Asus might have made the best out and out gaming phone of 2023 in the ROG Phone 7 Ultimate, but the Nubia Red Magic 8S Pro was the people’s champ. It offered comparably zippy performance and gamer-friendly controls in a reasonably neat package, all for less than half the price.
Now the Nubia Red Magic 9 Pro is here, with updated internals and a slightly streamlined design at the same asking price. Yes, it’s another iterative update from Nubia, but that’s kind of what it takes if you’re intent on staying at the cutting edge of mobile gaming performance on a strict budget.
The design is much like the previous models, with flat surfaces and gaming-friendly capacitive shoulder buttons, but with a more elegant flattened camera module. Meanwhile, the huge notch-free display is brighter and more vibrant than before.
If we’re talking top-tier features, the Red Magic 9 Pro really hits the bullseye with its performance. Not only does the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 beat most of the competition, but it can do so over a sustained period thanks to an extensive multi-layered cooling system.
(Image credit: Future | Jon Mundy)
The other key component here is the Red Magic 9 Pro’s battery. It’s bigger than ever at 6,500mAh, and it can last a full two days of regular usage on a single charge. Heavy gaming won’t leave you sweating come the end of a day either, while a bundled 80W charger gets you back up to speed quickly.
Few of the best gaming phones take brilliant pictures, and the Red Magic 9 Pro is no exception. Its 50MP main Samsung-made sensor does a passable job, especially now that it has OIS, but the new 50MP ultra-wide is fairly mediocre, and the under-display selfie cam is abysmal.
Nubia’s software provision has come on leaps and bounds since its calamitous early days, to the point where it’s now actually quite usable. It’s far from perfect, but its Game Space mode is well tuned to a gamer’s needs.
It isn’t the best pure gaming phone on the market, even with its imperious performance, but the Red Magic 9 Pro is undoubtedly the best-value. You simply won’t find this level of sustained performance anywhere else for $649 / £579.
Nubia Red Magic 9 Pro review: Price and availability
From $649 / £579 / Australian buyers use Red Magic's global store in USD
Pre-order from December 27, 2023
On sale from January 3, 2024
The international version of the Nubia Red Magic 9 Pro was made available for pre-order from December 27, 2023 on the Red Magic website, with open sales commencing on January 3, 2024.
The entry-level Sleet model – which ships with 12GB of RAM and 256GB of storage – costs $649 / £579. The Cyclone and Snowfall models – both of which ship with 16GB of RAM and 512GB of storage – cost $799 / £709.
While Red Magic tries to sell its devices local currency in most of the markets it operates in, interested buyers in Australia will have buy through the company's global store, which is all priced in USD, meaning the base 256GB model sells for approximately AU$965 at $649 and the 512GB variant costs equivalent to about AU$1,190.
That essentially sees Nubia freezing the pricing of its latest gaming phone compared to the 8S Pro. The mid-level price has been taken out this year too, which effectively means that you get a choice of color if you’re shopping for the top storage RAM version.
Value score: 5 / 5
Nubia Red Magic 9 Pro review: Specs
Nubia Red Magic 9 Pro review: Design
(Image credit: Future | Jon Mundy)
Gorilla Glass 5 front and back, aluminum frame
Even flatter design than before
520Hz capacitive shoulder buttons
Dedicated gaming mode switch
As gaming phones go, the Red Magic 9 Pro looks pretty decent, but isn’t the most comfortable to hold for extended periods. Make no mistake, this is still a big, bulky phone, at 8.9mm thick – half a millimetre thinner than the 8S Pro – and with a similar weight of 229 grams.
Both measurements are at the very top end of acceptable for regular phone users, but within a gaming phone context they’re quite reasonable. With none of the ROG Phone 7 series' curves, however, it might weigh a little heavier after a lengthy gaming session.
The Red Magic 9 Pro’s blocky, flat-surfaced look has been accentuated this year with an almost completely flat back. The camera module has been shunted to the side and placed underneath the transparent rear cover, which could be the first practical use case for such an aesthetic choice. It’s a pleasingly clean effect, though it’s ever so slightly spoiled by the flash poking through.
My model comes in the Snowfall colorway, which is basically off-white with a semi-transparent back hinting at some of the components within. Cyclone pulls the same trick but with black as the underlying color, while Sleet is the terribly named plain black entry model.
There’s some RGB lighting, of course, around the fan, under the '09' decal, and now also underneath the capacitive shoulder button controls that sit along the right edge. Said sensors appear to be unchanged since the 8S Pro, lighting aside.
Once again, they have a speedy 520Hz response rate, and work with Nubia’s gaming UI, allowing you to map gaming controls to them. They’re particularly handy in shooters like CoD Mobile or PUBG Mobile, where they can be assigned to aim and shoot.
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On a rather over-stacked right-hand edge, you also get the volume and power buttons – the latter pleasingly circular – as well as a custom Game Boost Switch. Flip this to jump into Game Space mode, where you can launch games and tinker with performance and interface elements, so as to optimize your gaming experience.
That flat side frame itself is made from aluminum, while the display is once again covered by Gorilla Glass 5. This isn’t the newest or toughest material of its kind, but cuts clearly had to be made somewhere to hit that price point. Another such compromise is the lack of a water and dust resistance IP rating.
You only get the one USB-C port on the bottom of the phone, unlike the Asus ROG Phone range, but you still get a 3.5mm headphones jack on the top edge.
The front of the phone impresses from a visual perspective, with minimal bezels and an under-display selfie cam making for a nigh-on all-screen experience. It’s not an especially gamer-friendly touch, though, with less space to hold the phone and ample opportunity for false presses.
It also means that the speaker grilles have been consigned to the top and bottom edges, which isn’t ideal for landscape gaming.
Design score: 3.5 / 5
Nubia Red Magic 9 Pro review: Display
(Image credit: Future | Jon Mundy)
Large 6.8-inch screen
FHD+ resolution, 120Hz refresh rate
New material provides brighter, bolder picture
Under-display selfie camera
Like its predecessor, the Red Magic 9 Pro packs a large 6.8-inch OLED display with a 2480 x 1116 resolution and a 120Hz refresh rate. The latter spec isn’t the fastest on the gaming phone market, but given that precious few games will support frame rates in excess of 120Hz it’s not a huge problem.
This isn’t exactly the same as the Red Magic 8S Pro display, however. Nubia has switched to using BOE’s Q9+ luminescent material, which makes for a punchier output. A little too punchy, in fact – I had to crank the color mode all the way down to ‘Soft’, away from the ‘Colorful’ default and past the medium ‘Standard’ setting, to secure a slightly more natural look.
This new material seems to grant the Red Magic 9 Pro a little more brightness too. Nubia claims a peak brightness of 1,600nits, which is up 300nits from the 8S Pro. With auto-brightness switched off, I recorded the 9 Pro hitting 445 nits, which is about 100 nits more than its predecessor.
While this might not be the sharpest or most nuanced display on the market, the Red Magic 9 Pro's screen makes for an excellent gaming canvas. It’s big, flat, sufficiently bright, and it doesn’t have a bothersome notch getting in the way of the action.
Display score: 4 / 5
Nubia Red Magic 9 Pro review: Camera
(Image credit: Future | Jon Mundy)
50MP main with OIS this time
Improved 50MP ultra-wide, 2MP macro
16MP in-display selfie camera still terrible
Up to 8K video
If a manufacturer needs to free up space and money to do something a little different with a phone, it’s invariably the camera that suffers. Just as with foldables, so it is with gaming phones.
Last year’s Red Magic 8S Pro didn’t take particularly great pictures, and the Red Magic 9 Pro isn’t all that much better. It does mark a slight improvement, however.
While it packs the exact same 50MP Samsung GN5 main image sensor as before, this time it’s accompanied by optical image stabilization (OIS). You’d take this component for granted in a $700/£600 smartphone, but it’s a welcome addition to this $700/£600 gaming phone.
The combination of an aging flagship sensor (it was in the Samsung Galaxy S22) with proper stabilization, a 7P lens (that stands for seven [plastic] elements), and the improved image processing of the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chip, produces decent shots in good lighting. The results in low lighting are a tad crisper than with the 8S Pro, though Nubia’s Night mode still brightens things up to a slightly false-looking degree.
Nubia Red Magic 9 Pro camera samples
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Nubia has also improved the ultra-wide camera, swapping out the 8MP sensor in the 8S Pro for a 50MP Samsung JN1 alternative. While it’s an adequate component in good lighting, there’s a marked difference to the main sensor in terms of tone and dynamic range.
The fresh OIS provision also enhances the 9 Pro’s video capabilities. It’s still shooting at 8K/30fps, 4K/60fps, or 1080p/240fps, but the footage I captured seemed to benefit from the new steadying technology.
One thing that most certainly hasn’t changed is the Red Magic 9 Pro’s 16MP under-display selfie camera. It might free up space on the display, but once again selfie shots look truly terrible – a blurry, smudgey, borderline impressionistic mess.
Camera score: 3 / 5
Nubia Red Magic 9 Pro review: Performance
(Image credit: Future | Jon Mundy)
One of the first phones on the market with a Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chip
12GB or 16GB RAM of LPDDR5X RAM
256GB or 512GB UFS 4.0 storage
Any compromises made with the Red Magic 9 Pro’s design and camera were reached in service of this: providing as much gaming power as possible for a mid-market price.
On that front, the Red Magic 9 Pro is an unmitigated triumph. Nubia has switched to the latest and greatest chip at its disposal, the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 from Qualcomm, together with either 12 or 16GB of LPDDR5X RAM.
This is the same chip the vast majority of 2024 flagship phones will be using, and it’s as fast as you’d expect. The usual CPU and GPU benchmark tests reveal a clear, if hardly seismic performance boost over the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 from 2023.
Interestingly, it’s nip and tuck with the iPhone 15 Pro and its A17 Pro. Apple’s latest chip seems to have a clear single-core CPU performance advantage, but the $649 / £579 Red Magic 9 Pro and its Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 wins its fair share of GPU rounds.
Raw processing power is all well and good, but that’s only half the story with a gaming phone such as this. Where the Red Magic 9 Pro really impresses is with its level of sustained performance.
Shoulder buttons and a red switch made for gaming on the go. (Image credit: Future | Jon Mundy)
Running a couple of the 3DMark Extreme tests, which run 20 successive minute-long intensive graphical tests, the Red Magic 9 Pro achieved close to perfect stability. That is, its average loop score remained remarkably consistent. Non-gaming phones only tend to score 70 to 80% in the stability stakes, due to their habit of throttling the processor significantly after the first loop.
The difference all comes down to cooling. Nubia has equipped the Red Magic 9 Pro with an upgraded ten-layer ICE 13.0 Cooling System, which includes a physical fan that kicks in when you start up a game. It’s a bit noisy, but it enables you to run the likes of Genshin Impact or Diablo Immortal on the highest settings at a solid 60fps, and they won’t start dropping frames deep into your session.
Performance score: 5 / 5
Nubia Red Magic 9 Pro review: Software
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Red Magic OS 9.0 on Android 14
Ugly but functional UI
Powerful Game Space dedicated gaming UI
Nubia has improved its Red Magic OS user experience immeasurably over the past couple of years. What was once a painful mish-mash of screen-hogging widgets, occasionally untranslated Mandarin text, and a number of glitches has turned into a fairly typical custom Android 14 environment.
It’s still a pretty mediocre custom skin, with charmless wallpapers, a superfluous browser-cum-news-feed app, and the Booking.com app preinstalled (why is it always Booking.com?). But Red Magic OS 9.0 is now in a broadly functional state, and I was able to run the phone as my day-to-day device for around a week (and intermittently thereafter) with no major snags.
While I’m doling out faint praise, is that Google Keep I see preinstalled? It’s a very small point, but precious few manufacturers go with Google’s clean note-taking app out of the box, so I appreciate it when one does.
I did observe a couple of hiccups early on, with the home screen seeming to exhibit some bizarre lag despite all that power on tap, and despite me forcing the screen to refresh at 120Hz. After a couple of firmware updates, however, everything seems to be running smoothly.
I also had to go in and set Gmail to sync manually, for whatever reason. Presumably the aforementioned updates fixed that, but it’s difficult to be certain without a factory reset.
Game Space is loaded with useful tools for gamers. (Image credit: Future | Jon Mundy)
The important software here – given the intended audience – is Nubia’s Game Space UI. Flick that red switch and you’ll be booted into an interface that grants access to your games, as well as control over fan, CPU, and GPU settings.
When in a game you can drag in from the top left edge of the screen to bring up a streamlined UI. It’s from here you can also assign those capacitive controls to the game’s on-screen virtual buttons.
Nubia’s Game Space UI also lets you manage any accessories that you choose to buy, as well as run a large screen projection, manage your in-game screenshots and captured videos, tweak the RGB lighting output, and much more besides.
It’s way more than your average phone user will want or need, but then the Red Magic 9 Pro isn’t for average phone users.
Software score: 3 / 5
Nubia Red Magic 9 Pro review: Battery
(Image credit: Future | Jon Mundy)
Expanded 6,500mAh battery
Clears a full day of intensive use with ease
Fast 80W wired charging
Given that the Red Magic 9 Pro weighs about the same as the 8S Pro, and is also a little thinner, it’s impressive to note that Nubia has managed to increase the size of its battery.
