S25 Ultra, and nothing extraneous. You can spend more, but the Galaxy S25 Plus gives you everything you need (except a pen).
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The Google Pixel 9 is a great starting point if you love the new Pixel look and you want those great Pixel photos. You don't get the free year of premium AI, but the color options are brighter, and maybe AI isn't your thing.
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The Pixel 9a is the latest Pixel, and even though it's priced to move off the shelves, it still gets seven years of Android updates. It may not be a looker, but it still takes great photos, like you expect from Pixel.
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The best Android phone in 2024
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Below, you'll find full write-ups for each of the best Android phones in our list. We've tested each model extensively, so you can be sure that our recommendations can be trusted.
The best Android phone
The OnePlus 13 is a phone that can do almost nothing wrong. It tops our charts in performance with its Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite processor. It's also the best phone for battery life, thanks to the gigantic 6,000 mAh battery inside. It helps that you can charge it faster than almost any other phone, even if you're charging wirelessly. It's simply an astonishing phone all around, and it's easily our favorite Android phone.
In my review, I noted that every complaint I've had about OnePlus has magically become one of the great strengths of the OnePlus 13. I used to complain that OnePlus phones weren't water resistant, and now the OnePlus 13 is IP69 rated. I watched OnePlus reps wash the phone in a dishwashing machine, including the heat cycle. It's a very durable phone.
I complain about a lack of wireless charging, and now OnePlus offers 50W wireless AirVOOC charging. A OnePlus 13 can charge wirelessly faster than a wired iPhone. But that doesn't matter, because the battery can easily last for two days.
I like everything about this phone. I even like the cases that OnePlus sells, because they have magnets that line up my OnePlus 13 perfectly with all my MagSafe accessories. If you're considering a switch from the iPhone, or have friends who might need a push, this is the phone to push them.
Read our full OnePlus 13 review
Attributes | Notes | Rating |
|---|---|---|
Value | Don’t let sticker shock scare you away, OnePlus offers discounts and trade-in bonuses to help. You just can’t get one at the Verizon store (try Best Buy). | 4 / 5 |
Design | A more professional look and an incredible feel with the new vegan microfiber. Every color is unique and outstanding, but the blue is the one to get, and definitely get a OnePlus case. | 5 / 5 |
Display | The best display on any smartphone in terms of color, and it also looks great with the curving edges sloping down to the frame. It could be brighter, but it’s a winner. | 5 / 5 |
Software | The best Android interface software, but I wish there was more to take advantage of all that power. Eventually AI may come along, but for now OnePlus isn’t pushing AI tools too hard. This phone is refreshing to use all around. | 4 / 5 |
Camera | The best cameras for action photos, even at night, and great pics all around. It does more with 3x zoom than some phones managed with 10x zoom. | 4 / 5 |
Performance | You won’t find a faster phone, according to our benchmarks. In the real world, it was harder to find the fast lane, but the interface was incredibly snappy and responsive. | 5 / 5 |
Battery | The longest battery life, thanks to a larger battery and the efficient Snapdragon processor, though OnePlus has managed to fit more battery inside without making the phone thicker. Oh, and it charges stupidly fast. | 5 / 5 |
The best Android AI
The Google Pixel 9 Pro and Pixel 9 Pro Xl introduced a fresh design to the Pixel, with a sleek camera pill that replaces the bar. Despite this makeover, I still enjoyed using these phones with their signature Pixel strengths: innovative AI, impressive cameras, and a vibrant display that outshines the competition in brightness and color.
Google continues its display reign with the Pixel 9 Pro's Super Actua screen, which I found to be exceptionally bright, and I appreciated the adaptive 1-120Hz refresh rate. This display is truly great, even in bright sunlight, making it ideal for outdoor photography.
The Pixel 9 Pro delivers fantastic photos and AI-enhanced video with Video Boost, though I found the camera controls to be a bit fidgety. It produced some of the best photos among all of the best camera phones I've tested, and it's probably my second-favorite camera after the iPhone 16 Pro family. Google Photos AI editing beats the current state of iPhone Photos editing by a wide margin.
