Ranking: Best compact smartphones reviewed by Notebookcheck

The iPhone 17 Pro comes with a variety of gen-to-gen improvements, scoring points with features such as its new, significantly brighter and more color-accurate OLED display, a larger and more enduring battery and the powerful A19 Pro chip with 12 GB of RAM. The latter ensure outstanding system performance; its battery life is great for the product category, too.

The iPhone 17 Pro is a powerful premium smartphone.

Its cameras have seen an improvement, too. In particular, the telephoto lens and the new "center stage" front camera are more versatile and deliver better quality in everyday life. Design-wise, the phone sports a sturdy, albeit more scratch-sensitive aluminum frame, and slim looks.

Wi-Fi 7, dual e-SIM and USB-C 3.2 are all onboard to round out the list of features nicely. No one is perfect; high-res Bluetooth codecs are missing and some new iOS 26 functionality is unavailable in the EU.

While the Xiaomi 17 does set new standards for compact smartphones with its huge 7,000 mAh battery and powerful Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5, the model is not without its weaknesses. The enormous battery ensures runtimes better than most rival phones at the cost of the casing's weight and size, both on the larger side. So much so that the Xiaomi might be unsuitable for users who really want a slim phone and nothing else.

Xiaomi's 17 rocks thanks in no small part to its gigantic battery - that also makes it heavier.

Although the performance of the new Snapdragon chip is very good, thermals can get in the way. In particular, it's graphics performance that suffers when under longer loads. The 17's primary camera impresses with Leica optics and good low-light capabilities, even if shots can sometimes appears oversaturated and oversharpened in daylight. In addition, HyperOS 3 bears a lot of similarities to iOS, which may not appeal to every Android fan, and the Chinese-market version of the phone comes with limitations such as weaker software support and the lack of e-SIM.

All things considered, the Xiaomi 17 is a flawed option that is only available from overseas shops for customers in the EU, for example TradingShenzhen.

The Pixel 10 Pro has a high-quality glass and aluminum casing with IP68 certification. Powering it is the Tensor G5 processor with 16 GB of RAM, which runs smoothly in everyday use but lags behind the competition in benchmarks. Its internal storage can be as big as 1 TB, but is slower than expected despite being UFS 4.0-compliant.

Google's Pixel 10 Pro combines high-quality design and s bright OLED display with strong features, but falls short of expectations in terms of performance, storage and GPS accuracy.

Its 6.3-inch LTPO OLED display with 2,856 × 1,280 pixels achieves peak brightness of up to 3,200 cd/m² and a 120-Hz refresh rate, but also flickers at a low frequency. Features include Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 6.0, UWB, NFC and dual-band GNSS. The latter is not very precise indoors, though.

The Pixel's 4,870-mAh battery can be charged at 30 W wired and 15 W wirelessly. The triple rear camera system with 50, 48 and 48 MP delivers impressive photos. The ultrasonic fingerprint sensor is quick and the vibration motor provides precise feedback.

The S26 is not as much about spectacular innovation as it is about technical refinement. At its heart is Samsung's new Exynos 2600 processor, manufactured using the most modern 2-nanometer process. In everyday use, the chip ensures high speed, short loading times and smooth multitasking. Under prolonged workloads, however, a familiar problem becomes apparent: Performance is noticeably throttled so as to lower temperatures.

The S26 is a consistently optimized premium smartphone - strong in detail, but lacking major innovative leaps.

There are improvements to highlight on the power front. Battery capacity has risen to 4,300 mAh, delivering visibly longer runtimes than its predecessor, though not record-breakingly so. The 6.3-inch AMOLED display is once again a big bright feather in the phone's cap, or it would be if it had one. It is extremely bright, high-contrast and color-accurate.

Specs-wise, Samsung keeps things conservative in many areas. Camera hardware and charging performance have only seen limited progress, and modern standards such as Bluetooth 6.0 and UWB are also missing. On the other hand, the product scores points with high build quality, Android 16 slash One UI 8.5, and an exceptionally long claimed software update period of seven years.

The X300 is a compact upper-class smartphone with a high-quality casing and IP68/69 certification that remains pleasantly handy despite its 6.31-inch display diagonal. The star of this show, a 200-MP primary camera delivers excellent photos, including good-looking low-light shots, while the phone's telephoto and ultra-wide-angle cams are weaker, but still strong enough for this product class.

The Vivo X300 is a compact but fully-fledged flagship with an excellent 200-MP Zeiss camera.

Its LTPO AMOLED display with a high resolution, very high HDR peak brightness, 2,160-Hz PWM dimming and precise colors are among its strengths as well. A Dimensity 9500 ensures true flagship performance and very high GPU performance, but is loses steam in stress tests quickly due to throttling. A 5,360-mAh internal battery offers good but not outstanding runtimes and charges at up to 90 watts, with 40 watts being the limit for wireless charging.

With Wi-Fi 7, fast ultrasonic fingerprint scanner, OriginOS with long updates and many premium features, the X300 is a first-class compact flagship.