It’s now up to a frankly huge 6,500mAh dual-cell configuration. Nubia claims that it can last up to 56 hours, which is tricky to equate to real world usage. I found that I could go through a full day of moderate usage with about four hours of screen-on time, and still be left with around 65% in the tank.
That’s an excellent result, not only improving upon the Red Magic 8S Pro, but also opening up the genuine possibility of practical two-day usage.
Of course, that’s not what all that extra juice is intended for. Gamers will find that they can indulge in a couple of intensive gaming sessions throughout the day, and won’t have to worry about plugging in until bed time.
The charging provision has ostensibly been improved too, with an 80W charger bundled in, which is up from 65W on the 8S Pro. Given the extra capacity of that battery, though, charging speeds are roughly the same, with a full charge from empty taking around 40 minutes.
Again, there’s no wireless charging here, but that’s a feature that’s routinely omitted from gaming phones – even the $1,399 / £1,199.99 / AU$2,099 ROG Phone 7 Ultimate – where advanced cooling solutions occupy that space instead.
Battery score: 5 / 5
Should you buy the Nubia Red Magic 9 Pro?
Buy it if...
You want peak gaming performance at half the price Good luck getting this much sustained gaming performance this cheap anywhere else. Nubia's choice of top-speed chip, memory and storage, along with active cooling make for a powerful team.
You’re after an all-screen phone The Red Magic 9 Pro’s minimal bezels and under-display camera make it a uniquely screen-heavy device. While it's built for active media, you can also passively sink your teeth into shows and even books on its expansive display too.
You want two-day battery life When you lay off the games, the Red Magic 9 Pro will sail through two full days of use on a single charge, and if you don't, you'll still make it through a day without having to curb your gaming habit.
Don't buy it if...
Photography is a priority The main sensor doesn’t take terrible photos, but you can get a way better camera system for the same money – or even less. Under-display camera tech is cool in theory, but the reality means selfie-lovers should avoid too.
You want the best gaming phone, money no object Nubia cuts a few corners to hit an aggressive price point. If money is no object and you want the very best, keep any eye on the Asus ROG Phone range.
You hate custom Android UIs Anyone with a bee in their bonnet about manufacturers messing with Google’s stock Android UI should look away now. Red Magic OS 9.0 is the best iteration of the company's user experience to date, but that's not saying a whole lot, considering where things started.
Nubia Red Magic 9 Pro review: Also consider
The Nubia Red Magic 9 Pro is a unique proposition alright, but it isn’t the only option if you’re after a game-friendly phone.
Asus ROG Phone 7 Ultimate It’s about to be replaced at the time of writing, but if you can use that fact to get the Asus ROG Phone 7 Ultimate at a discount, it remains a fabulous gaming specialist.
Nubia Red Magic 8S Pro Last year’s model remains a fabulous gaming phone, with a very similar feature-set to the 9 Pro. You should be able to get it even cheaper now, too.
Apple iPhone 13 Apple still sells the iPhone 13 as new for around the same price as the Red Magic 9 Pro. It’s not as gaming focused, but it remains capable, and has access to a superior roster of games.
How I tested the Nubia Red Magic 9 Pro
Review test period = 2 weeks
Testing included = Everyday usage, including web browsing, social media, photography, video calling, gaming, streaming video, music playback
Tools used = Geekbench 6, GFXBench, 3DMark, native Android stats, bundled Nubia 80W power adapter
I was sent the top Snowfall model of the Red Magic 9 Pro by a PR representative, at which point I commenced using the phone on a daily basis over a two-week period.
For at least a week of that time, the 9 Pro was my everyday phone. For the rest of the time, I swapped in another active SIM and continued to use the phone for benchmark tests, photos, and general browsing.
I’m a freelance journalist who got his start writing about mobile games in the pre-smartphone era. I was around to cover the arrival of the iPhone and the App Store, as well as Android, and their seismic effect on the games industry. I now write about consumer tech, games, and culture for a number of top websites.
In the Moto G54 5G, Motorola has in some ways gone back to the drawing board. There is still the overall mission to offer customers the best possible mobile experience for as little money as possible, but in the G54 5G, I think it’s genuinely achieved it. I say that in the sense of, with the previous model in this series, the Moto G53 5G, there were too many compromises for one to make. In this latest model,Motorola has properly cracked it, and I feel it not only delivers an experience that belies its price, but it gives phones a fair bit more expensive than it a decent run for their money.
Yes, Motorola has now done a complete 180 since the G53 and made improvements across the board, to deliver an undeniably affordable smartphone that I struggled to find major fault with. And the company is actually charging less for this latest model than it did for the G53. That alone should be lauded.
No, of course the Moto G54 5G still isn’t going to trouble the four-figure flagships of the world, but the more mid-range phones? They should certainly be worried. For anyone looking for an affordable phone, I can’t personally think of anything better than this. The screen is finally full HD+, the processor offers a decent amount of performance (super intense gamers should still tread with caution) and the camera takes noticeably improved images compared to its predecessor. I also think it looks fantastic, and did plenty enough to make me rethink what a ‘budget’ phone is supposed to look like.
Having reviewed the earlier Moto G53 5G myself, I approached taking temporary ownership of the G54 5G with caution. And yes, I definitely made pre assumptions in my mind that I was going to be in for much of the same ride, just maybe in a shiny new colour. Well shouldn’t I now just eat my shoes. I was wrong and I applaud Motorola for producing a genuinely good device for not a lot of money.
Motorola Moto G54 5G review: Price & availability
List price of £180 / AU$299
No direct US equivalent again
Availability of Motorola devices continues to be inconsistent, depending on where you are in the world. As we’ve seen with previous Motorola smartphones, the Moto G54 5G is available in the UK and Australia, but isn’t available in the US, not by the same model name anyway. In the UK, you can expect to pay £180, £10 less than the previous model, while in Australia the Moto G54 5G receives a AU$30 discount over its predecessor, coming down to AU$299.
In the US, the Moto G Power 5G appears to be the most similar on paper, and this can be bought for $199.99 (down from $299.99) at the time of writing.
The fact that Motorola has taken what was already an affordable phone and made it cheaper is seriously impressive. When I reviewed the Moto G53 5G I gave it a value score of 4 out of 5, and given the G54 5G is cheaper and offers much-improved specs, it has to receive a 5 stars this time around.
• Value score: 5/5
Motorola Moto G53 5G review: Specs
Motorola Moto G54 5G review: Design
(Image credit: Future)
Multiple colors, including vegan leather option
Thinner and lighter than previous model
Not always the most ergonomical
The majority of wallet-friendly phones now follow a very similar design language. Namely, plastic build, large-ish bezels (compared to the very best phones at least) and, in my experience anyway, they’ve all been lightweight and come in a selection of unexciting colors.
And, while the Moto G54 5G doesn’t deviate from the norm too much, I think there have been enough changes to make it look decidedly more premium and, dare I say, sexy? The review unit I received came in the Indigo Blue color, which employs an attractive vegan leather material on the rear. It’s a material often reserved for more premium devices to cement their premium status, so it was a genuine surprise to find Motorola has been able to get it to trickle down here – the company’s Razr 40 Ultra flip phone employs a similar material, for example. The result is a tactile phone that really is a joy to hold.
The other color options are Midnight Blue in Australia/UK and Mint Green and Glacier Blue in the UK – though they are all of a plastic-only persuasion.
Elsewhere it is largely business as usual. A large 6.5-inch screen dominating the front with a small punch hole camera in the top center. A small bump housing the two camera lenses is on the rear, and I’m pleased to say this bump barely protrudes at all, so when the phone is placed down on a surface it continues to sit flat.
A power button with built-in fingerprint sensor and the volume rocker are on the right edge, and it’s here that I did find a slight flaw. While the power button does sit at a natural height for one to use their thumb to unlock the phone – I did find using the fingerprint sensor unlocked the phone 9 times out of 10, and quickly too – the volume rocker, for me, sits too high up the right edge to be used comfortably. This is a tall phone, and I would say I have large hands and even I had trouble using it. I either had to shuffle the phone down in my hand, or move to two-handed operation. A minor issue to most, I would expect, but an issue I found nonetheless. I would have preferred to have seen the volume buttons placed at a more natural height on the left edge so I could adjust using my index and middle fingers.
Speaking of the left edge, it’s where you’ll find the SIM card and micro SD card tray, the latter being capable of accepting cards up to 1TB. The Moto G54 5G also supports eSIM along with physical SIM cards, and you’re welcome to use one of each in conjunction if you wish.
As with the Moto G53, there’s no mention of Gorilla Glass protection for the screen on the Moto G54, so I would recommend investing in a screen protector as a best practice safety precaution. Motorola also only advertises a water-repellent design, so while a splash of rain shouldn’t trouble the Moto G54, you’ll want to avoid any possibility of fully immersing it.
• Design score: 4/5
Motorola Moto G54 5G review: Display
6.5-inch full HD+ LCD with 120Hz refresh
Fantastic colors and contrast
Excellent for watching streamed content
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One of the biggest drawbacks to the Moto G53 5G was, in my opinion, its display. While it did support a 120Hz refresh rate, the resolution was a big let down at only HD+. While it could be argued this was acceptable for a ‘budget’ phone, the fact was other companies producing similarly-priced phones were including full HD resolutions as a minimum.
I don’t think I was alone in that assessment and it appears as though Motorola has listened to the criticism, because now we’ve got a full HD+ display, baby! The resolution this time around has been increased to 2400 x 1080, resulting in 405 ppi. It’s not quite double the resolution of the outgoing model, but it’s a huge improvement and colors are noticeably sharper, more accurate and vibrant. I once again turned to a Disney Plus stream of The Incredibles – one of my go-to movies for testing color and movement – and while I didn’t have the G53 to hand to test side-by-side, I have a strong memory of the picture when playing the Pixar movie on that device to be a little pale. Definition between the red suits of the super family and green forest trees was good, but overall it was a rather lackluster performance.
The same can’t be said of the Moto G54. My experience this time was far more enjoyable across the board. Images were sharp and really did pop with color, and despite there being a pixel density difference on paper between the G54 and my iPhone 13 Pro, I couldn’t detect any discernible difference. If anything, I preferred the image produced by the Moto G54, owing to it looking more natural.
I also loaded up a Netflix stream of Edge of Tomorrow and again, was thoroughly impressed. Colors appeared natural, whether it be skin tones, sandy beaches or blue skies. Contrast was admirable too and fast-moving scenes were handled well. Black levels weren’t quite OLED deep, but honestly, they weren’t far off. The only thing I will say about the display as a whole is that the glass can be quite reflective even with brightness turned up all the way. So if you’re viewing with a bright light source behind you, then you may find yourself having to readjust your position to get the best possible experience.
A 120Hz refresh rate returns, and this can be set to automatically adjust if you wish, or you can lock it at either 120Hz or 60Hz, either to the detriment of battery life or to preserve it, respectively. I left it on Auto mode for the majority of my review, which gives all control over to the phone to determine what refresh rate is required at what time, depending on how you’re using it or what you’re viewing. I never noticed any notion of stutter, even when flicking quickly between home screen menus – something I did occasionally notice when using the G53.
For a sub-£200/AU$300 phone, the Moto G54 5G’s display is nothing short of outstanding.
• Display score: 5/5
Motorola Moto G53 5G review: Cameras
50MP main, 2MP macro and 16MP front cameras
Optical image stabilization a new addition
Improvement on previous model, but still not up there with the best
(Image credit: Future)
Motorola has opted for the same dual camera system in the G54 as it did with the G53, in the form of a 50MP main sensor and a 2MP macro sensor. However, Motorola has reduced the micrometer from 1.28 to 1.22. What this should mean, on paper, is that the camera in the G54 is theoretically capable of taking sharper images, as the pixels are more compressed.
This should be especially true in the case of the G54, as Motorola has also added optical image stabilization, which shouldn’t just help produce sharper images during the day, but help to improve low light photography too.
In practice, yes, images are better than those I was able to take on the previous model, but they’re still not all that great. In good lighting you will be able to take decent images, with colours appearing natural and only a minimum amount of noise being introduced when you zoom in.
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I personally decided to turn off the Auto Enhance feature, as I felt it made images look a little fake or airbrushed, particularly on images of people. Changing the setting to Natural made things look more… natural. As for the front-facing camera, despite getting a bump from 8MP to 16MP, it still leaves a lot to be desired, which I was surprised by. Ok, so I probably do look a bit better in selfie pictures compared to the previous generation, but other than posting them here for the purposes of this review, I don’t think I’d be sharing them on my socials.
Naturally, you have to factor in the cost of the Moto G54 when forming an opinion on the camera, and in this sense, it could be considered capable. But, as smartphone cameras in general go, it does still leave a lot to be desired.
The Motorola Moto G54 5G comes running Android 13 and will be eligible for an Android 14 upgrade when it becomes available. Motorola has confirmed its team is working on the upgrade, but doesn’t yet have a release date.
