2025’s best phones, like the colourful orange iPhone 17 Pro, the Android all-rounder Google Pixel 10 Pro and the persistently high-perfoming Samsung’s Galaxy S25 Ultra share many issues. All of them provide superb efficiency and include unimaginable digicam setups. Then there’s the huge, vibrant shows and the host of funky new AI abilities, all of which makes these flagship telephones the height of what cell tech can provide. It is also no shock that these fan-favorite phones have one thing else in frequent, too: whopping worth tags.Â
Costing $1,000 and extra, right this moment’s greatest telephones are out of attain for a lot of — or are merely pointless for these of us who simply need an on a regular basis handset for holding in contact with pals or scrolling by way of Instagram on the bus. Fortunately, there’s an enormous array of choices on the market catering to all wants and budgets, whether or not you are in search of top-end mannequin or a extra inexpensive choice, just like the CNET Editors’ Alternative award-winning Nothing Phone 3A Pro.Â
You’d assume the huge variety of selections would make procuring easy. However the actuality is that generally all of the choices make it extra complicated. That can assist you reduce by way of among the jargon and spend your cash sensibly, I’ve put collectively ideas for getting a cellphone.
purchase a brand new cellphone: Prime phone-buying ideas
- Know what you care about most: Is it display screen measurement? Digicam high quality? Battery life? It will assist slender down your selections. Telephones just like the iPhone 17 Professional, Galaxy S25 Extremely or Xiaomi 15 Ultra, for instance, pack unimaginable cameras that just about rival the standard you’d get from a mirrorless digicam. For those who’re eager on images and at all times need to carry an excellent digicam for when inspiration strikes, then spending cash right here is a good suggestion. If not, you may possible save your self a bundle.
- Do not low cost the midrange: Options of final 12 months’s flagships at all times trickle all the way down to this 12 months’s midrange handsets.You will get an awesome cellphone that does nearly all the pieces {that a} premium cellphone can do for a fraction of the worth. Google’s Pixel 10 Professional packs an awesome zoom digicam, however the base Pixel 10 has many of the identical key specs and comes at a extra cheap worth. Even lower-end telephones just like the Nothing Cellphone 3A Professional provide an awesome expertise and asks for little money in return.
- Store the gross sales: Search for deep reductions and promo offers round main holidays, particularly Amazon’s Prime Day and Black Friday. And discover out what your grace interval is in case you want a fast return or alternate.
- Think about final 12 months’s telephones:Â They’ll usually be an awesome deal, too. Anticipate this 12 months’s launch to get final 12 months’s cellphone for much less, when shops and carriers could also be making an attempt to dump their present inventory. You must also examine for used choices as these can prevent a ton of cash, so long as no matter you purchase nonetheless receives safety updates.
- Maintain the cellphone at a retailer first: It’s possible you’ll love or hate the best way it appears and feels in individual.
- Verify should you’re already invested:Â Have you ever already purchased numerous iPhone apps and iTunes motion pictures? Stick to an iPhone should you nonetheless need entry to them. Likewise, should you’ve invested in a great deal of Android apps, you will need to keep on that aspect of the fence. In any other case, it is easy sufficient to switch platforms.
- Purchase a case and display screen protector: You may shield your cellphone from pricey harm and can improve the cellphone’s resale or trade-in worth for once you’re prepared to maneuver on. For those who’re cautious with how you utilize your cellphone, it should last for years.
Smartphone efficiency vs. price range
Normally, efficiency strains up with price. The very newest, biggest know-how normally comes at a premium. Flagship telephones pack the most effective cameras, probably the most highly effective processors and should even sport cutting-edge tech like foldable displays. The excessive costs imply that these telephones are price contemplating solely by those that need absolutely the newest tech of their pockets.
Not everybody wants such prime tech, nonetheless, or might merely be unwilling to spend the $1,000 or extra sometimes required to get it. Fortunately, the midrange sector of the cellphone world has been one of many fiercest battlegrounds for corporations to compete in, leading to some superb telephones that will not break the financial institution. Options like wi-fi charging and cameras with a number of lenses that have been as soon as the area of flagships at the moment are commonplace on midrange telephones.
Even price range telephones will nonetheless provide first rate digicam high quality and sufficient energy so that you can take pleasure in your entire on a regular basis net shopping, WhatsApp-ing and Instagramming.
Display measurement
All telephones have gotten steadily larger over the previous couple of years, with the iPhone 17 Professional Max and Galaxy S25 Extremely measuring a whopping 6.9 inches. Small telephones aren’t that frequent anymore, with nearly no telephones measuring underneath six inches in measurement.Â
Apple killed off its iPhone Mini line, and whereas its 2022 iPhone SE remained the smallest iPhone you possibly can purchase, the corporate changed it with the 6.1 inch iPhone 16E, which hardly qualifies as small. On the Android aspect, the Google Pixel 8A’s 6.1-inch show makes it one of many higher smaller telephones, however just like the iPhone 16E, it is hardly what you’d name tiny. Google changed it with the Pixel 9A and in so doing elevated the display screen measurement to six.3 inches. Sorry, small cellphone followers, appears such as you’re out of luck.
Software program assist interval
A cellphone stays secure to make use of solely so long as it receives safety updates from the producer to guard it from hackers. Prior to now, this was a much bigger concern since most telephones have been supported for simply two or three years, leaving them with a brief shelf life. Immediately, nonetheless, prolonged assist has turn out to be a aggressive function, with Google now providing a formidable seven years of software program and safety updates on its newest telephones.
