15 best smartphones

Our next rating dedicated to smartphones is designed to help the buyer with the choice of the best model in different price categories. Someone is ready to allocate more than $ 500 for the purchase of a new gadget, for others the budget is limited to $ 100- $ 200, and still others are looking for a product, the purchase of which is most expedient in terms of price-performance ratio. For each segment of consumers, we selected the 5 best models that are relevant in 2020, as of February, focusing on information from domestic and foreign experts, as well as buyers from Russia (who leave real feedback on the operation of certain mobile devices). No subjective opinion, only reliable and verified information.

The best flagships of 2020

Flagship smartphones are for those who do not tolerate compromises and always stand out from the gray mass. For a fairly high cost, the buyer receives a stylish design, high-quality and effective assembly materials, a power reserve for many years, outstanding photo capabilities and unlimited functionality.

5 HUAWEI Mate 30 Pro 8 / 256GB

One of the most powerful smartphones on the market with an advanced energy efficient Kirin 990 processor (own production) and 8 gigabytes of RAM. Native memory is 256 GB, which is enough for most demanding users.

Recently, HUAWEI has been introducing some of the best cameras on the market into its flagship devices, and this time the rule has only found its confirmation. Currently, the camera of this smartphone has 121 points from dxOmark and the 4th place in the world (5G modification is the second!). Together with the 32 megapixel front, the Mate 30 Pro has 5 cameras at once, enclosed in an original round frame, and the ultra-wide-angle module was especially admirable.

With the purchase of such a model, a wow effect is provided - the "waterfall" display gives extraordinary emotions from watching content or playing gameplay. True, some note that reading news and surfing the Internet on it is not very convenient. In addition, you will have to come to terms with the lack of Google services and the inability to work with NFC in our countries.

The best alternative for 2020 is the Xiaomi Mi 10 Pro.

Pros:

• Stunning design with Horizon Display
• Instant face unlock operation
• Gorgeous cameras
• Flawless performance
• High-speed RAM
• Android version 10

Minuses:

• Lack of volume keys
• Speaker under the screen
• Problems with Google services and NFC

4 Samsung Galaxy Note 10+ 12 / 512GB

Note 10+ received many differences from last year's model of the line, for example, the fingerprint scanner was placed under the screen (works clearly), added reverse charging, 3D scanning of objects and the ability to easily access the phone through a computer.

Large dimensions (the screen has a diagonal of 6.8 inches) and angular shape did not affect ergonomics - the smartphone fits comfortably in the hand. The model has a hybrid slot, that is, you can insert either 2 SIM or SIM + SD.

When it comes to camera, the Galaxy Note 10 Plus has some of the best photo capabilities on the market and impresses with a few options, such as capturing videos with blurred backgrounds in multiple modes. Even the front camera supports 4K resolution, and the main one produces 60 frames per second at this resolution!

The main feature of the Galaxy Note series has always been the stylus, and in this case, you can do even more with the S Pen. For example, change the viewing angle, switch between modes and cameras. In turn, the 4300 mAh battery is unlikely to provide work without recharging for a whole day with active use of the phone with maximum display brightness.

Pros:

• Large display and smaller bezels
• Great design and multiple body colors
• Functional S Pen
• High performance and 512GB memory
• IP68 protection
• Opportunities for interacting with a computer

Minuses:

• No mini jack
• Short battery life

3 OnePlus 7 Pro 12 / 256GB

The phone is made of glass (Gorilla Glass 3D on the front, Gorilla Glass 6 on the back), has an aluminum frame and a fingerprint scanner built into the display.

The large AMOLED screen of 6.6 inches has a huge resolution of 1440 × 3120 and an aspect ratio of 19.5: 9. It supports HDR10 mode and 90Hz refresh rate, which is primarily interesting for gamers. The displayed picture is "lively", juicy, bright and in pleasant colors, flexible adjustment is possible.

You can expect better quality photos from the flagship device, here the quality of shooting is at a high, but not the best level. To which there are no questions is to the front camera, which fulfills a solid ten. By the way, it is conveniently hidden in the case and equipped with a retractable mechanism, so the screen is devoid of any cutouts for it.

