Amazon has never been too patient with its holiday discounts, which is why Black Friday deals are already underway. We’ve selected some of the best phones from this year (and some from the year before).
The Asus Zenfone 10 is a rare beast: a premium little Android. It’s not small by any means, but it has a Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chipset and lots of RAM (you can have 16GB if you want) plus a 5.92-inch 144Hz AMOLED display with HDR10+. As small as it may be, it has a 3.5mm headphone jack, which is another thing you don’t see often these days.
The Google Pixel 7a is also small and much cheaper. However, you lose the flagship performance, the Tensor G2 is behind the curve and the 6.1-inch 90Hz AMOLED is better than the previous one, but 120Hz is quite common on mid-range devices nowadays.
The Sony Xperia 10 V is another little Android, this one with a 6.1-inch 21:9 display (refresh rate only 60Hz, though). It has a 3.5mm headphone jack and also has a microSD slot. Additionally, there’s an 8MP portrait camera – the lens is only 2x, but the two phones above only have in-sensor zoom to rely on. The 10V received Android 14 earlier this week.
Sony also launched a small flagship this year, the Sony Xperia 5 V. However, for the same price, the Zenfone 10 offers 16/512 GB of memory, not 8/128 GB. At least this one has a microSD slot (unlike the Asus). Unfortunately, Sony has eliminated the camera from this generation. This phone is powered by the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2, which runs around the 695 chip inside the 10V.
If you don’t care about size, last year’s Sony Xperia 5 IV has a 12MP camera with continuous zoom between 85mm and 125mm (3.5-5x). You’ll still have to make do with the older Snapdragon 8 Gen 1. Like the 5 V, this has a 120 Hz display, however, the 1 series offers a higher resolution: 4K in the vertical dimension, compared to 1080p.
And while we’re talking about old flagships, the OnePlus 11 will be replaced soon, but for under £500 you can get a 6.7″ 120Hz LTPO display, a Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chipset, a 50MP main, a portrait 32 MP and one 48 MP. 115° ultra-wide-angle cameras, plus a 5,000 mAh battery with 100W charging (wired only).
It’s not a flagship, but it has a great price: the Nothing Phone (1) combines a Snapdragon 778G+ with a 6.55″ 120 Hz OLED display. It has a 50 MP dual camera (main + 114° ultra wide) and 15W wireless charging, plus 33W wired charging for the 4,500mAh battery.
While you’re at it, you can grab the Nothing Ear (2) to compete with the see-through look. These aren’t the best TWS earbuds (see our review for details), but they’re stylish.
The Xiaomi Redmi Note 12 Pro (5G) and the Samsung Galaxy A34 have the same price. Both use the Dimensity 1080 chipset and have similar displays: 6.67″ and 6.6″ AMOLED FHD+ at 120 Hz respectively. The Redmi stands out for its Dolby Vision support, the Samsung has the best resistance to dust and water (IP67 vs. IP53), plus longer software support (4 OS updates, 5 years of security patches).
The Redmi has a slight advantage in terms of camera: 50MP 1/1.56” main versus 48MP 1/2.0”, the 8MP ultra wides are essentially the same. Both have stereo speakers, the Redmi also has a 3.5mm headphone jack. Both have 5,000 mAh batteries, the Redmi runs ahead with a 67 W charge against the 25 W of the Samsung (55 minutes maximum against 1 hour and 24 minutes).
We’ll end with a couple of smartwatches: Samsung Galaxy Watch6 and Watch6 Classic. The latter has a rotating bezel, which also means it’s 3mm wider for the same display size. Apart from the bezel, they have practically identical hardware, even the batteries have the same capacity.
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