So, in the meantime, what you get is a predominantly bloatware-free Android experience, although Motorola does preinstall some of its own apps, which includes one that lets you customize your G54 to make it truly your own. You’re able to change the font, theme colour, layout of the home screen and any gestures to carry out an assortment of tasks. It’s an intuitive app, and I was able to adjust multiple settings in no time at all.
What I also appreciated about Motorola’s own UI was just how much better it looked on the G54 compared to the G53, made possible by the full HD+ upgrade to the display. If I hadn't known how affordable it was already, then I would certainly have assumed it would have cost more, had I seen it in the hands of someone around me.
To gain a clearer idea of how well (or not so well) the Moto G54 5G performs compared to similar devices, we can turn to Geekbench 6 and 3DMark to run a couple of tests. On Geekbench 6, the Moto G54 5G returned a single core score of 924 and a multi-core score of 2,354, both notable improvements over the previous G53, which posted scores of 719 and 1,743. With this latest phone, Motorola has opted to use a Mediatek Dimensity 7020 processor, moving away from the Snapdragon 480+ chip found in the G53. The move appears to have been the right one, and coupled with 8GB RAM as opposed to the previous 4GB, the G54 is far better equipped to handle a range of everyday tasks.
To determine how well the GPU of the Moto G54 5G performed, I ran 3DMark Sling Shot Extreme, and was returned a score of 2,565. The 3DMark app told me this was only 56% better than results from other devices. I was unable to run our usual 3DMark Wild Life test, as the Moto G54 5G doesn’t support all Vulkan features.
However, this doesn’t necessarily affect real world gaming performance, and to find out, I installed and played Asphalt 9 with no discernible lag or frame rate drops. In fact, I played through a good number of races and the phone performed admirably. The only thing I would point out is that I did start noticing a bit of heat generation through the rear panel, so I wouldn’t recommend playing for seriously long sessions – and more graphically-intense games may be out of the question – but for the most part, mobile gaming is fine on the Moto G54 5G.
In terms of audio, I was pleased with the volume produced by the speakers. The Moto G54 supports Dolby Atmos audio processing, and it’s on by default – there’s no way of turning it off. You are able to change from the base setting of Smart Audio, which analyses the type of content you’re watching/playing, and adjust sound output accordingly.
I switched the setting to Music when playing songs via Apple Music, and there was a noticeable difference. Vocals came through a bit clearer, albeit with a bit of harshness in the top end, and I was able to pick out slightly more detail in the stream of Alicia Keys’ Rock wit U. But, for the best overall audio performance, I would recommend leaving the Smart Audio setting on.
When streaming video content from Netflix, the virtual surround sound applied via the default Dolby Atmos processing was more noticeable. During the first beach fight scene near the beginning of Edge of Tomorrow, sounds of helicopters flying around did appear to move around the phone, as opposed to coming directly from the speakers at either end of the device. Bullets flying out of Tom Cruise’s arm-mounted machine guns had real impact, and the movie’s soundtrack provided support in the background. All in all, an impressive presentation.
There is a separate ‘Spatial sound’ option in the sound settings menu, which can be turned on in conjunction with Dolby Atmos, and which appears as being available in Netflix for content that I’m aware is available with a Dolby Atmos soundtrack on other platforms. I switched between turning Spatial sound on and off in the settings while watching a number of films, and found they all sounded better with it switched off. The same was the case for playing music, again from Apple Music. In all instances, Spatial sound did introduce a slightly wider soundstage, but on the whole it just sounded more echo-y and totally unnatural.
• Software & performance score: 5/5
Motorola Moto G54 5G review: Battery
5,000mAh battery lasts well over a day
15W 'TurboPower' charging could be quicker
No wireless charging
I’ve always found battery life in Motorola phones to be exemplary and the same can very much be said of the Moto G54 5G. Once again, Motorola has fitted a 5,000mAh battery which, under general everyday use, should last you into a second day without needing a recharge. It did for me, anyway.
Of course, performing more intensive tasks such as streaming video content or playing games will reduce it significantly, as will locking the screen refresh rate to 120Hz, as previously mentioned. Indeed, spending about half an hour playing Asphalt 9 did diminish the battery percentage considerably, by around 10%.
Where Motorola has improved things compared to the G53 is by adopting a faster charging speed. The Moto G53 maxed out at 10W throughput, which meant it took just over two hours to recharge the phone from near empty. In the Moto G54 however, this has increased to 15W with support for TurboPower charging, and Motorola even includes a 20W charger in the box.
Admittedly, I wouldn’t call the charging speed of the Moto G54 ‘Turbo’, but I didn’t exactly feel short changed or as if I absolutely needed it to be quicker. Charging from 18% to 100% using the supplied charger took roughly an hour and a half. It’s also worth noting that wireless charging isn’t supported. I personally didn’t mind this, as I’ve never used wireless charging, but if you are a user, you’re going to be missing out.
• Battery score: 5/5
Motorola Moto G53 5G: Score card
Should I buy the Motorola Moto G53 5G?
Buy it if...
Don't buy it if...
Also consider
If you're looking at the Motorola Moto G53, then it's most likely because you're looking to spend as little as possible on a phone. But you're also going to want to get the absolute most bang for your buck. Here are some good alternatives that do cost a little bit more, but which don't scrimp on features.
How I tested the Motorola Moto G55 5G
I used my review unit of the Motorola Moto G54 5G mainly for leisure during my testing period of a few weeks. I predominantly used it to browse web pages, scroll through social media and to take some pictures, and also found myself watching full length movies, due to its display being so engrossing. I also attempted to play a few games on it to best mimic the most likely real-world use case scenarios.
I didn't use it to replace my usual phone, an iPhone, but I was still able to send messages to friends via social media apps when connected to Wi-Fi. I also used my iPhone as a means to compare picture-taking abilities, being well aware that the iPhone was going to take more impressive shots due to its more capable camera system.
If you ask Samsung folks what the ‘FE’ in Galaxy S23 FE stands for, they’ll tell you it no longer stands for ‘Fan Edition’; it doesn’t stand for anything. I’m telling you this really is a Galaxy S23 for the fans. By ‘fans,’ I mean folks who appreciate the best that Samsung offers, even when they can’t afford the best that Samsung offers. Like car fans will look for great used car deals, and fashionistas find flash sales and samples, Samsung fans can still get (most of) the best of the Galaxy S world without paying sky-high prices.
The Galaxy S23 FE is a bargain, especially if you find it on sale, and it quickly went on sale for Black Friday soon after launch. This phone lists for $599 in the US, but it dropped as low as $399 for Black Friday, and it’s still got a discount as of this writing. This is a phone that is meant to fill the wide price gap between the Galaxy S23 and the Galaxy A54, but it will also be a terrific bargain when sales are active.
What makes this a Galaxy S23 for the fans? It’s very powerful, thanks to the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 platform that was the engine for the Galaxy S22 Ultra. It has solid cameras with excellent features, including cool photo modes that are easy to use and make your photos look much better. It also has a solid build quality, with total water resistance. It even comes in some cool colors.
(Image credit: Future / Philip Berne)
Of course, because it’s a Samsung, the Galaxy S23 FE also goes over the top in ways that other bargain phones don’t. For instance, the Galaxy S23 FE can run DEX, Samsung’s desktop environment that turns your phone into a laptop when you plug it into a monitor, keyboard, and mouse. That’s a great feature if you use your phone for email, apps, and playing games that you don’t usually run on your computer, and I can’t believe it’s included on the Galaxy S23 FE.
The Galaxy S23 FE is overloaded with features, like every good Samsung phone. It not only includes wireless charging, it can share its charge wirelessly with other devices, so if your earbuds run out of battery you can just sit them on the Galaxy S23 FE.
In some ways, the S23 FE even tops Samsung’s biggest competitor. It has Wi-Fi 6E, which the iPhone 15 can’t match. The iPhone has USB-C, but the Galaxy has a much more capable USB-C port with faster charging. Oh, it also has a real telephoto zoom lens with 3X optical zoom, in addition to the wide and ultra-wide lenses. Take that, iPhone.
The downside? It looks like a cheaper version of the Galaxy S23. It doesn’t look like a bargain phone. Bargain phones gussy up cheap plastic to make a nice-looking shell that isn’t really durable. The Galaxy S23 FE feels plenty durable. It also feels thick and heavy. Definitely not chintzy, not at all, the materials feel strong and premium. Samsung just didn’t bother cutting any bulk from this big guy.
(Image credit: Future / Philip Berne)
That said, you’ll appreciate the durability in three or four years when you are still using this phone. Samsung has made an excellent promise of four years of OS updates and five years of security patches, and that’s stellar for a phone in this price range.
The Galaxy S23 FE is easy to recommend, whether or not it’s on sale, especially against other phones you can find for the same price. It’s more powerful than a Google Pixel 7, with more features. It’s got better cameras than the Motorola Edge. It’s not already two years old, like the comparably-priced iPhone 13.
If you’re deciding whether to spend a little bit more to get this phone, I’d say it’s worth the extra. Samsung gives you a lot when you jump into the Galaxy S family. If you want a phone that’s better than this, you’ll have to spend a lot more.
Want more of our thoughts on the latest Galaxy phones? Check out our news round-ups for the upcoming Galaxy S24 and the rumored Galaxy S24 Ultra.
Galaxy S23 FE review: Price and availability
(Image credit: Future / Philip Berne)
Starts at $599.99 / £599 / AU $899 for 128GB and 8GB RAM
Less expensive than the Galaxy S21 FE was
Great sales already dropped this to $399.99 in US
For a while, if you had around $600 / £600 / AU $900 to spend on a phone, there weren’t any great options from Samsung. You could find cheaper phones like the Pixel 7 or the Galaxy A54. Or, you could get an iPhone 13, which is still available new. Otherwise, you mostly had to hope for a deal to drop a great flagship phone into your price range.
Enter the Galaxy S23 FE, or I should say re-enter the FE because we had a Galaxy S21 FE, but that phone was disappointing. It was expensive and underpowered. There was no Galaxy S22 FE, despite rumors, and Samsung seems to have listened to criticism to get the Galaxy S23 FE into the sweet spot for a bargain edition of its flagship phone.
I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention the deals we’ve already seen on this phone. We rarely get such amazing deals before we can even finish a review. This phone hadn’t launched in the UK when Amazon dropped the price in the US to $399.99, which is absurdly low. From here on, we’ll be looking for price drops on this device, as it seems to be an early favorite to put on sale.
Even at full price, however, the Galaxy S23 FE is a good choice. It has some important features that other phones lack, like IP68 water and dust resistance, and it has some niceties that even some flagship phones still skip, like wireless charging and reverse wireless charging. It’s powerful and durable, and Samsung will support it with major updates for four years, so it has better longevity than most phones.
If you can find a deal, absolutely grab this phone. Even if you can’t, this is the best new phone you can buy at this price.
Value score: 5 / 5
Galaxy S23 FE review: Specs
(Image credit: Future / Philip Berne)
The Galaxy S23 FE uses the same Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 platform found on the Galaxy S22 family, including the Galaxy S22 Ultra. It has the same 8GB of RAM that you’ll find in the Galaxy S23. In other words, it’s plenty powerful. It’s powerful enough to be a real workhorse for creative types, running photo editing software like Lightroom and recording video up to 8K resolution.
Where does Samsung cut corners? Well, Qualcomm’s newest processor is a bit faster than the 2022 chipset. The screen on the S23 FE is very nice, but the regular Galaxy S23 is brighter. The main camera is similar, but the ultra-wide and zoom cameras are better on the Galaxy S23, which can handle more advanced video shooting.
Still, this is an impressive phone for the money, especially thanks to the excellent build quality that screams durability, and the extra large battery inside. This phone had no trouble lasting all day, and it was fun to use. Nothing about the Galaxy S23 FE tells you that it's a bargain phone unless you spend a lot of time with phones like the Galaxy S23 Ultra.
Galaxy S23 FE review: Design
(Image credit: Future / Philip Berne)
Great color options, with exclusives on Samsung’s site
Big, thick, and chunky
Design is youthful, like a My First Galaxy phone
Do smartphone colors seem a bit serious to you? The Galaxy S23 FE is here to help. The purple on my review sample is the happiest purple I’ve seen on a phone in years. The tangerine color will inspire oohs from folks who spot your phone. The colors are bright, glossy, and saturated. You can still get cream or graphite if you want to be boring, but there is also a lovely mint and a cloudy indigo blue.
Why start with the colors? Because if you’ve seen one Galaxy S phone, you’ve seen the rest. The design for the Galaxy S23 FE comes straight from the Galaxy S playbook. It’s glass front and back. The cameras are like portholes peeking out from beneath the sea of purple (or tangerine). The branding is remarkably subtle: you can’t see the word “Samsung” unless you hold the phone in the light just so.
(Image credit: Future / Philip Berne)
This phone is thick, for sure. The middle-child Galaxy S23 Plus has a larger display than the Galaxy S23 FE, but the FE is more than a half mm thicker, and it weighs a hefty 13 grams more than its bigger sibling. It looks big and feels big. It isn’t uncomfortable. The sides are brushed metal and nicely rounded, so it’s very comfortable to hold. It’s just a big chongus of a phone.
