Best phones in 2025: Top Android and iPhone mobiles reviewed
Whether you want a cutting-edge camera in your pocket or you’re looking for a cheap Android that will stay fast and secure for years, you have more choice than ever when it comes to choosing the best smartphone.
To help you find your perfect match, I've been putting the best phones through their paces for months, using them as my daily driver to separate the top performers from the overpriced paperweights. I’ve tested their cameras in challenging conditions, pushed their processors with demanding apps and scrutinised their battery life under real-world conditions.
From the most powerful iPhone to the most stylish Samsung flip phone, my definitive guide to the best smartphones in 2025 has something to suit your budget and needs.
How I tested
Just a few of the phones tried and tested for this review (David Phelan)
To find the best smartphone, I use each handset as my primary device for at least a week, swapping in my SIM card and integrating it fully into my daily life. This long-term, real-world testing allows me to move beyond benchmark scores and get a genuine feel for a phone’s strengths and weaknesses, focusing on the features and performance that matter most.
- Performance: A phone’s true performance isn’t just about its processor – it’s about how it feels to use. I test this by juggling everyday apps, scrolling through social media, streaming music and multitasking. The best phones feels snappy and responsive, with an intuitive interface that’s free from annoying bloatware.
- Camera: I test the cameras in a wide range of conditions, from bright daylight to tricky low-light situations, capturing everything from portraits and landscapes to the occasional unwilling pet.
- Display: I assess each display for its vibrancy, sharpness and how well it performs in bright and direct sunlight. I also test for smoothness and responsiveness by playing games and scrolling through menus, looking for the fluid motion that a high refresh rate (120Hz) screen provides.
- Battery life: I measure battery life based on a full day of real-world use. This includes a mix of scrolling social media, streaming music and video, taking photos and a bit of GPS navigation.
- Build quality and support: I assess the feel of the materials, the sturdiness of the construction and how comfortable the phone is to hold. I also consider the manufacturer’s commitment to providing long-term software and security updates, which is essential for keeping your device safe and up to date.
Why you can trust IndyBest reviews
Between them, technology experts Steve Hogarty and David Phelan have been testing and writing about smartphones for more than two decades, from the very first iPhone to the AI-powered flagships of today.
Their rigorous, real-world testing process involves using each handset as their primary device, allowing them to go beyond specs on a sheet to understand how a phone truly performs in daily life. This hands-on, long-term approach, combined with years of industry insight, ensures that every recommendation is based on honest, unbiased and expert opinion.
The best phones for 2025 are:
- Best overall – iPhone 16 Pro: £899, Amazon.co.uk
- Best Android phone – Pixel 9 Pro: £899, Amazon.co.uk
- Best Samsung phone – Galaxy S25 Ultra: £1,099, Johnlewis.com
- Best flip phone – Galaxy Z Flip 6: £949, Amazon.co.uk
iPhone 16 Pro
(Apple/The Independent)
Best: Overall
Screen size: 6.3in
Screen type: 120Hz OLED
Dimensions: 149.6mm x 71.5mm x 8.3mm
Weight: 199g
Storage: 128GB, 256GB, 512GB, 1TB
RAM: 8GB
Rear cameras: 48MP main, 48MP ultrawide, 12MP telephoto
Selfie camera: 12MP
Why we love it
- Great photography features
- Beautiful design
Take note
- Still waiting on Apple Intelligence
The harshest criticism you could level at the iPhone 16 Pro is that it’s hardly changed since last year’s phone, with just a few modest improvements keeping it the best phone you can buy right now.
Design-wise, you’d struggle to spot any differences here, apart from the new camera control button on the frame. But under the hood, the newest iPhone gets improved lenses, a host of photography and video shooting options, and naturally better performance thanks to the A18 Pro chip. The much-touted Apple Intelligence features have yet to launch, but with a planned release date in December, the AI overhaul of iOS looks set to give the iPhone 16 range its biggest upgrade over last year’s phones.
In our iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max review, our tester called the phones “the most powerful, practical and professional smartphones on the market. Even without the promise of new capabilities, they would be the peak of what is available.”
- iPhone 16 Pro with 100GB data: £35.99 per month, £89 up front, Mobiles.co.uk
Pixel 9 Pro
(Google)
Best: Android phone
Screen size: 6.3in
Screen type: 120Hz OLED
Dimensions: 152.8mm x 72mm x 8.5mm
Weight: 199g
Storage: 128GB, 256GB, 512GB, 1TB
RAM: 16GB
Rear cameras: 50MP main, 48MP ultrawide, 48MP telescope
Selfie camera: 42MP
Why we love it
- Slick, clean Android experience
- Superb cameras
- Great AI features
The newest phone in the Pixel range is Google’s best yet, boasting a genuinely useful set of artificial intelligence features that are constantly expanding and improving. Like the rest of the Pixel 9 range, the Pro and Pro XL phones enable advanced photo editing tools, near-instant transcription or formatting of meeting notes, the ability to summarise your phone calls and intelligently recall information from screenshots you’ve taken.
