As 2025 draws to a close and a new year gets ready to see new phones, it’s time to check out the year that was in mobiles. What were the best phones of 2025?
It’s the end of the year, and we’re counting another year of phone reviews. We’ve seen a bunch of devices this year, and while some were clearly better than others, the choices for a new phone are so solid, there’s a good chance that whatever you pick will be good.
But there can still only be one winner per category.
Nine years on from when Pickr started as a phone comparison system and later grew to being primarily a news and reviews site, we’re counting down the best phone hardware of 2025 that saw release in Australia, based on reviews from Pickr.
Best Android Phone: Oppo Find X9 Pro
Oppo saved the best for last with its Find X9 Pro, a genuinely impressive phone that delivers pretty much everything a phone owner would want in a high-end phone, and possibly then some.
The chip is fast, the cameras are impressive, the screen is lovely, and it also happens to have one of the best batteries of any phone we’ve seen in its price range.
While the price is high, Oppo’s Find X9 Pro is easily the best Droid we’ve seen all year, even managing to surpass Google’s own. That’s an impressive feat.
Best iPhone: Apple iPhone 17 Pro Max
Slightly thicker than last year’s 16 Pro Max and sporting a new rear design, new chip, new cameras, and even a new colour, this year’s big iPhone is easily the model to consider if you’re after the best of everything Apple has to offer in a phone.
The design is better and more stable on a surface. The chip is faster, and the cameras are some of the best in the business. You can get closer and sharper, and they’re so good, we ended up using the 17 Pro Max as the camera on a trip. It is that good.
While it’s technically just a bigger version of the smaller iPhone 17 Pro, the reason why the 17 Pro Max is better than the Pro is battery life. It’s just better, and the iPhone to consider this year.
Best Foldable Phone: Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7
We’ve seen a few phones with folding screens this year, ranging from a handful of compact flip-foldables to the now somewhat common phones that unfold into tablets, and one thing is pretty clear: some devices clearly have an edge.
They’ll need it, too. With Apple poised to enter foldable phones in 2026, any edge foldable makers can get today might just get them ahead of the game when Apple does rock up to the category.
But before that happens, we’re picking the foldable that made the most impact with us this year, and it’s pretty clear which one that is: Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold 7.
Built to be as slim as a regular large phone, Samsung has seemingly done the impossible by making a super-slim phone and tablet hybrid that you’d actually be able store comfortably in your pocket and unfold into a tablet.
The engineering feat is genuinely clever with this one, and the Samsung Galaxy Fold 7 is one of the best phones of the year.
Best Small Phones: Apple iPhone 17 and Google Pixel 10
Not everyone wants a big phone, but this year, that’s all it seems anyone really got. The small phone was difficult to find, and we think we know why: there weren’t a heap of compact options.
Normally there’s a decent Motorola Razr or even some smaller phones below the 6 inch mark. This year, not so much.
The smallest decent phone we found was the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 7, but it wasn’t much of a big deal, and Motorola skipped its Razr 60 Ultra for Australia, so we didn’t see that, either, leaving us with the less impressive but still nice standard Razr 60.
Instead, we’re turning to two of the best smaller phones you can find this year: an Android and an Apple.
In the world of the iPhone, the iPhone 17 is enough of an iPhone anyone could want, even getting the always-on screen this year.
And in the Pixel 10, Google’s standard model delivers a three camera setup for a little less than the iPhone 17, plus a bunch more to make it a stellar little package.
Either model is a winner, and both go for the 6.3 inch screen size with a sub-$1400 price point. In a year where small phones were few and far between, either option is a solid choice for anyone wanting a small-ish phone.
Best Big Screen Phone: Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra
These days every phone has a big screen. That’s really nothing new. But these days, there’s also typically only one phone that offers anything different for its big screen.
The “ultra” model of Samsung’s Galaxy S range is the flagship of the entire lot, and delivers not just a big screen, but a big screen that works with a stylus that offers pressure sensitivity in a stylus that comes with the phone.
The 6.9 inch Quad HD+ AMOLED display is already sizeable and one of the best in the business, but that S-Pen grants the screen the ability to do more, and makes the Galaxy S25 Ultra that little bit better than every other big phone screen out there.
Best Value Phone: Google Pixel 9a
Before Google showed its hand in the Pixel 10 range, it delivered a winner on value earlier with a continuation of its “a” series Pixels, phones that have year-on-year provided solid value overall.
In the Pixel 9a, you’ll find much the same tech as the Pixel 9 offered before it, complete with two cameras and a difference: no camera bump. Rather than offer the extruded camera on the back, the Pixel 9a delights with a flat camera system, helping to achieve a comfortable flat design that makes the handset more pocketable and easier to hold.
Priced under $900, the Pixel 9a gets most of what you’d want in a phone without feeling like you’re spending too much. It’s this year’s best value hands down.
Best Battery: Oppo Find X9 Pro
We started this set of 2025’s best phones covering the best Android, and noted that it had excellent battery life, and we meant it. But it needs to be stressed beyond this: the Oppo Find X9 Pro not only has solid battery life, it also has the best battery of any phone this year.
Our real world testing hit over 48 hours, a definite achievement helped because of the approaches Oppo took in this phone.
For one, the battery isn’t lithium ion, as Oppo opts for silicon-carbon instead. Switching battery types means Oppo has managed to pack in more juice, with a 7500mAh battery, versus the typical 4000 to 6000mAh you can find in other phones.
We have no doubt there are other factors, like the MediaTek chip controlling the performance for the battery, and Oppo making tweaks to its ColorOS Android overlay to have it handle battery life better.
The result is what matters, though, and the result is clear: the Oppo Find X9 Pro delivers battery life like no other flagship, and has the best battery of any phone this year.
Best Camera: Apple iPhone 17 Pro
At the end of our list, we’re looking at the best camera, and there are plenty of contenders here.
The Google Pixel 10 Pro XL offers a great camera, as does the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra. Oppo’s Find X9 Pro delivers a stunning camera system, and even supports a Hasselblad zoom lens you can screw in, while the Pixel 10 gets three great cameras into a sub-$1400 price point.
It seems like everyone has focused on cameras, and that’s great, because that means more people get a winning camera combination on their phones.
But if we’re honest, the one that stands out is in the iPhone 17 Pro, and that’s because of size.
At 6.3 inches, the 17 Pro offers the same combination of 48 megapixel wide, ultra-wide, and telephoto cameras as its 17 Pro Max sibling, covering 0.5X, 1X, 2X, 4X, and 8X for zoom levels. Marry that with great portraits, stills you can quickly convert to portraits, excellent macros with stunning detail, and easy to use styles, and you have a camera system made to take with you.
For the size, the iPhone 17 Pro camera system is stunning.