With a thicker design, thicker bezels around the display, and brighter colors, the phone gives off a youthful vibe almost like a toy, but a toy that won’t break. It feels like a great starter phone if you want your kid to have something serious, but also something durable that won’t break the bank if they break it.
Design score: 3 / 5
Galaxy S23 FE review: Display
(Image credit: Future / Philip Berne)
Sharp with good color
Bright enough but not the brightest
Bezels are too large and asymmetrical
As you’d expect from a Samsung phone, the display on the Galaxy S23 FE looks great, especially against other phones at this price. It’s not quite as bright as the Galaxy S23, but it looks just as sharp and colorful, and it holds HDR10+ certification for watching streaming content in superior HDR quality.
The bezels around the display are big and they aren’t symmetrical, which bothered me. I didn’t think it would bother me this much, but once I noticed that the lower bezels were bigger than the rest, I always noticed. I couldn’t not see the unevenness. Maybe this sort of thing doesn’t bother you. If it does, you know who you are, and this will bother you.
There’s a good always-on display option on the Galaxy S23 FE, but it is turned off by default so you’ll have to dig to find it. If you’re a true Samsung fan, I also recommend downloading Samsung’s Good Lock app from the Samsung Galaxy Store. It has a lot of great themes, wallpaper, and lock screen options that are not part of the normal Samsung One UI. Only for true fans, though.
Display score: 4 / 5
Galaxy S23 FE review: Software
(Image credit: Future / Philip Berne)
Lots of apps, maybe too many
Features can be buried under layers of menus
Good search (and Bixby) can help
The great thing about Samsung phones is that they are loaded with features. The terrible thing about Samsung phones is that every year more and more features get crammed in, and the old ones just get pushed to the back of the Settings closet. The good news is that Samsung has great tools that can help, if you’re willing to give them a try.
I’m talking about Bixby, and if you’re a Samsung fan then you don’t shudder or turn away in disgust when I say that name. The Galaxy S23 FE has more features than any other phone in its price range, and Bixby is the best way to find them.
For instance, the Galaxy S23 FE can charge other devices wirelessly using a feature called Wireless Power Sharing. So, where do you find this feature? I’m going to tell you (and you won’t believe me), but the easiest way to find it is to just ask Bixby. Hold the Bixby button (read: Power button) and say, “Turn on wireless power sharing.” Voila! The feature is turned on. You won’t have to worry about the next part.
(Image credit: Future / Philip Berne)
If you want to find wireless power sharing on your own, first grab your bullwhip and fedora, because this is an adventure. At first, I thought the feature was called “reverse wireless charging,” but it’s called wireless power sharing. I looked under the Battery and device care settings, but it wasn’t there. It wasn’t even buried under the corner submenu dots. I couldn’t find it.
Then, on the Battery Settings screen, I see three meters that show how full your battery, your storage, and your RAM are currently. To find wireless power sharing, you have to tap on the Battery meter. There’s no indication that this is even a button or a menu. You just have to know. I’m a longtime Samsung user, so I expect these things.
The problem with the Galaxy S23 FE and all of Samsung’s software is that far too many useful features are like this. They are buried. They are impossible to find. They are hidden under buttons that don’t even look like buttons. It’s great to have so many features, but Samsung needs to simplify.
Samsung DeX gives you a real desktop with a taskbar (Image credit: Future)
I was shocked to find Samsung’s powerful DeX on the Galaxy S23 FE. DeX is Samsung’s ‘desktop environment experience.’ It’s basically a new home screen that your phone creates when you connect to an external monitor. You can run multiple apps in windows side-by-side, just like you would on a laptop. It feels like a Chromebook.
DeX is endlessly useful if you know when to use it. It’s especially great when you’re traveling and can just plug your phone into a workstation, or even connect wirelessly to a TV. It’s also nice if you have a work phone and a personal computer, or vice versa, and you don’t want to mix your work and personal lives on each device. You can just work on your phone the way you’d work on a computer.
The Galaxy Z Flip 5, which has a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 processor inside, doesn’t have DeX on board. Amazingly, a bargain phone like the S23 FE has such powerful software. You know what’s also amazing? Samsung forgot to load a Clock app. Or a Calendar. You can get the Google Clock and Google Calendar from the Google Play Store, but this was a really, really weird oversight.
It’s time to simplify.
Software score: 3 / 5
Galaxy S23 FE review: Cameras
(Image credit: Future / Philip Berne)
Cameras are very good for a phone this price
Some trouble with night photos
Solid zoom and great photo modes for fun options
The Galaxy S23 FE has very good cameras, and it sits in the middle of phones in this price range. The main camera is very good, especially under bright lighting conditions, though details weren’t always perfect. The 3X optical zoom camera is passable and better than the digital zoom you’ll get on other phones for this price.
Samsung does a good job with its camera app, and you can trust the photo modes to do what they promise. The Food mode on Samsung cameras is one of my favorites, applying warm color tones and a nice bokeh blur to the background to make food subjects pop. In every mode, photos are highly saturated on this phone, but that’s nothing new to Samsung fans.
A great sandwich deserves a great Food mode (Image credit: Future / Philip Berne)
If you care about photography, you might be better off with an older phone like the Google Pixel 7, which takes slightly better pics and also gives you Google’s unique photo editing tools. Of course, the Galaxy S23 FE is powerful enough to run Adobe Lightroom, if you want to edit, so Google isn’t the only game in town.
The Pixel 7, like the Motorola Edge and the iPhone 13, skips the telephoto lens. If you want real zoom on your camera, you’re going to need the Galaxy S23 FE. I found zoom to be one of its best qualities, and even at night, zoomed-in pics looked pretty good.
Of course, because it’s Samsung, there are maybe too many camera modes, and not all of them are clear. If I’m shooting video, should I just use Video mode, or do I need to use Director mode? And what is this enigmatic Single Take mode, that lets you shoot anything from ‘boomerang clips’ to ‘collages’ to ‘cropped shots’ without explanation?
There’s a lot to love in the Camera app, but just like everything else on the Galaxy S23 FE, it needs to be simplified. Samsung needs to make more decisions for us and get rid of so many unnecessary options.
Confusingly, Samsung includes two photo gallery apps: its own Gallery and Google Photos. You can stick with Photos, but I’ve been using both for a long time, and Samsung Gallery backs up to OneDrive, so you have a cloud backup that follows you to your next device, just like with Google.
The camera was a bit less responsive than I’d like, and it seemed to take a beat to focus and snap a photo, especially in night mode. My photos still came out great, but if you’re chasing fast animals or rugrats for your pics, you may want a better camera phone.
Galaxy S23 FE camera samples
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Camera score: 3 / 5
Galaxy S23 FE review: Performance
(Image credit: Future / Philip Berne)
Excellent performance from a proven chipset
Much faster than anything else in its class (except iPhone)
Able to handle real performance tasks like DeX
Forget that the Galaxy S23 FE runs on a chipset that is now officially two and a half generations old. The Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 was fast enough for the Galaxy S22 Ultra, and it’s fast enough for anything you can do on an Android phone. If this phone is powerful enough to emulate a laptop in DeX mode, then you can be sure that performance is no problem.
Gaming is also great on this phone, though the screen could be a bit brighter and maybe bigger for real gaming fanatics. Still, if you’re looking for a capable and affordable performer, the Galaxy S23 FE had no trouble tearing up cheap phone noobs on Call of Duty Mobile. It handles all the detailed particle and motion effects in Marvel Snap with aplomb, at 60 FPS.
Performance score: 4 / 5
Galaxy S23 FE review: Battery
(Image credit: Future / Philip Berne)
Great battery lasted all-day
Lots of performance and power-saving options
Advanced charging modes for a bargain phone
The Galaxy S23 FE had no trouble lasting through a busy work day until it was time for bed. It may be big but that also means there’s space inside for more battery, and Samsung took advantage with a 4,500 mAh battery, which is much larger than the 3,900 mAh cell inside a Galaxy S23.
Most of Samsung’s choices add up to better battery life on the Galaxy S23 FE. The screen isn’t as bright as the Galaxy S23? Saves battery. The processor isn’t as fast? Saves battery. These are worthwhile sacrifices, and I almost wish Samsung would make the same on its upcoming Galaxy S24 phones.
Some phones can charge much faster than the Galaxy S23 FE, but it still hits a respectable 25W, which is about the best you can expect from an iPhone 15 Pro, anyway. Better than that, it has wireless charging, which is a feature some phone makers (looking at you, OnePlus) omit to cut costs.
Not only does Samsung give you respectable 15W wireless charging, but you can also use the Galaxy S23 FE to wireless power share with another device, like your Galaxy Buds Pro (the Galaxy Buds FE case doesn’t charge wirelessly) or your friend’s dead iPhone. That’s a feature you only find on premium smartphones.
There are tons of power-saving features and performance adjustments you can make to save battery life, and I’m not going to rehash my same complaint about Samsung phones: great features, very hard to find. Dig and you shall be rewarded. Or just let the phone do its own thing and it will still last all day. Either way, the battery life was good.
Battery score: 4 / 5
Should you buy the Galaxy S23 FE?
(Image credit: Future / Philip Berne)
Buy it if...
You have $600 or less to spend The phone market is sharply divided between very expensive and very cheap phones. This is one of the few phones in the middle that gives you more and is worth buying.
You are a true Samsung fan
I don’t care if FE doesn’t stand for Fan Edition, this phone has DeX, zoom cameras, and software bloat. Don’t tell me it’s not for the fans.
You like bright, colorful phones
Honestly, most of the other phones in this price range are boring, black slabs, besides the odd-looking Pixel. Samsung gives you the best looking phone in bright, glossy colors.
Don't buy it if...
You need real camera performance
This is a great camera phone in the bargain phone price range, but premium phones are much better, and the Pixel 7 has some cool photo features unique to Pixel phones.
You wear tight pants
The Galaxy S23 is a thin and light phone, but the Galaxy S23 FE is like the cousin that loves pasta and has a bigger battery. Big but beautiful? Definitely bigger.
You want something simple
The Galaxy S23 FE is a bargain phone with a lot more, so if you want something simple and easy, find an iPhone you can afford, instead.
Galaxy S23 FE review: Also consider
Google Pixel 7 The Google Pixel 7 isn’t quite as powerful as the Galaxy S23 FE, but it does come with Google’s machine learning features that are exclusive to Google devices, including the Magic Eraser and other great photo editing tools. This might be the better camera pick for the money.
Motorola Edge (2022) The Motorola Edge is a bargain phone that masquerades as a flagship. It looks pristine and professional, but it isn’t quite as powerful and the cameras can’t hold a candle to Samsung’s offering. You might find it cheaper, however.
How I tested the Galaxy S23 FE
Review test period: More than one month
Testing included: everyday work and personal use including web browsing, social media, photography, video calling, gaming, streaming video, music playback
Tools used: Anker Prime GaN charger, Galaxy Buds FE, Galaxy Watch 5
I used the Samsung Galaxy S23 FE for more than a month as my primary work phone. During this time, it was my business device for taking meetings and video calls, working while traveling and playing games on my commute to work.
I used the Samsung Galaxy S23 FE to take photos, navigate with maps, and play games. I used it for phone calls and messaging of all sorts, including RCS messages and various messaging services, including Slack and WhatsApp. I also used Bixby to control the phone and to send messages using voice commands, especially while I was driving and using Android Auto.
I played games extensively with the Samsung Galaxy S23 FE, and I tested it with several streaming services, including Netflix, Hulu, and Max.
I tested the Samsung Galaxy S23 FE with various accessories, including the new Samsung Galaxy Buds FE and the Galaxy Watch 5. I also used it with Pixel Buds Pro, my MX Master 2 mouse, and an SD card reader. For battery testing, I recorded my usage during the day and noted the times the phone died. I timed the phone during the charging process to verify charging claims.
The Oppo A78 doesn’t exactly make a glowing first impression – take it out of the box, tap its back, flick through its menus and you’ll find what seems to be your generic budget phone. But use the phone for a while and you’ll find that it’s surprisingly impressive for its price.
At £219 / AU$359 (roughly $280), this sits comfortably in the ‘cheap phone’ category, a smartphone sector that’s as competitive as it is devoid of brand-new ideas. And the Oppo doesn’t win its commendations by trying something novel and whacky, but by being solid with a few areas that reach above its position…
… and two areas that fail dramatically. More on those later.
The Oppo A78 is one of Oppo’s budget A-series mobiles, which sits below the mid-range Reno and top-end Find X families of premium devices. The A-series has often suffered from a lack of love compared to the Reno and Find lines. But like a forgotten third child, A-series phones can often surprise you; that’s the case here.
While the A78 has a few traits that immediately give away its budget status, like the flat-edge design and tear-drop notch that breaks up the screen, it feels a lot more premium than many rivals. There’s no cheap, tacky plastic casing, instead, you'll find a shiny textured rear and a fingerprint scanner that’s one of the best around.
(Image credit: Future)
This Oppo A78 is surprisingly great at gaming too/ Despite having a low-end chipset and only 4GB RAM, in testing there were rarely stutters or issues playing top-end titles. If you’re a gamer on a budget, this mobile is well worth considering.
