Smartphones are at the center of our digital lives — they’re what we use to communicate with loved ones, handle important business, binge on TikToks and everything in between. And since you’ll likely use your phone more than any other gadget you own, picking the right one to last you through years of use is crucial.
But with new phones coming out seemingly every month, it can be hard to figure out which one is actually right for you. That’s why we’re always testing the latest flagships from the likes of Apple, Google, Samsung and more to make sure you get the best smartphone for your needs.
Best smartphone overall
Apple’s iPhone 13 has a modern build with an immersive display, with the best performance and one of the best cameras of all the phones we’ve ever tested.
With its latest slate of smartphones, Apple built on our previous overall winner, the iPhone 12, in all the right ways. The iPhone 13 boasts upgrades to the features we deem most important when it comes to choosing a smartphone — the display, processing power and camera capabilities.
When it comes to photo capturing, the iPhone 13 leads the class at this price point (for a nominal upgrade, you’ll need to spend more on the iPhone 13 Pro or Pro Max). The phone’s dual cameras — a 12-megapixel wide and a 12-megapixel ultrawide — along with Apple’s processing techniques work together to deliver a photo that works nine times out of 10. And that’s more dependable performance than any other phone — Galaxy S21 included — can deliver.
The critical improvement this year is in low-light performance, thanks to larger sensors that capture more light, so even photos taken in dim conditions appear brighter and offer minimal to no grain. Typically, a photo taken in low-light scenes introduces more noise and grain, which reduces the quality of a photo — a problem we found with most other smartphones’ cameras, but not with the iPhone 13.
Jacob Krol/CNN
The iPhone 13, equipped with Apple’s latest mobile processor, the A15 Bionic, also shone in performance, as FaceTime calls, browsing the web, posting on social media, playing games and even doing work all happened promptly and without hiccups. With large exports in Pixelmator, the iPhone was three to five seconds faster than iPhone 11, and an iMovie render of a 4K file was done about 10 seconds faster. Performance is on par with the Samsung Galaxy S21 across the board, though the iPhone was quicker with focusing, …….
Source: https://www.cnn.com/cnn-underscored/reviews/best-smartphones