Almost all top smartphones 2022 are now available, but the flood of models makes it difficult to get an overview. We have therefore summarized the ten best smartphones in 2022.
Does “the best” smartphone even exist? From a purely objective point of view, probably yes. At least in the typical school yard quartet, technical data can be compared with each other without any value and in the end there is theoretically a winner, i.e. the best smartphone of 2022. In reality, however, things are different. On the one hand, it is often seemingly insignificant little things that decide victory or defeat, and in everyday life it is much more important how the things that are on the data sheet actually work. And even if we try to highlight such things in our tests, this is often not entirely successful due to the inevitably very limited test period.
Why simply harping on about technical data also doesn’t make sense: Ultimately, it always depends on your own usage behavior as to whether the supposed absence of a feature bothers you or not. So let’s be frank: Our top 10 best smartphones 2021 is definitely subjective. We’ve listed the ten devices that have stuck in our minds the most so far. Not every user will find themselves in our top 10, but that is – as described – in the nature of things.
Note: This article, like our other leaderboards, will be updated regularly. So this top 10 is a snapshot that will change by the end of the year.
So far this year, Samsung has impressed us the most with the Galaxy S22 Ultra (test report) . Because the device is a worthy continuation of the former Note series with an integrated stylus and is also convincing in all other areas. The only exception: the battery is more mediocre than good – but it’s not a real weak point. Instead, the Korean manufacturer brings a package that has it all. It starts with the excellent OLED display with 6.8 inches, 1440p resolution and 120 Hz and continues with the revised 108 megapixel camera. This is flanked by decent wide-angle and double telephoto lenses, which were convincing in the test.
Technically, everything that is possible is included, such as USB-C 3.2, Wifi-6e and UWB. The drive is the in-house Exynos 2200, which performed well in the test, there is also a lot of memory with up to 12/1024 GB, as well as the already mentioned battery with 5000 mAh, but only 45 watts charging speed. A highlight is Samsung’s new update promise, which includes 4 years of Android updates and even 5 years of security patches. Stereo speakers and IP68 certification are normal in this price range. Speaking of the price: Still more than 890 euros is of course no small matter, but the model is slowly penetrating into “normal” price ranges.
2nd place: Sony Xperia 1 IV
With the Xperia 1 IV (test report) , Sony dug deep into its bag of tricks this year. The OLED display offers the extremely high resolution of 3840 x 1644 pixels at 120 Hz, and the variable optical zoom lens is the highlight of the three cameras, each with 12 megapixels. In addition, there is top technology in all respects, for which the extremely fast Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 is also responsible and a memory configuration with 12/256 GB – expandable. The battery has a capacity of 5000 mAh and can be charged with 67 watts, which can also be used wirelessly. The model is also waterproof – according to IP68. If you want to have as much influence as possible on your recordings thanks to the extensive camera software, you’ve come to the right place if you want to spend a lot of money on a smartphone.
3rd place: Oneplus 9 Pro
Third place goes to the Oneplus 9 Pro (test report) – wait a minute, isn’t that a model from 2021? That’s right, because the flagship smartphone still impresses us with its great design, top performance thanks to the Snapdragon 888, which is still absolutely sufficient, excellent OLED display with 120 Hertz, great camera with an excellent wide angle and a long-lasting battery.
Only the telephoto lens cannot compete with its counterparts such as the Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra and Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra, the rest is of comparable quality. Overall, we even see the smartphone from 2021 ahead of the new Oneplus 10 Pro (test report) , which has few advantages compared to its predecessor, even small disadvantages and, above all, a significantly higher street price.
4th place: Google Pixel 6 Pro
Google launched a real flagship model this year: the Pixel 6 Pro (review) . It offers an excellent overall package consisting of a good OLED display with 120 Hz, a great triple cam with a telephoto lens, the fast Tensor chipset and 12/256 GB of memory. The battery with its 5000 mAh is decent, but only charges with 30 watts, which is not much slower with wireless charging. IP68 certification is also available.
5th place: Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra
The Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra (test report) is an absolute high-end smartphone – from the previous year. Nevertheless, we see the device right at the top of our list of the best, because the technology is still trend-setting. It starts with the OLED display with 6.8 inches, 3200 x 1440 pixels and 120 Hertz, continues with the second display on the back, which also offers OLED technology and serves, among other things, as a viewfinder for selfies, and comes to to 12 GB of RAM, 256 GB of UFS 3.1 storage and Snapdragon 888 as the drive.