If you want the most advanced smartphone AI, you need to get the Pixel 9 Pro or Pixel 9 Pro XL, because Google keeps some of its best features exclusive to these phones. You can Circle to Search on any new Android, but if you want an AI to screen your spam calls, you need a Pixel.
Even features that are on most Android phones, like the recording app that transcribes for you, worked much better on the Pixel 9 Pro in my tests than on competing phones. For everything AI now and into the future, the Pixel 9 Pro is my top choice for Android phones.
Read our full Google Pixel 9 Pro review and our Google Pixel 9 Pro XL review
Attributes | Notes | Rating |
|---|---|---|
Value | It’s a great phone all around, but performance lags significantly versus other phones in this price range, so maybe wait for a discount or a bundle deal. | 4 / 5 |
Design | Excellent new design; the biggest change to Pixel phones in four years. Fantastic materials and a more modern look. | 5 / 5 |
Display | Google offers the best smartphone screens around on the Pixel 9 Pro, and it’s surprising the company doesn’t crow louder. Super-bright – be careful to not overheat. | 5 / 5 |
Software | With a grain of salt and a sense of humor, the AI stuff is A-Okay. Google avoids bad AI stereotypes, and gives us a nice glimpse of the future for mobile AI. | 4 / 5 |
Camera | Fantastic cameras rival the best camera phones you can buy. Great new features, including Add Me for AI group photos. Camera settings are too difficult to manage. | 5 / 5 |
Performance | Performance lags significantly, both in benchmark testing and the real world. This phone lags if you push too hard, and Google wants you to push too hard. Seven years ahead? We’ll see. | 3 / 5 |
Battery | Solid battery life beats the iPhone, and the phone has no trouble lasting all day. You’ll want to use the cameras, so pack an extra charger, but if you’re careful this phone lasts no problem. I wish the charging was as fast as Google makes it seem. | 4 / 5 |
The best Android camera
You won't find a phone that does more than the Galaxy S25 Ultra, but where this phone really pulls away from the pack is in its camera capabilities. If it only had the big 200MP sensor and maybe a single zoom lens, that would be a great camera phone, but the Ultra does more. So. Much. More.
In addition to the big sensor, the S25 Ultra offers a 5X optical zoom, as well as a new and improved 50MP sensor for the ultra-wide camera, which should make for great detail on macro shots. Whether you're shooting for the moon or just taking shots of your kids on the field, the Galaxy S24 Ultra is up to the task.
In fact, it's up to every task, because it has such an extensive array of lenses. The 5X zoom uses a 50MP sensor, but there is also a 3X zoom lens that uses its own 10MP sensor. Then there's that 50MP sensor for ultra wide shots and super steady videos.
Samsung isn't letting Google have all the fun with AI editing features, but Samsung also builds AI directly into the camera app. The camera will try to recognize the scene and optimize accordingly. It isn't just the moon that looks better, you'll notice that food shots, monuments, portraits, and tons of other scenes look great when you shoot them with the Galaxy S25 Ultra.
Read our full Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra review
Value | Samsung held fast on the Galaxy S25 Ultra price. it's not a cheap phone, but design updates, integrated AI and inclusion of the S Pen make it good value. | 4.5/5 |
Design | The Galaxy S25 Ultra is now fully part of the Galaxy S-series design family and that generally improves it. We have a bigger screen, thinner and lighter body, and we still have all the things that make an Ultra special, including the titanium, the S-Pen and a big-enough battery. | 4/5 |
Display | The biggest Ultra screen ever. It doesn't break any new ground on technology, but is still an excellent screen for all kinds of content and uses. | 5/5 |
Cameras | There are a lot of lenses here and they're backed by high-pixel counts that will result in extremely detailed photos. Samsung only updated one lens since the last Ultra, but choosing the ultra-wide was the right move, as it improves both ultra-wide and macro images. | 4.5 |
Software and AI | Samsung's and its partners' commitment to deep AI integration is laudable, and it makes for the most frictionless AI experience I've found on any smartphone. It's also backed by a solid and even more useful One UI update. And the AI experience will likely get richer over time | 4.5/5 |
Performance | The S25 Ultra's Qualcomm Snapdragon Gen 8 Elite for Galaxy is one impressive chip. It's a near-perfect mix of performance and efficiency. | 5/5 |
Battery | Best battery life I've seen on a smartphone. Days of use is within reach. | 5/5 |
The best premium Android
The Galaxy S25 Plus is the upstart middle child of the Galaxy S family. It's a big step up from the Galaxy S25 in all the right ways. Plus, it has all the top performance of the Galaxy S25 Ultra, without all the features you don't need. It's the top Samsung phone for battery life, and one of the longest-lasting phones I've every tested.