The test of playing video at a high brightness level showed 13 hours of continuous battery life on a single charge.

Pros:

• System speed
• Stereo speakers
• Mechanical ring mode switch
• 90 Hz high-resolution display
• The price is lower than that of the flagship analogs
• Fast built-in memory

Minuses:

• No waterproof
• No wireless charging
• Weight - 206 g

2 Samsung Galaxy S10 + Ceramic 12 / 1024GB

Samsung's flagship from 2019 has a 6.4-inch display and a lot of dimensions. Almost complete framelessness is ensured by placing the front camera directly in the display. The AMOLED matrix has a high resolution of 3040x1440, is characterized by an impeccable image, and received an ultrasonic fingerprint scanner.

The base S10 + has a glass-aluminum body, while our sample has a ceramic body, which slightly increased its original weight - from 175 to 198 g. The smartphone is protected from moisture and dust by IP68 technology. The camera is one of the best on the market and offers 4.3x optical zoom. There is optical stabilization and autofocus with Dual Pixel.

The model is equipped with almost all wireless interfaces, only IrDA is missing. But Samsung has left in place the audio jack familiar to many, the USB version is 3.1. The battery capacity is 4100 mAh. With a low intensity of use, this can be enough for 2 days. Supports fast, wireless and reversible charging.

Pros:

• 1 TB memory
• Design
• Ceramic body
• High performance
• Speakers from AKG + Dolby Atmos support
• Reversible charging

Minuses:

• Relatively weak battery
• Fingerprint scanner is slow

1 Apple iPhone 11 Pro Max 256GB

The best smartphone in the world, and if not in quality, then at market price for sure. If you have a budget of 85 thousand rubles (for the 256 GB version) and unlimited love for Apple technology, then you simply have no other choice.

There have been no special innovations in design since the days of the tenth iPhone models - the bangs are in place, and the large frames around the display too. However, the glossy glass of the back cover has been replaced by a matte glass, which is more durable and less prone to scratches. Now the iPhone is not so afraid of falling, and even a dive of four meters in water for about half an hour, in theory, it can withstand.

And the iPhone 11 Pro Max also shoots realistically - you will get exactly the pictures as they are in real life. Brightness, colors and contrast are not "over the top", as in phones from other manufacturers. Night photography is also worthy of a round of applause. The front camera has also been updated - it has wider coverage, there is the ability to record 4K 60 FPS and a slow motion mode.

An alternative for 2020 is the iPhone 12 Pro Max (the exact name has not yet been announced).

Pros:

• Perfectly fast work
• Quick charge included
• True Tone, P3 gamut and HDR support
• Wider Face ID angles
• Record iPhone battery life
• Realistic photography and night mode

Minuses:

• Highly inflated price tag
• Removed 3D-touch

The best smartphones in terms of price / quality ratio

In order not to go to extremes (paying a lot of money or buying outright junk), most buyers prefer mid-range phones.Which makes sense, since it is in this category that you can find a gadget with an optimal price-quality ratio.

5 Samsung Galaxy S9 64GB

The ranking of the best smartphones of good quality opens with the Samsung Galaxy S9. Yes, its cost is not yet so low, but with the release of the S20, it will continue to decline. And despite the appearance of fresh models in the lineup, this gadget is still relevant and worth our attention.

Here you can describe the technical parameters for a long time, but Samsung is not loved for that. The company's smartphones have their own style, not borrowed from anyone and beloved by many. The S9 hasn't changed much from the S8, but the design has become even more sophisticated, the curved glass technology has been brought to near perfection, and the body materials in the form of metal and glass are still effectively combined with each other.

Samsung's software stands out as a separate accent. This is the first smartphone with the new proprietary OneUI shell, designed to facilitate device management with one hand. The updates have touched on almost every detail of the user interface. Customers also note improvements in overall performance and better sounding of the speakers, as there are already two of them.

