Choosing the best Android phone depends on the features you prioritize and your target price range. There are many Android phone brands, each with distinct approaches to hardware and software, and price tags vary widely.
We've tested over a dozen current phones to land on a definitive list of the top Android phones you can buy now. For transparency, we don't aim to point out which Android phones have the most features or the highest benchmark scores; you can look at a publicly available specs sheet for that. Rather, based on our testing, we favor those with the best balance of high-quality features, performance, and value.
From our testing, the Samsung Galaxy S25 is the best Android phone for most people in 2025. It's a stellar phone overall that would suit most Android users. If you're looking for a more modest price tag, we enthusiastically recommend the Google Pixel 9a as our first budget option or the top option for those who value practicality and value over the latest and flashiest tech.
Our top picks for the best Android phone
Best overall: Samsung Galaxy S25 - See at Amazon
Best budget: Google Pixel 9a - See at Amazon
Best camera: Google Pixel 9 Pro - See at Amazon
Best battery life: Google Pixel 9 Pro XL - See at Amazon
Best foldable phone: Google Pixel 9 Pro Fold - See at Amazon
Best overall
The Galaxy S25's biggest updates include an incredibly powerful new processor and new AI features. Battery life is slightly improved, but the design, display, and cameras are largely unchanged from the previous generation.
What we like
What we don't like
With its three cameras, exceptional performance, and sleek minimalist design, the Samsung Galaxy S25 outclasses Android contemporaries in the sub-$1,000 price range, like the Google Pixel 9.
Running on a Galaxy-optimized Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite with an upgraded 12GB of RAM, the Galaxy S25 exhibits three times the performance gains we'd normally expect year-over-year. With Samsung's seven-generation upgrade window for the Android operating system, the Galaxy S25 has the potential to maintain its performance longer than any other Android phone to date.
The dedicated 3x zoom lens lends the Galaxy S25 unique versatility absent among phones in the $800 price range (including iPhones), allowing for sharper and clearer photos of distant subjects. If you often use your current phone's zoom lens or wish you had one to take better photos of far-away subjects, the Galaxy S25 is the clear option.
Samsung continues to improve its software experience with AI-powered features, like integration with Google's Gemini AI chatbot, among several others. It helps with tasks that involve two apps, like searching for a nearby restaurant in Google Maps and then sending an option to a friend in Messages, or extracting an appointment in Gmail and adding it to your Google Calendar. It's surprisingly refreshing and satisfying to do all that with your voice, and without opening a single app or tapping the screen once.
Indeed, Samsung makes it easy to recommend the Galaxy S25 as the best Android phone overall for most people. It has the fewest compromises of any Android phone available in the US for the best value.
Read our full Samsung Galaxy S25 review, and see our guide to the best Samsung Galaxy S25 cases to protect the phone.
Best budget
The Pixel 9a runs on the same Tensor G4 as Google's latest flagship phones and carries many of the same features, including the Gemini AI suite. The main compromise in exchange for a lower price is a slightly less premium design with a plastic back instead of glass.
What we like
What we don't like
Google's Pixel 9a is a champion for the budget-conscious. For $499 at MSRP, it offers the same Google Tensor G4 processor as Google's flagship Pixel 9 phones for high-end performance. It has a 120Hz display for smooth animations, and its cameras easily rival those on phones that cost twice as much.
The Pixel 9a is also our best Google Pixel phone for most people, thanks to its value and similar experience to the Pixel 9, which costs $300 more at standard MSRP. Its more affordable price reflects its plastic back, thicker borders around the display, and a slow but acceptable 23W charging speed. However, none of these less-than-premium traits negatively affect the Pixel 9a's experience in everyday use.
In our intensive battery test, the 6.3-inch Pixel 9a's 66% result is only beaten by the Pixel 9 Pro XL's stunning 70% result. It also handily beats the Galaxy S25 with a 6.2-inch screen, which scored 62%. The base Pixel 9 with a 6.3-inch display scored 60%.
The Pixel 9a offers such good value for a near-premium experience that we think it's well worth the splurge relative to cheaper Android phones. As our top pick among the best cheap phones, the Pixel 9a justifies its relative mid-range price, as its performance will stay sprightly for years longer than less expensive phones with less powerful processors. Like the Pixel 9 series, the Pixel 9a also runs a version of Google's Gemini Nano large language model to power most of the company's recent AI features.
