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Choosing among the best Android phones 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.
The Samsung Galaxy S24 is the top option among the best Android phones in our testing. It’s a stellar overall phone that would suit the vast majority of Android users. If you’re looking for something with a more modest price tag, the Google Pixel 8a comes enthusiastically recommended.
Our top picks for the best Android phones
Best overall: Samsung Galaxy S24 – See at Amazon
Best budget: Google Pixel 8a – See at Amazon
Best camera: Google Pixel 9 Pro – See at Verizon
Best battery life: Google Pixel 9 Pro XL – See at Amazon
Best small phone: Samsung Galaxy S24 – See at Amazon
Best foldable phone: Google Pixel 9 Pro Fold – See at Amazon
Best overall
Samsung Galaxy S24
The Galaxy S24 runs on the most powerful processor for Android phones in 2024. It includes three excellent cameras, a super-smooth 120Hz display, Samsung’s effective AI features, and stellar battery life, especially for a smaller phone.
With its three cameras, unmatched performance, and sleek minimalist design, the Samsung Galaxy S24 outclasses the Android competition in its sub-$1,000 price range. When value is considered, there is simply no finer Android phone you can buy in the current 2024 season.
Specifically, the Galaxy S24’s versatile triple-camera system and sheer performance set it apart from its main similarly priced competitor, the Google Pixel 9. The Galaxy S24 runs on the same Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 processor as the $1,300 Galaxy S24 Ultra, and it’s among the few phones in the $800 range with three cameras.
Antonio Villas-Boas/Business Insider
Indeed, the Galaxy S24’s performance today imparts more confidence than other Android phones that it’ll stay snappy and smooth for a considerable time.
The Galaxy S24 takes great photos, but its camera quality is comparatively weak relative to top competitors in the premium phone market. Though Samsung somewhat addressed a previous-generation issue of oversaturated coloring with the Galaxy S24 series, the lighting in Galaxy S24 photos can still be inconsistent. It occasionally results in bland, depthless photos or overexposure in brighter details, and it happens more often than we’d like.
Still, the Galaxy S24’s cameras are more than good enough for most people, and its dedicated 3x optical zoom lens offers versatility that most other Android phones in this price range don’t match. 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 S24 is an excellent choice in the $800 range.
Read our full Samsung Galaxy S24 review, and see our guide to the best Samsung Galaxy S24 cases to protect the phone.
Best budget
Google Pixel 8a
The Pixel 8a is nominally a budget version of the Pixel 8, but you’d have a hard time telling them apart. The Pixel 8a dominates in its price range and comes easily recommended thanks to its stellar value relative to its performance, camera quality, and high-end display.
Google’s Pixel 8a is a pragmatic champion for the budget-conscious; it’s all most people really need. For $499 at MSRP, it offers the same Google Tensor G3 processor as Google’s flagship Pixel 8 phones for high-end performance. It has a 120Hz display for a smooth experience, and its cameras can easily rival those on phones that cost twice as much.
Its more affordable price reflects its plastic back, thicker borders around the display, and a slow but acceptable 18W charging speed. In everyday use, none of these less-than-premium traits negatively affect the experience of using the Pixel 8a.
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In our intensive battery test, the 6.1-inch Pixel 8a’s 61% result exceeded that of high-end phones with similar screen sizes, like the 6.2-inch Galaxy S24 (59%) and even some with bigger screens, like the 6.7-inch Galaxy S24 Plus (60%).
The Pixel 8a 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, it’s a splurge that makes up for its price, as the Pixel 8a’s performance will stay sprightly for years longer than less expensive phones with less powerful processors. Like the Pixel 9 series, the Pixel 8a also runs Google’s Gemini Nano large language model to power most of the company’s recent AI features.
Read our full Google Pixel 8a review, and see our guide to the best Google Pixel 8a cases to protect the phone.
Best camera
Google Pixel 9 Pro
The Pixel 9 Pro is like the base Pixel 9 with an additional 5x zoom camera and a few further upgrades, like a slightly brighter display and extra RAM for advanced AI features.
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 photos and videos 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.
