The best Android phones in 2023

Samsung’s Galaxy S23 Plus is our top pick because we don’t have to spend time talking about compromises like we do on most other Android phones — if you have a necessity in an Android phone, it’s more than likely that the Galaxy S23 Plus has it, and it has it in high quality. The only trade-off for such a complete experience is its $1,000 starting price.

The Galaxy S23 Plus’ performance goes beyond expectations for high-end Android phones in 2023 by running on a specially optimized processor that’s exclusive to the Galaxy S23 series — the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 Optimized for Galaxy. The gains aren’t massive over the OnePlus 11 running on the standard Snapdragon 8 Gen 2, but the Galaxy S23 Plus does occasionally open apps a little faster in side-by-side testing.

The rear triple-lens camera on the Galaxy S23 Plus delivers photos anyone would be happy with, and Samsung has also improved the selfie camera year-over-year, with surprisingly good HDR, portrait mode, colors, contrast, and brightness. Battery life on the Galaxy S23 Plus is excellent; among traditional, flat Android phones, its 67% result in our intensive battery test was bested only by the OnePlus 11, which scored 71%. 

The Galaxy S23 Plus has a fairly large screen at 6.6 inches, which may be too large for some people, but its light weight at 6.91 ounces makes it incredibly comfortable in the hand. And, as expected for a high-end Android phone, the Galaxy S23 Plus’ display runs at a silky smooth 120Hz, which pairs beautifully with the phone’s powerful processor — every swipe and animation on the screen glides effortlessly. 

Read our full Samsung Galaxy S23 Plus review. 

Google’s Pixel 7a is essentially a premium device with high-end performance, features, and camera quality that’s dressed in somewhat less-premium materials. In return for the slightly diminished aesthetic of thick display borders and a plastic back, the Pixel 7a typically costs $500, but Google currently has it marked down to $374, making it an exceptional deal. 

Up to this point, the Pixel 7a’s MSRP has been on the high side for a budget pick, especially compared to the $349 Pixel 6a. But unlike the Pixel 6a, the Pixel 7a comes with several premium features, like Google’s current flagship processor (the Tensor 2), wireless charging, a smoother high refresh-rate display, and the option of fast mmWave 5G connectivity — all of which more than justify the additional $25 that currently separates the Pixel 7a from the Pixel 6a. 

In our intensive battery test, the 6.1-inch Pixel 7a’s 58% result matched and outperformed some premium phones of the same size. It tied the 6.1-inch iPhone 14 Pro and bested the 6.1-inch Samsung Galaxy S23 (56%).

While the Pixel 7a’s 64MP main camera and 13MP ultrawide camera are ostensibly a significant upgrade from the Pixel 6a’s 12MP cameras, in our testing, we found little discernible difference between the excellent photos the two budget phones produce. We found little difference in camera quality between the Pixel 7a and some high-end devices, many of which cost twice as much. 

Read our full Google Pixel 7a review.

Samsung’s Galaxy S23 Ultra is the ultimate camera phone with its four lenses, including a 200-megapixel (MP) main camera, a 12MP ultrawide, a 10MP 3x zoom, and a 10MP 10x zoom.

Despite the very high-resolution main camera, you might not notice much of a difference in photo quality compared to other premium phones with around 50MP cameras — most high-end devices achieve a similarly good balance of color, brightness, contrast, and sharpness. 

What sets the Galaxy S23 Ultra apart from the other best Samsung phones, and from any other phone for that matter, is its fourth 10x optical zoom lens. It takes crisp, clear photos and videos in full detail significantly further than any other phone, making it the most versatile camera phone you can buy in the US.

The Galaxy S23 Ultra comes with a built-in stylus, the S Pen, which comes in handy for editing photos on the phone’s giant 6.8-inch screen — it offers precision and functionality that simply can’t be achieved with a fingertip. 

Read our full Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra review.

The OnePlus 11 obtained the best result in our battery stress test among Android phones, ending the test with a 71% charge remaining. 

To finish the test with 71% remaining after five runs of the Geekbench 5 app, two runs of the incredibly intensive 20-minute 3DMark Wild Life Stress Test, two hours of video streaming, and one hour of music streaming while connected to Bluetooth headphones is astonishing. 

Other Android phones with similar screen sizes couldn’t get above 70%, including the Galaxy S23 Plus (67%), Galaxy S23 Ultra (61%), and Pixel 7 Pro (57%). Still, in practical terms, the OnePlus 11’s result doesn’t mean you’ll dramatically change your charging habits — you might only need to plug in the phone later than usual. 

Speaking of charging, the OnePlus 11 also has the fastest charging speeds of any phone in the US at 80W. Those charging speeds are only possible with OnePlus’ proprietary charger and cable, which comes in the box with the phone — a unique rarity these days. Just note that the OnePlus 11 can only charge up to 18W speeds with any third-party charger, even if that charger supports 100W charging speeds. It also lacks wireless charging. 

Read our full OnePlus 11 review.

The Android phone market is flooded with large screens, and you’d think fans of smaller phones are underserved, but not when the 6.1-inch Samsung Galaxy S23 is around. 

One of the best Samsung phones you can buy, the Galaxy S23 is essentially a smaller version of our pick for the best overall Android phone, the 6.6-inch Galaxy S23 Plus — the same high-end performance, the same cameras, and the same design. 