The stereo speakers here are genuinely impressive too, as they sound more balanced than you usually hear on a cheap smartphone. It was genuinely a treat playing games or watching shows on the Oppo, which is something it’s pretty hard to say about lots of its rivals.
But let’s put a pin in the compliments – you were promised criticisms too. Firstly, there’s the pre-installed app situation (that’s bloatware, to give it its less complimentary name). These are sadly commonplace in budget phones, but the A78 had a ludicrous number of them – including 18 different games.
The phone’s camera is pretty pathetic too, with the camera test snaps looking so much more pixelly and duller than they should; seriously, they're the closest thing cameras can create to impressionist paintings. Skip straight down to the ‘Camera samples’ section if you want to have nightmares tonight.
So it’s easy to recommend the Oppo A78 as a great budget phone if you’re not a big photographer, and if you’re happy spending some time deleting a load of random apps that come on the phone or automatically install themselves.
While “you’ll like it if you ignore some of it” may seem like a very loaded compliment, it’s generally the case for all budget and mid-range phones, and more so than for many of its rivals, the Oppo genuinely does shine for most use cases.
Oppo A78 review: price and availability
Unveiled in early 2023
Hard to find in UK, not on sale in US
Costs £219 / AU$359 (around $280)
(Image credit: Future)
The Oppo A78 was unveiled at the beginning of 2023, though you may find it hard to track down in the UK, as not many retailers appear to stock it.
The handset costs £219 in the UK and $359 in Australia, where it’s a lot easier to buy. That roughly converts to $280 in the US, however, Oppo doesn’t offer its mobiles in the country.
You could have guessed that price from the name, though, as Oppo’s A-series is its budget family of mobiles, with the A78 one of the first of the AX8 family, replacing the AX7 line.
Some of the phone’s biggest competitors at that price are its own Oppo A siblings as well as Moto’s G53 and G73, the Redmi Note 12 and the Nokia G42, to name a few – all of these are budget mobiles around the same price point that offer relatively comparable specs and experiences.
Value score: 4 / 5
Oppo A78 review: specs
The Oppo A78 roughly matches your typical budget smartphone in its specs:
Oppo A78 review: design
Surprisingly premium feel in hand
Reliable fingerprint scanner
3.5mm headphone jack and USB-C port
(Image credit: Future)
The Oppo A78 doesn’t vary much from the standard budget phone design template used for the majority of similar mobiles over the last few years: it’s a ‘chocolate-bar’ style mobile with flat and angular edges.
It’s not a small phone, measuring 163.8 x 75.1 x 8mm, so it might be a stretch to comfortably hold if you have a smaller hand, but weighing 188g it’s not that heavy.
The glossy rear back looks surprisingly premium compared to the cheap feel of the plastic used for many budget phones. TechRadar’s test unit came in black, but depending on your region, you can also get your hands on a vibrant glowing lilac model. This version also has a glossy rear, broken up by a strip to the side that houses the two slim camera bumps, as well as the words ‘innovative AI camera’.
Around the edges of the chassis, you’re getting the standard phone fare: the bottom houses a USB-C port and 3.5mm headphone jack, the left side has a volume rocker, there’s nothing on top and the right edge has the power button with an embedded fingerprint scanner. This sensor was incredibly responsive, a surprise how much of a wild west this kind of tech can be in phones.
Another important thing to raise is the IP54 rating of the phone, which means the Oppo is protected from splashes of water or dust, but won’t survive immersion in liquid or blasts of many fine particles.
Design score: 4 / 5
Oppo A78 review: display
Low max brightness
HD resolution and 90Hz don't match some competitors
Big 6.56-inch size
(Image credit: Future)
Touting a 6.56-inch LCD screen, the Oppo A78’s display could easily be called ‘big’, even if there are larger screens in use for top-end and even some budget phones. Still, the size is useful for gaming or streaming.
It’s an HD+ screen, with a resolution of 720 x 1612; some rival handsets at this price do boast FHD+ displays. You can also find 120Hz refresh rates on some same-priced mobiles, though the 90Hz here does trump many other rivals – and won’t matter to people who don’t notice the smoother motions that higher refresh rate displays provide.
If you’re not accustomed to other screens on modern phones, then you certainly won’t mind the Oppo A78’s display – it’s big and bold (though not quite as bright as you’d want, capping at 600 nits).
Display score: 3 / 5
Oppo A78 review: software
Older Android 12 build
ColorOS has a colorful design but few features
The phone has staggering bloatware issues
An illustration of the bloatware on the Oppo A78. Other than Ecosia (our chosen browser, as Android asks you to pick), PUBG Mobile, Call of Duty: Mobile and City Smash 2, these apps all either came pre-loaded on the phone, or installed themselves during the set-up process. (Image credit: Future / Oppo)
The Oppo A78 doesn’t come with the newest version of Android, something that may irk software aficionados but that doesn’t have much of a functional impact on the phone. It comes with Android 12, which has been replaced by Android 13 these days.
Laid over the top of this is Oppo’s ColorOS, a largely aesthetically inclined fork that replaces stock Android with a colorful and punchy user interface. There aren’t that many unique features here, but the swipe-down quick settings menu is more attractive than most.
The phone has a truly jaw-dropping number of pre-installed apps, though, more so than other budget phones. As well as useful first-party apps there are a number of third-party ones that you might choose to delete like Netflix, Spotify, TikTok, LinkedIn and Facebook, but the egregious issue is the sheer number of games that come on the phone by default.
These include big-name ones like Candy Crush Saga and Lords Mobile but plenty more dodgy-looking small ones too – in the above image, you can count 18 that either came on the phone by default or are automatically downloaded without a user clicking 'install' in the app store. Not a good look by any means, unless you like feeling alienated from your own mobile.
Software score: 2 / 5
Oppo A78 review: cameras
50MP main and 2MP depth-sensing camera
Photos are grainy and lack dynamic range
The 8MP selfie camera performs better
(Image credit: Future)
Is it a budget Android phone if it doesn’t have a 50MP camera? Oppo has opted to use the same type of camera that the vast majority of the A78’s competitors also boast. But that’s far from a bad thing, as the 50MP camera phone revolution has brought benefits to the photography of low-cost mobiles.
Somehow, though, the A78 takes worse pictures than basically any other phone using this kind of main sensor. Snaps looked grainy and fuzzy, as though the whole world was made of Lego. Plus there's poor dynamic range and a deficit of sharpness. This wasn’t even a resolution issue, with pictures defaulting to 12.5MP thanks to pixel binning – though at a glance you’d think snaps were 1.25MP.
Of course, you can’t expect premium-tier photography from a budget device, but the Oppo A78 really couldn’t be further from the likes of the Oppo Find X6, and isn’t recommendable to people who use phone cameras much. Let’s not even talk about AI optimization, oftentimes the saving grace of budget phones, because the A78’s designers seemingly didn’t either.
The phone offers the ability to capture 108MP snaps in its Extra HD mode – while the usefulness of this is deeply questionable, given the aforementioned resolution issues it worked as intended during testing, capturing high-res snaps that you could zoom far into. For some users, this may compensate for the lack of a dedicated zoom camera, letting you get closer to a picture without losing quality as standard digital zoom does.
Joining the main camera is a 2MP depth sensor for portrait photography, which presumably brings some benefits for artificial bokeh blur. But isn’t as useful for photo fans as, say, an ultrawide, telephoto or macro camera would be.
The phone has an 8MP camera at the front. Selfies weren’t especially detailed or sharp, though thanks to the AI processing (which makes a belated appearance!) they’re punchy and vibrant. Portrait mode though provided some pretty questionable bokeh, with a tendency to blur too much of the subject’s hair or face. Oppo would have done well to indulge in a better camera here, and as it stands the A78 isn’t ideal for people who want Instagram-worthy snaps.
Some standard photo modes are present on the phone, like Night or Panorama, and Night does give you a bit more detail for low-light shots, with most other modes performing exactly how you expect. There’s no macro mode, with Oppo dropping it with no macro or ultra-wide lens to use it with, but there is a Pro mode.
Video recording maxes out at 1080p on both the front and rear cameras (not simultaneously). And while there are time-lapse and slow-mo modes, they offer little control over resolution and frame rate.
Oppo A78 camera samples
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While this isn't an artistic shot, zooming into the grass betrays all of the camera's issues. It looks more like an optical illusion than a grassland. (Image credit: Future)
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London's blocky architecture makes the phone's grainy style seem natural. (Image credit: Future)
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Golden Hour lets you forget camera issues to an extent, but zoom into the grass or buildings. (Image credit: Future)
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In this park shot, the trees look blocky enough to be in Minecraft, with dynamic range issues making them all look like similar species. (Image credit: Future)
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The natural quirks of low-light photography plaster over the Oppo A78's issues. (Image credit: Future)
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Selfies on the Oppo A78 are sufficiently bright, but scroll along to Portrait mode next. (Image credit: Future)
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As you can see, hair is a little blurry at the edges of the face in Portrait mode. (Image credit: Future)
Camera score: 2 / 5
Oppo A78: performance and audio
Dimensity 700 is relatively powerful
128GB expandable storage plus 4GB RAM
Fairly balanced stereo speakers, plus 3.5mm and Bluetooth 5.3
Now from the Oppo A78’s surprising weakness to its surprising strength: the phone is a wolf in sheep’s clothing when it comes to performance.
The phone packs a MediaTek Dimensity 700 chipset, a piece of hardware that has a proven history of transforming cheap phones into worthy processing champs (well, compared to same-priced rivals, don’t expect iPhone power here).
In gaming tests, the Oppo performed much better than its same-priced contemporaries – it rarely stuttered in Call of Duty Mobile and powered through PUBG Mobile without any issues. Through an overabundance of caution the random pre-installed apps weren’t included in testing, but sticking to big-name titles, the A78 is thoroughly impressive.
The handset comes with 128GB storage, though there’s a microSD slot that lets you bump that figure up if you need more space. The RAM is at 4GB, a fairly low amount for a modern phone. Clearly, it didn’t matter much given the performance. RAM expansion, which temporarily uses the phone’s storage space as RAM, helps a lot too.
In terms of audio, the Oppo A78 has stereo speakers – but unlike many budget phones, which have a powerful down-facing but pathetic top-mounted output, these are two fairly equal speakers. This makes gaming and watching streaming services a much more enjoyable experience than on some rivals.
There’s also a 3.5mm headphone jack for people who like wired headphones or aux cords, and Bluetooth 5.3 for those living the wire-free life. This latter is actually a fairly new standard, and many of the A78’s same-priced and even pricier rivals still use 5.1 – the benefit of 5.3 comes in the form of energy saving, better encryption and increased switching between low- and heavy-duty cycles.
Performance score: 3.5 / 5
Oppo A78 review: battery life
Reliable day-long battery power
Nice big 5,000mAh power pack
33W charging powers to full in over an hour
(Image credit: Future)
Like 50MP cameras, 5,000mAh batteries are arguably synonymous with the budget smartphone in this day and age, and the Oppo A78 isn’t shaking anything up here. It packs this same heavy-duty power packet, and it performs just as expected.
That means that the phone will sail through a day of use easily, without needing to be charged mid-way through. Intensive tasks like gaming binges or photography sessions will tax it (though heaven knows why you’d want to do much of the latter), but in testing, it always managed to last through a day.
Don’t expect a two-day battery life though, unless you’re very economical with your use – just a reliable one-day battery life.
Charging is done at 33W, which is a little slow given that 67W and higher are becoming used in low-cost mobiles. That means you’ll have to be charging for over an hour to get from an empty tank to a full one, though Oppo states that you can get to half-charge in half an hour.
Battery score: 3.5 / 5
Should you buy the Oppo A78?
Buy it if...
You're a mobile gamer on a budget There are very few mobiles at this price point that are fun to game on, but the Oppo's big screen, decent speakers and processing power are a match made in heaven.
You like side-mounted fingerprint scanners Different phone fans prefer their fingerprint scanners in different places, but if you like the phone's edge to house its sensor, then you'll love the A78, as it was really responsive.
You're not fussed about software Some phone fans really care about having the newest Android build, but the A78 doesn't and likely won't see an update any time soon. This is one for those who don't even know what OS their current phone has.
Don't buy it if...
You're a photography fan Unless you want to take photos that look like Minecraft screenshots, avoid the A78's camera.
You want a working phone out of the box Given its huge number of bloatware apps, you'll need to spend time deleting these additions, which isn't great given how clean some rivals are.
You have small hands With a big screen and bigger body, the Oppo A78 won't feel great for people with smaller hands, as you'll need to stretch to reach the screen or fingerprint scanner.
Oppo A78 review: Also consider
There are plenty of fantastic budget Android phones out there. If you want to see what the Oppo A78 is bumping up against, here are a selection of its close rivals:
Xiaomi Redmi Note 12 Costing the same as the Oppo, this Redmi phone has a much better display and cameras that aren't horrible, but has a weaker chipset and a bigger body.
Nokia G42 This Nokia is a touch cheaper than the A78, and it has very similar specs in the display, battery and camera departments. The lower cost gets a weaker chip and slower charging.