In our Pixel 9 Pro XL review, our tester said the phones “are the first to take advantage of artificial intelligence in a way that doesn’t feel trivial. Gemini is definitely still a work in progress, and while it’s not reliable enough that you’d trust it to run your business, the AI model’s rapidly evolving ability to integrate with more and more Google apps means it can respond with meaningful and useful answers.”
Artificial intelligence tricks aside, the Pixel 9 Pro is an incredibly well-built and good-looking piece of tech, and features one of the best cameras of any smartphone. The triple-lens array includes a powerful telephoto lens. The selfie camera gets a massive upgrade over last year’s Pixel. Post-processing tools like ‘video boost’ can run your videos through Google’s cloud servers to re-render and enhance them with impressive results, retrieving detail in low light and upscaling things to 8K.
“All this on top of the best and slickest Android experience you can find, plus seven years of software updates, security and support,” said our tester. “The Pixel 9 Pro XL is naturally the best phone Google’s ever made, and certainly the most interesting new phone in recent memory.”
- Pixel 9 Pro with 200GB data: £34 per month, £55 up front, E2save.com
Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra
As well as enhanced AI tools, the S25 Series includes improved cameras and processors. (Samsung)
Best: Samsung phone
Screen type: AMOLED, 120Hz
Screen size: 6.9in
Dimensions: 162.8mm x 77.6mm x 8.2mm
Weight: 218g
Storage: 256GB/512GB/1TB
RAM: 12GB/16GB
Rear cameras: 200MP main, 50MP telephoto, 50MP ultrawide
Selfie cameras: 12MP
Why we love it
- New rounded display looks great
- Most powerful Android phone worth buying
- Class-leading photography
Take note
- It's really big
Samsung’s newest and best Galaxy phone doesn’t rock the boat, taking everything that was great about S24 Ultra and building on it.
The most powerful phone Samsung makes, the S25 Ultra uses the latest Snapdragon 8 Elite processor with 12GB of RAM, giving it performance that’s more on par with a laptop than a regular phone. An all-new ultrawide 50MP camera joins the same 200MP main lens found on the S24 Ultra, enabling impressive macro photography.
Unique to the Ultra series, the S-Pen stylus has survived for another year too, letting you take notes, sketch and interact with the screen in a more natural way. And as you might expect, Samsung’s suite of AI features are all here, from generative AI photo editing to live translations.
iPhone 16
Best: Affordable iPhone
Screen size: 6.1in
Screen type: 60Hz OLED
Dimensions: 147.6mm x 71.6mm x 7.8mm
Weight: 170g
Storage: 128GB, 256GB, 512GB
RAM: 8GB
Rear cameras: 48MP main, 12MP ultrawide
Selfie camera: 12MP
Why we love it
- Zippy A18 chip
- Excellent cameras
- Almost as good as the Pro this year
Take note
- 60Hz display
Apple has made it harder than ever to choose between the entry-level iPhone and the Pro edition. This year’s base iPhone 16 gets the new A18 chip rather than using the chip from last year’s Pro phones, giving it speedy all-round performance. It comes in £200 cheaper than the iPhone 16 Pro by ditching the more expensive phone’s telephoto lens and using a lower quality 60Hz display. If you don’t think you’ll notice those differences, the iPhone 16 is the phone for you.
Otherwise, you’re getting the same upgrades that appear in the rest of the iPhone 16 range: new camera controls, the ability to run Apple Intelligence when it’s made available, faster wireless charging and a toughened glass screen. In our iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Plus review, our tester was “impressed by how much closer the regular iPhone now is to the pricier Pro models. Sure, the Pro has an extra camera, a better and bigger screen and more, but feature after feature that you might have expected to be Pro-only is on the iPhone 16.”
- iPhone 16 with 100GB data: £29.99 per month, £39 up front, Carphonewarehouse.com
Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 6
(Samsung)
Best: Flip-style folding phone
Screen size: 6.7in (unfolded) / 3.4in (folded)
Screen type: 120Hz OLED
Dimensions: 165.1mm x 71.9mm x 6.9mm (unfolded) / 85.1mm x 71.9mm x 14.9mm (folded)
Weight: 187g
Storage: 256GB, 512GB
RAM: 12GB
Rear cameras: 50MP main, 12MP ultrawide
Selfie camera: 10MP
Why we love it
- Sturdy, flexible, hinged design
- Outer display gets fun new widgets
Samsung’s clamshell-style foldable is one of the coolest looking phones you can buy, with a head-turning design that folds down to a size not much bigger than a cream cracker.