Best camera
The Pixel 9 Pro is like the base Pixel 9 with an additional 5x zoom camera and a few further upgrades, like a brighter display and extra RAM for advanced AI features.
What we like
What we don't like
The Android phone with the best camera system is Google's Pixel 9 Pro because, quite simply, it takes the best photos of all the Android phones we've tested so far. We also have more confidence that it will produce high-quality images after every snap, relative to any other Android phone.
The Pixel 9 Pro's cameras capture memories in beautifully natural colors while maintaining the best balance of brightness and contrast. As the best Google Pixel phone available for video and photography, the Pixel 9 Pro produces results less prone to overexposure than competitors and offers gorgeous depth thanks to superior dynamic range.
The Galaxy S25 Ultra has more camera options with its dedicate 3x and 5x zoom cameras. Yet, the Pixel 9 Pro phones deliver a better balance of brightness and contrast, and colors are more natural, which we feel is more important than the added versatility from the Galaxy S25 Ultra's four cameras. The Pixel 9 Pro XL also isn't as dependent on optimal lighting conditions to capture sharp photos of moving subjects like kids and pets. Indeed, images taken in less-than-ideal lighting conditions with the Galaxy S25 Ultra can appear somewhat blurry and grainy.
The Pixel 9 Pro's three cameras — a 50MP main camera, a 48MP 5x zoom camera, and a 48MP ultrawide camera — offer plenty of versatility and take videos with superb color, brightness, and contrast.
As a bonus, the Pixel 9 Pro supports Google's latest Gemini AI suite, which offers various pre- and post-production editing enhancements for photography and videography. These include an effective AI zoom enhancement and novel features like Add Me, which lets you add yourself to a group photo after you've taken it.
Best battery life
The Pixel 9 Pro XL offers a large 6.8-inch display and one of the best battery test results we've seen in a phone. The Pixel 9 Pro shares the same performance, first-rate three-lens camera system, super-bright Actua display, and Gemini AI suite with a free year of Gemini Advanced.
What we like
What we don't like
Phones with bigger displays almost always have the best battery life, and the Google Pixel 9 Pro XL, with a 6.8-inch display and 5,060mAh battery, obtained the best phone battery life result among Android phones in our battery stress test, ending with a stunning 70% remaining.
That's a phenomenal result. The latest premium Android phone with the next best score is the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra with 64%. Among current flagship phones, the Pixel 9 Pro XL is only outperformed by the iPhone 16 Pro Max, with a 74% result, the best iPhone for battery life.
With its result, the Pixel 9 Pro XL has the highest likelihood among Android phones of actually altering your charging habits; depending on your usage, you could go two days without charging. For heavy usage, where daily charging is still more prudent, the Pixel 9 Pro XL gives you more confidence that it'll last through your typical day.
The battery stress test simulates a blend of lighter and heavier workloads with three hours of screen-on time. It includes five runs of the intensive Geekbench 6 app, two runs of the intensive 20-minute 3DMark Wild Life Stress Test, two hours of video streaming, and one hour of music streaming while connected to a Bluetooth speaker.
Best foldable phone
The Pixel 9 Pro Fold's 6.3-inch exterior display is the same shape and size as the Pixel 9 Pro's, making it familiar and comfortable to use as a simple phone. Unfolding it reveals an eight-inch tablet, among the biggest you can find in a foldable phone.
What we like
What we don't like
When it comes to foldable phones, we prefer the book-style design over clamshell flip-style designs. Book-style foldable phones are significantly more expensive but offer vastly greater functionality with their tablet displays.
The first foldable phone we'd recommend to most people is the Google Pixel 9 Pro Fold, thanks to its thin design (for a foldable), excellent cameras, 6.3-inch cover display that offers the same experience as a regular phone, and the largest tablet display available in a foldable in the US.
Indeed, at eight inches, the Pixel 9 Pro Fold's tablet display is a joy for watching videos, scrolling through social media apps, or multitasking with two different apps running simultaneously.
Running on Google's Tensor G4 processor, the Pixel 9 Pro Fold is beaten in benchmark results by almost every other foldable running on Qualcomm Snapdragon processors. However, in real-world usage, the Pixel 9 Pro Fold runs apps as quickly and games as smoothly as the competition.
In designating the best foldable phones, we've also tested and considered the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6, but we find it difficult to recommend due to its relatively narrow cover display that offers an awkward experience when using the phone folded, at least compared to the Pixel 9 Pro Fold.