It means the latest Pixel 10 Professional will nonetheless be secure to make use of in 2032, whereas Samsung has promised an analogous assist interval for its Galaxy S25 vary. Samsung’s Galaxy S20, launched in 2020, obtained its last safety replace in 2024, nonetheless, so it is vital to verify how lengthy your cellphone of alternative shall be secure to make use of, particularly should you’re shopping for an older cellphone on the used market. An extended assist interval not solely offers you higher worth for cash over the lifetime of the machine, it is also higher for the planet, because it retains older, however nonetheless usable telephones out of landfill and reduces the variety of new units being made and shipped.
Digicam efficiency
Digicam options have been a significant level for bragging rights in latest telephones, with producers at all times wanting a much bigger, extra thrilling quantity, be it the variety of megapixels or amount of precise digicam lenses. Three rear cameras at the moment are frequent — a daily lens, an ultrawide lens and a telephoto lens — with even budget-focused telephones packing a number of cameras.Â
Learn extra: Best Camera Phone to Buy in 2025
That is nice, as extra lenses imply extra taking pictures choices once you’re out and about. However that does not imply that any multilens digicam is pretty much as good as one other. As with processor efficiency, the extra you spend, the higher the outcomes you will sometimes get, with the very best cameras round normally being discovered on the most costly flagships.Â
Look out for options like optical (reasonably than digital) zooms, night time mode for higher low-light photos, and optical picture stabilization. Generally these options won’t be clear, and it is not potential to evaluate a digicam’s efficiency simply by trying on the specs. For those who actually care about your cellphone’s images abilities, then take a while to take a look at the critiques and see how its digicam performs earlier than you spend your cash.
Battery life
Most telephones, from the price range finish by way of to elite flagships, can final most of a day on a single cost. Larger telephones may need larger batteries, however in addition they have larger screens and infrequently extra highly effective processors, so that they suck that further juice down shortly. Few telephones provides you with greater than a day of use. Listed below are some issues to remember:
- At all times plan on giving your cellphone a full cost in a single day.
- Search for options like quick charging, that enable your cellphone to tackle numerous energy in a brief area of time. Some telephones, just like the OnePlus 15, assist 80W quick charging that may take it from empty to full in round half-hour. Verify to see in case your cellphone comes with a suitable quick charger although, as an outdated USB plug possible will not provide the ability output required.
- Your battery will last more should you keep away from extra demanding duties resembling gaming or video streaming. Maintaining the display screen brightness down will assist too and should you’re actually making an attempt to eke out that previous few % to assist get you house, turning off Wifi and Bluetooth also can assist.
Processor efficiency
Prime-end telephones pack highly effective processors together with 12GB of RAM or much more. It is sufficient to make these telephones run any activity with out breaking a sweat, however you need not spend flagship degree cash to get nice efficiency.Â
Most first rate midrange telephones provide sufficient energy to deal with your entire on a regular basis wants. You may nonetheless be capable of play nearly any sport from the Google Play retailer and edit your high-resolution photos in apps resembling Snapseed or Adobe Lightroom. There’s little you possibly can throw at most midrange telephones that they would not be capable of deal with.
As you progress into the price range finish of the spectrum, that is once you’ll begin to discover some slowdown with issues like gaming. Extra demanding 3D video games would possibly look extra stuttery and should even unexpectedly stop. Nevertheless, primary duties resembling sending emails, listening to Spotify and shopping Instagram should not be an issue.Â
4G or 5G?Â
5G is the most recent normal that guarantees lightning-fast cell information speeds once you’re out and about. Whereas 5G protection nonetheless is not in every single place but, it is widespread sufficient that you need to completely look towards a 5G cellphone. And that is straightforward, as nearly all of them are, from top-end flagships all the way down to entry-level price range telephones.Â
The one motive you need to think about shopping for a 4G cellphone now’s should you’re trying on the used market and you’ve got discovered deal on an older-generation mannequin that may tide you over for a few years.Â
How a lot cellphone storage do you want?Â
Most telephones, even the price range ones, include not less than 64GB of storage, of which 10 could also be taken up by preinstalled apps and the cellphone’s working system. For those who do not plan on recording video, and gaming is not your factor, 64GB is perhaps sufficient, however in any other case you need to think about 128GB to be a safer minimal.Â
Larger-end telephones — notably these that may file top quality 4K video — provide capacities of 256GB or extra. With that a lot area, you will barely must assume twice about having to filter outdated information.
If the cellphone helps microSD playing cards then it is a totally different matter, as you may decide up 32GB microSD playing cards (or larger) for little or no cash lately and popping one into your cellphone will dramatically improve the quantity of storage you will have entry to. Sadly, expandable storage is a really uncommon function on telephones lately. Nevertheless, most telephones will assist exterior storage over USB-C, so should you’re happening vacation and need to shoot numerous high-resolution video, taking a small SSD drive to dump your footage to is perhaps a good suggestion.Â
Bonus options
Many of those options at the moment are frequent on telephones at numerous worth factors and are price holding in thoughts once you’re procuring.
- Fingerprint scanner or face unlock:Â A scanner could also be on the again and even invisibly constructed into the show. Biometric safety, because it’s known as, is safer than having to recollect a PIN.Â
- Water resistant: Do you usually take calls within the rain? Search for a cellphone with not less than an IP67 score to maintain it secure from water and spilled drinks. That is fairly frequent on most higher-end telephones lately.
- Wi-fi charging: That is obtainable on many telephones, with some now providing quicker wi-fi charging speeds, so long as you utilize a suitable charging pad.
