Smartphones are one of the most popular New Year gifts. According to statistics compiled by the audit company Deloitte, 37% of Russians want to see a new phone under the New Year tree. And if you decide to switch to the new year with a new gadget, or just studying the question of which smartphone is better to buy in 2018, we will be happy to help.
We present to you the rating of smartphones in 2018, the places in which were distributed in accordance with the average position according to authoritative ratings:
- PhoneArena,
- TechRadar,
- TomsGuide,
- TopTensReview,
- Gadget review
- Cnet
- T3
Our collections of the best smartphones of 2018:
Brand Country: European (A-Class); Chinese with Aliexpress.
Brand Name: Samsung; Xiaomi Sony Huawei.
Price segment, rubles: up to 5000; up to 10000; up to 15000; up to 20,000; up to 25000; up to 30,000.
Availability: inexpensive; the most expensive.
Features: push-button; the best camera; camera + battery; protected.
Trends: new items of the year; the most anticipated.
10. Honor 9
Reasons to buy: Great price, the device fits comfortably in your hand and looks very stylish.
Reasons not to buy: very slippery, there is a backlash of the volume and lock buttons.
Our rating is opened by a 5.1-inch smartphone, which instantly attracts admiringly envious glances. And all thanks to the curved 3D glass and photo-engraving technology, thanks to which the surface of the device is beautifully poured, like a smooth surface.
A very fast fingerprint scanner, excellent cameras (8 MP and dual 12 MP and 20 MP) with bokeh effect, a convenient Emotion UI interface and the Kirin 960 chipset with support for the latest graphics standard Vulkan API make the price of a smartphone quite reasonable - 25 thousand rubles .
Although, perhaps, the Honor 9 lacks the innovations that make the phone a real flagship device.
9. HTC U11
Reasons to buy: superior sound, premium design.
Reasons not to buy: fragile, slippery.
This 5.5-inch smartphone with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 processor is one of the most beautiful flagships of smartphones in 2018 and the best camera phone according to DxOMark. He is “clad” in a glass case with the effect of refraction of light and protection against water, and his camera (12 MP and 16 MP) is only slightly worse than the iPhone X. At the same time, the HTC U11 is superior in sound quality to other flagship models and can be considered the best smartphone for music lovers. The active noise reduction system will not allow external stimuli to spoil your enjoyment of your favorite song.
Clicking on the side edges of the smartphone activates an option called Edge Sense. It allows you to call Google Assistant, take photos, open your favorite programs and perform many other actions.
The cost of HTC U11 starts at 37,290 rubles.
8. Huawei Mate 10 Pro
Reasons to buy: Long battery life, premium design, Leica cameras.
Reasons not to buy: "Normal" HD screen.
The Mate 10 Pro is the latest flagship of the Chinese company Huawei, and it is the perfect smartphone for the businessman. Its battery holds a charge for two days even with intensive work, it is convenient to read texts on a large 6-inch screen, and the 8-core Kirin 970 chip does not slow down in the most “heavy” applications.
One of the best features of the device is the ability to turn it into a mobile PC by connecting to an external display. This requires a USB-C-HDMI cable, not a docking station, which makes the device more portable and, as a result, immeasurably more useful.
The dual camera (color 12 MP and black and white 20MP) of the Leica brand in the Mate 10 Pro can produce very clear images with natural color reproduction. There is a laser focus and optical image stabilization.
But at a price of 49 thousand rubles - the smartphone significantly loses to the next participant in the selection.
7. OnePlus 5T
Reasons to buy: Where else can you find a flagship with such an attractive price? Moreover, its design is simply magnificent.
Reasons to refuse a purchase: It’s not waterproof, and the screen is just HD.
OnePlus stormed the mobile world in 2014 with one goal - releasing “flagship killers”. And her latest creation - OnePlus 5T - undoubtedly achieved this goal.
The gadget meets the latest trends in the world of smartphones, including an impressive 6-inch bezel-less display and a dual rear camera (16 MP F / 1.7 + 20 MP F / 1.7) with portrait mode. These new features are backed up by powerful specifications (Qualcomm's Snapdragon 835 chip, 6 or 8 GB RAM and 64 or 128 GB user memory), lightning-fast fingerprint sensor, and premium design.
And all this at a price below 30 thousand rubles!
The disadvantages of this new smartphone in 2018 include the fact that the aluminum case does not have waterproofing, and the screen is HD, not QHD (2K).
6. Google Pixel 2
Reasons to buy: great camera and great software.
Reasons not to buy: there is no jack 3.5 connector, although the smartphone is metal, but in the hand it feels like plastic.
Although the design of this 5-inch smartphone and inferior to devices from Apple and Samsung, he admires his camera and software directly from Google. Including there is a Google assistant who has learned to distinguish between contexts and gives practical clues in response to user requests. It can be called by squeezing the side faces of the phone.
And thanks to the function of detecting objects in the Camera application and in the Google Photos application, the camera lens of a smartphone can recognize everything from sights and restaurants to posters and even phone numbers on signs.
Another interesting feature is AR stickers. With it, you can embed franchise characters such as Stranger Things and Star Wars directly into your images.
Pixel 2 is included in the ranking of the best smartphones in terms of value for money.
5. Apple iPhone 8 (8 Plus)
Reasons to buy: great camera, convenient wireless charging
Reasons not to buy: iPhone X is much prettier.
The iPhone 8 was one of the most anticipated smartphones of the year. If you prefer iOS rather than Android and don't want to overpay for a frameless iPhone X, then the Iphone 8/8 + is an excellent choice.
