The smartphone industry had a packed and transformative year in 2025, marked by meaningful innovation rather than incremental upgrades. Battery anxiety finally took a back seat as silicon-carbon technology became mainstream, while brands quietly phased out gimmicky macro and depth sensors that once inflated camera specs without real-world value.
Camera systems matured significantly, delivering more consistent photography and video across lighting conditions, while mobile gaming saw tangible gains thanks to stronger chipsets, better thermal management, and high-refresh displays. AI, unsurprisingly, dominated marketing narratives-often overhyped-but beneath the buzz, several genuinely useful features emerged, enhancing productivity, photography, and everyday usability.
With so many devices competing across price segments, not every smartphone managed to strike the right balance. After evaluating performance, cameras, battery life, software experience, and overall value, we’ve curated a list of the best smartphones of 2025 that truly stood out.
Smartphone of the Year: iPhone 17 Pro Max
Starting off our list with the best smartphone in 2025 in our opinion, the iPhone 17 Pro Max. From insane cameras to top-of-the-line hardware, the iPhone 17 Pro Max does just about everything right, and that’s including software. iOS 19 is the most refined version of the platform to date and offers one of the best software experiences on any smartphone.
Not only is the iPhone 17 Pro Max equipped with an extremely powerful A19 Pro chip, but it also delivers incredible battery life, despite its size. However, the main star of the show here is undoubtedly the three 48MP cameras on the back, which pushes out amazing photos and videos with excellent detail and true-to-life colours.
While the OPPO Find X9 Pro, Vivo X300 Pro, and Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra were all standout editions to the ultra-premium smartphone roster, none of them managed to deliver the same all-round consistency, battery endurance, camera versatility, and seamless UI experience that ultimately gave the iPhone 17 Pro Max the edge as 2025’s best smartphone.
Best Smartphone for Photography: Vivo X300 Pro
Vivo reclaimed its crown as the camera king in 2025 with the X300 Pro. Building on the strong foundation of the X-series, it delivers meaningful upgrades over the X200 Pro, especially in imaging consistency and low-light performance.
The Vivo X300 Pro features a versatile and powerful camera setup, led by a high-quality main camera, a capable ultrawide lens, and a standout periscope zoom camera, with a sharp selfie shooter on the front. Vivo further enhances the experience with ZEISS tuning, delivering better colours, improved clarity, and more reliable results in tricky lighting and long-range shots. Added creative filters and shooting modes make photography more fun and flexible, while the optional zoom kit takes distant photography to the next level, making the X300 Pro especially appealing for travel, wildlife, and street photography.
Overall, the X300 Pro positions itself as a photography-first smartphone, combining powerful camera hardware, smart software features, and a unique zoom accessory for a highly flexible imaging experience.
Runners Up: Google Pixel 10 Pro, OPPO Find X9 Pro
This versatile camera setup ensures uniform colour reproduction and detail when switching lenses, a critical advantage for serious videography. Support for 4K Dolby Vision HDR recording at up to 120fps, along with ProRes and ProRes RAW workflows, enables professional-grade capture and post-production flexibility. Apple’s industry-leading stabilisation, refined colour science, and specialised modes like Cinematic and Action further elevate real-world shooting reliability.
Combined with a seamless editing ecosystem optimised for creators, the iPhone 17 Pro Max remains the definitive smartphone for professional-quality mobile video recording.
Runners Up: Vivo X300 Pro, OPPO Find X9 Pro
Additionally, the OnePlus 13s also has a vibrant 120Hz OLED display and is already running the latest Android software with one of the most refined software skins on top. The one compromise you will make is on the camera front, where the OnePlus 13s loses out on an ultrawide lens, instead you are left with a capable 50MP primary sensor and 50MP telephoto shooter.
The OnePlus 13s is a rare compact flagship that excels in performance, battery life, and charging speeds, making it ideal for power users who prefer smaller phones. While the missing ultrawide camera is a drawback, its overall package offers exceptional value in 2026.
Best Mid-Range Smartphone in 2025: Vivo T4 Ultra
Our pick for the best mid-range smartphone in 2025 is one that may surprise you. The Vivo T4 Ultra can be purchased for under Rs 35,000 with band discounts in India. But what do you get a in return?
For one, it’s powered by the MediaTek Dimensity 9300+ SoC, a flagship-grade chipset that delivers blistering performance far beyond what most rivals in the sub-₹40,000 segment offer, making it one of the fastest phones here for gaming and multitasking. The display is a 6.67-inch 1.5K AMOLED panel with a 120 Hz refresh rate, offering vivid colours and smooth visuals that punch above its class. Beyond performance and display, the camera setup is a real highlight: a versatile triple-camera array headlined by a 50 MP primary sensor and a 50 MP periscope telephoto lens capable of 3x optical zoom, a rare treat at this price point.
