10 best flagship smartphones

The flagship from a Chinese company, inside which huddles the most productive processor in the world - the 855th "Dragon". The Chinese also attract buyers with a large 6.39-inch AMOLED screen, a fashionable glass case, a triple camera and support for Quick Charge 4+ fast charging.In terms of camera capabilities, the flagship is exactly between the Samsung Galaxy S10 Plus and the Apple iPhone Xs Max.

This smartphone cannot be called uncompromising. In the reviews, experienced owners name a number of claims, because of which the device did not become the best flagship of 2019. This is the lack of water protection and stereo sound, optical stabilization in the camera, audio jack; insufficiently powerful battery (with intensive charge consumption, it lasts for a day). Someone else complains about the design, as if it is faceless and lacks personality. Despite these shortcomings, the device deserves a place in our ranking of the best flagships for a nice price and powerful hardware.

The flagship, which deserves the title of the best camera phone. Here are powerful cameras with a resolution of 50, 40, 12 megapixels, better adapted than others for creating both photos and videos. There are different camera apertures, optical stabilization, video recording in 4K. The front camera is also better than the competition. It has a resolution of 32 megapixels + a depth sensor, which helps to create good portrait shots. In fact, the most serious and only drawback of this smartphone is the lack of pre-installed Google services. For the time being, you can install them yourself, so if you are not too lazy to spend your time on it, then Huawei P40 Pro will be an uncompromising option for you.

But precisely because Google services are not available to the leading Chinese brand, the price of this flagship is much lower than it could be. Huawei now attracts buyers not only with top-end stuffing, but also with cost.

A chic-looking flagship from the Chinese company OnePlus. The design is based on a curved screen and glass-to-metal body. The top-end Snapdragon 865 processor, one of the most powerful in the world, is responsible for the speed of Android 10. RAM as much as 12 GB, and at the same time the cost of the flagship is lower than similar models with the same amount of RAM. Of the innovations - support for 5G, Wi-Fi 6. The screen is chic - it is based on an AMOLED matrix and pleases with a refresh rate of 90 Hz, which is turned off if necessary.

There is a physical toggle switch on the case, it is responsible for switching sound modes. This is convenient - you can turn on the silent mode without taking the device out of your pocket. The cameras here are excellent, but worse than other flagships from our rating. But stereo speakers are in place, there is fast charging, a powerful 4300 mAh battery and a fingerprint scanner built into the screen.

Expensive, but very popular flagship. The smartphone owes such popularity not only to the apple on the back, but also to its cameras, stylish design solution, large screen, IP68 moisture protection and a powerful processor. The battery has also grown in capacity, but is still weak compared to the batteries of Chinese premium flagships.

Fast charging is faster, iOS 13 is smoother, and the screen is bigger at 6.5 inches. OLED matrix shows a juicy picture. The camera has a 2x optical zoom, optical stabilization, macro mode. There is wireless charging. The main disadvantages are the high price, thick body, lack of 5G, the tendency of glass to collect scratches, and the lack of 3DTouch.Despite this, experts agree that this is the best iPhone in the entire line of smartphones from Apple.

The flagship with the largest screen diagonal is 7.2 inches. A smartphone is able to replace a tablet, while remaining compact enough to comfortably use it with one hand and fit into a jeans pocket. At the user's disposal are the resources of a triple camera, a top-end Kirin 980 processor with 8 cores, and a large 5000 mAh battery.

Minijack in place. For the front camera, the manufacturer has allocated a small island on the top of the display, which does not attract attention and does not irritate. In the reviews, the owners note that selfie photos are not of high quality, but the pictures taken by the main built-in camera are quite comparable with the shots taken by professional and semi-professional cameras. It is one of the best flagships with the biggest display, strong performance and good battery life.

Top smartphone from Apple. The model boasts support for two SIM-cards (one physical, and the second - electronic), a large screen, a powerful Bionic A12 processor and increased autonomy. In the reviews, users write that the flagship can withstand up to two days without an outlet - for Apple products, this is atypically long battery life.

The camera is good. In terms of performance, the main camera lags slightly behind the best camera phones, but average users will not feel the difference. But the main advantage of this iPhone is its ergonomics.It is wildly comfortable, fits perfectly in the hand, and the tactile sensations from touching it cause ecstasy. As a gift in this, the manufacturer offers its own operating system iOS, which has become synonymous with stable, smooth operation without failures. The main disadvantages are the high cost, no 3.5 mm jack, a weak bundled power adapter.

"Ironed" to the ideal flagship Samsung. The main advantage of the model lies in the electronic pen S Pen, which the manufacturer completes the smartphone. The thin tip, thousands of gradations of pressure and Bluetooth connectivity make the stylus incredibly functional and comfortable. Its use ranges from sketching, handwriting, drawings, to camera control and presentations without having to touch the phone screen.

Both the camera and the performance of the Note 9 are all right. Users have complaints about the operating time on a single charge - with a rather large capacity of 4000 mAh, the battery can hardly withstand two days with economical consumption of the coveted percentage. The manufacturer covers this drawback with a chic screen, good sound in headphones and speakers, and a 3.5 mm port. This is the best flagship for creative people and those who need to take notes by hand.

New from the Chinese manufacturer, which topped the list of the best camera phones in an independent rating from DxOMark.The main camera is a triple module with optics from Leica, a German company specializing in the creation of optical systems for professional cameras.

According to the unspoken tradition of flagships, there are 8 GB of RAM and a top-end processor. It is the eight-core HiSilicon Kirin 980. In the reviews, the first owners share their impressions: the camera pleased even professional photographers, the performance is at its best, and minor software flaws are quickly eliminated by incoming updates from Android and Huawei. Bonuses - support for wireless charging, a large 6.47-inch OLED display and headphones with a USB Type-C connector included. Unfortunately, there is no minijack here.

The sensational flagship from Samsung, whose selfie camera received the highest score in the independent DxOMark rating. The camera itself consists of two modules: "Dual Pixel Selfie" with double pixels and RGB Depth, which recognizes the depth of the image. The main camera is triple and the quality of the images created is comparable to the Huawei P20 Pro camera phone.

The Exynos 9820 processor paired with 8GB of RAM delivers amazing performance. The battery also pleases with the number of ampere hours - 4100. This is one of the best flagships of 2019, which is good in everything - in photo capabilities, and in performance, and in ease of operation, and in design. In the reviews, the owners focus on face unlock, which works from any position and almost instantly. Some users have complained about the body scratching and peeling paint from the camera's eyelet bezels on the back.

The long-awaited smartphone from the POCO brand, which split from Xiaomi and became independent. If the first smartphone of this Chinese brand was positioned as a state employee with a flagship filling, then the F2 Pro is no longer so simple. The price for it is still lower than for top smartphones from other manufacturers, but at the same time there is a powerful Snapdragon 865 processor, 6 or 8 GB of RAM (depending on the modification), an AMOLED screen without a cutout for the front camera. The front camera has become retractable - it works instantly when unlocking in the face, and when you turn on the selfie camera.

The design has also been refreshed: POCO pleases with bright colors, non-standard camera placement on a round puck. The cameras themselves shoot perfectly, the night mode is well developed. Macros are not always obtained - there is no separate macro module here, and software algorithms are not always able to catch autofocus on an object located a few centimeters from the module lens. This is the best flagship in terms of price and quality.