And that’s not the end of it. The camera offers main, wide-angle and telephoto lenses with optical image stabilization and 50, 48 and 48 megapixels, the battery charges with a rapid 67 watts and offers 5000 mAh, wireless is a bit slower in both directions. The back of the case is made of ceramic and the whole device is IP68 certified. Unfortunately, the smartphone is so good that it’s sold out almost everywhere – otherwise it’s really expensive. This is also the main reason for the “poor” placement behind other, possibly weaker models.
6th place: Oneplus 10 Pro
It has already been indicated: Oneplus currently seems to be driving its top model with the handbrake on. The Oneplus 10 Pro (test report) could not fully convince us, although most of the entries in the data sheet look good. The new smartphone scored points with its 6.7-inch OLED display with 120 Hz and the power produced by the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 together with at least 8/128 GB of memory – or better – 12/256 GB.
The battery is powerful thanks to 5000 mAh, and it charges quickly with 80 watts by cable and 50 watts wirelessly. Overall, however, the progress from the predecessor is rather restrained, the camera is at least not better and there is no IP certification. Oneplus can actually do that better.
7th place: Oppo Find X5 Pro
The Chinese group BBK is still trying to establish Oppo as a top brand in Germany. The victim of this company policy is the subsidiary Oneplus, whose Oneplus 10 Pro (test report) looked as if it had been artificially cropped. The extent to which changes can be expected due to the patent dispute between Nokia and Oppo as well as Oneplus is not yet clear. The Oppo Find X5 Pro impresses with a 6.7-inch OLED screen with 120 Hz, a powerful main and wide-angle camera, and an optical telephoto lens.
Technically, everything is on board here that the technology shelf currently has to offer. A Snapdragon 8 Gen 1, probably the currently most powerful chip for Android smartphones, serves as the drive here. Even in the smallest (and only) memory configuration, the model comes with 12/256 GB of memory and the 5000 mAh battery charges with a fast 80 watts. Even wirelessly, the Oppo model fills up faster than the S22 Ultra with a cable.
8th place: Apple iPhone 13 Pro Max
With the iPhone 13 Pro Max, Apple offers a good OLED display with 6.7 inches and 120 Hz, and the manufacturer uses three lenses, each with 12 megapixels for the main, wide-angle and telecamera. Technically, the Apple model doesn’t come close to the best Android smartphones on paper, but it makes up for it with optimal coordination of software and hardware. The manufacturer combines the strong Apple A15 Bionic with only 6 GB of RAM, in the smallest memory configuration users have to make do with 128 GB of non-expandable memory. The battery also has an output of only 4373 mAh and charges with only 20 watts, without a cable it only works with 7.5 watts. With still almost 1100 euros, the device is in the best Android company.
9th place: Xiaomi 12 Pro
Xiaomi’s 12 Pro joins the ranks of smartphones that use a 6.7-inch, 120 Hz OLED screen. For the camera, the manufacturer relies on three lenses, each with 50 megapixels for the main, wide-angle and telecamera – that sounds like a good concept. In terms of technology, the manufacturer relies on superlatives such as Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 and 120-watt charging on the one hand, and on the other hand it does without IP certification and gives the 12 Pro USB 2.0 – that sounds almost schizophrenic.
10th place: Samsung Galaxy S22+
Samsung’s S22+ (test report) is optically based on the design language of the smaller S22, but technically does a few things better and is therefore not only based on price and size between the small model and the large pen high-flyer S22 Ultra. The display measures 6.6 inches, of course OLED with 120 Hz is also included here. The camera relies on fewer megapixels than the Ultra model and also comes to the customer with one telephoto lens instead of two. The stylus is also missing, but the S22+ also has the powerful Exanos 2200, but the memory is smaller with 8 GB of RAM. The battery also measures only 4500 mAh.
Conclusion
“The best” is not only in the eye of the beholder, as described at the beginning, but also has a strong connection with the price – keyword price-performance. That’s why the current version of this top 10 also includes a smartphone for 600 euros, even if technically it doesn’t quite match the latest models in all respects.
If you can’t find what you’re looking for here, for whatever reason: interested parties can also find suitable smartphones in our top 10 of the best smartphones up to 500 , up to 400 and up to 300 euros . At least here there should be something for everyone. The smartphones in this top 10 with the best battery life are also particularly enduring .
