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MagyarThe Best Smartphones
Smartphones are destroying everything else in terms of sales in the mobile market. These incredibly versatile devices outstripped normal cell phones ages ago. With even stronger processors and growing display sizes, the so-called "phablets" are now encroaching on tablet territory. The line between these devices is growing increasingly blurry - at least at the upper end of the market. These smartphone-tablet crossbreeds have taken many of the top spots in our smartphone Top 10 list. As a result, most of the top models in our list are occupied by very recently released devices. Still, here and there a brave old soldier has clung on to the top of the ladder. Besides the ranking of the high-end smartphones, the following charts might be interesting as well:
The Best Smartphones
Position | Total Rating | Date | Image | Model | Height | Weight | Size | Refresh-Rate | Resolution | OS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 90 % | 11/2020 |  | Huawei Mate 40 Pro HiSilicon Kirin 9000 ARM Mali-G78 MP24 8 GB Memory, 256 GB | 9.1 mm | 212 g | 6.76" | 090 Hz | 2772x1344 | Android 10 |
| 2 | 90 % | 02/2021 |  | Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra Samsung Exynos 2100 5G ARM Mali-G78 MP14 12 GB Memory, 128 GB | 8.9 mm | 227 g | 6.80" | 120 Hz | 3200x1440 | Android 11 |
| 3 | 90 % | 12/2020 |  | Apple iPhone 12 mini Apple A14 Bionic Apple A14 Bionic GPU 4 GB Memory, 128 GB NVMe | 7.4 mm | 133 g | 5.40" | 060 Hz | 2340x1080 | Apple iOS 14 |
| 4 | 90 % | 11/2020 |  | Apple iPhone 12 Pro Apple A14 Bionic Apple A14 Bionic GPU 6 GB Memory, 256 GB NVMe | 7.4 mm | 189 g | 6.10" | 060 Hz | 2532x1170 | Apple iOS 14 |
| 5 | 89 % | 06/2021 New |  | Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 5G Qualcomm Adreno 660 12 GB Memory, 256 GB | 8.38 mm | 234 g | 6.81" | 120 Hz | 3200x1440 | Android 11 |
| 6 | 89 % | 02/2021 |  | Samsung Galaxy S21 Samsung Exynos 2100 5G ARM Mali-G78 MP14 8 GB Memory, 128 GB | 7.9 mm | 169 g | 6.20" | 120 Hz | 2400x1080 | Android 11 |
| 7 | 89 % | 02/2021 |  | Samsung Galaxy Note20 Ultra Samsung Exynos 990 ARM Mali-G77 MP11 12 GB Memory, 256 GB | 8.1 mm | 208 g | 6.90" | 120 Hz | 3088x1440 | Android 10 |
| 8 | 89 % | 09/2020 |  | Asus ROG Phone 3 Strix Edition Qualcomm Snapdragon 865 Qualcomm Adreno 650 8 GB Memory, 256 GB | 9.85 mm | 240 g | 6.59" | 144 Hz | 2340x1080 | Android 10 |
| 9 | 88 % | 04/2021 |  | OnePlus 9 Pro Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 5G Qualcomm Adreno 660 12 GB Memory, 256 GB | 8.7 mm | 197 g | 6.70" | 120 Hz | 3216x1440 | Android 11 |
| 10 | 88 % | 04/2021 |  | Oppo Find X3 Neo Qualcomm Snapdragon 865 Qualcomm Adreno 650 12 GB Memory, 256 GB | 7.99 mm | 184 g | 6.55" | 090 Hz | 2400x1080 | Android 11 |
The table above contains an overview over the best smartphones reviewed by Notebookcheck over the course of the past 12 months as well as still relevant and available older products. In cases of identical score the more recent device is listed first. All prices in above table and price comparisons are updated daily and can thus differ.
Link: all devices in this class reviewed
Editors' Comments
With a score of 89 % the Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra is this month’s only new entry. In return, we had to remove the Huawei P40 Pro due to its age.