Do you really need a pen with your phone? The Galaxy S25 Ultra is undoubtedly feature-packed, but most people don't need that much. The Ultra is a bigger, heavier, and more expensive phone than the Galaxy S25 Plus, without much added benefit.
The Galaxy S25 Plus has the same sharp display resolution as the S25 Ultra, and the screen is only a hair smaller. It has the same processor and RAM, and it starts with 256GB, twice the storage of the Galaxy S25.
The camera specs come close to matching the iPhone 16 Pro, but fall a bit short of the Ultra. That's fine, because it's Samsung's shooting modes and Galaxy AI software that make its camera great, not the specs. The Galaxy S25 Plus is a winner any way you look at it, and if you really need more, the Ultra is next on the list.
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Value | Worth the premium over the Galaxy S25, with a display and battery life that beat the more expensive Ultra. Still expensive, but worth the high price. | 4/5 |
Design | A solid, refined look that hasn’t changed much over the years, and strongly resembles its biggest rival. I’m ready for something new, but this design is a classic, with good color options this year. | 3/5 |
Display | A fantastic display that’s bright and colorful, making it easy to use in any situation, even taking photos in bright sunshine. I only wish the fingerprint scanner were more responsive, but it’s still a great screen with minimal bezels. | 5/5 |
Software | Samsung has improved One UI with a refreshed look and brighter colors. The bloatware problem is growing, though, and many of the Galaxy AI features mentioned at launch don’t show up on the phone. | 3/5 |
Cameras | Takes good photos, but you can find much better cameras on competing phones, with bigger sensors and more pixels. It’s time for an Ultra-fied camera upgrade for the rest of the Galaxy S25 lineup. | 4/5 |
Performance | You won’t find a faster phone than the Galaxy S25 Plus, but what will you do with all that power? This Snapdragon wins benchmark tests, but in real-world performance it’s less apparent. Still, it’s the fastest phone around, even if you can’t see it. | 5/5 |
Battery | Excellent battery life, topping even the Galaxy S25 Ultra, but the OnePlus 13 is far more impressive, with longer battery life and much faster charging. It’s time for Samsung to catch up if it wants to remain at the top. | 4/5 |
The best Android for everybody
The Google Pixel 9 is a delightful phone and the easiest Android phone for me to recommend to everybody, especially folks who say 'I just want a phone that works.' The Pixel 9 arrives in Google's striking new Pixel look, with even better color options than the Pro model (hey, Peony!). It takes photos that could be mistaken for Pro, and it has the same Google Tensor G4 processor inside.
The biggest difference between the Pixel 9 and Pixel 9 Pro isn't the zoom camera on the Pro. The Pixel 9 takes great photos that are even better for sharing, since the phone keeps things to a scant 12MP. Videos also look great. The color quality on the photos I took with the Pixel 9 was excellent, and nearly identical to my Pixel 9 Pro shots.
The big difference is the year of premium AI that you'll get with the Pixel 9 Pro. That originally meant no Gemini Live for the Pixel 9 (unless you pay up), but Google has made its conversational AI available on every Pixel 9 device for free, so that's not a problem any more.
Google also updated this phone with Android 15, making it one of the first Android phones to get the new system, as it should be. This phone has seven years of updates ahead, presumably taking us to Android 21, so it could get even better with time.
