The “Glow Up” Award: Significant Strides in Smartphone Evolution
In the rapidly evolving world of mobile technology, a device that shows substantial improvement year-over-year is often celebrated. The “Glow Up” Award for 2025 highlights phones that have seen the most dramatic and impactful transformations. Two devices were particularly noted for their remarkable advancements:
- Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7: This iteration was lauded for its dramatic reduction in thickness and weight compared to its predecessor, the Z Fold 6. This single generation’s slimming was described as more significant than the combined thickness reductions across the previous four generations of Samsung foldables. Such engineering indicates a maturing of foldable technology, addressing a core concern regarding bulkiness while simultaneously upgrading specifications across the board, making the folding form factor more appealing for daily use.
- iPhone 17 (Base Model): Unexpectedly, the standard iPhone 17 was recognized for a complete overhaul. Traditionally, base model iPhones receive minor updates, but the 2025 version surprised many by elevating its screen quality from being perceived as the weakest in its price segment to arguably the strongest. Furthermore, the base storage capacity was doubled without an increase in price, a move that significantly enhances its value proposition and user experience. This strategic decision by Apple effectively positions the iPhone 17 as an exceptionally compelling upgrade for a broad user base, perhaps signaling a shift in Apple’s approach to its standard flagship line.
“Outside the Box” Award: Embracing Unique Features with Purpose
The quest for innovation often leads manufacturers to experiment with unconventional designs and features. This year, the “Outside the Box” Award recognized phones that introduced unique traits which genuinely enhanced the user experience, rather than being mere gimmicks.
While some ultra-thin phones, such as the iPhone Air and S25 Edge, showcased impressive engineering, their significantly reduced battery life (reportedly dying 30% faster) relegated them to the “Why Does This Exist?” category. True innovation, it was found, must offer benefits without prohibitive compromises.
The Xiaomi 17 Pro’s rear display, for instance, represented a fully realized second-screen experience, offering extensive personalization and even gaming capabilities. However, its impact on core smartphone usage was considered incremental. Similarly, the Minimal Phone, with its black and white e-ink display, aimed to reduce power consumption and eye strain. While innovative, the advent of increasingly efficient batteries across the market, combined with the display’s slideshow-like refresh rate, prevented it from clinching the award.
The ultimate winner in this category was the Samsung Galaxy Z Trifold. Despite being thicker and heavier when closed than a conventional foldable, its most significant reward is an enormous 10-inch widescreen internal display. This widescreen format, optimized for content consumption, was deemed to finally justify the cost and trade-offs associated with carrying a foldable device, proving that bold design choices can deliver substantial user value.
The “Unkillable Battery” Award: Endurance Redefined
One of the most pressing demands for smartphone users is extended battery life. 2025 emerged as a pivotal year for devices offering extraordinary endurance without sacrificing other key features. It was emphasized that true “unkillable” battery status is not merely about stuffing in the largest cell, but about optimization, charging speed, and overall phone quality.
The iPhone 17 Pro Max deserves recognition, as it became the first iPhone to feature a 5,000-ish mAh battery cell. Coupled with Apple’s renowned software optimization, this resulted in what was described as spectacular battery life, outperforming Samsung’s comparable offerings by approximately 10%. However, a new tier of supersized battery phones has emerged, requiring careful consideration of regional regulations.
EU regulations, which classify batteries over approximately 5,500 mAh as dangerous goods, have led some manufacturers to ship tweaked versions of their phones with smaller batteries to European countries. For example, the Vivo X300 Pro, despite boasting a 6,510 mAh cell globally, offers only a 5,440 mAh version in the EU. This regulatory landscape has spurred a clever engineering solution: dual-cell battery designs.
