These are 9to5Google’s favorite phones of 2023 – what’s yours? [Poll]

Smartphones have, in big ways, become more and more of the same. Just about everything has a good camera, good battery life, and a good screen. So, really, everything comes down to personal preference. As the year 2023 comes to a close, the 9to5Google team has picked out our favorite phones of the year and, to my own personal surprise, that’s coming with a huge level of variety.

Our favorite smartphones of 2023

Alright, so, let’s reveal our favorites. Each of us had five slots to fill out, including a sixth choice for our favorite foldable. More on that sixth slot next week, though.

How we picked our favorites

When getting these results together, I was absolutely blown away at how wildly different everyone’s picks were, and a lot of that speaks to how each of us made our decisions.

For each member of the 9to5Google team, our choices were not necessarily based on the same line of reasoning. For me, it was all about looking back at the time I’ve spent reviewing these phones, but for Jordan, Andrew, Max, it was just about the time they spent trying them out, perhaps using them outside of a review, or just hte impression the device left on them. Abner and Kyle, meanwhile, took interesting approaches. For Abner, the Pixel 8 was his favorite device because it’s the small phone he’s always wanted. Kyle, on the other hand, picked his favorites by looking at the devices he’d actually recommend to people – except for the Nothing Phone (2) which, by his words, “is literally only on the list because it’s cool looking.”

And that really reinforces a point for me. Android is a world of wide variety and choice, so the fact that none of us had the exact same list speaks to how, even among people who talk about Android for a living, personal choice makes a huge part of what smartphone we want to carry every day.

9to5Google’s 2023 Smartphone Reviews

While we’re reminiscing, here’s a handy list of all of the smartphone reviews we published this year.

• Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra Review: Stellar battery life, disappointing camera
• Review: Oppo Find N2 Flip beats the Galaxy Z Flip 4 in key areas, but doesn’t take the crown
• OnePlus 11 review: Settling doesn’t have to be a bad thing
• Review: Pixel 7a affordably delivers on every promise of the Pixel series
• Review: Motorola’s ThinkPhone is a professional entry into ‘flagship’
• Review: Motorola Edge+ is no one’s first choice, but maybe it should be
• Review: Samsung’s Galaxy A54 is a great advertisement for the Pixel 7a
• Motorola Razr+ Review: The flip phone king reborn
• Review: Google Pixel Fold is better than it should be, but far from perfect
• Nothing Phone (2) Review: Just a really good phone, nothing more, nothing less
• Galaxy Z Flip 5 Review: Near-perfect hardware just barely misses the mark on software
• Review: Galaxy Z Fold 5 is as good as this foldable can get
• Google Pixel 8 Pro Initial Review: It’s all coming together
• Pixel 8 Initial Review: Google made the small phone of my dreams
• Review: OnePlus Open is the best foldable, as long as you can put up with OxygenOS
• Review: Motorola Razr 2023 proves a foldable phone can be ‘basic’ in a good way

Let’s talk about the iPhone 15

When picking the devices we ranked, the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max came up on more than one of our lists. By design, we chose that our top 5 would be Android-only, but the iPhone deserves a part of the conversation.

Why? Well, the iPhone 15 Pro is just that good!

Over the past few months, I’ve been cycling the iPhone 15 Pro in and out of my pocket alongside what Android phone has been my daily driver. It’s been with me alongside the Pixel 8 Pro for a good portion of the time since its October release, and sat alongside the Pixel Fold prior to that. Ultimately, as “review season” has calmed down, the OnePlus Open and iPhone 15 Pro have been competing to be my second carry alongside the Pixel 8 Pro which remains my daily driver. But I can’t help but wish for a world where Google had waited a little longer to release the Pixel Fold, and I could carry that alongside the iPhone 15 Pro.

We’ll have a full review of the iPhone 15 Pro here on 9to5Google in the weeks to come – one of our first iPhone reviews in years – because, really, this device earns attention even from the most diehard of Android users. Apple’s adoption of USB-C went a long way to making the iPhone feel more at home alongside my Android devices, and Google’s continued work in making most of its software platform agnostic means that, really, it’s not hard to switch back and forth between the two OS’, as long as you don’t fall too deep in Apple’s ecosystem.

For me, the iPhone 15 Pro would have been #3 on my ranking because of its stable performance, excellent battery life (given its size), and the accessories available to it. For Max, the iPhone 15 Pro Max took the #2 slot because of the consistent cameras, AirDrop & FaceTime, as well as just the general “not having to worry” feeling that comes with iPhone repairs, eSIM, and the Apple Watch. And, for Jordan, the iPhone 15 Pro Max was #4 because of the new video features (LOG, writing to SSD), the new titanium build

What’s your favorite?

But what about you? Whether you bought it or not, what’s been your favorite smartphone of 2023?

Vote in the poll below (you can only select one) and let’s see how things tally up. Check back soon for the best smartphones of 2023 as ranked by 9to5Google readers. Obviously, the poll below cannot possibly account for every Android device that came out this year, but we’ve tried to include all of the biggest releases.

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