Folded, the Pixel 9 Pro Fold offers a comfortable experience similar to a regular phone's display, which is important. You don't want to feel like you constantly need to unfold the phone for basic tasks, like replying to a message or quickly searching the web. The Pixel 9 Pro Fold's tablet display is also noticeably larger than the Galaxy Z Fold 6's 7.6-inch tablet screen.
Read our Google Pixel 9 Pro Fold review.
Which is the best Android phone?
Currently, the best Android phone we recommend to most people is the Samsung Galaxy S25. For its $800 starting price, the Galaxy S25 offers an ideal balance of performance, camera quality, camera options, and features.
| Specs | Samsung Galaxy S25 | Google Pixel 9a | Google Pixel 9 Pro | Google Pixel 9 Pro XL | Google Pixel 9 Pro Fold |
| Starting price | $799.99 | $499 | $999 | $1,099 | $1,799 |
| Processor | Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite Optimized for Galaxy | Google Tensor G4 | Google Tensor G4 | Google Tensor G4 | Google Tensor G4 |
| Release date | February 2025 | April 2025 | September 2024 | August 2024 | September 2024 |
| Display | 6.2 inches, 1080p OLED, 1-120Hz | 6.3 inches, 1080p OLED, 120Hz | 6.3 inches, 1280p OLED, 1-120Hz | 6.8 inches, 1344p OLED, 1-120Hz | Unfolded: 8 inches, 2076p, OLED, 1-120Hz ; Folded: 6.3 inches, 1080p, OLED, 60-120Hz |
| Rear cameras | 50MP main, 12MP ultrawide, 10MP 3x zoom | 48MP main, 13MP ultrawide | 50MP main, 48MP ultrawide, 48MP 5x zoom | 50MP main, 48MP ultrawide, 48MP 5x zoom | 48MP main, 10.8MP 5x zoom, 10.5MP ultrawide |
| Storage | 128GB, 256GB | 128GB, 256GB | 128GB, 256GB, 512GB, 1TB | 128GB, 256GB, 512GB, 1TB | 256GB, 512GB |
How we test Android phones
We test Android phones as if they were our daily drivers for at least several days, often much longer. That way, we can get the best anecdotal feel for their performance, battery life, cameras, and new features. Our extensive experience covering, reviewing, and comparing the best phones from various companies at different price points means we know what to expect, and any failings become apparent quickly.
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 6 for general performance 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 repeatedly. We take photos and videos 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, and high-intensity workloads, like playing demanding games. The battery stress test includes five runs of the Geekbench 6 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 a Bluetooth speaker connected. At the end of the test, we note the remaining battery percentage on the phone.
Other Android phones we've tested
Aside from the Android phones listed or mentioned above, we've tested all the latest flagship phones from Samsung and Google for our guides to the best Samsung phones and best Google Pixel phones, along with many of the current mid-range and budget phones from both companies.
From Motorola, we're currently testing the latest Razr foldables. We're also testing the 2025 Moto G and Moto G Power 5G as contenders for the best budget Android phone. Based on our experience with Motorola's devices, we'd only consider buying the Moto G Power 5G variants, thanks to their superior performance. They're less expensive than the Pixel 9a and could be a solid pick if you can't justify Google's price tag.
From OnePlus, we've extensively tested the OnePlus Open, one of our long-standing picks among the best foldable phones. We've also fully tested the latest OnePlus 13 flagship and found that it offered nearly the same incredible performance leap as the Galaxy S25. While it doesn't quite reach the top of any category listed here, it could easily be a runner-up for the best overall category, and it's still a highly recommended phone.
FAQs
Who owns Android?
In simple terms, Google owns the Android operating system.
Google bought the company that developed the software, Android Inc., in 2005. 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. 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 it by adding their own software layers on top of Android for users to interact with.
For example, while Samsung phones run the core Android operating system, which gives them access to the Google Play Store apps, they also run Samsung's user interface (UI) layer, 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 is the seven generations of Android operating system upgrades and seven years of security updates offered by the Samsung Galaxy S25 series, the Google Pixel 9 phones, and the Google Pixel 9a.
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Disclosure: Written and researched by the Insider Reviews team. We highlight products and services you might find interesting. If you buy them, we may get a small share of the revenue from the sale from our partners. We may receive products free of charge from manufacturers to test. This does not drive our decision as to whether or not a product is featured or recommended. We operate independently from our advertising team. We welcome your feedback. Email us at reviews@jkmperu.com.
