Best Smartphones of 2023: Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra, OnePlus Nord 3, Pixel 7a and More
Highlights
The OnePlus Open is an easy foldable recommendation
Samsung’s Galaxy S23 Ultra goes big on zoom
Apple’s iPhone 15 offers plenty of upgrades for iPhone users
The ever-changing landscape of the smartphone industry in India is always surprising. This year, there have been plenty of changes and several newcomers in some segments to make for a very interesting mix of devices for eager buyers to choose from. While most regulars like Xiaomi and Realme have seen a handful of launches in the budget segment, brands like Motorola and Infinix have gone in all guns blazing. Xiaomi has been making headway into the higher end of the budget range and the mid-range instead.
The battle between Samsung and OnePlus has never been bigger than 2023, when OnePlus launched its first book-style foldable, the Open, late this year (after several delays). Brands like Oppo and Motorola took things a step up with foldables and premium smartphone offerings, while Samsung took it relatively easy with the same, but delivered a rather capable camera-focused flagship with its Galaxy S23 Ultra. Google ushered in the age of AI on smartphones, but definitely missed out on the ‘folding' bit in India, which has seen its fair share of buyers this year.
And with so much choice and variety in certain segments, it gets equally hard to pick and choose the right smartphone. Unfortunately, not all the smartphones that we have reviewed over the past year have managed good scores as per our ratings. Fortunately, there are several that stood out, and basically managed to deliver what was expected from them. So, we have come up with a list of devices (in no particular order) which we consider to be the best at what they do. If you are looking to bring in the new year with a brand new smartphone, or have been a bit unsure about switching to a new device type or segment, this one's for you!
The OnePlus Open (Review) can best be described as a breath of fresh air in the book-style or horizontal foldables space which has been dominated by Samsung with its Galaxy Z Fold lineup since the category showed up in India. For a phone that's managed to surpass our expectations from every possible angle (not just as a foldable but even a regular smartphone), it sure seems like an achievement to get so many things right in the first attempt.
The Open managed to outdo Samsung's Galaxy Z Fold 5 (the latest version of its best foldable yet) by a large margin by offering a slimmer and lighter design (with an IP rating), fast charging (sans wireless charging), better battery life and the very obvious imaging capability. Its Open Canvas software feature also seems like a different and novel take on the multitasking front. Its compact form factor and broad cover display make it function like a regular smartphone when folded, which is not the case with the Z Fold 5. While it lacks wireless charging (which Samsung offers, it makes up for it with 80W wired charging, and it all comes at a price that's a lot lower than Samsung's Galaxy Z Fold 5 with plenty more storage and RAM.
Another smartphone that managed to take us by surprise this year was Motorola's latest Razr 40 Ultra (Review) foldable. It packs in quite the punch for a smartphone this compact and slim. It may lack the latest Snapdragon processor, but its main use case lies in its well-optimised cover display software experience, which is second to none in the clamshell foldables segment.
Its IP52-rated design makes Samsung's Galaxy Z Flip 5 and the Oppo Find N3 Flip appear chunky. There's also that large cover display with a rather unique, embedded floating camera layout, which looks unreal and radical. Camera performance is good for a foldable, and the battery life will give you a day of use. But this phone also does well when it comes to gaming. It won't bring back any memories of the iconic Razr (V3/V3i) flip phones of the early 2000s, but it sure sets a new standard by bringing in its own iconic style, which has been hard to mimic to date.