The best phones you should purchase in 2026, which proper now embrace the colourful orange iPhone 17 Pro, the all-round strong performing Google Pixel 10 Pro and the all-singing-all-dancing Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra all have quite a bit in frequent. Lightning-fast processor efficiency and pro-level digicam expertise are a given. And naturally you will additionally discover huge, vibrant shows together with a number of AI expertise, all of which makes these flagship telephones the height of what cell tech can provide. It is most likely no shock then that these fan-favorite phones have one thing else in frequent, too: whopping worth tags.
Costing $1,000 and extra, at this time’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 preserving in contact with mates or scrolling by means 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 searching for a top-end mannequin or a extra reasonably priced possibility, just like the CNET Editors’ Selection award-winning Nothing Phone 3A Pro.
You’d suppose the huge variety of selections would make purchasing easy. However the actuality is that typically all of the choices make it extra complicated. That will help you reduce by means of among the jargon and spend your cash sensibly, I’ve put collectively ideas for purchasing a telephone.
Learn how to purchase a brand new telephone: Prime phone-buying ideas
- Know what you care about most: Is it display screen measurement? Digital camera high quality? Battery life? This can assist slim down your selections. Telephones just like the iPhone 17 Professional, Galaxy S25 Extremely or Xiaomi 15 Ultra, for instance, pack unimaginable cameras that nearly rival the standard you’d get from a mirrorless digicam. When you’re eager on pictures and all the time wish to carry an excellent digicam for when inspiration strikes, then spending cash right here is a good suggestion. If not, you possibly can seemingly save your self a bundle.
- Do not low cost the midrange: Options of final 12 months’s flagships all the time trickle all the way down to this 12 months’s midrange handsets.You may get a terrific telephone that does virtually every part {that a} premium telephone can do for a fraction of the worth. Google’s Pixel 10 Professional packs a terrific 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 Telephone 3A Professional provide a terrific 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 trade.
- Take into account final 12 months’s telephones: They’ll typically be a terrific deal, too. Watch for this 12 months’s launch to get final 12 months’s telephone for much less, when shops and carriers could also be attempting to dump their present inventory. You also needs to test for used choices as these can prevent a ton of cash, so long as no matter you purchase nonetheless receives safety updates.
- Maintain the telephone at a retailer first: Chances are you’ll love or hate the way in which it appears to be like and feels in particular person.
- Test should you’re already invested: Have you ever already purchased lots of iPhone apps and iTunes films? 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 wish to keep on that facet of the fence. In any other case, it is easy sufficient to switch platforms.
- Purchase a case and display screen protector: You may defend your telephone from pricey injury and can improve the telephone’s resale or trade-in worth for once you’re prepared to maneuver on. When you’re cautious with how you utilize your telephone, it should last for years.
Smartphone efficiency vs. price range
On the whole, efficiency traces up with price. The very newest, best know-how often comes at a premium. Flagship telephones pack one of the best cameras, essentially the most highly effective processors and will even sport cutting-edge tech like foldable displays. The excessive costs imply that these telephones are value contemplating solely by those that need absolutely the newest tech of their pockets.
Not everybody wants such prime tech, nevertheless, or might merely be unwilling to spend the $1,000 or extra usually required to get it. Fortunately, the midrange sector of the telephone world has been one of many fiercest battlegrounds for firms 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 are actually commonplace on midrange telephones.
Even price range telephones will nonetheless provide respectable digicam high quality and sufficient energy so that you can take pleasure in all your on a regular basis internet looking, WhatsApp-ing and Instagramming.
Display measurement
All telephones have gotten steadily greater 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 virtually no telephones measuring beneath six inches in measurement.
Apple killed off its iPhone Mini line, and whereas its 2022 iPhone SE remained the smallest iPhone you may purchase, the corporate changed it with the 6.1 inch iPhone 16E, which hardly qualifies as small. On the Android facet, 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 telephone followers, appears to be like such as you’re out of luck.
Software program help interval
A telephone stays secure to make use of solely so long as it receives safety updates from the producer to guard it from hackers. Up to now, this was an even bigger concern since most telephones have been supported for simply two or three years, leaving them with a brief shelf life. At the moment, nevertheless, prolonged help has develop into a aggressive function, with Google now providing a formidable seven years of software program and safety updates on its newest telephones.
