Best Phones 2024 (I’ve Tested) From Mid-Range, Camera to Gaming

it’s that most wonderful time of the year and our best smartphones of the year article seem to bother reviewing the Galaxy S24 Ultra and a couple of iPhones. So I review as many new as possible every year. In 2024, I personally tested over five dozen of the smartphones not including special editions. Some of them were very good indeed, some of them could have been a wee bit better and one of them was, unfortunately an iPhone.

Best Budget phone

Let’s begin with the best phone if you’re absolutely skint this season, spending all your cash on booze and Black Friday junk you don’t need and regret buying. If you’ve rinsed your savings but still need a new phone that isn’t complete garbage, no worries—I’ve reviewed some respectable budget options in 2024, and my favorite has to be the CMF Phone 1.

For those who don’t know, CMF is a spin-off brand from Nothing, featuring more basic tech that won’t drain your wallet. This includes smartwatches, earbuds, and now, in 2024, smartphones. I’ve joked that CMF stands for “cheap mother,” but in this case, it might as well stand for “congratulations,” because the CMF Phone 1 is a standout budget device for 2024.

This affordable phone boasts unique design like an easily changeable back cover and accessories such as a lanyard and foldout stand. You can even customize it to match the style of an Essex lad’s happy sack—if that’s your thing! Despite its incredibly low price (well under £200 in the UK at the moment), the CMF Phone 1 delivers a crisp AMOLED screen, excellent battery life, and enough power to handle fairly demanding games on the go.

Of course, at this price point, you’ll need to accept a few compromises. For instance, there’s no optical image stabilization on the camera, just a basic mono speaker setup (no stereo), and crucially no NFC for contactless payments. However, if none of these are deal-breakers, the CMF Phone 1 is an excellent budget option that’s well worth considering.

Best mid-range phone

The best mid-range phone if you’re not quite that skint but don’t want to cough up a grand or more on a smartphone. I’ve tested and reviewed loads of mid-range mobiles in 2024, and frankly, dozens of them have been easy recommendations.

Pixel 8a

If you’re into compact phones and prioritize camera tech, definitely check out Google’s Pixel 8A. This 6.1-inch mobile spits out great-looking pics thanks to clever image processing, while the smart Pixel features and long software support are tasty bonuses.

Samsung Galaxy A55

Samsung’s Galaxy A55 boasts solid hardware, although the OneUI experience is a bit clunky, while Xiaomi offers the Redmi Note 13 series to suit all budgets. Then there are some brilliant mid-rangers from the likes of Nothing, Poco, and Motorola.

Seriously, I’ve spent many sleepless nights deliberating the winner for this category. In the end, I basically flipped a coin a few times, and the winner turned out to be the OnePlus Nord 4.

For one, it’s made of metal, which gives me squidgy nostalgic joy, while the OxygenOS software is as slick as ever, complete with a proper gaming mode and plenty of other useful extras. That massive 6.74-inch AMOLED screen is a beaut, and your prods will register even when the phone is proper moist ideal for living in damp fests like the UK. It’s honestly more responsive than most flagship smartphones I’ve tested in 2024, so kudos to OnePlus for helping this trusty blower work even in craptastic weather.

OnePlus Nord 4

You’ve got a capable Snapdragon 7+ Gen 3 powering the OnePlus Nord 4, so it can handle pretty much anything, including serious gaming, without suffering a metaphorical prolapse of its metaphorical rectum. Battery life is sublime and it charges jolly fast in a pinch.

Sure, the camera results aren’t quite as reliable as Google’s, but the OnePlus Nord 4 can still produce attractive pics even in challenging conditions. Overall, the OnePlus Nord 4 is a bit of a cracker.

Best Camera Phone

The best camera phone is another tough one because it’s been another great year for smartphone cameras. We’ve had some proper good ones.

Pixel 9, Xiaomi Ultra and Oppo FX8

Google’s Pixel 9 phones, for instance are still at the top when it comes to natural-looking pictures and also offer a fantastic suite of editing tools built right into the phone. Meanwhile, the likes of the Xiaomi 14 Ultra and the Oppo FX8 Pro are absolutely outstanding, especially when it comes to video capture.

Huawei Pura 70 Ultra

But hey, the trophy for the best camera phone of 2024 absolutely has to go to the Huawei Pura 70 Ultra. The Pura may suffer from the usual lack of Google services, but it makes up for it with some serious camera tech. Parents of kids, dogs, and other hyperactive stuff will adore the insanely fast shutter speeds and impressive image processing, which makes for excellent action shots. Night snaps are just as impressive as always, and even video shot in the evening looks fantastic, with none of the over-processing shenanigans the Pixel phones sometimes rely on.

That all said, if you’d rather stick a cactus in your pants than use a smartphone without Google support, no worries—I’ve rounded up my favorite camera phones of 2024 in a separate video.

