There's been a big change to our best iPhone 2018 list thanks to Apple introducing three new iPhones in September: iPhone XS, iPhone XS Max and iPhone XR.
It makes your choice much more complicated – buying the newest may not be your best option; the iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus are still great choices, and you'll find the iPhone X on sale in certain places for a cheap price (but not at the Apple Store).
Good news, all of the phones we're recommending run iOS 12, Apple's latest update for its devices. It's therefore a bit different from our prestigious best phones list and the best Android phones list. Apple's prices vary wildly, all of them are an investment.
Our top iPhone list highlights the different specs, screen sizes, and price points. Each of these handsets has something to offer every type of Apple fan – so we've boiled down the choices for you in a simple-to-read format.
1. iPhone XS Max
The biggest (and best) iPhone yet
Weight: 208g | Dimensions: 157.5 x 77.4 x 7.7mm | OS: iOS 12 | Screen size: 6.5-inch | Resolution: 1242 x 2688 | CPU: A12 Bionic | RAM: 4GB | Storage: 64/256/512GB | Battery: 3,179mAh | Rear camera: 12MP+12MP | Front camera: 7MP
+Great big screen for games and movies
+Camera is strong for an iPhone
-Price: most expensive iPhone ever
-Size can make it tricky to handle
The iPhone XS Max is Apple's biggest and best iPhone – if you're hands and wallets and large enough. It has an expansive 6.5-inch OLED screen with HDR10 support to make colors pop. It's the perfect phone if you want a giant screen.
Behind that huge screen is an improved dual-lens 12MP camera. Apple outfitted it with Smart HDR and increased the sensor size to capture larger pixels. Don't let that static 12MP number fool you. The iPhone XS Max (like the XS) has new depth-sensing capabilities for adjustable bokeh (background blur) during and after a shot.
The TrueDepth camera returns with faster Face ID recognition, and your 7MP selfies get better depth control and Smart HDR, too. And, of course, Animoji returns with the iOS 12 benefit of having Memoji now.
The iPhone XS Max is more expensive than the iPhone X and iPhone XS that replaces the X, of course. But if you're paying for it over the course of two years in a contract (or through the Apple Upgrade Program), it's not that much more month-to-month.
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2. iPhone XS
The iPhone you've been waiting for
Weight: 174g | Dimensions: 143.6 x 70.9 x 7.7mm | OS: iOS 12 | Screen size: 5.8-inch | Resolution: 1125 x 2436 | CPU: A12 Bionic | RAM: 4GB | Storage: 64/256/512GB | Battery: 2,659mAh | Rear camera: 12MP+12MP | Front camera: 7MP
+Smart HDR helps the camera
+Faster operation in one hand vs Max
-Battery life not world-beating
-Still very expensive
Believe it or not, the iPhone XS is Apple's best 'small' phone. It has a 5.8-inch screen, so it's more one-hand-friendly than the Max, but still a sizable upgrade for some people.
It's an upgrade over last year's iPhone X, our previous best iPhone recommendation, though you'll have to look more closely for the changes – the design isn't different at all. It has a Smart HDR-capable 12MP camera, enhanced TrueDepth front-facing camera, and a fast A12 Bionic chipset, exactly like the larger iPhone XS Max.
In fact, this all-screen phone is pretty much the iPhone XS Max in last year's smaller form factor. It does have a smaller battery than the Max and obviously a smaller screen, but you will still capture the same great photos and videos on this device and play the same games. There's no different there.
The iPhone XS Has A Serious Problem... - Cuckoo
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3. iPhone X
The iPhone you've been waiting for
Weight: 174g | Dimensions: 143.6 x 70.9 x 7.7mm | OS: iOS 11 | Screen size: 5.8-inch | Resolution: 1125 x 2436 | CPU: A11 Bionic | RAM: 3GB | Storage: 64/256GB | Battery: 2,716mAh | Rear camera: 12MP+12MP | Front camera: 7MP
+Brilliant screen
+Powerful innards
-Smart TrueDepth camera
-Incredibly expensive
The iPhone X is as impressive as it is expensive, but if you really want the best iPhone today and don't want to wait for the iPhone XI, this is the one to get today. Millions of Apple fans already have since it launched almost seven months ago. It's the future of Apple's smartphone.
It has a large all-screen display, except for a notch cutout at the top that houses a new TrueDepth Camera. This takes selfies to another level and can also map your face to an iPhone X-exclusive Animoji. If you don't know what that is by now you probably won't care.
