Ranking: The best smartphones reviewed by Notebookcheck

The Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra offers a 6.8-inch AMOLED display, which impresses with both a high pixel density and a high refresh rate. It is powered by a Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 for Galaxy with 12 GB of RAM. There is a choice of 256, 512 or 1,024 GB of internal memory. Also on offer are dual SIM (and dual eSIM), IP68 certification, a large 5,000 mAh battery, UWB and an S Pen with a special compartment for it in the case.

The Galaxy S24 Ultra is a first-class smartphone, even though Samsung primarily focuses on fine-tuning with this generation.

The Samsung not only comes with many new AI functions, but also a full seven years of updates. The quad camera on the back offers very good imaging performance, but a new look is the only difference compared to the predecessor phone. The calibration of the display is good, but could be better, this being a high-end product. The SoC gets quite warm when under longer workloads, impacting performance.

The Galaxy S24 Ultra can be purchased directly from the Samsung Germany online store and is also available from all other major electronics retailers including Amazon Germany.

The Apple iPhone 16 Pro and the iPhone 16 Pro Max are technically almost identical and only differ in terms of their display, case and battery size. Both are powered by the Apple A18 Pro which provides a lot of computing, AI and gaming power. The display is not only very bright, but also boasts accurate color reproduction. Thanks to the LTPO technology, refresh rates are dynamically adjusted with up to 120 Hz possible.

The iPhone 16 Pro is a powerful overall package (just like the Pro Max) with only a few shortcomings.

The triple camera offers good to very good image quality with all lenses. In particular, its videography talents deserve kind words, which now also support recording Ultra HD videos with up to 120 frames per second as well as Dolby Vision. There are no rivals for the time being.

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

The Honor Magic6 Pro offers a 6.8-inch OLED display with a high pixel density that operates at up to 120 Hz. It can be as bright as 5,000 cd/m², but only when displaying Ultra HDR material. It is powered by a Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 with 12 GB of RAM and has 512 GB of internal storage.

The Honor Magic6 Pro leaves little to be desired.

A huge highlight is the triple camera on the back, which has two 50 MPix sensors and a periscope zoom with 180 MPix. The 5,600 mAh silicon-carbon battery (which is a pretty high value) allows for incredibly long battery life. The whole package is rounded off by a comprehensive range of features, including 3D face recognition. 6 GHz Wi-Fi 7 is one of the few things that are missing.

The phone can be ordered from Honor itself, Amazon Germany and MediaMarkt among other options.

The Samsung Galaxy S24+ is a step up from its compact sibling, the Galaxy S24 and is only slightly larger. However, there are plenty of differences on the inside: The S24 Plus has a larger OLED display with a higher resolution of WQHD+, a higher capacity battery. It also has 4 GB more RAM and an ultra-wideband chip. European editions of both models are powered by a modern Exynos SoC, which, however, is not as efficient as the Snapdragon in the Ultra model.

The Samsung Galaxy S24+ is a strong overall package with seven years of updates. The Galaxy S24 is more compact, but cuts down on features a little bit.

Both Galaxy smartphones boast IP68 certification, wireless charging, tri-band Wi-Fi, dual SIM (incl. eSIM), many new AI functions and an identical triple camera. The latter has only received software improvements - it's technically the same as what the predecessor phone had - but still takes good photos and benefits from the new Galaxy AI. However, it is a shame that neither phone supports Bluetooth 5.4 or Wi-Fi 7.

The S24 and S24+ can be purchased directly from Samsung's online store. Pretty much every major electronics retailer should have them in stock, too. Another option is notebooksbilliger.de.

The Xiaomi 14 is the Chinese company's most compact high-end smartphone. It has a 6.36-inch OLED display with a high pixel density and a refresh rate of up to 120 Hz. It is powered by a fast Snapdragon SoC and has 12 GB of RAM. There is a choice of 256 or 512 GB of storage. USB 3.2, IP68 certification, fast charging at up to 90 watts and eSIM support are also available.