Dual-cell batteries, where two separate power units each sit below the EU cap but combine for a larger total capacity, have become the hallmark of the true battery champions. This design, while slightly less space-efficient due to two casings, allows for higher overall capacity and significantly faster charging by distributing the current and heat load. Leading the charge in this innovation are:
- Xiaomi 17 Pro Max: Featuring a remarkable 7,500 mAh total capacity with 100W charging. The minor caveat is its rear second display, which might slightly contradict a pure endurance focus.
- Realme GT8 Pro: Equipped with a dual-cell 7,000 mAh capacity and impressive 120W charging.
- OnePlus 15: Combining 120W charging with an even higher 7,300 mAh capacity, noted for its exceptionally comfortable in-hand feel. However, its camera performance was noted to have been downgraded compared to previous OnePlus flagships.
Ultimately, the Oppo Find X9 Pro was crowned the winner of the “Unkillable Battery” Award. It offers an equally immense 7,500 mAh battery, a spec sheet and design similar to the OnePlus 15, but crucially, delivers an upgraded camera experience. Its 80W charging, while not the highest, still significantly outpaces the 40W and 45W caps found on iPhones and Samsungs, respectively.
“Filmmaker’s Choice” Award: The Pinnacle of Mobile Photography and Videography
This award goes beyond mere photo and video quality, considering the entire camera experience: battery life for extended shoots, outdoor screen visibility, and intuitive camera app design. The mainstream flagships, such as the iPhone 17 Pro and Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra, were acknowledged for their quality but were deemed to have reached a plateau. To truly elevate camera performance, wider and deeper sensors are required, which often necessitate design compromises that mass-market brands are hesitant to make. Similarly, while the Google Pixel 10 Pro boasts intelligent software features, its hardware does not compete with the top contenders.
The industry saw a fascinating specialization among brands owned by the parent company BBK (Vivo, Oppo, OnePlus):
- OnePlus: Focuses on pure performance, offering the fastest chip and large battery, but scaled-back cameras and a scrapped Hasselblad partnership.
- Oppo: Acts as an all-rounder, balancing performance and camera capabilities.
- Vivo: Targets the camera enthusiast.
The winner, by a significant margin, was the Vivo X300 Pro. Described as two generations ahead of mainstream flagships, this device features an incredibly bright outdoor display peaking at 4,500 nits, ensuring visibility even in harsh sunlight. Its battery, while not the absolute top, is still more than sufficient for a full day of shooting. The camera hardware is almost identical to the Oppo Find X9 Pro but is paired with what was described as the most advanced and smoothest camera software to ever grace an Android phone. Its 200-megapixel telephoto camera was highlighted as providing unprecedented zoom capabilities, almost akin to spy equipment. This specialization ensures that the Vivo X300 Pro delivers unparalleled detail, perfect skin tones, and an exceptional overall photographic experience.
The “Pocket Console” Award: Best Smartphones for Gaming
For most users, even intensive mobile gamers, a dedicated gaming phone is not necessary; devices like the iPhone 17 Pro Max, with its improved thermals, excellent battery, and optimized games, are often sufficient. However, for those seeking the absolute peak of mobile gaming performance, the “Pocket Console” Award identifies a device that goes “all in.”
The winner in this niche category is the RedMagic 11 Pro. This isn’t merely a phone with the latest chip, ample RAM, and a vapor chamber for passive cooling. It distinguishes itself by being the first smartphone to integrate active liquid cooling, akin to the systems found in high-end PCs. This involves an actual pump circulating coolant, working in conjunction with other cooling systems to maintain peak performance during extended gaming sessions. Despite its starting price of $729, corners were visibly cut in other areas, particularly the camera, highlighting the trade-offs inherent in hyper-specialized devices. The absence of an Asus ROG entry this year, with a delay until 2026, further solidified RedMagic’s position.
“Grandma’s Choice” Award: Hassle-Free Simplicity
This award focuses on the most user-friendly and reliable device for individuals who are not tech-savvy, prioritizing ease of use over cutting-edge features. While niche options like the Chatsie phone offer a simplified UI specifically for older users and excellent customer service, its basic hardware for a nearly $400 price point limited its appeal.