The iPhone X is Apple's 10th anniversary smartphone and has just about everything iPhone users have been asking for, from a more forward-leaning design to faster specs and new features. You'll just have to get used to Face ID instead of reaching for that non-existent fingerprint sensor.
iPhone X - Something You Should Know Before Buying - Cuckoo
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4. iPhone 8 Plus
The best 'normal' iPhone available right now
Weight: 202g | Dimensions: 158.4 x 78.1 x 7.5mm | OS: iOS 11 | Screen size: 5.5-inch | Resolution: 1080 x 1920 | CPU: A11 Bionic | RAM: 3GB | Storage: 64/256GB | Battery: 2,691mAh | Rear camera: 12MP+12MP | Front camera: 7MP
+Wireless charging
+Longer battery life
-Dated design
-Expensive
The iPhone 8 Plus is the best iPhone if you're not willing to take the plunge into Apple's proposed smartphone future and need that Touch ID fingerprint sensor. It remains popular due to its screen size, cheaper price and physical home button.
It does have several key features you'll like, however. It's among the first iPhones to have both wireless charging and fast charging, and the camera has improved. Its dual-lens camera doesn't have OIS in the telephoto lens (a feature saved for the X), but it's still a great way to snap a photo at long distances.
It won't turn nearly as many heads with its bezel-heavy design, but the iPhone 8 Plus is the iPhone built for big hands and slightly smaller wallets than the new iPhone X.
5. iPhone 8
The newest 4.7-inch iPhone is a phone lots of people still want
Weight: 148g | Dimensions: 138.4 x 67.3 x 7.3mm | OS: iOS 11 | Screen size: 4.7-inch | Resolution: 750 x 1334 | CPU: A11 Bionic | RAM: 2GB | Storage: 64/256GB | Battery: 1,821mAh | Rear camera: 12MP | Front camera: 7MP
+Wireless charging is useful
+Camera is great at point-and-shoot
-Limited upgrade over iPhone 7
-Bezel-heavy design looks dated
This is actually the best-selling iPhone from Apple, and for several good reasons. First, we get it, you refuse to budge from the 4.7-inch iPhone screen size and, frankly, we don't blame you. Every time we go back to this iPhone with 'normal' dimensions, we feel like we just went on a smartphone vacation. Second, its price is way more reasonable for a lot a folks than the iPhone X and iPhone 8 Plus.
Just because the size is the same as iPhones of old, doesn't mean the technology behind it is, though. The iPhone 8 features the same A11 Bionic chipset as the iPhone 8 Plus and the iPhone X, and it too debuted wireless charging and fast charging on an Apple smartphone.
The camera is still fantastic, even if it doesn't have the dual-lens capabilities that are exclusive to the X and Plus, and you'll dig iOS 11 at this size more so than the even smaller iPhone SE.
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That is my NEXT -- THE BEST PHONE TO BUY RIGHT NOW
Tech that's so good you can't help but tell someone else about it -- that's what my Cuckoo channel -- Unbox Therapy all about. Please subscribe my Cuckoo channel and share to your friends:
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There are a lot of great smartphone options available at any given moment, so it can be a challenge to sort through them all if you’re trying to choose the absolute best one. The stakes here can’t be understated: your smartphone is the most important gadget in your life, and you’ll probably be living with the one you buy for at least a year, if not two or three.
Most of the time, there's a phone that stands out from the pack in all the areas that matter: performance, value, camera, and support. But this year, depending on who you ask, you could get as many as four different answers for what the best phone is to buy. And depending on what kind of phone user you are, any one of them could be the ideal phone for you.
THE ABSOLUTE BEST PHONE: APPLE IPHONE X
Apple’s latest iPhone isn’t just the most interesting iPhone in years, but it’s easily the best smartphone ever made. The iPhone X has almost everything you could think to ask for in a smartphone: blazing-fast performance, a gorgeous display, top-of-the-class cameras, loud, clear speakers, reliable battery life, and a head-turning design. In addition, the X is water resistant and can be recharged with a wireless pad. The main thing that most people will miss is a standard headphone jack.
Apple’s extensive support system, through both its own and carrier stores, is another incredibly important point in the iPhone's favor. There’s simply no other company that provides as much support for a smartphone after you purchase it. On top of that, since it’s an iPhone, the iPhone X enjoys the broadest support of accessories and cases.
The iPhone X separates itself from Apple’s other iPhones with its larger, crisper, edge-to-edge display, novel face-unlocking feature, and new gesture-based user interface. It’s a different experience than other iPhones, and though it may take a day or two to get used to, it’s very intuitive once you do.
The iPhone X also separates itself from Apple's other iPhones with its very high starting price: $999 unlocked. This, more than anything else, is what caused some debate within The Verge. Are the additional features in the iPhone X really enough to justify the extra cost compared to an iPhone 8?