The Xiaomi 14 is a powerhouse - and it has a good Leica camera.

A big highlight of the Xiaomi 14 is the triple camera, which was developed in cooperation with Leica. It offers three high-resolution sensors, making for good image quality with many fine-tuning options. UWB is not available along with a few other premium features.

The 14 can be purchased directly from Xiaomi and is also available from Amazon Germany and MediaMarkt, among other options.

The OnePlus 12 upholds OnePlus' reputation. The company that makes flagship killers delivered another really good smartphone this year. It is built around a 6.82-inch AMOLED display, a fast SoC from Qualcomm and a powerful camera setup with three high-resolution sensors. There is also plenty of memory, Wi-Fi 7, a 5,400 mAh battery, fast charging and an IR blaster on board.

The OnePlus 12 is a powerful camera phone that can be had for less than 1,000 euros already.

Although four years of updates is fine, it is not much compared to what the rivals offer. In addition, the OnePlus 12 is not waterproof (IP65 certification) and its GNSS accuracy isn't great.

The OnePlus 12 can be ordered from OnePlus as well as Amazon Germany and other companies.

Just like its bigger brothers, the iPhone 16 and the iPhone 16 Plus are identical in most respects and only differ in terms of case, display and battery size. The panels are bright and accurate, but only support a refresh rate of 60 Hz, which means that iOS can sometimes look jerky.

The two iPhone 16 phones are great options if you're fine with the unimpressive 60 Hz refresh rate.

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

The Honor Magic V3 is a super-thin foldable with a 7.92-inch main display and a 6.43-inch external display. It offers a fast Snapdragon chip, plenty of memory, is waterproof and is capable of fast charging. Compared to its predecessor, the camera has been significantly upgraded.

The Honor Magic V3 looks like a conventional smartphone, but has a large foldable display.

In the testing, the Magic impressed us with its bright and accurate displays, both of which support pen input, as well as very good battery life. However, the foldable has neither 6 GHz WLAN nor UWB.

The Magic V3 can be had directly from Honor and is also available from MediaMarkt and Saturn, as well as other stores.

The Sony Xperia 1 VI does a few things differently to its predecessor and the competition. After sticking to 21:9 displays for a while, Sony has now opted for a wider 19.5:9 format, but has significantly reduced the resolution which is not just Full HD+. This improved battery life, which is extremely long.

The Xperia 1 VI does many things differently and this is precisely what makes it stand out.

The triple camera on the back has a new optical zoom lens, which can operate between 85 and 170 mm. Photos can also be taken in the classic 3:2 format, but unfortunately only with a slightly reduced resolution.

The Xperia is also dust and waterproof like it predecessors, has the audio jack and a microSD card slot. Software update is long, but still lags behind the competition.

The Sony Xperia 1 VI can be ordered directly from Sony but is also available on Amazon Germany.

The LTPO AMOLED display of the Xiaomi 14 Ultra is very accurate and is powered by the latest Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 with 16 GB of RAM. 512 GB are available for storing files. There are no other storage options or expansion via microSD; NFC, Bluetooth 5.4, Wi-Fi 7, USB 3.2 (Gen. 2) and an infrared transmitter are onboard however an ultra-wideband chip (UWB) is not included. All common cellular network standards are available, including 5G Sub6, as well as the option to add two nano SIM cards. However, Xiaomi clearly has something against eSIMs.

The Xiaomi 14 Ultra presents itself as a great camera smartphone with influences from Leica.

The 14 Ultra focuses entirely on the cameras, which were developed in cooperation with Leica. The main camera can once again rely on four 50 MPix sensors and has been given the new 1-inch sensor from Sony, while the others are now all macro-capable. In general, the Xiaomi 14 Ultra has a really good imaging performance and shows only a few weaknesses.

The Xiaomi 14 Ultra is available from the Mi Store, notebooksbilliger.de and Amazon Germany.