Pros:

• Gorgeous display
• Stereo speakers
• Excellent camera
• Samsung ecosystem functionality
• Falling price
• Optimal display diagonal (not at the expense of compactness)

Minuses:

• Weak battery
• Bad placement of the Bixby key

4 realme X2 Pro 8 / 128GB

A flagship that can be purchased at a reasonable price.

The smartphone is to some extent an analogue of the Xiaomi Mi 9T Pro and comes on the market in white and blue colors with spectacular overflows. Matte cases have also entered the Chinese market, but we can only dream of them. Despite the use of glass as a material for the back cover, no obvious trouble with fingerprints was noticed.

The display is borrowed from Samsung, specifically from the M30s. 6.5 inches, Always On Display, Gorilla Glass 5, HDR10, 90 Hz - there are no questions to the screen. It has a built-in fingerprint scanner, which, by the way, works smartly, although it is traditionally not friendly with wet fingers. And there is also the world's best Snapdragon 855 Plus processor (with a frequency of almost 3000 MHz), a lot of RAM and internal memory.

The 4000 mAh battery demonstrates an average battery life (especially in games), but lightning-fast charging saves the situation - 100% of the charge is reached in 33 minutes !!! The camera cannot be called a flagship, it is somewhere on the level of the middle-class Realme XT.

Pros:

• High performance
• Excellent 5x zoom
• Wide range of communication options
• Smooth images with 90 hertz display
• Super fast charging
• Loud stereo speakers + there is a mini-jack

Minuses:

• No notification indicator
• A shell for an amateur

3 Honor 20 6 / 128GB

The smartphone from the Huawei sub-brand has a pleasant appearance, but slips in the hand and is quite easily soiled. It is sold in black and sapphire colors, while the second option shimmers in purple from different angles.

One of the most important solutions for ease of use is that the fingerprint scanner is built into the screen lock key. It is important that it works with lightning speed, and despite its small size, there is no need to rewrite the print. True, it is quite sensitive, which will take some getting used to in order to avoid unintentional unlocks.

Such a smartphone is a real salvation for opponents of OLED and AMOLED displays. Here is a standard IPS-matrix (6.26 inches, 2340 × 1080 pixels) with low contrast and dull colors, but more gentle on the eyes, without the notorious PWM.

Don't expect much from the camera. Despite the popular 48-megapixel Sony IMX586 module, the pictures are not rich in detail, but the intelligent assistant helps to improve the final picture. Plus there is a powerful macro camera and tolerable night shooting.

Pros:

• Powerful hardware platform
• Reasonable, reasonable price
• Relative compactness
• Out-of-the-box design
• Convenient location of the fingerprint scanner
• Premium materials

Minuses:

• No audio jack
• Monaural speaker
• Serious throttling in games
• Low speed LTE

2 Xiaomi Mi 9T 6 / 64GB

Minimal bezels, no cutouts and "eyebrows" in the screen, spectacular color options for the back cover (along with stylish black "carbon look" there are flaming red and blue) with curved glass provided this device with a truly chic, modern look. But at the same time it weighs a lot - 20 g heavier than its "brother" Mi 9, which is quite noticeable with a diagonal of 6.39 inches.

The model boasts a high-quality AMOLED screen with a built-in fingerprint scanner. Doubtful merit. But with the brightness and saturation of the screen, everything is fine, there is no limit to the contrast, almost at the level of the top flagship from Samsung.

The basic version uses a rare pre-top central processor Snapdragon 730, which, due to the small size of the transistors and the layout of the cores, is very productive, energy efficient and does not heat up under load.

Middle class - average camera. To reduce the cost of the device, I had to save on a portrait lens and ultra-wide, but there are no special complaints about the main 48-megapixel module - capturing light and details at a decent level.