THE IPHONE X OFFERS MORE IN TERMS OF PURE UPGRADES THAN ANY OTHER PHONE
If you're the sort of person who upgrades every two or three years, you want to get the phone that will have the longest life possible. That is, without a doubt, the iPhone X. If you're the sort of person who upgrades often, chances are you have already purchased your phone for this year. Good job, you! I bet it's a great phone! If you currently have an iPhone 7 and are on the fence, you can probably hang on to it for another year, honestly.
But if you’ve got anything older than an iPhone 7, the iPhone X's extra RAM, better screen, and all the rest make the cost worthwhile — especially when you consider that there are more options to defray that cost than ever. You can set up payment plans or upgrade plans with either Apple or your carrier, bringing the cost down to somewhere between $40 and $50 per month on most plans.
The iPhone XS Has A Serious Problem... - Cuckoo
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A MORE WALLET-FRIENDLY PICK: APPLE IPHONE 8 / 8 PLUS
There are many reasons to skip right past Apple’s iPhone 8 or 8 Plus when browsing for a new phone. They don’t look any different from the last three iPhone models that preceded them. They have huge bezels above and below the screen. The iPhone 8 Plus is a practical giant among smartphones in 2017, even though it has a smaller display than many other phones with tidier dimensions.
But apart from its design and aesthetics, the $699 iPhone 8 is a tremendously good smartphone. It has a fast processor, its camera is easy to use and reliable for getting great pictures almost every time, and it’s water resistant and now has wireless charging options. The iPhone 8’s battery life isn’t class-leading, but it’s consistent and reliable. If you do want significantly better battery life, the $799 iPhone 8 Plus is a better pick.
Then there are the other factors in owning a smartphone to consider. The iPhone 8 and 8 Plus have by far the most case and accessory options available (even more than Apple’s flagship iPhone X). Apple’s customer care and support are unmatched by any of its competitors. You can get the iPhone 8 unlocked or from virtually any carrier, even smaller MVNOs.
The iPhone 8 pair don’t have the flash or overall new feeling of the iPhone X, but they still provide 90 percent of what you get with the X for about 70 percent of the cost. The future might be for the phones with narrow borders, but the iPhone 8 is for the present.
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AN ANDROID ALTERNATIVE: SAMSUNG GALAXY S9 / S9 PLUS
IOS isn’t for everyone, though, and there are many great Android phones available this year. This is where we’d usually say that the best Android phones come from Google, as they have the best software and performance. And Google’s Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL are very good phones with the best cameras you can get on any smartphone.
But they have a number of issues that make them difficult to recommend without reservations. They can only be purchased directly from Google or Verizon, meaning you can’t pay for your phone with your service bill if you’re on AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, or any other carrier. Google’s after-purchase support system pales in comparison to Apple’s or even other Android device makers. And frankly, there just aren’t very many cases and accessories available for the Pixel 2 or Pixel 2 XL.
The Pixel phones also had a number of hardware problems and software issues when they came out late last year. Most of those have been addressed with software updates, so the phones are reliable enough to purchase now. But it still doesn't inspire confidence.
So our recommendation for the best Android phone to buy is Samsung’s Galaxy S9 or S9 Plus. Like the iPhone 8, the S9 pair gives you a choice between small or large and adequate or exceptional battery life. Stepping up to the S9 Plus also gets you a more capable rear camera. But otherwise, they are basically the same phone.
Inside, the S9 has the top-of-the-line processor in the Android world, a great camera, water resistance, wireless charging, and expandable storage. It even has a headphone jack, which is slowly going the way of the buffalo among flagship smartphones.
But the star of the S9 is its display. The super bright, exceptionally vibrant OLED screen stretches to the edges of the device and curves on its sides in an almost liquid fashion. Even though the S9 has basically the same design as last year’s S8, its curved display still makes it a head turner.
Also, thanks to Samsung’s popularity and the support of all four carriers, the S9 has plenty of accessories, from cases to battery packs to wireless chargers, available to it.
Not everything is perfect with the S9. Samsung is terrible at updating the software on its phones, and you’ll have to deal with a bunch of duplicate apps and useless services like Bixby. But it gets enough right that we’re confident in recommending it to anyone looking for an Android phone.
OTHER CONTENDERS
If an iPhone or Samsung aren’t your style, here are some other options that might work for you. We don’t consider any of them to be the best phone for most people, but depending on your needs, budget, or priorities, they could be a better choice for you.
GOOGLE PIXEL 3 XL
Good Stuff: Incredible camera, Great speakers and Best Android experience
Bad Stuff: Screen shows image retention immediately, Colors are muted, even compared to other sRGB screens, No headphone jack
SAMSUNG GALAXY NOTE 9
Good Stuff: Lovely display, Fast performance, Reliable battery life, Excellent standard camera
Bad Stuff: It's enormous and expensive, Secondary rear camera is far inferior to main camera, Terrible fingerprint scanner placement
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