Ranking: Best compact smartphones reviewed by Notebookcheck

The Xiaomi 15 is a compact flagship smartphone with a 6.36-inch display that offers top performance despite its compact size. It uses the new Snapdragon 8 Elite SoC from Qualcomm. The LTPO OLED display of the Xiaomi 15 is characterized by exceptional brightness. In HDR mode, peak values of over 3,500 cd/m² are achieved.

The Xiaomi 15 sets new standards in terms of performance and battery life in the compact flagship smartphone category.

Another highlight is the battery life. Thanks to a large battery with a silicon-carbon anode, which enables a higher energy density, the Xiaomi 15 lasts almost 23 hours of simulated web surfing. That's over four hours more than its predecessor. The triple camera with three 50 MPix sensors has been slightly adapted: The optical zoom of the telephoto lens is now 2.6x instead of 3.2x as in last year's model, which slightly reduces the flexibility of the Leica camera system.

The Xiaomi 15 is currently only available as an import, for example from TradingShenzhen, but should soon be available globally.

The Apple iPhone 16 is surprisingly ahead of the Pro model in the overall rating, which is mainly due to its lower weight. It offers a fast SoC and a bright display, but has to make do with a meagre 60 Hz refresh rate.

The iPhone 16 is a great smartphone if the meagre 60 Hz refresh rate is not a knock-out criterion.

Although the dual camera has to make do without optical zoom, at least the 2x magnification works almost loss-free in everyday use thanks to the sensor crop. The limitations of the Pro models also apply here, and only USB 2.0 is on board, which is a bit meagre considering the price range.

The Apple iPhone 16 Pro is powered by the Apple A18 Pro, which provides plenty of computing, AI and gaming power. The display is not only very bright, but also boasts accurate color reproduction. Thanks to LTPO technology, the refresh rate is dynamically adjusted up to 120 Hz.

The iPhone 16 Pro series offers a powerful overall package with only a few shortcomings.

The triple camera offers good to very good image quality with all lenses. In particular, the videography should be emphasized here again, which now also supports recordings in Ultra HD with up to 120 frames per second as well as Dolby Vision and is currently unsurpassed in its versatility.

The only points of criticism are the lack of support for 320 MHz Wi-Fi and the absence of high-res audio codecs for Bluetooth.

The Google Pixel 9 Pro is a compact flagship smartphone with a 6.3-inch LTPO OLED display that achieves an impressive brightness of up to 3,000 cd/m² in HDR mode. Powered by the Google Tensor G4 SoC and equipped with 16 GB of RAM and up to 512 GB of UFS 3.1 storage, it offers solid performance, although it lags behind some of its competitors in benchmarks.

The Pixel 9 Pro scores points with its bright display, versatile camera and long update guarantee, while there are slight compromises in terms of charging speed and performance.

The triple camera includes a 50-megapixel main camera, a 48-megapixel telephoto lens with 5x optical zoom and a 48-megapixel ultra-wide-angle camera, which together deliver excellent image quality in various shooting situations. The 4,700 mAhbattery enables a runtime of almost 17 hours when surfing the web, although wired charging is comparatively slow at up to 27 watts. On a positive note, Google has promised to provide the device with software and security updates for a period of seven years.

The Google Pixel 9 has a 6.3-inch OLED display, which has a refresh rate of up to 120 Hz and can be very bright. The dual camera on the back takes beautiful photos, but has no optical zoom.

The Pixel 9 not only offers a compact form factor, but also seven years of updates.

The features are rounded off by Wi-Fi 7, 5G with wide frequency coverage, USB 3.2, wireless charging and IP68 certification. However, the SoC is the slowest in the high-end range and the charging speed also leaves a lot to be desired.

The foldable Samsung Galaxy Z Flip6 is just as big as its predecessor and scores particularly well with its improved camera, larger battery and powerful SoC. It has a 6.7-inch AMOLED display with a dynamic refresh rate of up to 120 Hz, which offers impressive brightness. The 4.3-inch external display is also useful for widgets and selfies, but could be larger.

The Samsung Galaxy Z Flip6 5G offers a strong overall package, only in terms of design there is a standstill.

The smartphone supports 5G, Wi-Fi 6E, and Bluetooth 5.3, but forgoes more advanced technologies such as UWB and Wi-Fi 7. The camera offers solid performance, although it lacks a telephoto lens, and the battery has been expanded to 3,700 mAh, which ensures a good battery life. However, the DeX mode is missing and there are no significant design changes compared to its predecessor. Nevertheless, the device remains one of the best options in the foldable smartphone sector due to its good overall performance and long software support.

The Xiaomi Mix Flip is a promising foldable smartphone. It scores points with a Leica camera, which offers a telephoto lens with 50 MPix instead of an additional ultra-wide angle, and a large battery with 4,780 mAh. The main display measures 6.86 inches and offers a refresh rate of 120 Hz and a high brightness of up to 1600 cd/m², which is particularly advantageous for multimedia content.

The Xiaomi Mix Flip impresses with a modern concept, but also shows weaknesses in the details.

In the test, the generous external display and the fast SoC were particularly impressive. However, the latter throttles quite heavily under load. The cameras also fall short of expectations and both wireless charging and an eSIM have to be dispensed with.

The Google Pixel 8a has a comparatively compact form factor with a 6.1-inch AMOLED display. This has a resolution of Full HD+ and works with a refresh rate of up to 120 Hz. The Google Phone is powered by the company's own Tensor SoC, which has access to 8 GB of RAM. The internal memory is either 128 or 256 GB and cannot be expanded.

The Google Pixel 8a offers a good overall package with seven years of updates.

The dual camera on the back offers an additional ultra-wide angle. The main sensor takes really good photos. In the test, we criticized the slow charging speed and the somewhat wide display edges, among other things.

The ThinkPhone 25 from Motorola is a mid-range smartphone that places particular emphasis on security and robustness. It has a 6.36-inch pOLED display with a resolution of 2,670 x 1,220 pixels and a refresh rate of 120 Hz. The housing is made of durable materials and is protected against dust and water in accordance with IP68 certification.

The ThinkPhone 25 is a robust and secure smartphone with solid features for business use.

The device is powered by a MediaTek Dimensity 7300 processor, supported by 8 GB RAM and 256 GB internal memory. The triple camera on the back includes a 50-megapixel main camera with Sony LYT-700C sensor, a 10-megapixel telephoto lens with 3x optical zoom and a 13-megapixel ultra-wide-angle camera. The front camera offers 32 megapixels for selfies.

The 4,310 mAh battery can be charged with up to 68 watts wired or 15 watts wirelessly. Motorola guarantees software and security updates for the ThinkPhone 25 for five years. In addition, the device offers features such as Smart Connect for integration with ThinkPad laptops and Moto AI for malware detection.

The Motorola Edge 50 Neo is characterized by its compact design and offers a 6.4-inch pOLED display with a very high pixel density and a refresh rate of up to 120 Hz. It is powered by a mid-range SoC from MediaTek, which has access to a generous 12 GB of RAM. The internal memory is also generous at 512 GB, but cannot be expanded.

The Motorola Edge 50 Neo comes in a stylish design and also offers unusual Pantone colors.

The triple camera on the back offers an additional ultra-wide angle with macro function and an optical zoom with OIS. The Motorola smartphone is also IP68 and MIL-STD 810H certified. Fast charging with 68 watts is also on board, as is wireless charging. In the test, the battery runtimes could have been a little longer, but are still at a good level.