How I tested the Oppo A78
Review test period = 2 week
Testing included = Everyday usage, including web browsing, social media, photography, video calling, gaming, streaming video, music playback
The model of Oppo A78 I tested was the black one, in its sole configuration of 4GB RAM and 128GB storage, though I spent the majority of the test period using RAM boost to get 8GB effective RAM.
After receiving the Oppo A78 I turned it on to let the battery power settle (and to ready up all the apps I wanted), and it was activated for roughly a week when I was simply preparing it. This time isn't included in the aforementioned test period.
Lots of the test period was taken up with the phone simply being used as an everyday handset, for social media, music streaming and Google Maps. And I'm currently deep into Call of Duty Mobile, so that took up a lot of the use time too. Several camera test sessions were conducted, but it was pretty sad to spend time lining up the perfect snap only for it to turn out as a pixel art piece.
I was a writer and editor for TechRadar's phone team for several years so I've got plenty of experience testing mobiles like this, particularly in the budget end of the market – I've used low-cost devices from almost every major brand, and also focused lots of my efforts on Chinese mobiles like those from Oppo. I still review phones for TechRadar, especially budget devices, so have tested some of the Oppo's contemporary rivals.
OnePlus has been using its budget Nord line to shake things up compared to its top-end numbered line. And its latest phone finds another way to be different; while the likes of the OnePlus 11 have nice and simple names, the OnePlus Nord CE 3 Lite opts to instead have a ridiculously bloated title.
‘Nord’ is the budget arm of OnePlus, ‘CE’ is the budget arm of Nord and ‘Lite’ tells you that this is an even budget-ier phone than its budget brothers. Confusing etymology out the way, the OnePlus Nord CE 3 Lite is a pretty standard Android phone, with its only noteworthy feature being its obnoxious name.
This handset is partly an affordable alternative to the OnePlus Nord CE 3, with a similar design and software but weaker specs in a limited few areas. But it’s just as easy to call it a successor to the OnePlus Nord CE 2 Lite from 2022, with a few upgrades and several curious features carried over. It’s also seen a relatively major price jump from that previous handset.
Admittedly the Nord CE 3 didn't launch in many regions, making the Lite a bigger opportunity for OnePlus to get people to give its CE line a fighting chance.
The price increase here is an issue because costing £299 (around $350 / AU$520), the OnePlus Nord CE 3 Lite is bumping heads with some (relatively) super-spec’d similar-price rivals, and it’s not a favorable comparison given the competitive nature of phones at this price point.
(Image credit: Future)
One of the selling points of the phone is its 108MP main camera, making the Nord CE 3 Lite the first CE handset to use a high-res main camera like this. Functionally this doesn’t change much, but it does give you the option to eat through your storage space at an even faster rate.
A new feature that’s actually useful is the 67W fast charging; Nord phones generally come with luxuriously big batteries, but with the slow charging taking ages to power them to full. Now, however, you’re getting a day’s worth of power from just half an hour of charging.
Most of the best parts of this phone are carried over from the Nord CE 3 too like the aforementioned big battery, as well as the large display and microSDXC card slot. However, some of the downgrades are where the phone is weakest: its chip is weak for gaming, it misses out on an ultra-wide camera and the screen uses LCD tech instead of OLED.
Curiously, these were all some of the weakest points of the Nord CE 2 Lite – clearly, OnePlus missed a memo somewhere.
So the handset is a mixed bag with some useful features but a few too many weak areas to make the device recommendable over similar-priced rivals.
OnePlus Nord CE 3 Lite review: price and availability
Released in April 2023
Costs £299 (around $350 / AU$520)
Unavailable in US or Australia
(Image credit: Future)
The OnePlus Nord CE 3 Lite went on sale in April 2023, in Europe at least because OnePlus doesn’t sell its CE models in the US.
The OnePlus Nord CE 3 Lite costs £299 (around $350 / AU$520), and for that price you’ll get 8GB RAM and 128GB storage – in the UK, this is the only variant available, though you can pick between Pastel Lime and Chromatic Gray.
At that price, the phone straddles the line between ‘budget’ and ‘mid-range’ mobile, Some other phones at this price point include Xiaomi’s impressive Redmi Note 12 Pro or the Poco X5 Pro, two handsets explored in the comparisons section later.
Value score: 2.5 / 5
OnePlus Nord CE 3 Lite review: specs
The OnePlus Nord CE 3 Lite is your typical budget smartphone in most regards when it comes to specifications:
OnePlus Nord CE 3 Lite review: design
Standard chocolate-bar phone
Mostly-reliable fingerprint scanner
3.5mm headphone jack and USB-C port
(Image credit: Future)
OnePlus has opted to use the same rough design for the Nord CE 3 Lite that it uses for basically all of its budget mobiles. That means it’s your standard ‘chocolate-bar’ style smartphone.
The back of the handset has circular camera bumps, which don’t protrude too much, so the phone won’t wobble a lot when put down on a flat surface. The fingerprint scanner is mounted on the right edge of the OnePlus, built into the power button – it was fairly reliable to use, but there were occasions when it didn’t pick up a print. Then on the opposite edge is the volume rocker, with both a USB-C port and 3.5mm headphone jack on the bottom frame of the device.
This Nord CE 3 Lite is big, as smartphones go, with dimensions of 165.5 x 76 x 8.3mm, though weighing 195g it’s not especially heavy. Still, don't opt for this mobile if you want a nice compact phone, as it could be hard to use – in fact, even fairly average-sized hands and will see you stretching to reach the fingerprint scanner.
Both the frame and the back panel of the CE 3 Lite are made of plastic, a common material for budget mobiles. While it doesn’t lead to a premium feel in the hand it does make the handset a little more durable. An official IP rating would add to that durability but unfortunately there isn’t one – don’t get this device wet!
Sadly, OnePlus has followed the mainstream phone trend of using a flat frame, which means that when you’re holding the phone – especially if you’re stretching your hand to do so, it can dig into your hand a little bit and get uncomfortable.
There are two colors to the phone: green and gray. TechRadar's test unit was the former, a vibrant lime hue that’s a little more exciting than the options you see in many other Nord devices.
Design score: 3.5 / 5
OnePlus Nord CE 3 Lite review: display
Giant 6.72-inch screen
FHD+ resolution fit for games or movies
LCD screen means colors aren't bold
(Image credit: Future)
The OnePlus Nord CE 3 Lite’s display is nice and big, with its 6.72-inch screen giving you plenty of viewing room for social media or your streaming service of choice. Plus, its resolution is 1080 x 2400 or FHD+, so unlike some low-budget mobiles you won’t have to drop any pixels.
The display also has a 120Hz refresh rate, so the image updates 120 times per second, making motion look nice and smooth on the display.
The downside to the display is that it’s LCD, which means colors aren’t quite as bold and bright as they would be on another phone – LCD used to be reserved for budget phones but nowadays many use OLED too. If you care about screen quality this may be a reason to spend a little more on the AMOLED-touting Nord CE 3.
Display score: 3 / 5
OnePlus Nord CE 3 Lite review: software
Phone runs newest Android software, Android 13
OnePlus' OxygenOS laid over the top
OxygenOS brings useful extra tools like Zen
(Image credit: Future)
As with all OnePlus phones, the Nord CE 3 Lite uses Android with OnePlus’ own user interface laid over the top. In this case, it’s Android 13 on the base with OxygenOS 13.
OxygenOS is a popular user interface for Android fans, even though in recent years it’s lost its unique identity due to it blurring together with Oppo’s ColorOS (a merger several years ago made OnePlus just one part of Oppo).
Some of the unique features of the software include a Zen Space app that lets you limit the phone to focus when you’re working, and a Smart Launcher that dynamically adjusts your home page widgets and apps to help your workflow.
Coupled with the 120Hz refresh rate display, the software made navigating the phone feel smooth and easy, which is certainly something you can’t say often for handsets at this price point. That’s despite OxygenOS 13 feeling a little more cluttered than earlier versions of the software.
In TechRadar's OnePlus Nord CE 2 Lite review, the reviewer criticized its app bloatware, a complaint critics have been leveling against cheap phones since the dawn of time, but usually to little avail – until now. The CE 3 Lite has barely any pre-installed apps that aren’t the default system ones, adding to OxygenOS’ clean feel.
Software score: 3.5 / 5
OnePlus Nord CE 3 Lite review: cameras
High-res but mid-performance 108MP main sensor
Two 2MP auxiliary cameras add nothing
Decent 16MP selfie camera
(Image credit: Future)
OnePlus has upgraded its Nord CE main sensor to 108MP in the OnePlus Nord CE 3 Lite. But that numerical upgrade certainly doesn’t transform this device into a budget camera powerhouse.
Photos taken on this main camera were detailed and often fairly bright, so they’ll be fit for purpose for social media use, although the automatic AI optimization sometimes made questionable decisions in tweaking white balance, so we’d recommend keeping that off. There’s an example of this in the camera samples section below.
You’re not getting as vibrant colors or adept night shooting as on a more premium sensor, but that’s a sacrifice you make by buying a budget smartphone. Snaps are pixel-binned into 12MP shots, to save you from burning through the storage space, but you can get 108MP shots if you want.
Joining the main camera is a 2MP macro camera and another 2MP depth sensor, and these add nothing to the photography experience, as has almost always been the case with budget mobiles that have this duo tacked on.
With no telephoto camera you’re left to rely on digital zoom which loses quality quickly. There’s also no ultra-wide camera, which is a surprise given that the vast majority of budget mobiles come with these.
On the front of the phone is a 16MP f/2.4 selfie camera. Snaps taken on this appear a little naturalistic compared to equivalents on the top-end phones of the day, largely because of the AI processing’s light touch, but depending on your taste you might prefer this look over super-processed selfies.
Video recording on both the front and rear cameras is available at 720p or 1080p, so there’s no 4K recording here. Other modes on offer cover the basics: slow-mo, time-lapse, Pro and macro, as well as the full-resolution main camera mode previously mentioned.
OnePlus Nord CE 3 Lite camera samples
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A church captured on the OnePlus Nord CE 3 Lite's main camera. (Image credit: Future)
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A tennis racquet and balls captured on the OnePlus Nord CE 3 Lite (Image credit: Future)
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A wider landscape OnePlus Nord CE 3 Lite (Image credit: Future)
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A building with a distant skyline captured on the main camera of the OnePlus Nord CE 3 Lite (Image credit: Future)
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A 3x zoom picture of a building, with AI off, to compare to the next image. (Image credit: Future)
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A 3x zoom picture of a building, with AI on, to compare to the next image. (Image credit: Future)
Camera score: 2.5 / 5
OnePlus Nord CE 3 Lite: performance and audio
Snapdragon 695 chip is rather sluggy
Phone doesn't manage gaming well at all
Lots of space for storage
Powering the OnePlus Nord CE 3 Lite is Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 695 chipset, which can be seen in quite a few budget phones over the last few years. It’s quite an old component and quite a weak chip, not suitable for intensive purposes or power users.
The phone was tested on common games like Call of Duty: Mobile and New State, and found that the chip just couldn’t manage average-intensity titles like these. When playing online, the games would stutter and grind to a halt frequently, which isn’t ideal for competitive online games.
Basic games functioned fine, and if the extent of your gaming passion is the likes of Mini Metro or Candy Crush, you’ll be fine. But don’t expect to use that spacious 6.7-inch screen for shooter action.
There’s at least lots of space on the phone. While the version of the mobile readily accessible online has 128GB storage, there’s a microSDXC card slot to expand that space, perfect for if you save lots of files or like to load your mobile with apps.
There’s a single down-firing speaker on the OnePlus. But music fans will be happy to hear that there’s a 3.5mm headphone jack, so you can plug in wired headphones to listen to tunes. There is of course Bluetooth connectivity, with Bluetooth 5.1 on board.
Performance score: 2.5 / 5
OnePlus Nord CE 3 Lite review: battery life
Big 5,000mAh battery
Phone lasts over a day per charge
67W charging gets you to 80% in 30 minutes
(Image credit: Future)
If there’s one thing that a budget phone reliably does better than a premium one, it’s its lasting power; cheap phone manufacturers strip out loads of features to cut the handset’s price, but compensate by shoving in a huge battery, leading to a phone that’ll last for ages on a single charge.
That’s certainly the case with the OnePlus Nord CE 3 Lite – as with most of the other CE models, there’s a chunky 5,000mAh battery here, and it means the device will breeze through a day without needing to be charged.
In fact, even with some heavy use – photo shoots, Netflix binges, the aforementioned failed attempts at gaming – the handset was at no risk of running out of power after a day of use. You’d need to use the phone very sparingly to get it to two, but either way, it’s a reliable device.
The charging speed is 67W, and OnePlus claims that the phone will get from empty to 80% in half an hour. That’s a speed that makes your iPhone or Samsung Galaxy look sluggish.
Battery score: 4.5 / 5
Should you buy the OnePlus Nord CE 3 Lite?
Buy it if...
You want a long-lasting mobile With a 5,000mAh battery, this mobile will last you for easily a day before you need to charge it, and possibly two days if you're using it sparingly.
You love the headphone jack OnePlus has opted to keep the 3.5mm headphone jack here, and is generally good at retaining the audio port on its Nord devices.