Best gaming phone

For any gaming fans out there, the beefiest blower award. This one’s pretty straightforward because the first wave of Snapdragon 8 Elite smartphones has just begun to land in Blighty, including the ROG Phone 9 Pro and the RedMagic 10 Pro, a pair of gaming handsets that push that Elite chipset to its limits. Games like Waves can play with a creamy frame rate even with absolutely everything maxed out, and with proper dedicated cooling tech on board, including some serious fan action in the RedMagic. Neither mobile will singe your pinkies after a good couple of hours of gribbly smashing good times. Both of these phones are great for gamers, although for me, the winner has to be the Red Magic 10 Pro with its crazy affordable asking price, that beautiful full-view display, and, of course, the deciding factor a shameless anime AI who can actually speak Spanish.

If you’d prefer a more standard smartphone with that Snapdragon 8 Elite stuff inside, well, a special shout-out to the IQ 13, which I recently reviewed. I’ve also got lots of love for the Oppo FX8 Pro, which, again, absolutely blazes through any game out there with its MediaTek Dimensity 9400 smarts.

Best foldable phone

2024 has been another proper cracker when it comes to foldable smartphones. The likes of the Galaxy Z Fold 6 and Flip 6 might have failed to sparkle, but there have been plenty of great Chinese rivals bum-rushing the stage, desperately clamoring for your attention.

Honor Magic V3

The Honor Magic V3 is outrageously skinny and light, yet still busts out some solid specs, excellent battery life, and a half-decent camera setup. Bad news: I’ve only had a brief play with it and haven’t had the chance to fully test and review it.

Huawei Mate X3, Vivo X Fold 3 ad pixel 9 Pro Fold

Same goes for the Huawei Mate X3, a doubly foldable banger that’s impressively put together with a massive tablet-sized internal screen for multitasking or enjoying some cinematic fare on the go. Again, I’ve had a proper good long fondle with it, but I haven’t properly tested it out, so it’s a Sparty-free zone.

However, I did spend a full week with the Vivo X Fold 3 Pro squeezed into my trousers, and glad I am too, for it’s a cracking bit of kit. We’re talking a massive battery that charges much faster than the Z Fold’s, plus some proper decent Zeiss-branded camera tech.

And as much as I liked Google’s Pixel Fold 9 Pro, I’ve got to say, if you like them big, this flexible wonder will really get you going.

Best flip phone

Also, as a bonus bit of spur-of-the-moment action, here’s the best mini foldable phone award, and the winner absolutely has to be the Motorola Razr 50 Ultra—or whatever it’s called in America, something else for some reason. If you want a more compact foldable, the Razr 50 Ultra is a stellar bit of pocket-friendly kit. You can run any app you like on that front AMOLED screen, which is super convenient for quickly fiddling with your apps or simply replying to messages without the effort of unfolding it. You can even watch a movie on it if you’re feeling a bit adventurous.

If you actually go through the effort of flipping the Razr 50 Ultra open, you’ll be greeted with a bright and vibrant 6.9-inch internal display backed by respectable stereo speakers. You get the same sleek, stock Android experience found in other Motorola devices, with a few extra features added to make full use of the cover screen. Battery life is pretty good for a foldable if you’re not too demanding, while the Razr 50 Ultra is surprisingly powerful for something this compact, thanks to the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 packed into its frame. Motorola’s camera setup is impressive for a foldable too, especially one this size—you even get some telephoto portrait action.

Best compact phone

And while we’re talking about mini phones, here’s the best compact phone I can actually use one-handed without straining my thumb. Now, I do get a bit hot and bothered over the Pixel 9 Pro—the regular model, not the XL one, obviously. It’s got all the best bits of the Pro XL smushed into a dinky rectangle that won’t ruin your prostate every time you sit down.

At 6.3 inches, it’s certainly stretching the definition of compact, even if it’s smaller than most rivals. The same goes for the Xiaomi 14, another 6.3-incher—dinkier than most smartphones in 2024, but calling it compact is a bit of a stretch.

Best phone of 2024 (for me)

Enjoy having stashed in my pants on a daily basis. Not necessarily the very best phone in terms of specs or features or whatever, but it’s the smartphone that I’ve enjoyed testing out the most out of the entire lot this year, but this is the smartphone that I would grab.

Honestly, it is painfully hard to decide, so to speak. We’ve had some full-on belters in 2024, including the dinky yet delightful Pixel 9 Pro and the now even more improved OnePlus 12, which was really rather marvelous even before the OxygenOS 5 update. But no, my pick of the year is definitely the highly distinguished Xiaomi 14 Ultra.

It is stupidly expensive, yes, and most people would be more than happy with something considerably cheaper. You absolutely should not fork over well more than a grand on this absolute unit. But the Xiaomi 14 Ultra also delivers hard in all areas, from its slick gaming performance backed by a dedicated array of tools and features to the dependable battery life and capable cameras, which are ideal for amateurs and pros alike.

The Xiaomi 14 Ultra isn’t perfect, of course. Not everyone would get on with HyperOS, and that camera bump is less of a bump and more of a planet. But if I had to stick with just one smartphone that I’ve tested this year, it would absolutely be this chunky bastard right here.

Now, if you want to know more, definitely go check out my full in-depth Xiaomi 14 Ultra review. I also covered the camera kit, which you can slap on—an excellent accessory for anyone who’s really into their photography or videography.

Conclusion

And there you have it, these are best smartphones of 2024 that I’ve test this year which includes mid-range to high and from camera to gaming phones. What’s your pick for the best smartphone of 2024?