This does not mean that we did not see some impressive phone launches this year. Far from it actually. 2018 saw more smartphone launches than the year before it and amidst the hundreds of models announced, these were the 10 phones that set a benchmark for others to follow.
10. Mi A2/Nokia 6.1/Redmi Note 5 Pro
Depending on which part of the world you live, you will find at least one of the three phones I have mentioned here — the Mi A2, the Nokia 6.1, and the Redmi Note 5 Pro on sale.
These are budget Android devices, with the Mi A2 and Nokia 6.1 being an Android One device and the Redmi Note 5 Pro running MIUI. The Mi A2 and Nokia 6.1 are aimed at the European and U.S. smartphone market, while Xiaomi’s Redmi Note 5 Pro is well suited for Indian and Chinese customers.
Despite their budget design and internals, these phones offer excellent battery life, performance, and camera performance. Sure, they are not the ‘best’ in their category but if you really don’t care much about having the best display or camera and don’t mind waiting a few milliseconds extra for your apps to load, these phones are going to going to serve you just fine. It is really impressive how far budget Android devices have come in terms of performance and build quality.
9. Pocophone F1
The Pocophone F1 has disrupted the performance-to-value ratio this year. Despite coming with a Snapdragon 845 chipset, oodles of RAM and storage, the device is stupidly cheap ($~350). If all you care about is gaming and performance, the Pocophone F1 is going to fulfill your needs. Its performance easily beats other flagship devices in this list, with its all-day battery life thanks to a 4,000mAh battery acting as a cherry on top.
The Pocophone is definitely rough around the edges — the display can clearly be improved and its build quality is not that premium. But when you look at its price, you’d be willing to look past these issues.
8. Samsung Galaxy S9
Just like the iPhone XS, the Galaxy S9 also builds on its predecessor in only some key areas and keeps a lot of other things unchanged. This means better performance, improved rear camera performance, and some new software features.
The usual strengths of a Samsung device all apply to the Galaxy S9 as well. This means a beautiful OLED display, IP68 certification, fast wireless charging, headphone jack, and expandable storage. But the usual caveats also apply — relatively poor user experience, performance hiccups, sub-par battery life, and slow software updates.
There’s a silver lining here though. With the Galaxy S9 now being over 9 months old, one can easily purchase it for around $500 which makes for quite a steal.
7. iPhone XS
The iPhone X was rightfully ahead of its time. So, for 2018, Apple only improved a few aspects of the device like its camera, battery life, and performance and launched it as the iPhone XS. The iPhone X was the highest selling premium smartphone across the world ever since it launched in November 2017 so it makes sense that Apple did not try to change a formula that is working so well for them.
The iPhone XS fixes whatever minor gripes users had about with the iPhone X, though the biggest issue — its $999 price tag still remains. And that’s also the reason why it sits below the likes of the OnePlus 6/6T, Galaxy Note 9, and iPhone XR in this list.
6. Huawei Mate 20 Pro
A big, beautiful display, next-generation 7nm Kirin 980 chipset, impressive triple camera setup at the rear, in-display fingerprint scanner, Face ID-like face unlock, beefy battery, wireless and reverse wireless charging, IP68 certification, and a beefy 4200mAh battery. Phew! The Mate 20 Pro has the perfect ingredients of becoming the best smartphone released this year. But it fails in one department. Badly.
The software experience on the Huawei Mate 20 Pro is simply not good enough for a device launched in this day and age. While Huawei has made improvements with Emotion UI 9.0, the Mate 20 Pro’s UI still feels bloated and a blatant rip-off of iOS. Huawei really needs to go back to the drawing board and rethink Emotion UI if it wants its devices to do well in the Western market.
It’s a shame that Huawei’s sub-par software is holding back a device like the Mate 20 Pro which has so much potential. Then there’s also the fact that the Mate 20 Pro is not sold officially in the United States.