This guide focuses on the best phones on the market, regardless of price

David WiliamsJan 20, 2021General

hereThere are a lot of great smartphone options available at any given moment, so it can be a challenge to sort through them all if you’re trying to choose the absolute best one. The stakes here can’t be understated: your phone is the most important gadget in your life, and you’ll probably be living with the one you buy for at least a year, if not two or three.

Most of the time, the best phone stands out from the pack in all the areas that matter: performance, value, camera, and support. And most of the time, that’s usually the most expensive phone on the market. But as it turns out, you don’t have to buy the priciest phone to get the best experience.

This guide focuses on the best phones on the market, regardless of price. If you’re looking for something on a smaller budget, please check out our guide to budget smartphones.

THE BEST PHONES 2020
The iPhone 12.
Apple iPhone 12 Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge
1. APPLE IPHONE 12
BEST IPHONE TO BUY IN 2020
There are many new iPhones to choose from this year, each with different characteristics and prices. The one that most people should buy is the iPhone 12, which starts at around $830 for a 64GB model.

The 12 has the same overall design, the same processor, the same wireless charging, the same Face ID system, the same 5G support, the same front camera, and the same main and wide-angle rear cameras as the pricier 12 Pro, but for hundreds of dollars less. On top of all that, it comes in five different colors, one more than you can choose from in the Pro models.

THE IPHONE 12 BALANCES A BIG SCREEN WITH MANAGEABLE SIZE WELL
Compared to the iPhone 12 mini, the iPhone 12 has a noticeably roomier display and a bigger battery — two things that are important to many people. At 6.1 inches, it’s big enough to make watching video and reading text comfortable and engaging, but isn’t so big that it’s terribly hard to use in one hand or fit in your pocket. Battery life is also very good — you can reliably expect this phone to last all day without needing to charge up before bed.

The 12 gives up the telephoto camera that’s available on the 12 Pro and 12 Pro Max, but that’s something most people won’t miss. The iPhone 12’s camera system is the best you can get in this price range and is excellent at most anything you’d use it for. It also has the ability to shoot Dolby Vision HDR video for brighter and more dynamic video.

APPLE IPHONE 12
$829
Prices taken at time of publishing.

Starting at $829, the iPhone 12 comes in three different storage configurations: 64GB, 128GB, and 256GB. Available in black, blue, green, red, or white.

$829 AT APPLE
$799 AT BEST BUY
Since the 12 has Apple’s latest smartphone processor, the A14 Bionic, it has extremely fast performance and fluid animations. It also has a sleeker, more modern design than the previous iPhone 11 or iPhone XR, which feel frumpy in comparison.

The base iPhone 12 comes with 64GB of storage, but as usual with an iPhone, it’s not expandable, so we recommend buying the 128GB model for only $50 more.

In all, the iPhone 12 is an easy choice for most people: it offers top-level performance, design, and camera features, while providing reliable battery life for less money than other options on the market.

Samsung Galaxy S20 Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge
2. SAMSUNG GALAXY S20 / S20 PLUS
BEST ANDROID PHONE TO BUY IN 2020
If you’re looking for an Android phone, the one that we recommend for most people is Samsung’s Galaxy S20 and S20 Plus. Even though these models came out way back in March 2020, they still balance performance, features, design, and build quality better than anything else you can get right now.

Les Hommes RTW Fall 2021

I Hate Spending a Ton of Money on Makeup Brushes—These Are…

Prev Next 1 of 565

The S20 devices have excellent performance and great battery life. They have 120Hz displays that make every interaction as smooth as it can be. They also support 5G networks, just like any other flagship phone this year.

Both models have standard, ultrawide, and telephoto cameras on the rear, which provide a lot of flexibility when you’re composing photos. They may not be quite as good as the cameras you can get on an iPhone 12 or 12 Pro Max, but they are still very good and most people will find they take excellent photos and video.

THE S20 AND S20 PLUS HAVE THE RIGHT MIX OF PERFORMANCE, DESIGN, AND FEATURES
Samsung actually has another model in the S20 line that’s larger and more expensive than the S20 or S20 Plus: the S20 Ultra. We don’t recommend it: its camera system looks more advanced on a spec sheet but is less reliable and not as enjoyable to use and we don’t think it’s worth the extra $400 you’ll pay for it.

Choosing between the S20 and S20 Plus comes down to basically one thing: do you want an oversized screen or not? The S20 has a large 6.2-inch screen; the S20 Plus has an enormous 6.7-inch screen. The latter will definitely be harder to use in one hand and might not slip into your pocket as easily, but the screen is gorgeous to look at.

SAMSUNG GALAXY S20 5G (128GB, UNLOCKED)
$800 $1,000 20% off
Prices taken at time of publishing.

Part of the S20 family of smartphones, the Galaxy S20 features a 120Hz refresh rate screen and a 6.2-inch display.

$800 AT AMAZON (S20)
$950 AT AMAZON (S20 PLUS)
Perhaps the best part of the S20 models is that you can get them for a good price, now that they’ve been on the market for more than six months. At launch, the S20 was about $1,000, while the S20 Plus was $1,200, both for 128GB models. But now you can regularly find the S20 in the $700 to $800 range, with the S20 Plus typically $200 more. At those prices, you can’t find a better Android phone.

Rumors are pointing to Samsung releasing a new S21 model line as soon as January 2021. That can mean two things: if you are only looking for the latest and greatest, you might want to wait. But it could also mean we’ll see even more significant discounts on the S20 line than we already have.

Samsung Galaxy S20 FE Photo by Dieter Bohn / The Verge
3. SAMSUNG GALAXY S20 FE
BEST MIDRANGE ANDROID PHONE IN 2020
The midrange phone market (models priced between $500 and $700) has exploded this year, but the one that stands out from the pack is Samsung’s Galaxy S20 FE. The reason is because it barely feels like a midrange phone; with just a couple of tweaks, this could easily pass for a premium flagship.

Like the other S20 models, the FE has a 120Hz display that makes every touch, scroll, or interaction feel smooth. It also has a top-tier Qualcomm Snapdragon 865 processor — you’re not giving up anything in terms of performance here.

Its camera system has the familiar wide, ultrawide, and telephoto setup, with all three cameras having 12-megapixel sensors. In good light, they all take reliably good phones; where you’ll notice a difference between this and more expensive phones is when it starts to get dark. But Samsung’s night mode does work surprisingly well and helps out quite a bit.

SAMSUNG GALAXY S20 FE 5G (128GB, UNLOCKED)
$700
Prices taken at time of publishing.

The fourth phone in the S line this year featuring a 6.5-inch display, a 120Hz refresh rate screen, and three 12-megapixel sensors.

$700 AT AMAZON
$700 AT B&H PHOTO
$700 AT BEST BUY
The biggest thing that separates the S20 FE from the other S20 models is its materials: instead of a glass back, it has a cheaper plastic one. It still feels well-made and sturdy, though, and once you put a case on it you won’t even notice it.

At its regular price of $700, the S20 FE is an excellent performing phone with a good value. But like most Samsung phones, you often can get it with a significant discount, making it an even more impressive value.

regardless of price.This guide focuses on the best phones on the market

CategoryGeneral

This guide focuses on the best phones on the market, regardless of price

Related News

Team Collaboration: Using an Action Plan Template for Group Projects

10 Signs To Look for When Choosing an Emergency Plumber

How to make the most out of your LMS free trial