Its battery life isn’t quite as good as the Galaxy S23 Plus (56% vs. 67%), but that’s understandable and expected in smaller phones. The only baffling compromise is its 25W charging speed compared to the Galaxy S23 Plus’ 45W charging speed, as well as a lower base storage option at 128GB. 

Starting at $800, the Galaxy S23 is on the expensive side, so we also recommend the Pixel 7a, which has a 6.1-inch screen as well and currently starts at $374. 

Read our full Samsung Galaxy S23 review.

On its release, the Google Pixel Fold, Google’s first entry into the foldable phone market, immediately stood out as the premier offering in the realm of Android foldable devices for one key reason: Its folded, exterior display offered a closer approximation to a traditional phone experience than any previous foldable phone. 

We find the exterior screens on Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold series awkwardly narrow to the point of providing a sub-par experience as a phone, while the Pixel Fold’s 5.8-inch exterior display is wider and more functional when using apps. (The latest entry in the foldable realm, the OnePlus Open, has an exterior display that improves on both the Z Fold phones and the Pixel Fold by striking a middle ground between the narrowness of the former and the width of the latter, but we’re still in the process of testing it fully.) 

The Pixel Fold’s exterior and interior screens operate at a smooth 120Hz, and the phone runs on Google’s proficient Tensor 2 processor, which we’ve found to be essentially on par in everyday use with the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 processor that runs Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold 5, despite the latter processor’s superior benchmark performance.  

If you’re looking for a new phone that can double as a tablet, the Pixel Fold is more than worth your while if its $1,799 price tag is within your budget. 

Read our full Google Pixel Fold review.

Specs

Galaxy S23 Plus

Pixel 7a

Galaxy S23 Ultra

OnePlus 11

Galaxy S23

Pixel Fold

Starting price

$1,000

$374

$1,200

$700

$800

$1,799

Processor

Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 Optimized for Galaxy 

Google Tensor 2

Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 Optimized for Galaxy 

Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2

Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 Optimized for Galaxy 

Google Tensor 2

Release date

February 2023

May 2023

February 2023

February 2023

February 2023

June 2023

Screen size

6.6 inches

6.1 inches

6.8 inches

6.7 inches

6.1 inches

5.8-inch exterior; 7.6-inch interior

Rear cameras

50MP main, 12MP ultrawide, 10MP 3x zoom

64MP main, 13MP ultrawide

200MP main, 12MP ultrawide, 10MP 3x zoom, 10MP 10x zoom

50MP main, 48MP ultrawide, 32MP 2x zoom

50MP main, 12MP ultrawide, 10MP 3x zoom

48MP main, 10.8MP ultrawide, 10.8MP 5x zoom

Storage

256GB, 512GB

128GB

256GB, 512GB, 1TB

128GB, 256GB, 512GB

128GB, 256GB, 512GB

256GB, 512GB

We test Android phones as if they were our daily drivers for at least several days, and often much longer. That way, we can get the best anecdotal feel for their performance, battery life, cameras, and new features.

We also conduct standard tests on all the phones we review and include in our guides.

For performance, we put the phones through a gamut of benchmarking apps to check for performance discrepancies between phones, at least on paper. These benchmark tests also help us evaluate how many years a phone could maintain its performance compared to other phones. We’ve used Geekbench 5 for general performance (though we’re starting to use Geekbench 6 in recent testing), and the 3DMark Wild Life Stress Test to get a sense of extended heavy gaming performance. 

For camera testing, we photograph a set gamut of scenes with every phone; you may have seen our barn photos over and over again. We take photos with each lens on each phone and compare them to their direct competitors. We even compare premium phone cameras to budget options to evaluate the difference. 

For battery life, we run each phone through a stress test that simulates a mixture of typical daily workloads, like streaming a video and music, as well as high-intensity workloads, like playing demanding games. The battery stress test includes five runs of the Geekbench app, two runs of the 3DMark Wildlife Stress Test, two hours of video streaming at a set average brightness, and one hour of music streaming with Bluetooth headphones connected. At the end of the test, we note the remaining battery percentage on the phone.

Who owns Android? 

In simple terms, Google owns the Android operating system. Other companies like Samsung and OnePlus can run Android on their phones because Google makes it freely available as an open-source operating system for anyone to use on their phones. Even you, the reader, could build your own phone that legally runs the Android operating system.  

The Android operating system looks and works differently on phones from different companies because phone makers modify the operating system by adding their own layers of software on top of Android for users to interact with.

For example, while Samsung phones run the core Android operating system that gives them access to the Google Play Store apps, they also run Samsung’s user interface (UI) layer called One UI, which adds a distinctive look and feel to the company’s phones. 

Which Android phone gets the most updates?

The best support window for Android phones currently is the seven years of Android operating system updates and security updates offered by the new Google Pixel 8 phones, which we’re still in the process of testing.

Among the phones on our list, recent flagship phones from Samsung and OnePlus have the best support windows. Samsung has said its flagship Galaxy S23 series phones will get four years of Android software updates and five years of security updates following their February 2023 release. The OnePlus 11 is also slated to get four years of software updates and five years of security patches from its February 2023 release.

On the other hand, Google offers a slightly smaller support window for the phones we’ve included here, the Pixel 7a and Pixel Fold, both of which will get three years of Android updates and five years of security updates from their respective release dates.