Antonio Villas-Boas/Business Insider
Antonio Villas-Boas/Business Insider
We also found that the Pixel 9 Pro isn’t as dependent on optimal lighting conditions as Samsung’s Galaxy S24 Ultra to capture sharp photos of moving subjects, like kids and pets. Indeed, images taken in less ideal lighting conditions with the Galaxy S24 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 first-rate videos with excellent 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.
Read our Google Pixel 9 Pro hands-on assessment, and see our guide to the best Google Pixel 9 Pro cases to protect the phone.
Best battery life
Google Pixel 9 Pro XL
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. It also has a first-rate three-lens camera system and Google’s super-bright Actua display.
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 result among Android phones in our battery stress test, ending the test with a stunning 70% remaining.
That’s a phenomenal result. The premium Android phone with the next best score is the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra with 66%. Indeed, most phones with large displays score between 60% and 62%.
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With its result, the Pixel 9 Pro XL has the highest likelihood 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.
Read our Google Pixel 9 Pro XL hands-on assessment, and see our guide to the best Google Pixel 9 Pro XL cases to protect the phone.
Best small phone
Not only is the Samsung Galaxy S24 the best Android phone overall, but it’s also among the most compact and lightest worthwhile Android phones available in the US. It has a 6.2-inch display, but the black borders of the display are so narrow that they keep the phone surprisingly compact. It’s also incredibly lightweight, at only 5.9 ounces.
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The Galaxy S24 surprised us with its battery life. It ended our battery test with 59%, which is a good score for a small or large phone. The Galaxy S24 Plus, for example, scored 60% in the same test.
Read our full Samsung Galaxy S24 review, and see our guide to the best Samsung Galaxy S24 cases to protect the phone.
Best foldable phone
Google Pixel 9 Pro Fold
The Pixel 9 Pro Fold’s 6.3-inch exterior display is the same shape and size as the Pixel 9 Pro, making it familiar and comfortable to use as a simple phone. Unfolding it reveals an 8-inch tablet, which is among the biggest you can find in a foldable phone.
When it comes to foldable phones, we prefer the book-style design over clamshell flip-style designs. Book-style foldables are significantly more expensive, but they offer vastly greater functionality with their tablet displays, and you don’t have to worry as much about battery life as you do with clamshell foldables.
The first foldable phone we’d recommend to most people is Google’s 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.
Indeed, at 8 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.
Antonio Villas-Boas/Business Insider
Antonio Villas-Boas/Business Insider
Running on Google’s Tensor G4 processor, the Pixel 9 Pro Fold is beaten in benchmark results by almost every other foldable available 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.
The Pixel 9 Pro Fold offers a comfortable experience familiar 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 hands-on assessment, and see our guide to the best Google Pixel 9 Pro Fold cases to protect the phone.
Which is the best Android phone?
The best Android phone we recommend to most people is the Samsung Galaxy S24. For its $800 starting price, the Galaxy S24 offers an ideal balance of performance, camera quality, camera options, and features.
How we test Android phones
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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 phone models 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 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 most of the current mid-range and budget phones from both companies.
From Motorola, we’ve tested the 2024 Moto G and Moto G Power 5G as contenders for the best budget Android phone. Out of the two, we’d only consider buying the Moto G Power, thanks to its superior performance. It’s less expensive than the Pixel 8a, and it would be a solid pick if you can’t justify a $500 price tag.
We’ve also tested the OnePlus Open, one of our long-standing picks among the best foldable phones, alongside the OnePlus 12 phones. We were convinced the OnePlus 12 or OnePlus 12R would feature in this guide, but we faced issues when using the Geekbench 6 benchmarking app, which we use to test battery life.
For some reason, both the OnePlus 12 and OnePlus 12R obtained inconsistent and significantly lower scores in Geekbench 6 than we’d expect from their processors, which put our battery test results for the phones in doubt. The odd benchmark results also questioned whether we were experiencing the intended performance and full potential of both OnePlus devices.
The issue hasn’t been resolved, and we can’t confidently recommend the OnePlus 12 or OnePlus 12R.
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 years of Android operating system and security updates offered by the Samsung Galaxy S24 series and the Google Pixel 9 phones, including the Pixel 8a.