This was a surprisingly enjoyable 12 months for smartphones. I wasn’t anticipating it to be; the class is usually described as stale or “plateaued.” However as WIRED’s resident telephone reviewer, I’ve examined almost all of this 12 months’s handsets—gadgets as low cost as $130 all the way in which to an eye-watering $2,000—and I don’t assume there’s been a 12 months stuffed with as many various types in fairly a while.
It began with the Nothing Telephone (3a) sequence, which the UK firm launched at Cellular World Congress early within the 12 months. Whereas I wasn’t a fan of the Professional mannequin’s top-heavy digicam module, the electrical blue Telephone (3a) is a standout. It seems like no different smartphone available on the market, with a clear backplate, a pop of colour from a small crimson sq., and the corporate’s signature Glyph lights, which blink whenever you obtain notifications. These LEDs might not be essentially the most helpful, however they’re enjoyable and wacky.
That whimsical design has been sorely missing for a number of years. Bear in mind 2020’s LG Wing? The five-camera Nokia 9 PureView from 2019? The bizarre Moto Mods of a decade in the past, which added issues like cameras and audio system to the Moto Z from Motorola? These telephones could not have topped the charts, however they tried one thing completely different.
Smartphones are a necessity in right this moment’s world, and like all commodities, which means good and playful designs are sometimes sacrificed for the sake of producing effectivity. When corporations chase the underside line, we find yourself with plain, simple-looking telephones designed for the broadest potential viewers. For this reason the current shift to gadgets with a bit of extra character feels important.
Nothing had one other win on its arms this 12 months with the CMF Telephone 2 Professional, a sub-$300 telephone that didn’t look or really feel something like its price range worth. Uniquely, you may unscrew the again of the telephone and substitute the backplate with one which’s a unique colour, or take off the Accent Level module and fix issues like a lanyard. Sustainability-focused Fairphone had the same concept with The Fairphone (Gen. 6), besides this smartphone did all of that whereas additionally attaining a ten/10 repairability rating from iFixit.
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Subsequent got here Motorola, which has seen a variety of success in recent times with its Razr folding flip telephones. With the 2025 Razr fashions, the corporate leaned closely into completely different supplies and textures. You can purchase a Razr with a again coated within the microfiber textile Alcantara, vegan leather-based, or polished black Gorilla Glass. There’s even a model with Forest Stewardship Council-certified wooden. It helps that Motorola stays one of many solely producers providing a folding flip telephone underneath $700. (It even will get as little as $600 throughout sale occasions.)
You should still be hesitant to spend money on considered one of these hinge-reliant handsets, given their spotty historical past with sturdiness, however they’re harder than ever. I’ve dropped a number of Razrs, the Pixel 10 Professional Fold, and even the Galaxy Z Flip7 this 12 months, and out of doors of minor scuffs on the body, none of them have cracked. Motorola launched a titanium-reinforced hinge plate this 12 months. Google guarantees 10-plus years of folding for its newest Fold and has lastly earned an IP68 ranking for its folding design. Samsung says its Galaxy Z Fold7 can stand up to 500,000 folds, which pencils out to greater than a decade of typical use.
We should always count on extra out of how the devices in our lives feel and look. As with a great watch, I discover that I genuinely get pleasure from utilizing gadgets that put a bit of extra care or effort into design and construct high quality. This 12 months, I used to be delighted by the sharp-looking Gentle Telephone III—the anti-smartphone that doesn’t run conventional apps—whereas the Minimal Telephone, which is constructed with the identical aim of serving to cut back time spent gazing a display screen, had a plasticky construct that felt off-putting. Even with all of this experimentation in kind, you don’t need to spend a whole bunch and a whole bunch of {dollars} on a handsome telephone. Motorola’s Moto G Stylus 5G has a putting design with a beautiful leather-like texture, and it’s often on sale for $300.
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Skinny, as at all times, was additionally very a lot in. Samsung’s Galaxy S25 Edge and the iPhone Air might not be unique concepts, however I child you not, holding an ultrathin and light-weight telephone is definitely fairly dang superior. Sadly—and unsurprisingly—Samsung’s design suffered from lackluster battery life, and whereas the iPhone Air delivered better-than-expected run instances, its single digicam system and excessive worth didn’t precisely scream good worth in an economically tumultuous 12 months. (These flaws possible clarify the rumors that recommend Samsung has canceled plans for a successor to its thinnest handset and that Apple has been weathering lackluster gross sales of the Air.)
However we’ve already seen the advantages of thinner telephones. Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold7 is without doubt one of the finest folding telephones of the 12 months, largely because of the huge discount in dimension and weight over its predecessors. Apple can be rumored to be engaged on a folding iPhone, and the learnings from the iPhone Air would go a great distance in making a tool that’s not cumbersome to carry.