Read our full Google Pixel 9 review
Attributes | Notes | Rating |
|---|---|---|
Value | Not a bad price considering all the Pixel 9 Pro features you get, but with its free year of advanced AI, maybe you should just get the Pro instead. Hopefully discounts will come soon. | 4 / 5 |
Design | The biggest Pixel redesign in years gives us cool new colors, a sleek and modern camera bar, and the most durable Pixel yet. It’s twice as durable as the Pixel 8, but still looks fancy. | 5 / 5 |
Display | An excellent display is a standout feature on every Pixel, this one is super bright and colorful. The Pro is more versatile, but you can’t tell … can you? | 4 / 5 |
Software | New AI features take some getting used to, and some need to prove their worth, like the fascinating Screenshots app. But if you want the most advanced AI, get a Pixel 9 Pro with its year of free Gemini Advanced and Gemini Live. | 4 / 5 |
Camera | Great camera performance looks almost exactly like the Pixel 9 Pro, without the high-resolution files and stuffy Pro controls. You won’t get telephoto zoom, but you will get some of the best pics any smartphone can take, plus the new AI Add Me feature. | 4 / 5 |
Performance | The Tensor G4 chipset has fallen far behind rivals and performance is lagging. It’s enough that you’ll notice the drag if you try to run a lot of apps at once and then ask the AI a question. Or do anything with the AI. The AI is slow, that’s what I’m saying. | 3 / 5 |
Battery | Great battery life, especially on a smaller phone. I wish it charged faster (or as fast as Google made it seem), but the Pixel 9 battery beats the iPhone 15 by hours and had no trouble lasting all day in the real world. | 4 / 5 |
The Pixel 9a is the clear value leader among Android phones. It's an easy recommendation if you want a dependable, uncomplicated Android phone that handles the basics very well. If you need an affordable device that will last for years and, the Pixel 9a is a strong contender.
I wasn't the biggest fan of the new Pixel 9a design, but there's no denying this is a new Pixel phone, through and through. Helpful features such as AI call screening and superior voice recording transcription proved extremely convenient during my in-depth review time with the Pixel 9a.
Google commits to providing seven full years of significant Android OS and security updates. This offers exceptional software support and ensures longevity rarely seen at this price level. Apple and Samsung won't match that commitment with phones this cheap.
The Pixel 9a camera performs particularly well. Colors are accurate. Its most impressive aspect is the highly capable new macro photography feature. The resulting close-up detail truly rivals more expensive phone cameras, and maybe even DSLR cameras.
Ultimately, if you want excellent value, a great camera (with standout macro), useful AI, and lengthy software support, and you can accept owning what might be the least visually appealing Pixel design to date, the Pixel 9a stands out as the best budget choice for Android phones.
FAQs
What is the best Android phone?
The best Android phone for most people is the Pixel 9, because it's an affordable way to get all of Google's best new AI features and Google's refined Pixel interface and software.
The best premium Android phone is the OnePlus 13, because it offers the best battery life, the most refined interface, and the most durable design with IP69 certification.
Which Android phone is the best value for money?
The best Android phone for people on a budget is the Pixel 8a, which costs $499 / £499 / AU$849. The Pixel A-series phones are a popular discount item when Amazon puts smartphones on sale, so keep an eye on TechRadar for the latest deals.
If you want to spend less than that, Samsung's Galaxy A devices are the best value. They gives you a great display and Samsung's feature-packed Android software, plus fast networking and good performance for the price.
Is Android or iOS better?
Android and Apple's iOS each have their fans, and there is very little that iOS can do that Android cannot. There are many more options, features, and oddities available on Android devices than iOS has ever seen, so Android has a reputation for being more complicated and experimental, while also allowing for more customization and more powerful overall features.
How we test
I've only included phones on this list that have been thoroughly tested in Future Labs and in the real world by our expert review editors. I test every feature on a phone, then we dive deeper to discover all of the hidden goodies.
I test phones rigorously for battery life and charging times, processor speed and performance, and especially for camera and video recording capabilities. I make sure that phones deliver on the promises and claims they make. If Samsung says a phone charges in 30 minutes, I time it to make sure.
I've seen every phone you can buy, so I know how each model stacks up against one another. I use both iPhone and Android phones all the time, so I know what I'm saying about the phones you buy, no matter what you pay. I make sure the phones deliver what I'd expect for the price.
Once I'm done, I never stop. I update our reviews as the phones are updated. Our reviews are always fresh, so check again before you buy to make sure you're getting the latest review on the best phones you'll find.
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