The iPhone 17 comes closer to the Pro models than ever before with its high-quality, largely familiar design, larger and significantly improved 6.3-inch ProMotion OLED panel (finally with 120 Hz), the powerful Apple A19 SoC and as much as 256 GB of storage in the base SKU.

The iPhone 17 is the iPhone to buy.

It offers powerful cameras with two 48-MP sensors and a new 18-MP selfie shooter, very high everyday and gaming performance, longer battery life and modern connectivity with the N1 radio chip and Wi-Fi 7. It has weaknesses. too such as its slow USB-C 2.0 port, limited Bluetooth audio codecs, Wi-Fi 7 implementation limited to 160-MHz channel width, a limited warranty (by the EU standards) of 12 months and fast charging that, at 40 watts, is clearly not as fast as some Android-based rivals.

The Galaxy Z Flip7 is marketed as a high-quality foldable that has seen several gen-to-gen improvements. Thanks to Gorilla Glass Victus 2, a robust folding mechanism and IP48 certification, its casing is durable with a high-quality feel to it. With a 6.9-inch main OLED panel that is very bright and contrast-rich, as well as an upscale 4.1-inch external display, the product has no eye candy shortage and offers various usage options.

Samsung's Galaxy Z Flip7 is a high-quality flip smartphone with multi-year updates and good battery life. It loses some of its appeal due to limited outer display functions, slow charging and weaker performance.

The secondary panel is limited in its functionality and cannot fully replace the internal display. The update guarantee of seven years is long, the software is up-to-date with Android 16 and One UI 8, and the increased battery capacity of around 4,300 mAh delivers solid runtimes. Charging speeds aren't great, both wired and wirelessly, and neither is performance: in the EU, the smartphone comes with the Exynos 2500, which lags behind the Snapdragon version and noticeably throttles under load.

If you are interested in the cheaper entry-level model, the Galaxy Z Flip FE, you should also take a look at the Flip6 from the previous year, as the two devices are almost identical.

The Pixel 10 is an interesting Android smartphone, none the least because of its software. At its heart is Google's Tensor G5 chip, which enhances AI features such as Gemini, intelligent image processing and writing assistants. While the phone is fairly fast in everyday use, the Tensor lacks the efficiency and performance of top 2026 ARM chips, as especially noticeable under high continuous workloads.

Overall, the Pixel 10 is great, and it can also be had at a significantly lower price now. Raw hardware performance is not the priority here.

In terms of technology, the compact 6.3-inch device scores points with a very bright OLED display, lovely build quality, and IP68 certification. However, modern extras such as LTPO technology, Wi-Fi 7 or UWB did not make the cut. Wireless charging is supported, but only at a rather slow rate. Just like with previous Pixels, its rear camera setup continues to deliver strong everyday photos with typical Pixel image processing, although the primary and ultra-wide-angle cameras have been visibly slimmed down compared to the Pro models. Also worth a mention is the long software support of 7 years.

The iPhone 17e shows how consistent Apple is with its more affordable model range. While the 17e does make use of the latest Apple SoC, it deliberately forgoes numerous premium functions. Powered by the A19 chip, it delivers great performance in everyday use and handles even demanding apps with ease while remaining energy-efficient and offering solid battery life.

The iPhone 17e therefore looks like a deliberately slimmed-down, entry-level iPhone, modern enough from a technical perspective to last many years, but clearly differentiated from the more expensive models.

The list of cost-cutting measures is neither short, nor easy to miss. Apple has eliminated 120-Hz ProMotion display refresh rate, a telephoto lens, MagSafe support, Wi-Fi 7 and some AI features as found on the more expensive models. The 17e's OLED display operates at 60 Hz, but thankfully still impresses with its high brightness and precise colors. Its single rear camera delivers surprisingly strong photos thanks to Apple's image processing, but reaches its limits quicker than Pro models when it comes to zoom and night shots. Build quality is high, software updates are set to come for many years, and all the benefits of Apple's extensive and tightly integrated ecosystem come included.

The Reno15 Pro 5G has plenty multimedia prowess, and endurance. Powering it is a large 6,500-mAh battery enabling very long runtimes in everyday use and making the product one of the longest-lasting smartphones in its class. Charging can be as fast as 80 watts, but there is no wireless charging support.

The Reno15 Pro 5G is a strong mid-range smartphone with a focus on battery life, display quality and balanced everyday performance.

Its 6.83-inch AMOLED display is impressive with its high brightness, 120-Hz refresh rate and vibrant colors. Build quality left us impressed, despite how comparatively slim the phone's casing is.

A MediaTek Dimensity 8450 delivers smooth performance in everyday use, but cannot keep up with higher-end chips. The Oppo's triple rear camera delivers good daylight shots and solid zoom results, but dynamics and details at night are poor. Other aspects unlikely to make customers happy are the slow USB 2.0 port, and some of the pre-installed apps.