Achieving scores of 86 % each the Asus Zenfone 8 and ZTE Axon 30 Ultra 5G both scored very well but not well enough to make this top 10 list.
1st – Huawei Mate 40 Pro
With its 6.76-inch OLED display the Huawei Mate 40 Pro offers a huge amount of screen real estate. It is powered by a blazingly fast Kirin 9000 with built-in 5G modem. The rest of the hardware leaves nothing to be desired: optional memory expension (NM card), IP68 certification, 3D face detection, wireless charging (two-way) and last but not least excellent GPS accuracy.
Given that battery capacity was reduced slightly battery life was mediocre at best, especially with all communication modules enabled. In return, its triple camera performed exceptionally well, and it is one of the best smartphone cameras currently available. The dual speakers have also been upgraded noticeably, and now offer a good sound quality and soundscape. The biggest drawback are the missing Google services. Apart from that, the Huawei smartphone is an incredible device.
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2nd – Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra
The Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra features a 6.8-inch extremely bright Super AMOLED display running in WQHD+ resolution with support for an adaptive 120 Hz refresh rate. It is powered by an Exynos 2100 with at least 12 GB of LPDDR5 RAM and 128 GB of internal storage and 16 GB of RAM and 512 GB of storage in the high-end SKU. MicroSD expension is no longer supported.
Its quad-camera features a 108 MP sensor, an ultra-wide angle lens, and two zoom lenses with 3x and 10x optical zoom, respectively, and support for up to 100x digital zoom. Supported communication standards include 5G, Wi-Fi 6E, Bluetooth 5.2, and NFC. Battery life was decent overall.
In our review, the S21 Ultra managed to prove its value. However, VHT160 Wi-Fi turned out to be rather poor, and the lack of Bluetooth audio codecs can be frustrating at times.
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3rd – Apple iPhone 12 mini
The Apple iPhone 12 mini is the new and highly anticipated iPhone SE while outperforming the latter at the same time with ease. It is also very similar overall to the larger iPhone 12. Next to other high-end smartphones, the small iPhone 12 mini seems incredibly tiny in comparison. Its 5.4-inch OLED display is very sharp, and the built-in Apple A14 is supported by 4 GB of RAM and either 64, 128, or 256 GB of storage space.
Compared to its Pro sibling the mini’s rear-facing dual-lens camera lacks the telephoto lens, the LiDAR scanner, and support for ProRAW. Apart from that we noted its bright and color-accurate display, its accurate location services, and its Sub6 5G with a wide range of supported frequencies. Due to the smaller capacity battery life was on the short side yet still acceptable.
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4th – Apple iPhone 12 Pro
The Apple iPhone 12 Pro is a well-made upgrade to last year’s devices with a design language reminiscent of iPhones of yore. The 6.1-inch display turned out to be excellent, and its triple camera is now supported by a LiDAR sensor for 3D modelling as well as portrait mode assistance in low-light situations. The rear-mounted internal magnets are new and support much more than just the brand-new wireless MagSafe charger.
We did not find too many flaws on the iPhone 12 Pro. Its peculiarities are not going to bother long-time iPhone users, and there are almost no annoying limitations worth noting. Except for maybe the lack of Bluetooth High Res Audio support and the fact that 5G is not supported in Dual SIM mode.
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5th – Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra
The Mi 11 Ultra is a powerful high-end smartphone by Xiaomi. It represents the pinnacle of Xiaomi’s current flagship lineup and feels very premium indeed. Its camera performs very well, particularly regarding colors. The 5x optical zoom does a great job enlarging objects without loss in quality, and thanks to its good optical image stabilization photos remain crisp and in focus. The large camera sensor is also excellent in capturing what little light there is when it gets dark to produce well-made low-light photos.
The Mi 11 Ultra is an excellent smartphone with a bright and colorful display.