This year’s Galaxy Z Flip 6 saw a big upgrade to battery life, performance and cameras, which were lacking in last year’s version, and tweaks the build slightly to give the frame flatter edges that snap together neatly when closed. Small enough to be used one-handed, it features a 3.4in outer display to see your notifications, check the weather and even reply to messages without having to open the phone. Inside, the tall 6.7in display is perfect for vertical scrolling, and by angling the phone half-open you can frame selfies without needing to prop your phone up against a wall.
In our Galaxy Z Flip 6 review, our tester called it “an incredible piece of hardware. This year’s Galaxy Z Flip might look the same but is the culmination of continuous advancements to the popular flip-phone’s design, the hinge, the durability and the outer screen. Unsurprisingly, it’s probably the best folding phone you can buy today.”
- Galaxy Z Flip 6 with unlimited data: £37 per month, nothing up front, Fonehouse.co.uk
Pixel 9 Pro Fold
The Pixel 9 Pro Fold in porcelain (Google)
Best: Folding phone
Screen size: 8in (unfolded) / 6.3in (folded)
Screen type: 120Hz OLED
Dimensions: 155.2mm x 150.2mm x 5.1mm (unfolded) / 155.2mm x 77.1mm x 10.5mm (folded)
Weight: 257g
Storage: 256GB, 512GB
RAM: 16GB
Rear cameras: 48MP main, 10.5MP ultrawide, 10.8MP telephoto
Selfie camera: 10MP
Why we love it
- The size of a normal phone when folded
- App compatibility much improved
- Inner screen is bright, immersive and vibrant
Take note
- Expensive
Google’s second foldable launched in September and became the best folding phone in this niche smartphone category, with only the OnePlus Open and the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6 offering much in the way of competition.
We prefer the Pixel 9 Pro Fold to Samsung’s foldable for the simple reason that it’s roughly the same size and shape as the regular Pixel 9 Pro when closed, meaning you can use the outer display like a normal phone rather than having the interface squished into the tall and narrow form factor of the Samsung rival. It’s thin for a foldable too, just about fitting into a pocket comfortably, and it feels comparable in thickness and weight to the Pixel 9 Pro XL with a case on.
Android runs beautifully on a folding display. When apps make use of the extra space you get useful side menus – Gmail lets you view emails while keeping your inbox visible, for example – while apps that aren’t designed for the bigger screen are automatically adapted to fill the space neatly (with some ugly exceptions every now and then).
In our Pixel 9 Pro Fold review, our tester rated the phone for its speed and AI features. “Unlike the original Pixel Fold, this year’s foldable Pixel runs on the same Tensor processor as the mainline Pixel 9 phones, so it feels fast and responsive. You also get all of those Pixel 9 exclusive benefits of Gemini AI built in, such as the Pixel Studio and Pixel Screenshots apps.”
- Pixel 9 Pro Fold with unlimited data: £66 per month, £145 up front, Mobiles.co.uk
Your smartphone questions answered
What is the best phone?
The latest phones offer powerful performance, sharp cameras and long-lasting battery life. The iPhone 16 Pro is the best iPhone yet, with outstanding cameras, new photography controls and a premium design.
Over on Android, the Google Pixel 9 Pro is the best argument yet for ditching Apple, with exceptional styling, brilliant cameras and genuinely innovative AI features embedded throughout.
What phone has the best camera?
Apple, Google, and Samsung phones are now so good that you can’t make a bad choice, but each has a distinct personality. The iPhone 16 Pro is the king of video and delivers consistently brilliant, true-to-life photos with a simple point-and-shoot approach. The Pixel 9 Pro is the smartest of the bunch, using clever AI processing to pull detail out of tricky scenes and offering powerful editing tools. Finally, the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra is the most versatile, with a formidable zoom lens that lets you capture subjects from a huge distance.
What phone has the best battery life?
Generally speaking, the biggest phones have the best battery life simply because there's more physical space to cram in a larger battery cell. Year after year, the iPhone Pro Max models consistently deliver the best longevity on the market, closely followed by top-tier Android phones like the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra. Chip efficiency plays a huge part too, but if your absolute priority is multi-day battery life, a larger flagship is almost always your best bet.
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