Editor’s selection — the winner is…

Every so often a 12 months passes within the cell world the place a transparent and overarching theme emerges. In 2022, that theme was consolidation. Whereas there have been a handful of exceptions – whether or not cheeky OEMs or established names making an attempt to face out from the group – a lot of the trade’s greatest hitters and family names have handed. the final 12 months to repeat earlier successes. With the fact of world inflation driving up prices for manufacturers and customers, it isn’t exhausting to see why many manufacturers have caught to a tried-and-true method to attempt to climate the storm.

The ripple impact was a calendar 12 months of telephones that total regarded rather a lot just like the earlier 12 months’s crop of contenders. The margins that separate good telephones from nice ones have develop into slimmer than ever, however there are some clear highlights to be discovered within the class of 2022 nonetheless.

However what was the most effective cellphone of 2022? You had your say in our Reader’s Alternative award, however now’s the time to prime it off Android AuthorityWinner of the Editor’s Alternative for Greatest Telephone of 2022 (together with our prime 5), chosen by our editorial and overview groups.

“Greatest” is a loaded descriptor. How do you resolve what’s “finest” in something, particularly in terms of issues as advanced as smartphones? In spite of everything, these are gadgets we feature with us for nearly each minute of the waking day; we’re all positive to have our personal prejudices. Telephones may also be evaluated in myriad methods – from their uncooked specs to their perceived worth for cash, from their goal benchmark numbers to non-public preferences for the way a specific consumer interface seems to be and works.

It is a dilemma we always face as our specialists deal with all the most important releases of client know-how yearly. Register authority in Android Authority is essential to us. The a whole bunch, if not hundreds of hours we spend testing and analyzing the more and more refined modifications between rival telephones, or from era to era, give us a rigorous expectation base when anointing of a specific system as the best possible a given 12 months has to supply. And it isn’t nearly {hardware} testing both, we’re all the time positive to contemplate the extra intangible metrics like long-term software program help guarantees and monitor report, value, and worth (two very various things! ), market availability, and extra. .

Our Editor’s Alternative choice course of for Telephone of the Yr dials all of it right down to the max. Our shortlist combines the most well liked, best-reviewed telephones of the 12 months, with due diligence to make sure each main model is represented throughout a number of value segments. This consists of gadgets offered solely in the USA, in addition to globally. From there, our skilled administration workforce and trusted product reviewers every assign votes to their picks for the highest 5 telephones, rating them from fifth to first in a point-based scoring system. The cellphone with essentially the most factors wins.

Now on to the winner (and our runners-up!).

For the second 12 months in a row, a Google Pixel flagship wins our greatest prize – however this time it isn’t only a Pixel flagship, it is the Flagship product of Google. In 2021, we discovered the fragile stability between specs, total high quality, and affordability of the vanilla Pixel 6 to be an plain combo. However in 2022, our hearts – and yours, it seems! – had been with the “Professional” supply of the Massive G.

And it isn’t exhausting to see why if you undergo all the most effective issues in regards to the Pixel 7 Professional. All of it begins with the refined design, which boosts the Pixel 6 collection’ instantly iconic digicam bar by making use of an aluminum casing and glossy cutouts for every shooter. This consideration to element extends to the nonetheless wonderful digicam suite, as Google’s computational pictures smarts mix with expanded zoom capabilities, plus new pictures methods like Photograph Unblur. The latter is only one of many advantages offered by Google’s second shot at its personal customized silicon, the Tensor G2 – a machine learning-focused chipset that eschews CPU and GPU energy for energy. cerebral, whereas nonetheless managing to impress with its sustained efficiency capabilities.

In 2022, Google sought to broaden its horizons with an all-new portfolio of gadgets to deal with Apple’s dominance because the go-to ecosystem. Nevertheless, to even get the ball rolling, it wanted to ship a high-end cellphone to deliver its ambitions to life. The cellphone was the Pixel 7 Professional, and what a cellphone it turned out to be.

The Pixel 7 Professional was the massive winner, amassing simply over 1 / 4 of the whole factors in our vote on a shortlist of 20 telephones. However that does not imply we have forgotten about its smaller, flatter and much more reasonably priced sibling.

Matching its predecessor’s sub-$600 price ticket — a feat that also appears too good to be true — makes the Pixel 7 maybe the simplest cellphone to suggest of any handset popping out in 2022. It lacks the bells and whistles. Pixel 7 Professional whistles, and the lacking telephoto lens, decrease decision, a 90Hz-capped show, and even slower charging (critically, Google, repair that in 2023), however the Pixel 7 in any other case provides the most effective of the up to date Pixel expertise, whereas saving you a hefty $300. You’ll be able to’t argue with that.

What occurs when the world’s most profitable smartphone maker combines two of its elite gadgets into one? It’s going to be the Galaxy S22 Extremely – a Galaxy Observe/Galaxy S Extremely hybrid that regarded and felt instantly acquainted, however in the absolute best method. If the Galaxy S21 Extremely was a “peak smartphone,” the Galaxy S22 Extremely is the celebratory flag planted atop that peak.

But regardless of reigning as the most effective digicam cellphone, providing all the additional options of the S Pen and having the most effective software program help outdoors of Cupertino, the indomitable Galaxy S22 Extremely nonetheless fell in need of the extra moderately priced alternate options from Google in our vote. Nevertheless, for these with no limits to their funds, Samsung’s powerhouse continues to be a transparent winner.

The Plus member of each Galaxy S era faces a tricky conundrum: how can it strike the best stability between the Extremely’s over-the-top spec sheet and the entry mannequin’s cheaper value to ship one thing of real worth? ? Too usually the reply has been “it does not”, with the Plus variant changing into the clumsy center little one. This 12 months, nevertheless, the Galaxy S22 Plus was a real all-rounder that made this balancing act easy.

It took Oppo one other 12 months to crack our prime 5 once more after reaching fourth place in 2020, however the Discover X5 Professional deserves its place within the higher echelons of 2022’s smartphone corridor of fame. beautiful and easy, super-fast charging (each wired and wi-fi) and a world-class show, the Discover X5 Professional wasn’t essentially the most polished handset of 2022, however it was one of many telephones with essentially the most of persona.

Out of an excellent listing of 32 telephones, the Pixel 7 Professional emerged victorious. Congratulations to the Mountain View large who not solely wins our Editor’s Alternative award, but additionally your Reader’s Alternative award for finest cellphone of 2022.

Try our Reader’s Alternative recap for a have a look at how the extremely contested battle of the Pixel 7 Professional towards a sure Samsung cellphone performed out over a number of ballots and over 17,000 responses. It was nearer than you assume!

Whereas our cellphone of the 12 months is over, you’ll want to maintain it locked to Android Authority all through the vacation season, as we’ll have tons of 2022 throwback content material, enjoyable year-end items and extra. extra articles ready for 2023 as we mirror on what lies forward on the earth of know-how.

Till then, from our households to yours, have a really completely satisfied vacation season!