In our mind, Samsung is the best phone brand you can choose in 2022. It produces excellent phones across a range of prices and has even managed to improve its lackluster record of software updates.
Apple and Google are both hot on Samsung's heels – the two tech giants each produce fantastic phone brands with the ubiquitous iPhone and the ever-evolving Google Pixel series. And while OnePlus and Motorola aren't top choices for many, they represent excellent options — both flagship and budget — for those looking to branch out from the typical top three.
Of course, while individual phone models are important, picking the right phone brand will help you get a long-term insight into how your phone will be supported in the years to come.
Top 5 Mobile Phone Brands in the World
- Samsung – There’s a Samsung for everyone, from the bargain-basement M-series and the excellent mid-range A-series to the flagship S and Note series. It even makes folding phones
- Apple – The iPhones are almost unmatched when it comes to hardware quality and the company continues to set the benchmark for design
- Google – Google's expanding phone lineup covers everything from flagships to exceptional and affordable handsets
- OnePlus – Continues to offer flagship features at mid-range prices, with high-end functionality, top quality performance, and impressive hardware
- Motorola – It isn't 2006 anymore, but Motorola still knows how to knock out a top-quality mid-range phone
The smartphones market has never been more competitive, and all of the phone brands mentioned above have some fantastic (and not so fantastic) devices to choose between.
Samsung Phones
The Korean brand manages to produce brilliant phones across a range of prices – something few other companies can achieve. Whether you want to splurge on a wallet-busting Galaxy S22 Ultra, or scrimp on a Galaxy A53, or fold it up with the Galaxy Z Fold3, there’s something for everyone.
Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra 5G
Arguably the best phone on the market at the moment, the S21 Ultra 5G is a true tour de force with class-leading hardware and Samsung's typical “more-is-more” approach to features.
The S22 Ultra comes with a huge 6.8-inch AMOLED display with a 3088×1440 resolution and a 120Hz refresh rate for super-smooth scrolling. The S22 Ultra's screen even has curved edges to make it feel even smaller in your hand. What's more, the S22 Ultra's display is HDR10+ enabled and can manage a very impressive 1750 nits of brightness.
The S22 Ultra comes with the latest and super-powerful Qualcomm SM8450 Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 processor. You can also choose between 8GB and 12GB of RAM — foregoing the unnecessary 16GB option of its predecessor.
The S22 Ultra comes with four rear cameras: a 10Mp periscope lens for up to 10x optical zoom, another 10Mp telephoto lens, a 12Mp ultrawide lens, and a crazy 108Mp main lens for remarkable levels of detail. You can also record up to 8K video at an admittedly sluggish 24fps. 4K videos, however, can be recorded at up to 60fos and you can record 240fps slow-mo videos at 1080p. Round the front, you get a 40Mp selfie camera that can record up to 4K resolution video at 60fps.
The S22 Ultra has a huge 5,000 mAh battery and can support up to 45W fast charging.
Prices start from a cool $1,199.
Samsung Galaxy A53
The Samsung A53 might not grab headlines in the same way that Samsung's other phones do, but it is a very impressive phone from the South Korean company.
Prices start from just $449.99 but you get a lot of value for your money. For starters, you get a 6.5-inch AMOLED display with a 120Hz refresh rate.
It has four rear cameras, including a 64Mp main lens, a 12Mp ultrawide, and 5Mp depth and macro lenses for portrait modes and extreme close-ups, respectively. Round the front, there's a 32Mp lens — both the front and rear cameras will let you record 4K video at 30fps, while the rear lens will also let you record 1080p video at 60fps.
The A53 is no slouch, either, and is powered by the Samsung Exynos 1280 processor with 8GB or 12GB of RAM to choose from. It also comes with a 5000 mAh battery with 25W fast charging which should give you 50% battery life with just half an hour's charging.
Samsung Galaxy Z Fold3
If you're in the market for a foldable phone, you can't do much better than the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold3. It's quite expensive, but it offers a unique experience and is widely considered one of the first foldable phones to really get it right.
Folded, the device offers a surprisingly respectable 6.2-inch OLED display with admittedly lackluster 2268×832 resolution. Unfolded, the Z Fold3 boasts a whopping 7.6-inch OLED display with the improved 2208×1768 resolution. Both offer 12oHz, which is always great for that smooth scrolling experience.
There's is no crease, but it's certainly less pronounced than previous models', which could be easily seen from space.
Naturally, the Galaxy Z Fold3 has some serious brawn to go with its brains. It uses Qualcomm SM8450 Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 and a very healthy 12GB of RAM. It also has a large 5000 mAh battery and has 45W fast charging.
Despite the foldable design, you're still getting the impressive cameras expected from Samsung, including another 108Mp main rear sensor and 10Mp periscope and telephoto options, along with the 12MP ultrawide lens. Around the front, you get a single 40Mp selfie camera.
If the Galaxy Z Fold3 sounds like the kind of phone you need, you'll need to pay upwards of $1,799.
Apple Phones
The one you love to hate, or indeed, love to love. Apple stands out from the crowd, being the only manufacturer on this list not to use Android. Its phones are unashamedly expensive, although that doesn’t seem to put anyone off buying one.
Not sure which iPhone to get? See our simple guide, Which iPhone Should I Buy?