One of the highlights is the small display at the rear. Among other things it enables you to take selfies using the main camera. A total of 256 GB of internal storage should suffice for almost everybody, and the powerful high-end Qualcomm SoC paired with 12 GB of RAM make for an excellent experience when running any application whatsoever. The colorful 120 Hz OLED display did a fantastic job overall.
Xiaomi devices are not officially sold in North America.
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6th - Samsung Galaxy S21 und S21+
The Samsung Galaxy S21 features a 6.2-inch OLED display running at between 48-120 Hz and it is powered by an up-to-date in-house high-performance SoC with access to 8 GB of RAM and either 128 or 256 GB of non-expandable internal storage. The Galaxy S21+ comes with a 6.7-inch display and 12 GB of RAM but is otherwise identically equipped, save for its larger battery (4,800 mAh vs. 4,000 mAh) making for longer battery life despite its larger display. In addition, its rear cover is made of glass while the S21 features a plastic rear.
Both phones come with triple cameras featuring a main 12 MP sensor accompanied by an ultra-wide angle and a telephoto lens. The latter features a giant 64 MP sensor but no optical zoom capabilities. Instead, it offers a nearly lossless 3x hybrid zoom as well as a 30x digital zoom.
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7th – Samsung Galaxy Note 20 Ultra
The Samsung Galaxy Note20 Ultra features a 6.9-inch dynamic OLED display with an adaptive refresh rate of up to 120 Hz. Not only does the panel support HDR10 and HDR10+, it is also the brightest smartphone display we have ever seen. The Note 20 Ultra is powered by an Exynos 990 with 12 GB of RAM and features a whopping 256 GB of microSD expandable UFS 3.1 storage. Its fast USB 3.2 port supports connecting external displays as well as DeX, among other things. The latter is now also supported wirelessly. Like before the Note includes Samsung’s S pen whose slot has been relocated from the right to the left-hand side.
The tripe-camera setup performed very well and includes a depth-of-field sensor. Samsung’s Note 20 is furthermore IP68-certified against ingress of dust and water and supports 5G and Wi-Fi 6. Too bad the display will only run at 120 Hz in FHD+ resolution.
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8th – Asus ROG Phone 3 Strix Edition
The Asus ROG Phone 3 is a full-fledged gaming thoroughbred. Its 6.59-inch FHD+ AMOLED display runs at a refresh rate of 144 Hz and a touch-samping rate of 270 Hz. The rear features a configurable LED logo. The air trigger buttons can be freely configured in compatible games to support either gestures or macros.
The phone is powered by either a Snapdragon 865 (Strix Edition) or a Snapdragon 865 Plus and between 8 GB of RAM and 128 GB of storage and 12 GB of RAM and 512 GB of storage without support for microSD storage expansion. It supports dual Wi-Fi 6 in addition to 5G and features a powerful 6,000 mAh battery guaranteeing long battery life. In our review, we particularly liked the ROG Phone 3’s great connectivity, great performance, and really good stereo speakers. Unfortunately, it lacks an IP certification and support for wireless charging.
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9th – OnePlus 9 Pro
With its 6.7-inch OLED display the OnePlus 9 Pro is slightly smaller than its predecessor. It features the same refresh rate of 120 Hz but a slightly higher resolution of 3216 x 1440 (up from 3168 x 1440). Storage capacities and RAM configuration remain unchanged, with a 128 GB storage and 8 GB RAM and a 256 GB storage and 12 GB RAM variant. The only difference is that storage was now upgraded from UFS 3.0 to UFS 3.1.
What is completely new is OnePlus’s cooperation with Swedish camera manufacturer Hasselblad. Their team helped color proofing the photo app, which further improved the already good photo quality compared to the OnePlus 8 Pro even further. However, even the new and improved camera is not quite up on par with the best of the best.
What is, however, is Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 888, the fastest currently available Qualcomm SoC capable of running even the most demanding applications smoothly and without breaking a sweat. That said this increased performance will most likely go unnoticed during everyday use. The Adreno 660 GPU is just as powerful and a good match for the CPU.