It means the newest Pixel 10 Professional will nonetheless be secure to make use of in 2032, whereas Samsung has promised the same help interval for its Galaxy S25 vary. Samsung’s Galaxy S20, launched in 2020, obtained its remaining safety replace in 2024, nevertheless, so it is necessary to verify how lengthy your telephone of selection shall be secure to make use of, particularly should you’re shopping for an older telephone on the used market. An extended help interval not solely provides 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 gadgets being made and shipped.
Digital camera efficiency
Digital camera options have been a serious level for bragging rights in current telephones, with producers all the time wanting an even bigger, extra thrilling quantity, be it the variety of megapixels or amount of precise digicam lenses. Three rear cameras are actually frequent — an everyday lens, an ultrawide lens and a telephoto lens — with even budget-focused telephones packing a number of cameras.
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 usually get, with the best possible cameras round often being discovered on the most costly flagships.
Look out for options like optical (slightly than digital) zooms, night time mode for higher low-light photographs, and optical picture stabilization. Generally these options may not be clear, and it is not potential to evaluate a digicam’s efficiency simply by trying on the specs. When you actually care about your telephone’s pictures expertise, then take a while to take a look at the evaluations and see how its digicam performs earlier than you spend your cash.
Battery life
Most telephones, from the price range finish by means of to elite flagships, can final most of a day on a single cost. Larger telephones may need greater batteries, however in addition they have greater screens and sometimes extra highly effective processors, in order that they suck that further juice down rapidly. Few telephones gives you greater than a day of use. Listed below are some issues to bear in mind:
- At all times plan on giving your telephone a full cost in a single day.
- Search for options like quick charging, that enable your telephone to tackle lots of energy in a brief house of time. Some telephones, just like the OnePlus 15, help 80W quick charging that may take it from empty to full in round half-hour. Test to see in case your telephone comes with a suitable quick charger although, as an previous USB plug seemingly 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 attempting to eke out that previous few p.c to assist get you house, turning off Wifi and Bluetooth may 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 needn’t spend flagship stage cash to get nice efficiency.
Most respectable midrange telephones provide sufficient energy to deal with all your on a regular basis wants. You may nonetheless be capable to play virtually any recreation from the Google Play retailer and edit your high-resolution photos in apps resembling Snapseed or Adobe Lightroom. There’s little you may throw at most midrange telephones that they would not be capable to 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 may look extra stuttery and will even unexpectedly stop. Nonetheless, fundamental duties resembling sending emails, listening to Spotify and looking Instagram should not be an issue.
4G or 5G?
5G is the most recent customary that guarantees lightning-fast cell knowledge speeds once you’re out and about. Whereas 5G protection nonetheless is not all over the place but, it is widespread sufficient that you must completely look towards a 5G telephone. And that is simple, as virtually all of them are, from top-end flagships all the way down to entry-level price range telephones.
On condition that even most 4G telephones on the used market will seemingly be out of their software program help interval now there’s mainly no purpose you must take into account spending any extra on a 4G telephone.
How a lot telephone storage do you want?
Most telephones, even the price range ones, include a minimum of 64GB of storage, of which 10 could also be taken up by preinstalled apps and the telephone’s working system. When you do not plan on recording video, and gaming is not your factor, 64GB could be sufficient, however in any other case you must take into account 128GB to be a safer minimal.
Greater-end telephones — significantly these that may document prime quality 4K video — provide capacities of 256GB or extra. With that a lot house, you will barely must suppose twice about having to filter out previous information.
If the telephone helps microSD playing cards then it is a completely different matter, as you possibly can decide up 32GB microSD playing cards (or greater) for little or no cash nowadays and popping one into your telephone will dramatically improve the quantity of storage you will have entry to. Sadly, expandable storage is a really uncommon function on telephones nowadays. Nonetheless, most telephones will help exterior storage over USB-C, so should you’re happening vacation and wish to shoot lots of high-resolution video, taking a small SSD drive — and even an SD card in a USB-C adapter — to dump your footage to could be a good suggestion.
Bonus options
Many of those options are actually frequent on telephones at varied worth factors and are value preserving in thoughts once you’re purchasing.
- Fingerprint scanner or face unlock: 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.
- Waterproof: Do you typically take calls within the rain? Search for a telephone with a minimum of an IP67 ranking to maintain it secure from water and spilled drinks. That is fairly frequent on most higher-end telephones nowadays.
- Wi-fi charging: That is out there on many telephones, with some now providing sooner wi-fi charging speeds, so long as you utilize a suitable charging pad.
