I already know what the best phone of 2025 should be

In the past five years, it has been very easy to understand what phone will remain in the memories as the best Android phone of the year by us who work here Android authority and our readers. Our favorites often seem to switch between the best non -reducable phones of Samsung and Google. Sometimes Google wins our hearts (and our internal vote; the Google Pixel 9 Pro was elected best of 2024 by Android authority), and sometimes Samsung tears everyone up (the Galaxy S24 Ultra was elected best of 2024 by our readers), while other phones rarely manage to stay long enough in our collective memory to be considered “the best of everything that is at the end of the year.”

However, I sincerely hope that it will change in 2025. I think that the OnePlus 13 is already the best phone of 2025 and will probably continue to keep this crown throughout the year.

Samsung, Apple, and, to a lesser extent, Google has been in an innovation crisis in the past year. Samsung and Apple essentially filled their main smartphones with a new processor and a minimum of other changes. Google has at least updated the conceptions of the Pixel 9 series and has done a good job to make several modifications to other material elements. But even then, he still played relatively sure things.

OnePlus, however, threw the book of rules this year. Compared to the OnePlus 12, the OnePlus 13 sees several substantial upgrades. It also incorporates new technologies that we have not yet seen in many other phones, considerably improving one of the most important pain of any smartphone: the battery life.

Let’s start with material upgrades. First of all, and more obviously, the OnePlus 13 comes with the Elite Snapdragon 8 processor, a chip beast. This is the same basic chip in the ultra galaxy S25, but the version of Samsung is slightly overclocking in order to improve performance. In our tests, however, the OnePlus 13 has so well optimized the things it still beats the Galaxy S25 ultra by coherent margins, even if it has become a little hotter to achieve it:

OnePlus has also increased two of its rear camera lenses. The main objective is the same, but the telephoto lens gets a much larger sensor for better light intake and impressive zoom results in our tests, and ultrairs gets a new sensor with a few additional megapixels. When you combine these upgrades with new software adjustments, you get one of the best camera phones on the market – something very few OnePlus phones could have done.

There are so many other upgrades, including official IP68 And The IP69 notes, an ultrasonic fingerprint sensor, a completely flat display and a lower weight while keeping the same basic dimensions of the OnePlus 12 body.

However, the most notable upgrade is the battery. As usual, OnePlus blows all the other competitors in the United States by offering 80 W Fulgurating Cabini loads (with the appropriate charger in the box!) In addition to the 50W wireless load. Unlike the past, however, the phone has a larger 6,000 mm battery in silicon carbon, which we have not seen in any other phone in the United States before. Carbon silicon batteries can contain more energy in less space than typical lithium-ion batteries, which allows the OnePlus 13 to have a better battery life than any other flagship phone available in the United States today.

In simple terms, by looking at it objectively, the OnePlus 13 is a massive step on the OnePlus 12, sponge the ground with most other phones in a Spec-For-Specte match, and starts at only $ 899. How does it not make a head sign like the best Android phone of 2025?

You may have noticed that, in the previous section, I said “in the United States” a little. Indeed, many Chinese phones offer something very convincing and could even usurp the OnePlus 13 as the best of 2025. Unfortunately, however, none of these phones never comes to the United States. In some cases, they will not even leave China. This makes it a difficult sale for the status of “best of the year”.

Take the Xiaomi 15 Ultra, for example (illustrated above). It has one of the best cameras on any phone and also has the same silicon-carbon battery technology as the OnePlus 13. It is available now in Europe and the United Kingdom, but it will never arrive in the United States. It also arrives at the EU / United Kingdom with a smaller battery (5,410 mAh) and costs hundreds more than any OnePlus phone, it is therefore really missing at the top of the OnePlus 13 in a few respects.

The Oppo Find X8 Ultra (Oppo and OnePlus are part of the same business family) at the top of the OnePlus 13, including the capacity of the battery, the quality of the camera and the load speeds. This phone does not even arrive at the EU or the United Kingdom, as it will be trapped as an exclusive China in the predictable future.

The rumor that Vivo X200 Ultra could also give the OnePlus 13 a race for his money in several ways (Vivo is also part of the same family as OPPO and OnePlus), but it will be another very limited launch.

The fact is that, although there are a lot of phones better than the OnePlus 13, there is nothing available worldwide – including the United States – which can go from specification against. This should easily give one step ahead of other phones that could be superior to paper but are not available on the third world smartphones market.

I know what you think: it is not until April, so how can I be so confident that nothing will beat the OnePlus 13 before the end of 2025? Well, we have already seen a main competitor, the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra ($ 1299.99 on Amazon). Although this phone is undoubtedly great, I have already explained how it still cannot beat the OnePlus 13 in certain very important aspects – namely the battery life, load speeds and processing power. Of course, it is always a favorite of fans and can win simply because it almost always does it, but objectively taken, the OnePlus 13 ($ 899.99 in OnePlus) Much more for much less – $ 400 less, to be specific.

What about pixels? Thanks to the Google fleeing ship, we already know a lot about the Pixel 10 series. We know that the two non -repressable pro phones will not see an overhaul or no upgrade of the camera. We also know that Tensor G5 – while being a very interesting processor that we are delighted to see in action – will not be able to hold a candle at the raw power of the Snapdragon 8 elite. We do not yet know with certainty, but we have heard nothing to suggest batteries in silicon -carbon or faster load speeds, so OnePlus will almost certainly take the cake.

And Apple? Although some of our most “passionate” readers do not like it, a pro-level iPhone of a given year makes it quite far in our reader’s voting laps (it reached the Final Four last year and in 2023). However, like the Pixel 10 series, rumors suggest that the iPhone 17 series will not see too many crazy upgrades.

Really, only foldables like the Galaxy Z Fold 7 remains (but the first rumors do not point to a huge upgrade either), the Galaxy S25 Edge (a joker, at best), and the “air” iPhone (air “(I don’t expect it too much at all). There is nothing else on the horizon that I even see closer to a status of” best phone “.

However, there is one more phone on which I have eyes: the OnePlus 13T. This could be similar to a OnePlus 13, but has cut internally to integrate into a 6.3 -inch body. Although I do not think it has a chance to remove the spotlight from its biggest brother, I personally look forward to this phone, because it could end up being a compact lighthouse that would potentially divert the Pixel 9 Pro. Of course, time will tell us if it goes to the United States or not.

What do you think? Does the OnePlus 13 stand well against the big boys of Samsung, Google and Apple? Or are you expecting surprising contenders before the end of the year? Let me know in the comments and make sure you vote in the survey above!