Apple iPhone 13 Pro
The iPhone 13 Pro is the latest iteration of Apple's popular device, adding a better chip, a better camera system, and a better display that should get you to buy another one.
The iPhone 13 Pro is equipped with Apple's A15 Bionic chip, which has notably improved the experience on Apple devices. It promises, with good reason, to be the most powerful processor of any phone on sale. Its 5G-ready and is paired with 6GB of RAM, the most of any iPhone ever, for speedy performance.
It has a 6.1-inch OLED display with 2532×1170 resolution which supports HDR10 and Dolby Vision for excellent visuals. When it comes to cameras, the 13 Pro has three 12Mp rear lenses comprising on standard wide-angle lens, a telephoto lens, and an ultrawide unit. Round the front it gets a 12Mp depth sensing lens.
However, its battery isn't the biggest at 3095 mAh. Apple doesn't have the best reputation when it comes to battery life, so make sure to take that into consideration before paying the $999 for this device.
Apple iPhone 13 Pro Max
While the iPhone 13 Pro is an exceptional phone, sometimes you need something a bit bigger, which is where the iPhone 13 Pro Max comes in handy.
This hefty device boasts a 6.7-inch OLED display with a 2532×1170 resolution — which you'll likely recognize, as it's the same as the iPhone 12, except for the size, of course. You also get access to the same A15 Bionic processor as iPhone 13 Pro users do.
Admittedly, the price can be a bit intimidating, particularly when you aren't getting much more than a bigger screen. The iPhone 13 Pro Max still just has the three 12Mp rear cameras — an ultrawide, a telephoto, and a wide angle.
The iPhone 13 Pro Max will cost you $1,099 today.
Apple iPhone 13 Mini
The iPhone 13 Mini is, by some margin, the smallest new iPhone on sale — boasting a mere 5.2-inch AMOLED display.
A nostalgia play that works great for people with small hands, the iPhone 13 Mini is reminiscent of much older devices, which were significantly smaller and more manageable as a handheld device. You miss out on some key features with that size though, as it only offers a dual camera system, 12MP wide and ultrawide options, as well as the 12MP selfie camera on the front.
You still get the A15 chip though, even if it is paired with the 2438 mAh battery, which is decidedly small by the standards of this list.
But hey, at $699 for an iPhone, you could do a lot worse.
Verdict – Apple iPhones may be expensive, but they’re excellent across the board, except for battery life
Google Phones
Google often seems to do its own thing when it comes to its smartphones — it doesn't try to rival Samsung when it comes to packing as much hardware into its phones as possible and nor does it try to copy Apple in offering the most expensive phones on the market.
Instead, Google offers a range of affordable and generally well-conceived phones with impressive cameras and an unmatched slick Android experience.
Verdict: Good phones with neat features and slick software
Google Pixel 6
The Pixel 6 is Google's current (but soon to be replaced) flagship. However, it isn't that much more expensive than the 5a 5G, costing just $599. Admittedly, that isn't a typical flagship price, but Google seems to be shying away from competing toe-to-toe with the big guns and instead focusing on offering better value.
The Pixel 6 has a 6.4-inch OLED display with a 2400×1080 resolution and a 90Hz refresh rate. It's the first device powered by the Google Tensor chip, which definitely provides an improved experience with its already stellar software. It also comes in 8 GB of RAM.
But, again, we come back to the cameras. The Pixel 6 has dual rear lenses: a 50Mp main lens and a 12Mp ultrawide lens. You can record 4K videos at up to 60fps or 1080p videos at up to 240fps for really nice slow-mos.
Google Pixel 5a 5G
The Pixel 5a 5G is a very impressive phone that doesn't cost a huge amount of money.
For just $449 you'll get a 5G-ready phone with the zippy Snapdragon 765G processor and 6GB of RAM. You get two rear-facing cameras: a 12.2Mp main lens and a 16Mp ultrawide lens. Round the front, you get a single 8Mp punch hole camera.
The screen is a 6.34-inch OLED with a 2400×1080 resolution. There's no high refresh rate here — at only 60 Hz — but, for less than $500, that isn't too much of an issue.
Of course, the main draw is Google's software. The camera smarts are fantastic, with brilliant low-light shots and remarkable post-shot editing. You'll also get the fastest Android software updates and a completely unblemished experience.
OnePlus Phones
OnePlus has grown from an upstart interloper in the smartphone world, making affordable yet potent devices, to convincingly challenging the biggest companies in the market for features — and for price.
OnePlus 10 Pro
The OnePlus 10 Pro is the consummate flagship phone for 2022. It has a 6.7-inch AMOLED display with a 3216×1440 resolution and a 120Hz refresh rate. It also is HDR10+ compatible and can reach a peak brightness of 1,300 nits.
It uses the latest Qualcomm SM8450 Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 chipset, with 5G connectivity and 8GB of RAM. You also get a 5000 mAh battery and a choice of either 65W or 80W(!) fast charging which will give you 100% battery faster than most devices on this list.
You also four rear cameras that have all been tuned by Hasselblad, the Swedish camera experts whose cameras took the pictures on the Apollo 11 moon landings. You get a 48Mp standard wide-angle lens, a 50Mp ultrawide lens, an 8Mp tele module. You can record 8K video at 30fps or 4K video at up to 120fps. There's an impressive 32Mp selfie snapper, too.
However, the OnePlus 9 Pro is pricey — it'll set you back at least $899.
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