You want a side-mounted fingerprint scanner Side-mounted fingerprint scanners are getting rarer on mobiles, even budget ones, despite how easy they are to use. If it's your preferred way of unlocking your phone, the CE 3 Lite is here for you.
Don't buy it if...
You have small hands With its large display and size, you'll find the Nord CE 3 Lite tough to use if you have small hands, with the screen extremities and fingerprint scanner in particular hard to reach.
You're a mobile gamer With its Snapdragon 600-series chipset, the OnePlus Nord CE 3 Lite just isn't a good device for playing action-packed games.
You're a photography fan You're going to be hard-pressed to take award-winning pictures on a single 108MP rear camera, especially with the phone's questionable AI processing choices.
OnePlus Nord CE 3 Lite review: Also consider
As we've mentioned in this review, the low-price Android phone market is a competitive one. Here are some other mobiles you might want to consider:
Xiaomi Redmi Note 12 Pro With a more powerful chipset, improved main and additional cameras and better-looking screen, Xiaomi has made a fantastic budget mobile here that rivals the OnePlus in terms of price.
OnePlus Nord CE 2 Lite The CE 3 Lite's predecessor isn't much weaker than the older model, but it's now a little older and therefore cheaper, so it's definitely a good budget alternative. Just be aware you might struggle to find it on sale.
How I tested the OnePlus Nord CE 3 Lite
Review test period = 2 week
Testing included = Everyday usage, including web browsing, social media, photography, video calling, gaming, streaming video, music playback
I tested the OnePlus Nord CE 3 Lite in its lovely green model, as you can see from the pictures. And the test unit featured 8GB RAM and 128GB storage space.
Due to receiving the review unit two weeks prior to the testing period, I activated it then to let the battery use settle. This period isn't included in the two-week test period cited above.
Much of the review period saw me using the phone as you would, using it for social media, photography and streaming, and I tried many times to use it for gaming too, though that was never a fun experience.
I used to work full-time for TechRadar both as a writer and editor in the phones team, and so have several years of experience covering phones, tablets and wearables. I've reviewed previous OnePlus phones as well as the plentiful rival budget Chinese phones on the market, so know what's best to compare the Nord to.
The OnePlus Open is the first tablet foldable phone that feels right. All the ‘Folds’ that came before, the Galaxy Z Fold 5 and the Pixel Fold most recently, feel wrong. They’re shaped funny when closed: the Galaxy is too narrow; the Pixel too squat. The OnePlus Open gets the shape right, and it's the most important improvement OnePlus could have made to the form factor. If you’re paying twice as much for a phone, you shouldn’t feel like it’s the wrong size half the time.
Open the OnePlus Open and you’re greeted with a display that is the biggest, brightest, and most satisfying of all the big foldable phones'. You need to look hard to see the crease, and it’s not even noticeable when you touch it.
Best of all, this phone is easy and inviting to open. The Galaxy can be very stiff at first, and the Pixel Fold never wants to open flat – it requires an awkward second push, and I always felt like I would break my Pixel Fold. The OnePlus Open snaps to attention when I open the hinge.
Compared to other foldable tablets, the OnePlus Open is just better. It's a better size when it's closed. It’s easier to open. In every way, the Open is a better experience, but OnePlus didn’t stop at the folding hinge. It also added something that no other foldable phone maker has dared: really good cameras.
On every other foldable phone, the size limitations of the fold-in-half design has resulted in cameras that range from inferior to downright awful. The OnePlus Open has the best cameras of the bunch, and comes close to being as good as the best flat camera phones, closer than any foldable I've used so far.
(Image credit: Future / Philip Berne)
Of course, this requires a gigantic camera hump around back, and it is a mighty bubble, twice as thick as the biggest camera bump you’ve seen. It’s a worthwhile trade off, though, even if it did make the phone feel awkward in my pocket on occasion.
Foldable phones can be so versatile when it comes to camera angles, and it’s a shame that the best foldable phones so far haven’t had cameras to match the capabilities. The OnePlus Open mostly fixes that.
The OnePlus Open is the thinnest foldable phone I’ve seen when it’s closed, and it’s just as thin as the Pixel Fold when open. The OnePlus Open somehow manages to offer larger displays and more battery while remaining lighter than all the rest.
In fact, it’s much lighter than the Pixel, and that makes a huge difference when you're carrying it around. The OnePlus Open is about the same weight as last year’s iPhone 14 Pro Max. Fitting two displays, a larger battery, and the premium camera bump into a package that's the same weight as last year's best iPhone is an impressive achievement. Titanium makes this year’s iPhone 15 Pro Max lighter, but only slightly.
Using the OnePlus Open is a joy, thanks to OnePlus’s simple and elegant software design. This phone isn’t as feature-packed as a Galaxy Z Fold 5, and we’re the better for it. OnePlus has made it easy to create a useful home screen, navigate settings and tools, and open multiple windows simultaneously, without needing lengthy tutorials and pop-up reminders to help you discover hidden features.
Pixel Fold (left); OnePlus Open (center); Galaxy Z Fold (right) (Image credit: Future / Philip Berne)
It isn’t all good news. OnePlus doesn’t prioritize water resistance and durability on its phones, and that gives me serious pause in recommending them. The OnePlus Open is only IPX4 rated, which means that dust and lint could be a problem in the future, and the Open can only handle splashes of water; you can’t let it take a real dip in the pool. It can survive 10 straight minutes in light rain, so the news isn’t dire, but I wish OnePlus would offer nothing less than IP67 resistance against all dust and the occasional dunking.
The OnePlus Open comes with a simple bumper-frame case in the box. Our OnePlus reps told me to put the case on the phone, and that isn’t a request that I usually get from most phone makers during a review. I used it occasionally because it was light and unobtrusive, but the phone is much prettier without the case. I mostly took the risk without the bumper, but it's always better to be safe than sorry.
I’m not going back to my flat phone ... after this review is over. I won't stop using this Open
The OnePlus Open costs $1,699 / £1,599, and in the US OnePlus has a trade-in deal that will effectively drop the price by at least $200 for everyone, no matter what phone you trade. This deal will be available throughout the phone's lifespan, according to OnePlus, and that makes the OnePlus Open the most affordable big foldable phone to hit the US market, at least.
It’s still admittedly expensive. OnePlus isn’t selling the OnePlus Open through wireless carriers, which means you won’t be able to sign your life away for a sweet deal on a multi-year contract to get this phone for free.
The phone is certified for all the major carrier networks, it just won't be sold at those stores. You can buy it from OnePlus directly or from a major online retailer in your area, like Amazon and BestBuy in the US.
The OnePlus Open is also the first big foldable that’s really worth it. If you were set on a foldable before, I could recommend the best, but I never wanted to use one myself because of all the compromises. The Open doesn’t just fix the mistakes of every big foldable phone that came before, it also breaks new ground with a larger display and much better cameras. I’m not going back to my flat phone, a Galaxy S23 Ultra, after this review is over. I won't stop using this Open.
OnePlus Open review: Price and availability
(Image credit: Future / Philip Berne)
$1,699 / £1,599 at launch for 512GB / 16GB model
At least $200 trade-in offer for any phone in any condition in US
Available from OnePlus, BestBuy and Amazon, but no carriers are selling it
While waiting for OnePlus to tell us the price of this phone, I played a game with fellow tech journalists to guess what it would cost. I guessed $1,499, while my colleagues guessed far too low.
OnePlus is known for shocking the market with bargain pricing on almost-flagship-quality devices, and everybody wants a big foldable phone that costs under $1,000 / £1,000, but these phones still haven’t achieved the volume that will make their fancy folding components affordable. I'm amazed that OnePlus can offer a phone with these features at such a low price, including the trade-in offer.
The price is $1,699 / £1,599 – OnePlus has yet to tell us if or when the Open will be released in Australia – but my guess was still right on the money, because OnePlus says it will offer a deal for the full life of this phone that gives you at least $200 off if you trade in any phone.
That’s any phone in any condition, and I take OnePlus at its word, because it really just wants to hand you a coupon, but offering a discount for a trade feels more high-end. You can get up to $1,000 off with a top trade, although nobody will be trading an iPhone 14 Pro Max for this phone, even if it is the same weight.
In the UK, customers who pre-order the OnePlus One will get a free pair of OnePlus Buds Pro 2, and when it goes on sale buyers will receive discounts on various other OnePlus devices.
(Image credit: Future / Philip Berne)
It’s still expensive. You can get two or more OnePlus 11 phones for the same price. Is it worth twice what a normal phone costs? The external display on the OnePlus Open is larger than an iPhone 15's, and the internal display is nearly as big as an iPad mini. It truly delivers on giving you a two-in-one experience, and if you bought both of those Apple devices separately, with the same amount of storage on board, you’d be paying more than you’ll pay for a OnePlus Open.
There's only one storage option for the OnePlus Open: 512GB of storage and 16GB of RAM, making it the top-spec foldable for memory and the best buy for storage. It comes in Emerald Dusk green and Voyager Black, and oddly the two colors result in phones with different weights, because the Voyager Black uses vegan leather on the back (nicely textured plastic) instead of heavier glass.
I like that black finish quite a bit, but I’ve built a collection of green OnePlus products this year, with my OnePlus Pad and OnePlus Buds Pro 2, so I'm glad that my review model is matchy-matchy. In fact, it’s nice to see OnePlus offer consistent colors for fans to collect, especially in this great green hue; even Samsung, with its product synergy, hasn't offered one unique color across all device categories.
Value score: 4 / 5
OnePlus Open review: Specs
Here are the specs for the OnePlus Open, including the internal and external displays, and all of the cameras:
OnePlus Open review: Design
(Image credit: Future / Philip Berne)
Thinnest and lightest foldable you can buy (in most markets)
Larger displays compared to Samsung and Google
Crease is nearly invisible and barely tactile
What is the ideal size for a tablet foldable? It would be exactly the same size as a normal smartphone when it’s closed, and the same size as a mini tablet when it’s open – and of all the foldable phones I’ve seen, the OnePlus Open comes closest to achieving this ideal.
Most importantly, the aspect ratio of the cover display is almost identical to those of the best phones on the market. An iPhone has a 19.5:9 aspect ratio. The OnePlus Open has a 20:9 aspect ratio. It doesn’t look too thin, like the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 5, and every other 'Galaxy Fold' Samsung has made, and it doesn’t look too squat and wide like the Pixel Fold. No one would know you were holding a foldable phone if they didn’t see it from the side.
The OnePlus Open is admittedly thick when closed, and I tried to recall the last time I’ve owned a flat phone that was this thick. The iPhone 3GS from 2009 was just as thick as the OnePlus Open, at about 12mm when closed. The iPhone 4 shrank considerably, and that phone sparked the revolution of thin phones with metal frames and glass on the front and back.
The camera bump on the OnePlus 11 (top) compared to the mound on the OnePlus Open (bottom) (Image credit: Future / Philip Berne)
Will foldable phones get thinner than this? The Honor Magic Vs2 is already 1mm thinner than the OnePlus Open, so yes, of course they will. The thickness of the OnePlus Open, especially at its big camera bump, is the foldable’s biggest shortcoming against the best flat phones. But, if you're going to make good use the big internal screen (and you definitely will), the thickness is a fair trade.
That bump, though. If you think you’ve seen a big camera bump before, get ready. The camera circle on the OnePlus 11 is prominent, though not unattractive. The camera mound on the OnePlus Open is more of a hillock, with no sweeping, k-shaped metal to round out the design. It floats near the top of the back like a giant, glaring eye.
Also, I could definitely feel it in my pocket, and I preferred to wear the phone lens-side out from my butt. It’s not a huge problem; it’s just a huge camera bump. To get premium cameras on a foldable phone, especially compared to the sub-par cameras we’ve seen on past foldables that cost a lot more than the Open, I’ll accept the bump.
When you open the Open you see a fantastic internal display. There is a crease, but it's barely visible – I often had to tilt the phone for the light to catch the crease properly to show it to onlookers. If you run your finger back and forth over the crease slowly, you can’t feel it, but if you flick quickly you can perceive the slight dip.
If you can't see the crease, is it really there? (Image credit: Future / Philip Berne)
The hinge on the OnePlus Open is satisfying and eager. The Galaxy Z Fold 5 is a bit stiff and takes some effort to open, while the Pixel Fold is a total disaster: the hinge opens most of the way, but you need to give an extra push to force the phone flat. It’s very off-putting.
The OnePlus Open, on the other hand, feels like it wants to be open just as much as it wants to be closed. There's no barrier keeping you from using the phone however you’d like, unlike those other large foldable phones.
The fingerprint scanner on the OnePlus Open is on the power button, and OnePlus uses great fingerprint tech, so it worked well every time I used it. The phone also has a good face unlock, and that’s usually how I unlocked the phone.
There's also a three-stop mute switch on the OnePlus Open, a standard on almost all OnePlus flagship phones (and a now-abandoned feature on the iPhone Pro models). You can go from full mute to vibrate to sound-on with a quick flick. If you’re someone who finds themselves in theaters and meetings often, a mute switch is a great feature to have.