Pros:

• Modern design with a sliding front
• Excellent AMOLED display
• Quality of materials
• Discharges slowly and charges quickly
• Excellent selfie camera
• Case included
• Excellent value for money and quality

Minuses:

• There are bugs with constant full CPU load
• Slippery body
• Doesn't write 4K 60 FPS video

1 Xiaomi Redmi Note 8 Pro 6 / 64GB

A hit and bestseller, the demand for which exceeded expectations. This is not only a productive device at an excellent price, but also a pretty nice "spatula". As a rule, Redmi Note models are chosen not because of sympathy or love at first sight, but because of the mind. These smartphones are often huge and unpresentable. In our case, only the first is relevant: 6.53 inches and 200 g is a lot, but a certain elegance cannot be taken away from the eighth "proshka". The white and green versions look fresh and cute.

The fingerprint scanner is located in a single block with cameras, it works promptly and is not buggy. And there is also a mini-jack for connecting wired headphones. The Redmi Note 8 Pro uses a classic IPS display with a resolution of 2340 × 1080. There is no high pixel density, but the picture is not pixelated (fuzzy). In addition, an oleophobic coating is provided.

You can find fault with the Mediatek processor, but the Helio G90T is quite good in performance and has good cooling. The camera is approximately on a par with Mi 9T, it is characterized by high details, there are no noticeable aberrations, post-processing of images is better than that of the competitor realme XT. Night mode is not very effective.

Pros:

• Optimal price / quality ratio
• Large bright display
• New color solutions
• No overheating, liquid cooling
• Decent main camera + ability to use GCam
• Decent autonomy (capacious battery)
• NFC availability
• High quality communication and mobile Internet

Minuses:

• AptX codec not supported
• Standard dialer from Google without call recording
• Tactile cheapness
• No moisture and dust protection
• Advertising in the software shell

Best low-cost (budget) smartphones

Modern smartphones are more powerful than they were before, as evidenced by the technical data of current state employees. Even if your budget is limited to $ 100- $ 200, there are chances to buy a more or less good model, and we recommend paying attention to inexpensive but good smartphones in our 2002 ranking.

5 OPPO A5 (2020) 3 / 64GB

A good budget gadget from the BBK concern with an elongated display, the aspect ratio is 20: 9. The bezel-less and modern design contrasts slightly with the materials of manufacture. This is plastic here. However, the back cover imitates glass, does not slip and is tactilely pleasant. The color of the wet asphalt of the rear panel looks stricter and more stylish than the usual overflows and gradients.

The manufacturer decided to save money on the display. A simple IPS-matrix with a resolution of 720 × 1600 is not suitable for the most demanding buyers in terms of picture quality.

But there are some amenities.Firstly, the excellent Qualcomm Snapdragon 665 processor. Secondly, 64GB of internal memory + memory card slot. Thirdly, the presence of a contactless payment module. The increased aspect ratio is well suited for games with which the Adreno 610 graphics adapter handles with a bang. The strongest point of the model can be confidently considered a capacious battery (5000 mAh), and the weakest - a mediocre camera.

Pros:

• Autonomy
• Large display (but low resolution)
• System speed
• NFC availability
• Protective film and case included
• Stereo sound + audio jack

Minuses:

• Weak camera
• No LED indicator
• Crooked Russian translation of the firmware

4 Samsung Galaxy A40 64GB

In the era of “shovel” smartphones, models such as the A40 are considered compact toddlers. The device received a 5.9-inch AMOLED display with FullHD + resolution, weighs only 140 grams and does not reach 8 millimeters in thickness! The slim-bezel design is eye-catching, the keyhole is eye-catching, and the backrest makes you admire yourself.

And if traditionally (as for Samsung) there are no questions about the screen, the situation with the hardware is different. The Exynos 7904 self-produced processor with Mali-G71 MP2 graphics and 4 GB of RAM beat out only 109506 points in Antutu. Multitasking and support for complex games are not what the A40 boasts.

But the camera performs well in daytime shooting conditions. And there is also a modern USB Type-C port, NFC module, 5 GHz WiFi support and a slot for 2 SIM cards + memory card.

Pros:

• Compact and lightweight
• Great design + many interesting colors
• Contrast AMOLED display
• Fingerprint scanner + face recognition
• One UI shell
• Headphone jack + USB-C + NFC

Minuses:

• Weak battery
• No Always On Display
• Weak antenna sensitivity

3 Meizu Note 9 4 / 64GB

Many called this smartphone Meizu's answer for Xiaomi to its hit Redmi Note 7. At the same time, Note 9 costs a little more, but it will also be more powerful.