Samsung’s mid-range phones, like the A56, with their spacious, readable screens, large batteries, durability, and “Easy Mode,” were strong contenders. However, the Google Pixel 9a ultimately won the “Grandma’s Choice” Award. Despite being a smaller device, Google’s software simplicity was highlighted as ideal. It features helpful, non-technical tutorials, minimal bloatware (avoiding app duplication seen on Samsung), and an effective “Simple View” (Google’s version of Easy Mode). Crucially, the Pixel’s camera, while not having the highest ceiling for professional users, boasts one of the highest “floors,” making it exceptionally difficult to take a bad photo, with robust tools available for post-capture corrections. This combination makes it an excellent choice for straightforward, reliable usage.
“One-Handed Hero” Award: Compact Powerhouses
The “One-Handed Hero” category celebrates compact phones that manage to pack in flagship-level performance and features without compromise. While many premium compact phones exist from Samsung, Apple, and Xiaomi, many necessitate trade-offs in battery life or camera performance compared to their larger counterparts.
The Google Pixel 10 Pro, for instance, was praised for bottling the entire experience of its larger XL sibling with almost zero compromises, including battery life, making it a “cracking” compact phone. However, the ultimate winner was the Xiaomi 17 Pro. This not-particularly-large device astonishingly retains every bell and whistle from its bigger Pro Max version, including the unique second screen. Unlike the Pixel 10 Pro, which uses a weaker-than-average Google Tensor chip, the Xiaomi 17 Pro sports a well-above-average next-generation Snapdragon chip. Furthermore, it offers extraordinary battery life for a compact phone, solidifying its position as the leading “one-handed hero.” For those specifically seeking a flip phone, the Samsung Z Flip was slightly preferred over the Motorola Razr 60 Ultra due to its thinner, lighter design and superior photo tuning, despite the Moto’s larger battery and slightly better-spec cameras.
“Why Does This Exist?” Award: The Most Disappointing Launches
This less-than-flattering award highlights products that, despite engineering feats, ultimately miss the mark in terms of value, utility, or strategic positioning. The Nothing Phone 3 was a runner-up, having waited three years for a flagship release only to deliver a device that felt too similar to its more affordable predecessors, with a less impressive rear screen and an $800 launch price that disappointed given its incremental upgrades.
The winners (or losers, depending on perspective) were the “two-dimensional twins” of 2025: the Samsung S25 Edge and Apple iPhone Air. These ultra-thin devices were acknowledged as impressive feats of engineering and aesthetically beautiful. However, they were ultimately deemed “beautiful traps.” Their alluring form factor, while initially captivating, leads to significant long-term drawbacks: accelerated battery degradation, grainy zoomed-in photos, and performance drops after short gaming sessions. These compromises, especially considering their premium price points, were seen as creating buyer’s remorse for users once the novelty of the thin design wore off, making them functionally worse for the average consumer despite their innovative construction.
Budget Options (Under $300): Maximizing Value
For consumers seeking the most smartphone possible for under $300, the market still offers compelling options. As in previous years, Poco presented a strong contender with its X7 Pro. This device, priced at $300, features a 50-megapixel main camera capable of great photos, a highly readable 3,200 nits peak brightness display, and a 6,000 mAh battery offering at least a day and a half of charge. This makes the Poco X7 Pro a clear choice for maximizing specifications within the budget.
However, when factoring in the overall user experience, the CMF Phone 2 Pro by Nothing was slightly favored. At a more affordable $250, it offers slightly less hardware but compensates with Nothing’s signature polish and optimized software, making it feel more premium than its stats suggest. It features minimal bloatware and surprisingly good photos from its dual 50-megapixel rear cameras. An innovative modular design, allowing users to screw in stands, camera lenses, or swap backplates, further enhances its value proposition in the budget segment.
