This year has finally shaken up the
smartphone markets we've had new
contenders phones that have vastly
improved as well as past Giants who've
just fallen off the radar so because
it's been such a big one I have custom
designed 10 different trophies to award
to the winners of our 10 different
categories all leading up to the single
best smartphone in the market right now
and the winner of this giant thing so
let's start with the most improved award
which company has made the biggest jump
from their last phone and it has to be
Google look at this Beast of a trophy
I'm so proud of this when their pixel 6
launched last year it gave us this
glimpse of something special a bit of
never before seen software magic but it
was kind of hard to appreciate it when
the phone was plagued with reception
issues bugs and glitches all round a
wonky fingerprint scanner and some
pretty grainy looking video recording I
can see pixels in the pixel so
considering all of that I am genuinely
shocked that in one year they fixed all
of those issues with the pixel 7s and
that allows you to focus on what
actually makes them so special things
like the Lively animated software and
the incredible photo processing this
award is all yours Google so then we've
got kind of the opposite award what's
the most timeless phone or in other
words which phone from last year still
holds up the best this year for which
the iPhone 13 feels like a bit of a
no-brainer partly because it's still a
solid phone it's fast it's got good
battery and it's got four more years of
full-on software support from now and
it's partly the fact that it's
replacement the iPhone 14 is almost the
same phone now I am someone who would
normally always side with paying a
little bit more to get the latest but in
this particular case for an extra
hundred dollars you'd only be getting a
camera that's very slightly better a
chip that's basically the same and then
a battery life that's actually slightly
worse or leading the iPhone 13 to set as
a prime disc counted sweet spot phone
right now but what if you like it tiny
I've got some good news for you that's
right it's time for the best small phone
award I've even got this mini trophy
made just for it oh that's adorable and
this one's actually been really easy for
me because yeah you've got great small
phones like the pixel 7 like the Samsung
Galaxy s22 but the Asus Zenfone 9 is not
just even smaller than all of them but
it's also doing that while basically
being a top of the line Flagship it's
got the fastest chip you can get up to
16 gigs of RAM a really responsive
screen and even a six axis gimbal
stabilized camera which lets it take
some of the smoothest Video available on
a smartphone oh yeah and on top of
everything else
it has a headphone jack now you're just
showing off Asus but this trophy is
rightfully yours the Samsung Z flip 4 is
also one of my favorite small phones
given that the thing can literally fold
in half but you do have to pay about one
and a half times the price for that
luxury so it's not for everyone speaking
of foldables though if you've already
decided that this is the route that you
want to go down then who do you pick
given that Oppo is now making foldables
Vivo is making foldables xiaomi's making
foldables well I have to say I think
that as of right now Oppo is the one who
currently has the best foldable Hardware
they're the only ones who currently have
a shape that makes sense in both folded
form where it's basically a slightly
podgy but pretty normal feeling thrown
and then unfolded where it's a tablet
that's actually widescreen and you can
watch videos on whilst almost
eliminating the crease then you've got
xiaomi who's got by far the thinnest
foldable to the point where even when
it's folded up the thing is barely
thicker than a normal single layered
phone but then Samsung is the one who
has the best foldable software and
really if you're going to spend over
fifteen hundred dollars on Hardware then
I would say that nothing is more
important than software that lets you
best take advantage of it like this
taskbar at the bottom is an actual game
changer I'm flying through all of my
most recent and most used apps and you
can even save combinations that you'd
normally want to open at the same time
plus the thing that seals the deal for
Samsung's foldables is the availability
this is changing and I'm really excited
about it but for now most other
companies have only released their
foldables in China more as a proof of
concept before going full-on global mass
production I can't wait to see what this
table looks like when we've got all the
trophies out I'm really excited about
this next one this
the gaming awards for the last six
months I've been absolutely addicted to
this phone game called Bloons Tower
Defense it looks simple but as you get
further into the game the amount of
particles on screen gets completely out
of control to the point where it pushes
your phone to its absolute limit and so
I've been keeping an extra eye out for a
phone that can actually handle it and
there's any really three globally
available contenders there's the iPhone
14 pro which is great because Apple's
a16 chip is basically the most powerful
thing you can get on any smartphone and
that games on Apple tend to be a bit
more optimized than games on Android but
it doesn't quite win it for me the phone
gets hot after a period of time it
crashes when you really really push it
and it's also just not the most
comfortable thing to hold for hours at a
time there's the red magic 7s Pro which
is a really tempting package being one
of the only gaming phones with a
borderless display with also really
powerful hardware for the 800 you get it
for there's definitely a place for this
one but you also kind of get what you
pay for what you gain in Hardware you
lose in software support you'll only get
most likely one year of major Android
updates Plus in order to get this
bezel's design they've had to use an
under-display camera which is just not
quite there yet you can actually see the
pixel arrangement of the screen in front
of the camera on the light behind me so
the phone that I think really deserves
the win here
so heavy the Rog phone 6 Pro it's pretty
much halfway in between red Magic's
philosophy of let's just throw some
stupidly high-end specs together and see
what happens and the iPhone which is
meticulously planned out and highly
optimized and what that leads you to is
really powerful hardware and great
cooling that's also had some care put
into it on the software front and that
makes it one of the only gaming phones
that doesn't feel like gaming is its
sole purpose it's just a general
multimedia Powerhouse with also the best
speakers and the best battery of any
mainstream device no biggie and if
you're enjoying this video and this
lovely little awards ceremony we've put
together then a sub to the channel would
be
game changing what if you don't want to
spend a thousand dollars though well the
way that it tends to work in the phone
market is that the lower down you go on