The body is made of glossy plastic, the frames are relatively narrow, the traditional "drop" is in place, there are several color options, including white and blue. There is an LED indicator, which distinguishes Meizu Note 9 from many peers.

The Snapdragon 675 processor is responsible for good performance, 4 GB of fast RAM is installed, so there will be no problems with games and heavy applications. The fingerprint scanner and face recognition works great. The 4000 mAh battery lasts for 112 hours of listening to music, 30 hours of talk time and 8 hours of heavy gaming.

During the day, the smartphone's camera shoots quite well for itself, but there is nothing to praise for the night mode - too much "soap". Users also have certain complaints about the front camera.

Pros:

• Relatively powerful iron
• Price-quality ratio
• Super fast charging included
• Led indicator
• Light weight
• Modern design

Minuses:

• Image quality at night
• No NFC
• Boring plastic

2 Xiaomi Redmi Note 8T 4 / 64GB

A relatively cheap smartphone with NFC on board. Pleasures begin even at the stage of unpacking - the bundle includes 5V / 3A charging (which the simple Note 8 does not have) and a pretty good case.

It should be understood that a smartphone with a screen diagonal of 6.3 ″ and not the narrowest frames is quite large and weighs as much as 200 grams. There is no LED indicator, but there is an audio jack. The fingerprint scanner is fast and easy to use.

The performance is enough for most tasks; games can be played comfortably only at medium graphics settings. The processor does not heat up under load.

Considering the price of the device, the camera meets all expectations: the detailing is not bad, the color rendering is relatively natural, the dynamic range is wide enough. Unless the edges of the frame are lost in detail. There are no particular complaints about the night mode and the front camera.

Pros:

• NFC availability
• Quick charge included
• Gorilla Glass 5 + splash resistant
• Good cameras
• Type-C + 3.5mm jack
• Triple tray for SIM and SD

Minuses:

• No LED indicator
• Portrait sensor and macro camera "for show"

1 Xiaomi Redmi Note 7 Pro 6 / 128GB

The first place in the ranking of the best budget smartphones of 2020 is occupied by Redmi Note 7 Pro. It caused a huge buzz, driven not only by price and specs, but also by a great camera, premium design, fast charging, and a modern Type-C port. We recommend that you take a closer look at the Note 7 Pro version and pay a little extra for it in order to get a power reserve for several years in advance.

Materials of execution - tempered glass and a plastic frame, there are several body colors. Despite the wider bezels than the top smartphones of recent years, and not the most elegant cutout for the camera, this is still one of the most beautiful models in its segment.

The strong point of this gadget is the camera, the Sony IMX586 module. The same is used in camera phones Huawei P20 Pro and Xiaomi Mi 9. In terms of color rendition and dynamic range, a simple Redmi Note 7 "merges" the "firmware" outright. In addition, the Pro version has a much better night mode.

The buyer will be pleased with the presence of an audio jack, an infrared port, but NFC is not provided.

Pros:

• More than a fair price
• The best camera in the segment
• Best mid-range processor
• Audio jack and IR sensor
• Fast fingerprint scanner
• Materials and build quality
• Quick Charge Quick Charge 4
• Lots of RAM and built-in memory

Minuses:

• Missing Band 20 (one of the 4G bands)
• No NFC

Which smartphone is the best to buy in 2020?

Of course, the one that can satisfy your personal needs and requirements. If you want to stand out from the crowd, you should look towards the flagships, if you want to make a mistake and get a device with a power reserve - in the middle class, and with a small budget and a willingness to compromise, you should study the budget segment. We do not recommend just buying smartphones for less than $ 100, trusting no-name brands like UMIDIGI, Ulefone, Cubot, Bluboo, etc., it is also better to refrain from buying refurbished and used devices. We tried to find out and convey to you what is the best smartphone of 2020? Happy shopping and may your new phone delight you for years to come.