The “Overachiever” Award: Mid-Range Phones Punching Above Their Weight
The “Overachiever” Award recognizes mid-range phones that deliver far more than expected, often encroaching on flagship territory in terms of features and performance. This category is where Apple and Samsung typically fall short, as their business models protect their flagships and don’t prioritize over-delivering value in their mid-range offerings. Even well-rounded options like the Xiaomi 15T and 15T Pro, now running the slicker HyperOS 3 Android skin, faced stiff competition this year.
Two phones truly stood out:
- Realme GT8 Pro: This device was described as the most stacked smartphone ever from Realme, packing cutting-edge specifications for around $750. Interestingly, it comes with a screwdriver for users to customize their camera module shape, a quirky but unique extra for a performance-focused phone.
Despite the Realme’s impressive showing, the winner of the “Overachiever” Award was the Poco F8 Ultra. Priced at $679, it offers specifications very close to the extreme Realme phone but with a more affordable tag. Its smart and unique denim finish was praised for its grip, scratch resistance, and immunity to fingerprints, immediately making it a favorite. A groundbreaking partnership with Bose led to the inclusion of an extra subwoofer on the back, delivering an incredible audio experience. While it doesn’t transform the phone into a giant Bluetooth speaker, it significantly elevates audio depth and richness, making even the best-sounding phones like the iPhone 17 Pro Max sound compressed by comparison. This audio innovation, combined with its strong specs and unique design, marks it as a truly exceptional mid-range offering.
Overall “Smartphone of the Year”: The Closest to Flawless
For those seeking the absolute best flagship money can buy, 2025 offered several strong contenders. The Samsung S25 Ultra remained a well-rounded device, but its chip and battery were deemed outclassed. The iPhone 17 Pro and Pro Max impressed with their focus on battery life and improved signal, yet iOS and Siri were felt to be lagging. Xiaomi’s 17 Pro Max, while fascinating, was seen as prioritizing a second display over camera performance. The Vivo X300 Pro was an incredibly close contender, lauded for its camera capabilities, but was slightly lacking in the battery department to be crowned the overall winner.
The title of “Smartphone of the Year” was ultimately awarded to the Oppo Find X9 Pro. This device, a close cousin to the Vivo X300 Pro, was considered the closest we’ve ever come to a flawless phone. It combines exceptional camera hardware (nearly identical to the Vivo X300 Pro) with an outstanding 7,500 mAh battery, and fast 80W charging. Its refined design, comprehensive spec sheet, and even thoughtful touches like a pre-installed screen protector, contribute to an unparalleled user experience. The only potential flaw highlighted was its availability, which might be limited depending on geographic location, preventing wider access to this near-perfect smartphone of 2025.
Powering Up Your Knowledge: Your 2025 Smartphone Q&A
What is the main purpose of this article?
This article provides a comprehensive review and awards the best smartphones of 2025 across different categories, helping users find the ideal device for their specific needs.
What kind of new features are highlighted in 2025 smartphones?
The year 2025 brought significant advancements, including dramatically thinner and lighter folding phones, devices with unprecedented battery endurance, and innovative designs with unique features like active liquid cooling for gaming.
Which phone was recognized for having the best overall battery life?
The Oppo Find X9 Pro won the ‘Unkillable Battery’ Award, featuring an immense 7,500 mAh battery and fast 80W charging, offering exceptional endurance without sacrificing other key features.
Is there a good smartphone option for people who prefer simplicity and ease of use?
Yes, the Google Pixel 9a won the ‘Grandma’s Choice’ Award for its straightforward software, helpful tutorials, and a camera that makes it very easy to take good photos, ideal for non-tech-savvy users.
Which phone was named the overall ‘Smartphone of the Year’ for 2025?
The Oppo Find X9 Pro was crowned the ‘Smartphone of the Year’ for 2025, praised for its nearly flawless combination of an exceptional camera, outstanding battery life, and fast charging in a refined design.