the budget ladder the more dominated the
market becomes by xiaomi and Oppo or
more specifically the spin-off companies
that they've created because these guys
focus on a higher volume of sales as
opposed to profit per unit they're the
only companies who even consider it
worth it to pack in genuinely strong
Hardware into these sub 300 packages
like this guy the OnePlus Nord ce2
cringes it sounds this is one of the
first times that I think a phone has
genuinely held up to its own tagline
their page describes it as a little more
than you'd expect and whether it's
performance or charging speed or the
screen you can feel it here you've also
got real me who I would say are even
more militant were just cramming in
every spec that they possibly can for
prices that you didn't see coming and
they tend to pair that with these
incredibly bright bold designs that I
personally find delightful but I could
also see how you might think they look
like toys the phone that just edits it
out though and for me the winner of 2022
budget smartphone of the year is the
Poco X4 Pro and we've even got a budget
font to show for him it's got the spec X
it's got the design and it also
prioritizes battery life which is just
one of those consumer friendly moves
that I want to see more and more
companies doing these trophies are so
cool you've managed to get the separate
elevation of each different part of the
camera module and now just before we get
to the best Flagship and the overall
phone of the year we've got a really
competitive lineup of mid-ranges this
time around we talked about the pixel 7
that just goes above and beyond there's
the 2022 iPhone SE the only phone at
this price to actually give you full
Flagship performance the Poco F4 which
is a glowing example of how capable
apocal phone can be when you give the
company more budget to work with
Samsung's mid-range phones which have
felt like a bit of a return to form
after a few years of some not so great
offerings but I'm not giving the award
to any of these phones this award is
going to a new Contender a company who's
just entered the smartphone market and
considering that has hit a complete home
run I'm talking about the nothing phone
one it's got intriguing design Reliable
Software and cameras and more noticeably
a level of attention to detail that you
only get from an ambitious company
trying to prove themselves in an
unforgiving Market I'm genuinely excited
to see what is coming next from these
guys alrighty it's Flagship time and
what I've decided to do is to split this
into best iPhone Flagship and their best
Android Flagship because let's face it
most people have already decided what
platform they're going to go for so if
your iPhone then the best iPhone
Flagship this is going to blow your mind
it's the latest iPhone the 14 pro and
the 14 pro Max they've got fantastic
cameras blindingly bright displays and
even though I have turned off the new
always on display feature and even
though the battery has taken a slight
hit from last year they are still
undeniably the best iPhones ever made
and then while we're at it if you are in
the market for iPhones but don't want to
spend that much money then here is my
advice the iPhone 14 plus is a good
unique option that gives you remarkable
battery life for noticeably less money
at 899 the normal sized iPhone 14
probably isn't worth it for 799 if
you're considering that and I would
instead get the incredibly similar
iPhone 13 for 699 and if you want to
spend less than that then my
recommendation would be instead of going
for the 429 iPhone SE which is a pretty
compromised screen and Battery to just
go used or refurbished and get an iPhone
12. there's a lot more options on the
Android end because while not every
company wants to make budget phones
everyone does want to make flagships
that's where you actually earn some
sizable profit so you've got every brand
competing together Samsung Vivo Sony
Oppo xiaomi OnePlus and you know what
this isn't a super popular opinion but I
actually rate the OnePlus 10 Pro quite a
lot it's not as groundbreaking as some
of their earlier flagships but the
smartphone market is quite an equalizing
system meaning that when a phone is
unpopular you'll find that it's priced
very quickly tumbles to try and correct
that and that results in situations like
this where you have a near top spec
Android phone and yet you can find this
on the official store for 699 brand new
which is a bargain obviously there's
Samsung 2 which is the default option
for a lot of Android users for a reason
and while I would probably skip the
standard s22 for its weaker battery life
the s22 plus is a very reliable
all-rounder and then the s22 ultra is
kind of like the everything button every
2022 smartphone feature insane camera
zoom built-in stylus long lasting
battery it just has all of it not to
mention Vivo and xiaomi who are also
both just killing it right now they have
probably the two best phones for
photography on the market but the lack
of availability means that there's a
decent chance you would have to import
and so the smartphone that is actually
taking home this trophy for the best
Android phone of 2022 is the Google
pixel 7 Pro it is the easiest Flagship
to recommend for two reasons one that
it's incredibly simple and simple to set
up with a fast transfer adapter in the
box simple to use with software that's
both intuitive and filled with helpful
tutorials and also simple to take
incredible photos with with a camera
that doesn't overload you with options
but instead just does all the hard work
without you even realizing and then two
it's 899 which is 100 to 200 cheaper
than most top-end Flagship phones if
you're a company watching this by the
way then please do ask for these
trophies they are all yours so who wins
this then who has really thought about
the user who has cut the things that
perhaps didn't matter as much who is
going above and beyond in terms of
delivering value to the consumer well in
my eyes the answer is again
Google pixel 7 Pro
and you have this trophy to show for it
I've seen a few people say that the 599
base pixel 7 is better value but I
genuinely think that the pro has more
than enough perks to justify the 300
difference so let's say that you do end
up buying one of these best phones of
the year the case defy bounce is one of
the best cases to protect it with the
company figured out that 70 of phones
when they fall hit the ground on one of
their corners and it's when all the
force is concentrated into a small area
like that that you're most likely to
damage it so they've created specialized
air cavities in these bounce Corners
they're inspired by Air Max sneaker
culture and they're there to add
rigidity and create structural support
and it's kind of insane because this
combined with the ecoshock material
makes this bounce case drop proof all
the way up to 21.3 feet or in other
words six times military grade
protection at this point you'll be
having to try to break your phone
they've got over 2 000 designs to pick
from support for straps so you don't