Google's Android partners aren't as good at that, with the Google Pixel and recent BlackBerry devices being rare exceptions. Sure, new smartphones offer fancy new camera options, fingerprint readers, iris scanners and gorgeous displays that lure your eyes right back to the device. None of those are real reasons to upgrade a phone though, at least not unless you're a geek like me who just likes having the newest phone on the block. Indeed, you can save serious dough by paying off your phone and riding it out for a few years, instead of paying monthly payments to essentially rent a new smartphone like the Galaxy S8.
Once 80 percent of the device has been paid off, and if it's still in good condition, you can trade it in and start all over again. If you were to pay for it up front, you'd own it right away and you'd be free to sell it at will, or hang on to it for a few years.
Then you can trade it in and start the cycle all over again, paying another device installment plan. Here's a secret, though: Samsung's Galaxy S6, released two years ago, is still a really great smartphone.
Anyone who owns that device is coming up on their upgrade cycle and could "upgrade" to a Galaxy S8 and pay that aforementioned fee. Apart from that, major differences between the S21 and last year's S20 were mostly incremental. I remember having to pore over the specs sheet to spot salient differences as I covered Samsung's virtual Unpacked event.
Refinements were made to the usual suspects, including the processor, software and 5G. This might have been part of Samsung's response to the global coronavirus pandemic, but again it lends credence to the notion to that decreasing technological gap.
It was also interesting to note the items Samsung dropped from the S21 flagship family to meet that lowered price. We said goodbye to expandable storage, bundled earphones and most notoriously the in-box charger , as Samsung followed in Apple's lead -- apparently in the name of the environment. Read more: Here's what we know so far about Samsung's Galaxy S Let's also take a moment to consider the question: What makes the S21 an attractive buy?
Chances are, a great camera, fast performance, battery longevity and a crisp display with narrow bezels are at the top of your list. But the truth is 's Galaxy S10 boasts all those features. Heck, even the Galaxy S7 from five years ago did. My point is yearly changes have become too incremental to compel most people to upgrade with urgency, especially given the backdrop of rising smartphone prices.
I'm not discounting foldable phones. Samsung and Huawei have made undeniable technological progress, and their bendy handsets have dramatically altered the way smartphones are used and could represent the future of the industry. But folding phones are far from the mainstream. Phone manufacturers and carriers in the US have moved the most innovative devices to a price that's simply beyond reach for most people.
Until these prices hit price parity with, say, the iPhone 12 Pro or Pro Max, foldable phones are likely to remain a niche product. Smartphone innovation has stagnated, and this is not a knock against the consumer electronics companies or the tech giants that design them. Maybe we've reached peak smartphone, and this is as far as it needs to go. It could well be part of the reason why the race to upgrade your phones is slowing. Why it's ranked 15th: The specs here aren't as impressive as they are on the iPhone 11 Pro or iPhone 11 Pro Max, let alone the iPhone 13 range, but the trade-off in a lower price for this device still makes it a top-buy for many Apple fans.
You'll miss out on a faster processor and features like MagSafe by not going with the iPhone 13 or iPhone 13 mini, but that's about it. Screen: The iPhone 11's 6. Like all post-iPhone X Apple handsets, you'll have to live with a wide notch. Battery life: The easiest way to describe battery life on the iPhone 11 is good, but not great.
You'll get around a day of usage from the iPhone 11, but it's not as good as the physically larger phones like the 11 Pro Max. If you want the best camera on an iPhone, you'll want the iPhone 13 Pro Max, but it's still an impressive shooter on the rear of the 11 — and crucially, it has an HDR-like Night Mode.
Read our in-depth iPhone 11 review Price comparison: The best iPhone 11 deals. You're at the end of our best smartphone guide, but that doesn't mean we can't help you still - if you're stuck on which model is for you, we've got a tool that can compare all the phones together and you can decide which one suits you best based on the cost. If you want to get all the info, then check out our full mobile phone deals page. He began his tech journalism career all the way back in at the age of 14, and first started writing for TechRadar in Matt received his journalism degree from Penn State University and is never seen without his TechRadar headphones.
North America. Included in this guide: 1. The best phone in the world right now is the Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra , but if that isn't for you we've got 14 other top picks that may suit you, including the best iPhones and a variety of other Android phones.
Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra. Specifications Release date: January Weight: g. Dimensions: OS: Android Screen size: 6. Resolution: x Battery: 5,mAh.
Front camera: 40MP. Reasons to avoid - Expensive at any level - No microSD card slot. Image 1 of 2. Image 2 of 2. Specifications Release date: September CPU: A15 Bionic. Front camera: 12MP. Reasons to avoid - Limited design changes - Notch still too large.
Front camera: 10MP. Battery: Up to 19 hours. Reasons to avoid - Minimal design changes - No Hz screen. Specifications Release date: October CPU: Google Tensor.
Reasons to avoid - Middling battery - Pixel 6 price fluctuates by carrier - Pro priced high for extras. OnePlus 9 Pro. Specifications Release date: March CPU: Snapdragon Battery: 4,mAh. Front camera: 16MP. Samsung Galaxy Note 20 Ultra. Specifications Release date: August Reasons to avoid - 'Ultra' expensive - Photos exhibit skin smoothing. Specifications Release date: April Screen size: 4.
CPU: A13 Bionic. Battery: 1,mAh. Rear camera: 12MP. Front camera: 7MP. Reasons to avoid - Battery life could be better - Old screen technology. Samsung Galaxy S20 FE. Front camera: 32MP. Reasons to avoid - Middling camera specs - No Android 11 yet.
With the Pixel 5a, Google adds a second rear lens to its budget phone — a 16MP ultrawide shooter to augment the That expands the Pixel 5a's flexibility over previous models, while the phone continues to benefit from Google's prowess with computational photography. The Pixel 5a's display is big and bright, and this phone offers IP67 water resistance, something missing from past A series models.
Read our full Google Pixel 5a review. If you want the power of the iPhone 13 Pro Max in something more compact, the 6. This flagship packs all of the same great features and performance as its bigger brother, including a new 3x telephoto zoom camera, Hz ProMotion display and support for ProRes video. The iPhone 13 Pro also benefits from longer battery life, as this iPhone lasted over 11 hours on our web surfing battery test. We just wish the charging was faster. Add in a brighter display, a slick Cinematic mode for video and impressive new macro photography and you have a superb all-around phone.
Read our full iPhone 13 Pro review. With help from camera specialist Hasselblad, the OnePlus 9 features an excellent array of lenses that capture color accurately and produce photos that rival what you get from leading camera phones, as you can see in our OnePlus 9 Pro camera face-off. You get a display with a dynamically adjusting refresh rate, scaling between 1 and Hz. That helps with battery life, as the OnePlus 9 Pro lasted more than Throw in a Snapdragon processor and lots of RAM, and you have one of the best performing Android phones around.
Read our full OnePlus 9 Pro review. The S21 makes a great first impression with its sleek contour cut camera design, which blends the camera into the back of the device. And the cameras themselves impress, too, with improved portraits and a new Zoom Lock feature that lets you get better results up to 30x zoom.
But this Samsung phone makes up for those shortcomings with strong performance from its Snapdragon chip, a larger fingerprint sensor for easier unlocking and fun features like Single Take 2. Read our full Samsung Galaxy S21 review. Samsung continues trying to make foldable phones more appealing to mainstream shoppers, and the Galaxy Z Fold 3 is a big step forward in that regard.
The Galaxy Z Fold 3 also introduces new features such as displays with Hz refresh rates both inside and out , an under-display camera on that interior screen and S Pen support. Read our full Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 3 review. Selfies get a serious upgrade, too, with a MP camera that automatically switches to a wider view when you turn the phone to landscape mode.
The 6. A blazing A13 Bionic processor, long battery life and your choice of six colors solidify the iPhone 11 as a winner. Read our full iPhone 11 review. That continues with the version of this budget phone, which rides its 5, mAh battery to hour-plus result on our battery test. The cameras are decent for a budget phone, even the macro lens. Read our full Moto G Power review. You don't have to spend big bucks to get your hands on an Apple phone.
You get an older, iPhone 8-inspired design with noticeable bezels around the LCD screen, but fans of compact phones will like the iPhone SE's small size and the fact that it's powered by an A13 Bionic processor — still capable of outperforming far more expensive Android devices. The single rear lens on the iPhone SE also delivers great photos, thanks in no small part to Apple's excellent computational photography.
Read our iPhone SE review. In order for a smartphone to make our best phone list, it needs to excel on several tests that we run on every handset.
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