This was a surprisingly enjoyable 12 months for smartphones. I wasn’t anticipating it to be; the class is commonly described as stale or “plateaued.” However as WIRED’s resident phone reviewer, I’ve examined practically all of this 12 months’s handsets—units as cheap 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 diverse kinds in fairly a while.
It began with the Nothing Phone (3a) series, which the UK firm launched at Mobile World Congress early within the 12 months. Whereas I wasn’t a fan of the Professional mannequin’s top-heavy digital camera module, the electrical blue Telephone (3a) is a standout. It appears to be like like no different smartphone in the marketplace, with a clear backplate, a pop of colour from a small purple sq., and the corporate’s signature Glyph lights, which blink while 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 totally different.
Smartphones are a necessity in in the present day’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 doable viewers. Because of this the latest shift to units with a bit of extra character feels important.
Nothing had one other win on its fingers this 12 months with the CMF Phone 2 Pro, a sub-$300 telephone that didn’t look or really feel something like its funds worth. Uniquely, you possibly can unscrew the again of the telephone and exchange the backplate with one which’s a distinct colour, or take off the Accent Level module and fix issues like a lanyard. Sustainability-focused Fairphone had the same thought with The Fairphone (Gen. 6), besides this smartphone did all of that whereas additionally attaining a ten/10 repairability score from iFixit.
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Subsequent got here Motorola, which has seen a lot of success lately with its Razr folding flip phones. With the 2025 Razr models, the corporate leaned closely into totally different supplies and textures. You would 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 wood. It helps that Motorola stays one of many solely producers providing a folding flip telephone below $700. (It even will get as low as $600 throughout sale occasions.)
You should still be hesitant to put money into one among these hinge-reliant handsets, given their spotty history with durability, 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 latest Fold and has finally earned an IP68 rating 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 must always anticipate extra out of how the devices in our lives feel and appear. As with a good watch, I discover that I genuinely take pleasure in utilizing units 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 Light Phone III—the anti-smartphone that doesn’t run conventional apps—whereas the Minimal Phone, which is constructed with the identical purpose of serving to scale back time spent watching a display, had a plasticky construct that felt off-putting. Even with all of this experimentation in type, you don’t need to spend tons of and tons of of {dollars} on a handsome telephone. Motorola’s Moto G Stylus 5G has a hanging design with a beautiful leather-like texture, and it’s regularly on sale for $300.
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Skinny, as all the time, 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 occasions, its single digital camera system and excessive worth didn’t precisely scream good worth in an economically tumultuous 12 months. (These flaws seemingly clarify the rumors that recommend Samsung has canceled plans for a successor to its thinnest handset and that Apple has been weathering lackluster sales of the Air.)
However we’ve already seen the advantages of thinner telephones. Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold7 is among the finest folding telephones of the 12 months, largely as a result of large discount in measurement 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 good distance in making a tool that’s not cumbersome to carry.