All told, the T4 Ultra blends flagship-style performance, premium design, top-tier camera versatility, and excellent battery life into a compelling mid-range package, a phone that truly bends the boundaries of what the segment can offer.
Runners Up: Motorola Edge 60 Pro, Google Pixel 9a
The CMF Phone 2 Pro has not one, not two, but three capable camera sensors on the back to offer incredible versatility at this price. Moreover, it also features a more-than-capable MediaTek chip that can handle multitasking and gaming-albeit on medium settings-without a hitch. Then there’s the sizeable battery backed by fast charging support that only aids in sweetening the deal. A vibrant 120Hz AMOLED display and a minimalist operating system round out a well-balanced package.
In a segment where OEMs often hyperfocus on certain aspects of a phone to cut costs, the CMF Phone 2 Pro feels thoughtfully tuned for everyday users who want style, reliability, and value without compromise.
Additionally, the Pixel 10 also retains most of the best aspects of the Pixel 10 Pro, including the same compact, premium build and a vibrant high-refresh OLED display. Performance is smooth and reliable thanks to Google’s latest Tensor chip, while Pixel-exclusive AI features, long-term software support, and class-leading computational photography ensure the Pixel 10 delivers a refined, no-nonsense compact flagship experience in 2025.
And while the Pixel 10 does fall behind its ‘Pro’ counterpart and the iPhone 17 Pro, it offers the best possible compact experience without costing a fortune. In doing so, the Pixel 10 strikes an excellent balance between size, performance, and price, making it the most sensible and well-rounded compact smartphone you can buy in 2025.
Runners Up: Vivo X300, iPhone 17 Pro
The slimmer 4.2mm unfolded profile feels premium in hand, bolstered by an IP48 rating and Gorilla Glass Victus 3 for real-world toughness. Inside, the Snapdragon 8 Elite chipset paired with 16GB RAM crushes multitasking on the 7.6-inch inner AMOLED, while the 200MP triple camera setup (10MP Telephoto + 12MP Ultrawide) with AI enhancements deliver sharp, versatile shots. A 4,400mAh battery with 25W charging lasts all day, and One UI 8’s fold-optimized features like Flex mode and DeX elevate productivity.
Everyday usability shines too, with a less creased hinge for comfortable reading, incredible performance, versatile optics, and app continuity that feels intuitive across screens. Simply put, the Z Fold 7 proves Samsung’s still the foldable king.
The iPhone 17 finally brings the Super Retina XDR OLED display to the standard iPhone, translating to a smooth 120Hz LTPO panel for the first time. The upgrades don’t stop there: Apple has refined the build with a sturdier aluminium frame and tougher front glass, giving the phone a more premium in-hand feel. Camera improvements include a new 48MP ultrawide sensor and the same upgraded 18MP selfie camera as the Pro models. Paired with the latest A-series chipset and iOS refinements, the iPhone 17 now delivers console-quality gaming and a more polished, future-ready software experience.
These upgrades turn the iPhone 17 from a good flagship into a great one, narrowing the gap between standard and Pro models to the smallest it has ever been.
The magic? A flawless hinge, bezel-free under-display cams, and an always-ready S Pen that snaps on magnetically. Snapdragon 8 Elite power with killer cooling keeps it smooth, and that 5,800mAh battery powers through unfolded marathons. Galaxy AI elevates it further with spot-on translation and creative tools built for the big screen.
Even though it was a year behind Huawei, Samsung delivered on the tri-fold promise of the future-practical, powerful, and downright addictive. The introduction of Samsung’s trifold was a flicker light in a rather bland year for foldables.
The first red flag was the Phone 3’s astronomically price, which was higher than most flagships, despite not having a full-fledged flagship chip. Then came the camera hardware, where the Phone 3 opted for a smaller telephoto sensor than the mid-range Phone 3a Pro. And while the lack of an LTPO display could be overlooked, the asymmetrical camera layout and shift from the popular Glyph interface were unwelcomed missteps.
The final nail in the coffin for the Nothing Phone 3 is its inconsistent pricing, with discounts swinging from under half its launch price to flat 25% cuts during sales, moves that alienate loyal fans and early buyers. While price drops are welcome, such volatility hurts brand trust. As a result, the Phone 3 feels less like a bold evolution and more like a confused step sideways, though at under ₹55,000 in 2026, it still represents a solid deal.
Conclusion
The Gizbot Smartphone Awards 2025 are the result of extensive hands-on testing, long-term usage, and careful evaluation of real-world performance, cameras, battery life, software experience, and overall value, supported by on-paper specifications. These awards reflect what truly matters to users, not marketing claims. Importantly, all selections are made with Indian pricing, availability, and usage patterns in mind, making them especially relevant for buyers in India.
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