The difference between the normal and the “plus” models is in screen size and weight. The Iphone 8 has a 4.7 ”screen with a resolution of 1334 × 750 and a weight of 148 g, while the Plus model is larger (5.5” with a resolution of 1920 × 1080) and heavier (202 g). Well, of course, the price of the models varies, from 62,990 rubles for the Apple iPhone 8 Plus to 52,990 rubles for the Apple iPhone 8.
In its new product, Apple decided to stick to a design similar to the iPhone 7, replacing the all-metal casing with glass and making it heavier. However, the design of the main competitor - the Samsung Galaxy S8 - makes the iPhone 8 look a bit outdated.
4. LG V30
Reasons to buy: A delightful wide-angle camera, there is a headphone port.
Reasons not to buy: problems with contrast at low brightness.
The camera is one of the most important aspects of high-end smartphones. And the 6-inch Lg V30 with this aspect is just great. The main 16 megapixel lens has an f / 1.6 aperture. This is the largest aperture that mobile phones have. And this means that more light will get on the camera’s matrix and even in the dark, photos will be obtained perfectly.
The secondary 13-megapixel wide-angle lens has an aperture of f / 1.9. A wide angle will be adjusted, which will minimize line distortion (distortion).
The smartphone can shoot 4K video at 30 frames per second or at 240 frames per second at 720p in slow motion. The manufacturer claims that the video quality of the V30 is comparable to feature films. This is the result of applying effects in a collection called Cine Video. There you will find 16 filters: from the "thriller" to the "romantic comedy".
And now for the cons: with a low level of brightness on the Quad HD + screen with curved corners, shadow details are lost, which is why the dark areas are indistinguishable. You can fix this by raising the brightness level to the maximum.
The price of Lg V30 is about 60 thousand rubles.
3. Samsung Galaxy Note 8
Reasons to buy: Large, beautiful screen, high performance.
Reasons not to buy: expensive, inconvenient location of a fingerprint scanner.
This is the best frameless phone with a large screen. Its size is 6.3 inches. At the same time, the device has the same narrow aspect ratio (18.5: 9) as the Galaxy S8 and S8 +, so it is convenient to hold it in your hand. And since the Note 8 screen supports HDR (high dynamic range), you can enjoy more contrasting colors when streaming HDR content.
The smartphone has more RAM than the Galaxy S8 / 8 + - 6 GB versus 4 GB. And the main camera with 12 MP + 12 MP modules offers optical image stabilization and a customizable background blur effect even before you take a photo.
Together with the device, you can use the S Pen stylus, the best opportunity of which is “Live Message”. This feature turns your scribbles into animated GIFs that you can send to friends.
For all this luxury, you have to fork out large, as the price of the Galaxy Note 8 starts at 55,990 rubles. Maybe it's worth the wait, as its follower, Note 9 is already one of the most anticipated smartphones of 2019.
2. Samsung Galaxy S8 (S8 +)
Reasons to buy: amazing design, advanced "filling"
Reasons not to buy: inconvenient location of the fingerprint sensor, dear.
The Samsung Galaxy S8 (like its larger version 8+) is the best Android smartphone in the top 10 best smartphones of 2018. Although Apple’s gadget tops the list, there’s simply no alternative to the Galaxy S8 for Android fans.
This smartphone boasts a brilliant Infinity Edge display, which occupies 84% of the “body” and cutting-edge features. The Exynos 8895 chip is 20% faster than its predecessor (Snapdragon 821), holds the battery longer and does not get warmer in heavy applications, compared to the Samsung Galaxy version 7. Cameras (12 MP and 8 MP) provide excellent image quality, thanks to which the Galaxy S8 and 8+ models are among the ten best camera phones in the world.
In size, the 5.8-inch S8 fits perfectly in your hand, but if you like bigger smartphones, then Samsung offers the Galaxy S8 +, which is equipped with a massive 6.2-inch display.
What is surprising is the strange location of the fingerprint sensor, which is located next to the camera and the poor implementation of the Bixby voice assistant. And the price of this device is not at all budgetary - about 50-60 thousand rubles.
1. Apple iPhone X
Reasons to buy: This smartphone is incredibly stylish, equipped with the most energy-efficient and powerful chip that Apple devices have.
Reasons not to buy: It is very expensive. SquareTrade experts recognized that Apple’s most fragile smartphone, if it falls even to the side, it will still fail.
Is the iPhone X (review) the best smartphone of 2018? Yes, although the Samsung Galaxy S8 is literally on its heels (especially if you prefer Android), while the Apple iPhone 8 Plus gives you all the features of the iPhone X at no extra cost.
The first thing that strikes the design of the new product is its 5.8-inch Super Retina display from edge to edge and with a resolution of 2436 by 1125 pixels.
In addition to the frameless display, the device is equipped with Apple's lightning fast A11 Bionic processor with the Neural Engine neural processor. Thanks to him, the iPhone X is the first device in the smartphone market that can record video in 4K resolution at 60 FPS or 1080p at 240 FPS.
An improved dual-camera smartphone with a resolution of 12 MP received optical stabilization in two photomodules at once, the absence of which users of the seventh version of the iPhone complained about.
We must not forget about one of the "chips" of the new product - face recognition mode, it is also FaceID. With it, you can unlock your smartphone, protect applications, and even use the Apple Pay payment system. Focus with presenting a smartphone with a user's photo will not work, since working with FaceID requires a three-dimensional image.
Of course, we must mention the price. IPhone X costs almost 80 thousand rubles, which makes it the most expensive iPhone to date.
Is it worth that amount? Complex issue. If, when buying a smartphone, you first of all pay attention to the fame and prestige of the brand, then there are very few alternatives to the iPhone X. This is essentially a luxury item, plus the best smartphone in appearance and one of the best in specifications.
