For me, 2023 felt a little stale. Last year I was even excited about some midrangers, but this time I couldn’t find one that stood out. Even the premium segment didn’t particularly impress me, that’s why I chose only four phones in my top list.
One brand missing from my list is Samsung. Even though I’m not a big Samsung fan, I’ve always liked the S series Ultra, but the Galaxy S23 Ultra feels more or less the same to me. The same goes for the Galaxy Z Fold5: it’s good, but not very exciting.
Xiaomi 13 Ultra
Let’s start with my daily driver: the Xiaomi 13 Ultra. After using the Xiaomi 11 Ultra and 12S Ultra, the 13 Ultra feels much more refined than its predecessors. Despite the rather strange design with all the slopes on the back, the 13 Ultra for me is as close to a “zero compromise” smartphone as you can get in 2023.
The first thing I look for in a phone is software and the latest versions of MIUI are fantastic. All three Ultras I’ve used provide an exceptionally smooth and snappy experience from day one. It reminds me of my first years with OnePlus phones: a smooth experience from the beginning until the last day.
The second thing is the cameras and the Ultra certainly covers all the bases. For me, the perfect telephoto combo is 3x + 5x or 3x + 6x, and luckily, the Ultra has added a very powerful 3.2x telephoto, giving me every reason to upgrade from the Ultra 12S.
There’s no point in reviewing the spec sheet one more time because let’s face it: the chipset, display, fingerprint reader, charging, battery, etc. they are somewhat similar across all flagship phones. It’s a great phone with little to complain about.
Xiaomi13
I’ve always had a soft spot for small premium phones and like to keep track of this rather niche segment in 2023. And I think the vanilla Xiaomi 13 is by far the best small flagship smartphone this year.
Most of what I said about the 13 Ultra also applies to the Vanilla 13. It has all the extras and doesn’t even lack a telephoto lens, which is rare in compact phones. The Galaxy S23 is another exception to the rule.
The Asus Zenfone 10 and Pixel 7, for example, both lack adequate telephoto lenses.
There’s something about keeping a phone small and powerful, especially a well-built one. And the Xiaomi 13 certainly feels great in the hand.
OnePlus11
While I’m a longtime OnePlus fan, I haven’t been impressed with a phone from the manufacturer in quite a while, especially after executives decided to kill off OxygenOS. In a certain sense the company has also lost its competitive advantage.
However, the OnePlus 11 looked a little different. I had a chance to review it, and aside from the unremarkable 2x zoom camera, the laptop proved to be an excellent all-rounder.
It may be due to the increase in smartphone prices throughout 2023 in general, but the fact is that the OnePlus 11 was a great deal even at launch. Indeed, the camera performance is impressive and the hardware is noteworthy, as always.
The software also felt snappy, feature-rich, and welcoming. We were disappointed to see many of the old OxygenOS features disappear, but as they say: you win some, you lose some.
vivo
I felt compelled to choose the best foldable for me this year because it’s clearly the future we’re headed towards. As I said before, 2023 felt stale even in the foldable segment. However, the vivo X Fold2 impressed me. The Xiaomi Mix Fold 3 also gets an honorable mention thanks to its great design and powerful camera setup.
What I liked most about the vivo was the design (I really appreciate the faux leather back), the nearly crease-free internal screen, the usable external screen (it didn’t feel like an afterthought), and perhaps the best feature to have on a foldable smartphone horizontally is the dual ultrasonic fingerprint reader.
I personally don’t really like side-mounted fingerprint readers as they force you to use the phone with your right hand and are difficult to unlock when placed on the desk, for example. The vivo You can unlock the device any way you like, and the two scanners greatly increase ease of use. I wonder why no other manufacturer is doing this with their foldable devices, since it makes so much sense.
That’s it from me this year and I hope we get something more exciting in 2024. I’d like to see more mid-range products with better cameras (I’m sick of the dated 8MP ultrawide cameras) and newer chipsets that make more sense in 2024 I would like to see a notable step forward in the folding segment too.
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