So, you want to buy a new phone? If you're looking for the best smartphone of 2015, you've come to the right place. We will guide you through the hottest mobile phones of the year to save you time when you go to your local phone shop.
We continually update this best smartphones feature to reflect recent launches, recognise price changes, and ensure 2015's latest devices appear alongside the best of 2014 (and before, if applicable). All the listed devices have been fully reviewed by us.
1. Samsung Galaxy S6
Samsung needed change and the Samsung Galaxy S6 was the result. Launched alongside the also excellent (but far more expensive) Samsung Galaxy S6 edge, the S6 betters its innovative brother by being more affordable for much the same experience.
The Samsung Galaxy S6 ditches Samsung's tired design for a body that's more interested in quality. There's no more plastic, instead you have a slick body that turns heads, comprising a metal frame which sandwiches Gorilla Glass both front and back.
There's a fantastic display on the front. The Super AMOLED panel gives deep blacks and plenty of colour vibrancy, only really marred by not creating the cleanest whites around. It offers a super-sharp Quad HD resolution, although it's questionable whether this brings any real benefits in daily use - the same criticism we have of all other handsets with this resolution, but found here condensed into a 5.1-inch display.
The SGS6 is slick and fast, with heaps of power from the Exynos octa-core chipset and 3GB of RAM. It also supports both common standards of wireless charging, which should be of interest as the battery is no longer replaceable and the battery life is a little on the short side. There's also no microSD card slot any more due to the fixed body design.
However, the performance from the 16-megapixel rear camera is one of the most consistent and impressive from any smartphone you'll find. The experience is wrapped in a TouchWiz interface that's slicker, cleaner, and less intrusive than ever before. Then there's the fingerprint scanner that works just as well as it does on the iPhone. In short, this is Samsung's best phone ever.
You should buy the Samsung Galaxy S6 for the best Android experience of 2015.
2. Apple iPhone 6
After six months at the top, it's taken Samsung's latest SGS6 phone to dislodge the iPhone 6 from number one.
The size of the iPhone 6, for starters, gives us the screen space we've been asking for for years. It might not be the highest resolution around, but it's a great quality display, a real visual treat.
That's paired with design that's excellent. It's slick, with a high quality finish, with this slightly bigger iPhone sitting nicely in the hand. It looks great, it feels great, and it's a pleasure to use.
The TouchID fingerprint-verification implementation is the most effective we've seen, and with Apple Pay having an impact in the US and coming to other countries, it could be a key to unlocking much more than your just your phone. The camera also offers great, consistent, results, with a simplicity to use that many rivals lack. It might not pack in the most megapixels, but it does give you great shots with no fuss.
This is all wrapped in the refinement of iOS 8. Apple might have been playing catch-up with Android in some areas of its operating system, but in iOS 8 there's a consistency of experience that some other platforms lack, not to mention the huge developer support and an app experience that's difficult to match.
Buy the iPhone 6 because you want a premium handset offering a bigger Apple experience than ever before. Also because it won Best Phone at the Cyber Nova Gadget Awards 2014.
3. Samsung Galaxy S6 edge
For many, the Samsung Galaxy S6 edge should top this list. It's everything that the SGS6 is, but with innovation in that display design (or what some will see as nothing but design excess). However, although these two phones are matched, the S6 edge comes at a price premium which only really extends to the design - there's not the more extensive functionality as realised in the larger Note Edge to be found here.
Yes, the curves to the display do lead to jaw-dropping design, and that screen is punchy and vibrant, but we feel they could do a little more. Perhaps that will change in the future and bring justification for the £160 surcharge you have to pay over the SGS6.
However, the edge offers the same slick user experience that the SGS6 does. It's fast, powerful, with refinement in the TouchWiz user interface that makes it better than ever before. There's a fantastic camera on the rear that produces great results with very little effort too.
It has the same shortcomings as the SGS6, namely that there's no longer a removable battery or microSD support, the display resolution doesn't really add a huge amount and the waterproofing of the last-generation Galaxy S-series has dried up.
But otherwise, this is a top-drawer smartphone experience. It costs a lot to buy the Samsung Galaxy S6 edge, but it could be the most exciting phone of 2015. Can you justify the extra cost just for the curved edges to the display?
Buy the Samsung Galaxy S6 edge because you want a great phone that turns heads.
4. Samsung Galaxy Note 4
Samsung has long ruled the phablet roost and the 5.7-inch Galaxy Note 4 cements its mastery with big handsets: it's a sensational device, offering plenty of power from the Snapdragon 805 chipset, and an included stylus - known as the S Pen - for added feature functionality.
But even if you don't use a stylus, Samsung manages to differentiate itself from the pack by filling the Note 4 with features that really make use of the screen space and the hardware. This isn't just about making a big phone, it's about making it useful - with genuinely useful multi-tasking features that other manufacturers simply don't offer. It's a true workhorse, for work and play.
There may be some bloat and a feature too many, but Samsung's software is neatly backed by some of the best performing hardware around. There's a fantastic display, plenty of power and endurance packed into a frame that's been sympathetically designed. Oh, and then there's the camera, which is amongst the best you'll find on an Android handset.
If you're looking for the best big screen experience around, then look to the Samsung Galaxy Note 4.
5. LG G4
If you're in the market for a big phone then the LG G4 could be your ideal match. From the optional leather finish, to excellent camera performance, this 5.5-inch phone-meets-phablet has plenty going for it. It might not have the most powerful flagship processor inside, but that doesn't mean it isn't every bit the flagship phone. Quite the contrary.
Its high-ranking position in our top phones list reflects these qualities, but the one thing holding it back from greater success is battery life. Despite squeezing a brighter Quad HD screen and new processor into the mix, the 3,000mAh battery is too much an echo of the earlier G3, delivering performance a little below par. On the upside the battery is removable so you can easily swap it for a reserve.
However, it is both bigger and thicker than many other flagship devices on the market by some distance. We can't help but be distracted by the Samsung Galaxy S6 or S6 edge, or even Samsung's larger-screen but slimmer Note 4.
Buy the LG G4 for the best smartphone camera experience in a large-screen phone.
Thank you very much for a brief info
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