One of the gripes we have had with its predecessor, its slow USB 2.0 interface, has been upgraded to USB 3.0. What remains are a few minor complaints, such as missing eSIM support or a microphone that tends to boom when recording loud noises.
The OnePlus 9 Pro is slightly more expensive than its predecessor and thus much closer to its competitors. Prices start at around $700 on Amazon.
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10th – Oppo Find X3 Neo
The Oppo Find X3 Neo might not feature the latest and most recent SoC but is capable of keeping up with its competitors, nonetheless. Its Qualcomm Snapdragon 865 makes for decent and smooth system performance, and Oppo’s own user friendly ColorOS makes switching a breeze. With 256 GB of UFS 2.1 storage the device is decently equipped but lacks a card reader in return.
Supported communication standard include Wi-Fi 6 as well as 5G. Call quality is good, and we had no issues with the splash-proof case either. The USB-C charging port at the bottom is only connected via USB 2.0.
Its 50 MP camera took photos rich in detail, and a telephoto lens allows for 5x hybrid or up to 20x digital zoom. Individual customizations can be performed in a so-called pro mode that is not limited to photos but can also be applied to videos.
A big plus is the Oppo’s battery life. Thanks to its 4,500 mAh battery it lasted for almost 19 hours in our real-world Wi-Fi battery test. Another benefit is its low price, although this does not apply to US customers. Since the device is not officially sold in North American its import price is fairly high and starts at around $1,100 on Amazon.
Pricecompare
Best Smartphones in Comparison
Test Results
| Huawei Mate 40 Pro Mali-G78 MP24, Kirin 9000, 256 GB UFS 3.1 Flash | Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra Mali-G78 MP14, Exynos 2100 5G, 128 GB UFS 3.1 Flash | Apple iPhone 12 mini A14 Bionic GPU, A14, 128 GB NVMe | Apple iPhone 12 Pro A14 Bionic GPU, A14, 256 GB NVMe | Samsung Galaxy S21 Mali-G78 MP14, Exynos 2100 5G, 128 GB UFS 3.1 Flash | Samsung Galaxy Note20 Ultra Mali-G77 MP11, Exynos 990, 256 GB UFS 3.1 Flash | Huawei P40 Pro Mali-G76 MP16, Kirin 990 5G, 256 GB UFS 3.0 Flash | Asus ROG Phone 3 Strix Edition Adreno 650, SD 865, 256 GB UFS 3.1 Flash | OnePlus 9 Pro Adreno 660, SD 888 5G, 256 GB UFS 3.1 Flash | Oppo Find X3 Neo Adreno 650, SD 865, 256 GB UFS 3.1 Flash | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Response Times | ||||||||||
| Response Time Grey 50% / Grey 80% * | 3.6 (2, 1.6) | 3.2 (1.6, 1.6) | 4.4 (2.4, 2) | 4 (2, 2) | 9.6 (4.8, 4.8) | 8.8 (4.4, 4.4) | 3.2 (2, 1.2) | 3.6 (2, 1.6) | 77 (70, 7) | 3.2 (2, 1.2) |
| Response Time Black / White * | 2.4 (1.2, 1.2) | 2.8 (1.2, 1.6) | 4 (2, 2) | 3.2 (2, 1.2) | 3.2 (2, 1.2) | 3.2 (2, 1.2) | 2.8 (1.6, 1.2) | 2.4 (1.2, 1.2) | 6 (3, 3) | 3.2 (1.6, 1.6) |
