We asked for better cameras. We did not ask for phones that rock on a table like a see-saw. Look at what we are carrying The iPhone 17 Pro has a plateau spanning its top third. The S26 Ultra and the Xiaomi 15 Ultra are worse. Every flagship now ships with a case recommendation effectively baked into the industrial design, because the raw phone will not sit flat. Bigger sensors are real, but there is a limit Larger sensors genuinely take better photos; that trade-off is honest. But there is a point where the tail wags the dog, and a phone that cannot lie flat on a desk without wobbling has passed it. A modest, even bump across the whole back, the direction the iPhone 17 line went, is the sane compromise. The towering islands are not. The verdict: Give us the sensor. Just find a way to fit it that does not turn every phone into a novelty rocking chair. Sources GSMArena specifications
Four excellent phones, four clear reasons to pick each. Best overall and best for video, iPhone 17 Pro The most predictable, best-supported, widest-ecosystem choice, and still the reference for phone video. The aluminium redesign fixed the thermals and the battery; the 100mm telephoto fixed the everyday camera. Best camera versatility, Galaxy S26 Ultra The longest zoom on any phone, the brightest and most readable outdoor screen, an S Pen in the box, and seven years of Android updates. Best point-and-shoot and value flagship, Pixel 11 Pro The camera that just works, the cleanest Android, seven years of support. Drop to the Pixel 11 to save $200 and lose very little. Best battery and charging for the money, OnePlus 13 A 6000 mAh battery, 100W wired charging and a returning alert slider for $899. The camera is the only real compromise. The verdict: There is no single best phone, there is the best phone for how you use one. Match the list above to your priorities. Sources GSMArena specifications
Different phones win for different kinds of photography. Here is who wins what. For outright zoom, Xiaomi 15 Ultra or Vivo X200 Pro Both carry 200MP periscopes that out-reach everything else. The Vivo is easier to buy in Europe; the Xiaomi has the bigger main sensor. For video, iPhone 17 Pro Log, ProRes, Dolby Vision, the best stabilisation. The industry reference, still. For zero-effort stills, Pixel 11 Pro You point, it is right. The most consistent camera on any phone. For the best all-rounder you can buy on any carrier, Galaxy S26 Ultra Not the best at any one thing, but excellent at all of them, and sold everywhere with seven years of updates. The verdict: Zoom: Xiaomi/Vivo. Video: iPhone. Simplicity: Pixel. Everywhere-available all-rounder: S26 Ultra. Sources GSMArena specifications
Pixel if you just want great photos with zero effort; iPhone if you shoot video or want the widest accessory ecosystem. The camera split The Pixel 11 Pro takes the most consistent stills of any phone, you never think about it, the photo is good. The iPhone 17 Pro is the better camera: far more manual control, dramatically better video, and a more flexible telephoto. Different tools for different users. Beyond the camera Both now have competitive chips and all-day batteries. The iPhone charges a little faster and has the deeper accessory ecosystem. The Pixel has cleaner software and matches Apple on update length. It comes down to platform. The verdict: Pixel for effortless photos and clean Android; iPhone for video, control and the ecosystem. Sources GSMArena specifications
iPhone for video and ecosystem, S26 Ultra for zoom, screen brightness and the S Pen. The rest is closer than ever. Cameras The iPhone 17 Pro wins on video, Dolby Vision, ProRes, log, the best stabilisation, and its new 100mm telephoto is the better everyday portrait lens. The S26 Ultra wins on reach: past 10x, nothing mainstream touches it, and the 200MP main gives huge cropping latitude. Everything else Performance and sustained thermals now favour the iPhone slightly. Charging favours Samsung (60W vs ~40W). The S26 Ultra has the brighter, more readable outdoor screen and a stylus in the box. Battery is close after Apple’s redesign. Resale value favours the iPhone. The real deciding factor Neither is a wrong answer. Pick the ecosystem you want to live in, watch, earbuds, laptop, messaging, and let the small stuff follow. The verdict: A dead heat on hardware. Choose on ecosystem, then on whether you value video (iPhone) or zoom and the S Pen (Samsung). Sources GSMArena specifications
Apple spent this generation on thermals, endurance and a smarter camera, and the phone is better for it, even if the front looks identical to three years of iPhones. Our score: 9 / 10 At a glance Spec Detail Display 6.3-inch LTPO OLED, 120Hz ProMotion, up to 3000 nits Chip A19 Pro, 6-core CPU / 6-core GPU Rear cameras 48MP main + 48MP ultrawide + 48MP 4x (100mm) telephoto Battery Around 3988 mAh, roughly two days of light use Build Aluminium unibody frame, Ceramic Shield 2 front and back Port USB-C (USB 3.2, 10 Gbps) The boring upgrades are the important ones Apple did not chase a spec-sheet headline this year. The A19 Pro does not throttle the way the 15 Pro did, and the switch to an aluminium unibody frame pulls heat away from the chip far more effectively than the titanium band on the 16 Pro. A heavy day of navigation, hotspot and camera work no longer ends with the phone hot in your hand and a scramble for a charger. Battery is the other quiet win. The redesign freed internal volume, and Apple spent it on cells rather than thinness. Two days of light-to-moderate use is realistic; a genuinely hard day still leaves a comfortable margin by bedtime. The telephoto swap is the smartest camera decision in years On paper, going from a 5x telephoto to a 100mm 4x lens reads as a downgrade. In practice it is the opposite. The shorter reach let Apple fit a much larger sensor, so the new telephoto focuses faster, holds up in dim light, and is genuinely usable for portraits and everyday framing instead of being a sunny-day novelty. All three rear lenses are now 48MP, which means the 2x and 8x crops are real, sharp options rather than digital mush. For most people this is a more useful camera system than the one it replaces, even though the longest optical reach got shorter. Design: still standing still The camera plateau now spans the entire top third of the phone, and while it makes the phone sit flatter on a desk than the old corner bump, it is big. From the front, nothing about this phone looks new. If you have owned any iPhone since the 15 Pro, picking this one up is an exercise in muscle memory, not novelty. The good and the bad What works A19 Pro holds sustained performance without throttling Two-day battery life under normal use The 100mm telephoto is sharper and far more usable than the old 5x USB-C is finally 10 Gbps What doesn’t The camera plateau is enormous Visually identical to the last several iPhones from the front Wired charging still trails Android flagships Base storage should be higher at this price Who it’s for Buy it if you want the most complete iPhone in years and you keep phones for four or five years. Skip it if you already own a 16 Pro, there is nothing here worth the upgrade. Alternatives worth a look iPhone 16 Pro Max, last year’s model keeps the 5x telephoto and now sells at a discount. Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra, if outright zoom reach and an S Pen matter more than video and ecosystem. Google Pixel 11 Pro, the point-and-shoot camera champion for less money. The verdict: The most complete iPhone in years, if you can forgive a camera bump the size of a credit card and a design you have already seen. Sources Apple Newsroom GSMArena specifications
