Choosing a smartphone for yourself or a loved one is no easy task. Smartphones are generally high-ticket but critically needed items, and there are ways to narrow down your choices so that you spend your money wisely for the most important features for you. Hundreds of available options can make your selection process overwhelming, especially if you’re not clear on your priorities. We can help you narrow down your choices by analyzing all considerations you need to confidently choose the best phone. Below are the major questions you need to answer.
For an in-depth look at what the current smartphone market has to offer, see our guides to the best smartphones, best Android phones, and best cheap smartphones.
First, determine how much you’re willing to spend and how you want to spend it. If you’re an Apple customer, you already know that iPhones tend to be more costly than Android phones. However, a cheaper iPhone SE (2020) for around $400 may be the ideal budget phone for the iOS platform. Samsung is another relatively high-priced brand with models across the price range. On the lower end of the price scale, you’ll find brands like Nokia, Honor, and Motorola. You can save upfront costs with phones that are subsidized via a carrier that you can pay for in monthly installments over a year or two. While these financial arrangements won’t save money in the long run, they will make a more expensive phone with more features more affordable. Have a look at our roundup of the best cheap phones to get an idea of what’s out there. If you’re really on a tight budget, you can still buy a smartphone for $100 or less.
Start by drafting a list of the most critical features you need your smartphone to have. Use the list to compare devices. Ask yourself: Do you need a phone with a large screen? Do you prefer one that you can use one-handed? Are you looking for extended battery life or the best camera phone available? Do you need a lot of storage for your music or photo collection? Maybe you’re a frequent traveler and need a dual-SIM phone. Is 5G going to be part of the landscape in your area?
There are only two smartphone operating systems worth considering: Android and iOS. Both are easy to use and support a wide variety of apps and games. While you can change from Android to iOS, or from iPhone to Android, there are learning curves in both directions. For familiarity, try to stick to whatever platform you’re used to — unless you really don’t like it and want to switch.
Android offers a wider choice of devices at different prices, more customization options, and Google’s excellent suite of services and apps built-in. If you already use Google Maps, Gmail, Google Docs, and Google Assistant, then Android may be the better choice for you, though you can download iOS versions of all of those tools from the App Store.
Apple’s iOS offers a more uniform, accessible experience, and operations are more secure alongside proprietary features like Siri, fingerprint scanning, FaceTime, and iCloud. The App Store and app quality are slightly better than Android due to Apple’s oversight of the app process. If you already have a MacBook or an iPad, an iPhone is probably going to make the most sense for you. You’ll also find an enormous choice of accessories for iPhones, something that can be limited for lesser-known Android devices.
For a more in-depth breakdown of the top two smartphone platforms, check out our guide to Android vs. iOS, where we compare them in various categories.
Listen critically to the salesperson at the store and then shop around to get hands-on experiences with different smartphones before buying one. If you don’t know much about specs, bring along a knowledgeable friend or family member. With more people shopping at home, you can still use chat apps and check forums and reviews for advice. Here are a few things to think about:
It’s important to choose a carrier that offers good coverage in your area so you’ll have a strong signal. We recommend doing a little research at Open Signal, where you’ll find comprehensive coverage maps for different areas and carriers. Simply enter your location and pick a carrier to see what the coverage is like where you live and work. If you want to be able to do data-intensive things without Wi-Fi — like stream video or play multiplayer games — make sure that 4G coverage is good in your area. Newer phones, like the iPhone 12 range, are now also incorporating 5G, but that protocol is still in the early stages in most places, so it’s likely not a huge priority as yet. If you intend to hold on to your phone for several years, however, 5G will become a factor in your buying decision.
The main network choices are Verizon, AT&T, and the recently merged T-Mobile/Sprint, but there are other carriers, too, such as MetroPCS, Boost, Cricket, and Virgin, that may be worth considering. If you plan to buy your smartphone from your carrier along with your service, make sure that they offer the phone you want. We recommend buying an unlocked phone when possible because it will work out to be cheaper in the long run and give you the freedom to change carriers in the future.
There are hundreds of different cell phone service plans on the market today, and market competition can mean lower prices for consumers. However, you’ll need to shop around a bit to find the best deal. These days, choosing the best and cheapest plan is easier than ever. We’ve done some of the legwork for you already by looking for the best family plans, best unlimited data plans, and best cheap phone plans.
If you’d like to save a bit of money but aren’t ready to quit your phone plan quite yet, try to negotiate a better deal with your carrier— research the offers and deals provided by other carriers. If you find a lower price available, with better features offered, contact your current provider and see if negotiation is possible. Be sure to request a representative from the customer retention department— they’re the ones with the power to work with you, apply discounts, and share incentives to keep at the company.
Service providers are highly motivated to sell you the most expensive plan they can manage. Try not to get caught up in their salesmanship. Research the features you actually need and want from your cellular plan. The most expensive area of your bill will be data coverage; Consider the amount of data you may actually need in a given month, and use that as negotiation leverage when discussing a new plan.
If you aren’t sure exactly how much data you use every month, you’re not alone. We’ve built a guide to data usage that we recommend you check out before contacting your provider. Once you pinpoint how much data, minutes, or messages you use regularly, you can determine what plan will fit best for you. From there, you can use something like Wirefly to compare cell phone plans. You can use the information you find there to negotiate price-matching plans. Keep in mind, another way you can save money with your cellular plan is through bundling. They may seem expensive, but bundling services may actually save you money in the long run. Putting in this research upfront can help put a significant amount of money back in your wallet.
Merely days after the iPhone Duo hit the shelves, images of broken screens on the phone started popping up across social media. Until now, it’s been unclear what’s causing the line of defective pixels that appears vertically along the crease, as well as horizontally, on the phone’s inner display.
Apple has finally acknowledged the issue, which has shown up on iPhone Duo units owned by customers as well as demo units in stores. In a statement shared with Bloomberg, Apple says that not all iPhone Duo units are affected and that those that are tend to show the display fault early on. The company added that users who experience problems with their iPhone Duo display should contact AppleCare for a replacement.
Not long ago, Apple treated independent repair like an act of outright hostility. The Cupertino giant locked down parts with serial-number pairing, while repair tools remained firmly out of reach of anyone outside its authorized repair network. More importantly, the company waged a legal and lobbying battle against right-to-repair legislation.
I've covered enough of these fights over the years to know what a shift looks like. That's why what happened in October 2026 genuinely caught me off guard. The day the iPhone Duo went on sale, what may be the most mechanically complex iPhone to date, Apple pulled off a surprising about-face. It published teardown-style repair manuals for a handful of major components.
Apple's first foldable phone is now on shelves, in short supply, but with an unreal amount of buzz around it. After all, it's the first foldable iPhone, and there's plenty that this phone gets right. But there's also a lot that is either broken or underwhelming. What's peculiar is the dialogue around this phone, and how it has completely overshadowed every other attempt at making a phone with a similar form factor.
I've spent some time with the iPhone Duo, and I've used the Galaxy Z Fold 8 for almost three months now. In my opinion, Samsung deserves more credit. When the Galaxy Z Fold 8 arrived earlier this year, it was celebrated in some circles and ridiculed in others for supposedly copying what Apple would eventually deliver with the iPhone Duo. The dialogue was pretty odd, for multiple reasons. Samsung has been making foldable phones for years, so claiming that it copied a product Apple hadn't even launched was simply absurd.