| PWM Frequency | 367.6 (99) | 250 (99) | 250 (99) | 277.8 | 240.4 (99) | 245.1 (99) | 365 (99) | 255.1 (99) | 192.3 | 362.3 (24) |
| Screen | ||||||||||
| Brightness middle | 778 | 910 | 623 | 822 | 790 | 860 | 584 | 625 | 733 | 758 |
| Brightness | 782 | 913 | 623 | 820 | 793 | 878 | 576 | 630 | 746 | 753 |
| Brightness Distribution | 95 | 98 | 98 | 99 | 97 | 96 | 95 | 88 | 97 | 98 |
| Black Level * | ||||||||||
| Colorchecker DeltaE2000 * | 1.4 | 2 | 1 | 1.2 | 2.2 | 4.5 | 1.1 | 2.6 | 0.95 | 1.7 |
| Colorchecker DeltaE2000 max. * | 3.5 | 3.1 | 2.1 | 3.5 | 4.2 | 10.4 | 2.3 | 4.5 | 2.01 | 5 |
| Greyscale DeltaE2000 * | 2.5 | 2.2 | 1.3 | 1.8 | 1.6 | 2.4 | 1.8 | 2.5 | 1.7 | 2.1 |
| Gamma | 2.22 99% | 2.06 107% | 2.21 100% | 2.18 101% | 2.13 103% | 2 110% | 2.16 102% | 2.22 99% | 2.21 100% | 2.27 97% |
| CCT | 6530 100% | 6512 100% | 6258 104% | 6337 103% | 6497 100% | 6466 101% | 6355 102% | 6750 96% | 6591 99% | 6370 102% |
| Heat | ||||||||||
| Maximum Upper Side * | 31.6 | 37.9 | 30.1 | 34.2 | 35.3 | 33.8 | 30.2 | 36.9 | 42 | 38.5 |
| Maximum Bottom * | 29.5 | 36.6 | 29.1 | 33.5 | 35.8 | 31.1 | 30.6 | 36.8 | 39.7 | 37 |
| Idle Upper Side * | 29 | 26.9 | 28.8 | 27.8 | 28.1 | 27.1 | 28.3 | 27.6 | 29 | 34.3 |
| Idle Bottom * | 26.7 | 25.9 | 26.5 | 26.6 | 26.6 | 24.9 | 27.2 | 26.2 | 27.5 | 32.5 |
| Battery Runtime | ||||||||||
| Reader / Idle | 1255 | 1408 | 1537 | 2091 | 1713 | 1223 | 1474 | 2104 | 2113 | |
| H.264 | 999 | 1310 | 968 | 1117 | 941 | 993 | 1137 | 1674 | 1076 | |
| WiFi v1.3 | 609 | 702 | 655 | 781 | 544 | 644 | 743 | 964 | 1002 | 1127 |
| Load | 270 | 304 | 316 | 311 | 267 | 338 | 198 | 336 | 316 | |
| Power Consumption | ||||||||||
| Idle Minimum * | 1.01 | 1.06 | 0.62 | 0.64 | 1.1 | 0.65 | 0.92 | 0.91 | 1.6 | 0.92 |
| Idle Average * | 2.12 | 1.19 | 1.18 | 1.22 | 1.61 | 1.06 | 1.41 | 1.47 | 2 | 2.38 |
| Idle Maximum * | 2.15 | 1.2 | 1.21 | 1.24 | 1.78 | 1.49 | 1.47 | 1.49 | 2.4 | 2.41 |
| Load Average * | 3.94 | 6.46 | 2.1 | 3.04 | 6.47 | 4.91 | 3.35 | 4 | 6.2 | 3.91 |
| Load Maximum * | 6.53 | 10.76 | 5.71 | 3.86 | 10.12 | 10.29 | 6.37 | 9.55 | 11 | 8.13 |
* ... smaller is better
Benchmarks
| Basemark ES 3.1 / Metal - offscreen Overall Score (sort by value) | |
| Huawei Mate 40 Pro | |
| Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra | |
| Apple iPhone 12 mini | |
| Apple iPhone 12 Pro | |
| Huawei P40 Pro | |
| AImark - Score v2.x (sort by value) | |
| Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra | |
| Apple iPhone 12 mini | |
| Apple iPhone 12 Pro | |
| Samsung Galaxy S21 | |
| Huawei P40 Pro | |
| UL Procyon AI Inference - Overall Score (sort by value) | |
| Huawei Mate 40 Pro | |
| Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra | |
| Samsung Galaxy Note20 Ultra | |