The two color options are both worth considering. The black ‘vegan’ leather (aka plastic) is actually very nicely textured and looks classy. My review unit in green fits in splendidly with all the other green OnePlus gear I’ve been happily collecting this year. The company has had a banner year, and every flagship product it’s launched is worth a look.
Design score: 5 / 5
OnePlus Open review: Display
(Image credit: Future / Philip Berne)
6.3-inch cover display is larger than the iPhone 15's
7.82-inch inner display is a half-inch smaller than an iPad mini
Both screens are super-bright, with variable refresh to 120Hz
The two displays on the OnePlus Open are a marvel to behold, and both of them are just as good as the flagship phone or tablet they’ll replace in your collection. The cover display is 6.3 inches, with LTPO 3.0 technology that can slow down to 10Hz for a low-power, always-on mode. The inner display is a huge 7.82-inch screen that has almost the same screen area as an iPad Mini (2021). It can slow down to 1Hz, and both screens can refresh up to 120Hz.
Just as it did with the OnePlus Pad, the company continues to find the best displays for its devices, with superior brightness levels that trounce the competition. The Pixel Fold can reach peak brightness levels of 1,450 nits, for when the sun is shining directly on it. The OnePlus Open, on the other hand, can easily hit the same brightness in normal use, and peaks at a brilliant 2,800 nits. Even Google’s impressively bright new Pixel 8 Pro can only peak at 2,400 nits.
In terms of screen area, you really are getting more with the OnePlus Open than you would with the Pixel Fold or Galaxy Z Fold 5. The competitor phones may advertise a 7.6-inch screen, which doesn’t sound like it’s much smaller, but that’s a diagonal measurement, and the diagonal doesn’t tell us anything useful about screen size.
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(Image credit: Future / Philip Berne)
Here is the OnePlus Open, folded shut, next to an iPhone 15 Pro Max.
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Here is the OnePlus Open with the inner display unfolded next to an iPhone 15 Pro Max.
The Pixel Fold and Galaxy Z Fold 5 actually give you around 28.4 square inches of screen real estate inside. The OnePlus Open gives you 30.4 square inches. That’s two square inches more, not just 0.22-inches measuring the diagonal. Does it feel like a lot? Not really; those other phones already felt big. Combined with the much better external display, though, the extra space on the OnePlus Open's inner screen feels like a nice bonus.
The external display on the OnePlus Open is the biggest difference, even though the diagonal measurement tells a misleading story. Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold 5 has a 6.2-inch external display, but it’s very tall and narrow, and it’s not much fun to use. The OnePlus Open has a 6.31-inch external display, so is it really much bigger? Oh yeah, it’s much bigger.
The iPhone 15 display gives you around 14.15 inches of screen space in square inches. The OnePlus Open’s external display is even bigger, giving you 14.9 square inches. The Galaxy Z Fold 5? That's almost two square inches smaller than the OnePlus, and more than an inch less space than the iPhone 15. Samsung’s most expensive phone doesn’t even give you as much external screen space as Apple’s base model iPhone, unless you unfold the Galaxy.
Display score: 5 / 5
OnePlus Open review: Software
(Image credit: Future / Philip Berne)
Elegant interface doesn’t get in the way
Not feature-packed like Samsung, for better and for worse
Nice synergy with OnePlus Pad
The OnePlus Oxygen OS interface on the OnePlus Open is clean and elegant, closer to Google’s Pixel version of Android than Samsung’s One UI interface. If that doesn’t mean much to you, just know that it’s easy to set up and use the Open, and there are no unexpected glitches or unforced errors.
For instance, you can start an app with the phone closed and then open the phone, and it's no problem for the OnePlus Open. On the Pixel Fold, this often causes problems, but on the Open it just works; in fact, apps look great on both the smaller and larger displays, unlike the Pixel, which has trouble displaying apps properly.
On the other hand, Samsung fans hold a shotgun of features ready to blast at any competitor, and a few of these can be undeniably useful. You can’t turn the OnePlus Open into a desktop computer like you can with Samsung’s DeX software. You won’t have a second virtual assistant like Bixby ready to manage all of your phone settings. You can’t use a precise pen on the Open’s display. I could go on and on.
(Image credit: Future / Philip Berne)
That said, there’s nothing missing here. Everything you’d expect to find on a good tablet foldable is here. You can run apps side-by-side easily by swiping at the edges of the screen. You can have apps in smaller pop-up windows on top of larger apps.
It’s very unfussy and easy to manage. The OnePlus Open isn’t quite as feature-packed as the Galaxy Z Fold 5, but you also don’t get endless layers of menus and options accompanying each feature.
OnePlus also deserves credit for building out its own product ecosystem, and since the OnePlus Pad is actually an excellent tablet, I should mention that it has special features that work with other OnePlus phones like the OnePlus Open. The devices will automatically connect and start sharing things like photos or anything you copy or cut into the clipboard. Copy an image on one device and it immediately appears on the other. Samsung and Apple have similar features, more advanced even, and it’s always nice to see a mobile maker reward its fans.
Software score: 4 / 5
Google Pixel 8 Pro review: Cameras
(Image credit: Future / Philip Berne)
Excellent cameras beat all other foldable phones
Not quite as good as the iPhone 15 Pro Max, but close
Image quality is good, but the camera software needs help
It’s hard to stick a good camera into a foldable phone. A foldable phone has less depth to accommodate the camera, and cameras need depth in their design in order to take great photos. OnePlus is using a new type of stacked sensor from Sony, and on paper it looks set to match or beat the OnePlus 11, which is a very good camera phone for taking cool and artsy photos.
Have I mentioned that the camera bump is big? I have? I'll move on, then. There are a lot of shooting modes on the OnePlus Open, maybe too many. I’m not sure that most folks will understand all the different options offered by Long Exposure, Slo-Mo, and Time-Lapse, let alone the more enigmatic XPAN and Movie modes, which are separate from basic Video.
(Image credit: Future / Philip Berne)
There’s also an Action mode that's separated from the other camera modes, and I’m not sure what it does, because I don’t see enough action to use it. Sometimes, a small circular button like a waning crescent moon would pop up on screen, and I could activate or deactivate some feature by tapping it, but I was never sure what effect it actually had.
A dive into the settings doesn’t help much. There aren’t tutorials for all of the features, and you don’t get all the settings you might expect. I couldn’t manually adjust the resolution of my photos, for instance, aside from choosing to use a 10-bit color mode that stores photos in a different format to save space. Does that count? I’m not really sure.
A long exposure sample from the OnePlus Open camera (Image credit: Future / Philip Berne)
I also wish the OnePlus Open did a lot more to take advantage of its foldable design, photography-wise. You can swap the viewfinder to the smaller display while the phone is unfolded, and this way you can see yourself on the display while you take a selfie with the higher-quality main camera, instead of the 20MP selfie camera.
On a clamshell foldable like the Motorola Razr Ultra, you’ll find a lot more tricks to make this experience fun when you use the camera with crowds. You’ll find funny faces on the external display that make kids smile, or cool angles you can set up with the camera. That isn’t the case on the OnePlus Open. You get a much better camera than on other foldables, but it doesn’t benefit from being a foldable camera phone as much as I’d like.
OnePlus Open camera samples
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In this sample, the iPhone 15 Pro Max gave me disappointing color results compared to the OnePlus Open. The flag is supposed to be red, white, and blue, not orange.
Here is the 5X zoom on the iPhone 15 Pro Max and the enhanced 6X digital zoom on the OnePlus Open. The iPhone gives you more details, but also more noise. The OnePlus effect is pleasant, but it can cause problems, as you'll see.
Here's an extreme close-up at the edge of zoom range for the iPhone 15 Pro Max and the OnePlus Open. As you can see, both photos are terrible in their own way. The iPhone looks like a grainy photo, though, while the OnePlus made a pretty painting.
Camera score: 4 / 5
Google Pixel 8 Pro review: Performance
(Image credit: Future / Philip Berne)
Speedy performance matches the best Androids
Still can’t beat the iPhone 15
Phone ran smoothly but games stuttered
The OnePlus Open uses the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chip, making it the last major phone this year to launch with Qualcomm’s best Snapdragon. There’s equilibrium to that, as the OnePlus 11 was the first phone to launch with this chipset, even before the Galaxy S23 series earlier this year. OnePlus has bookended its year with the same Snapdragon.
Of course, that means its performance won’t reign as champ for long, and Qualcomm has its Snapdragon summit coming up, at which a new chip is expected. The OnePlus Open is certainly fast, but it isn’t the fastest phone around, and faster phones are coming.
Running the interface was nice and smooth, even on the transitions between the internal and external display. Whether I was switching screens while using an app to get a better view, or changing viewfinders on the camera so I could take a better selfie, there was never a hitch swapping views on the OnePlus Open.
(Image credit: Future / Philip Berne)
When I tried playing the most graphically intensive titles, the phone did stumble a bit compared to the best-performing Android phones on the market, like the Galaxy S23 Ultra. I never lost because of bad performance, but I saw some jumps and starts, especially on load screens. I have no complaints, but it’s fair to expect more.
The iPhone 15 gives you more performance, because Apple’s chips are much more powerful than the current Snapdragon generation. That means even the iPad mini, with its older A15 Bionic chip, is as fast as the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2. If you’re thinking of buying the OnePlus Open to replace an iPhone plus an iPad mini, you’re getting better performance from Apple’s devices.
Performance impact aside, I still reached for the OnePlus Open to play games over any other phone I had on hand. Playing on the big internal display is delightful, and adds a new level of immersion to mobile games. The most graphically intensive games, like Genshin Impact, could run without much trouble on the OnePlus Open, and having the much larger display made it easier to control my character and read the tiny text on screen.
Performance score: 4 / 5
OnePlus Open review: Battery life
This protective bumper comes with the OnePlus Open in the box (Image credit: Future / Philip Berne)
Battery life is better than most foldables, still not the best
Fast charging speeds are great if you need them
This is the only compromise left
The OnePlus Open could last through a full day if I was judicious with my usage. If I opened the big screen and played a lot of battery-hogging mobile games, then of course I drained the battery faster. OnePlus has some innovative ways to add more power, but there’s only so much it can do without making the device much larger.
Normally, a flagship smartphone this size would come with a battery around 5,000mAh, but the OnePlus Open uses two cells that add up to 4,805mAh, so a bit smaller. Having two batteries doesn’t just help with the foldable design; it also allows the phone to use OnePlus’s faster SUPERVOOC charging, with speeds up to 67 watts.
(Image credit: Future / Philip Berne)
The iPhone 15 Pro can only charge at under 30W, and more power definitely means faster charge times. You can easily charge the OnePlus Open to full in around 30 minutes.
Sadly, there are no wireless charging features on the OnePlus Open. For some buyers this isn’t a big deal, but for other folks this is a total dealbreaker. I get it – you’ve grown accustomed to your wireless lifestyle. You charge your phone in your car and on the many expensive charging pads you’ve purchased. Sorry, we told OnePlus this was important, but they wanted to save space (and probably some money, too).
Battery score: 3 / 5
Should you buy the OnePlus Open?
Buy it if...
You want a phone and a tablet in one
That’s it – that’s the pitch, and no other tablet foldable has truly delivered on the phone part of that bargain as well as the OnePlus Open.
You were considering a foldable, but the cameras… Whenever we review a foldable phone we lament the terrible cameras. Not this time. If bad cameras were holding you back, cut loose and buy the OnePlus Open.
You really like the color green
There are better reasons to buy the OnePlus Open, but I have to give OnePlus credit for a matching lineup of products this year that all work nicely together. Showing unified thinking across categories gives me more confidence recommending the brand.
Don't buy it if...
You don’t really want a phone and a tablet If you just want the absolute-best phone, you can find faster, better cameras, better battery, and more features. You just can’t find a better two-in-one.
Cameras are the most important things The OnePlus Open has better cameras than any foldable we’ve seen before, but you can find more versatile cameras on the Galaxy S23 Ultra, and a much easier camera experience on the iPhone 15.
All your stuff is Apple or Samsung:
While the OnePlus Open works well with a OnePlus Pad, both Samsung and Apple have better cross-device features for sharing and more – you can even move a mouse pointer straight from your Galaxy tablet to your Galaxy phone screen.
OnePlus Open review: Also consider
If you’re not convinced that the OnePlus Open is the right tablet foldable for you, or you want to check out a phone that does a little more, here are some options:
Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 5 The Galaxy Z Fold 5 gives you so many more features it’s impossible to count. Most importantly, it’s water-resistant and dust-proof. It can run like a desktop computer. It uses the S Pen. The list is endless.
Google Pixel Fold While the Pixel Fold doesn’t have the best performance or design, it has what no other foldable has: Google power. The Fold is the best device for taking advantage of the Tensor G2 chip’s exclusive machine learning features, including the new dual-screen translator that Google rolled out recently.
How I tested the OnePlus Open
OnePlus invited me to a day-long summit to learn about the OnePlus Open, and I left with a review unit. We had an opportunity to take photos around New York City, but in the weeks since I received the device OnePlus has updated the software multiple times, especially the image processing.
Photos have definitely improved since I received my review phone, but OnePlus told me to expect another software update before this review was published which didn't materialize. It’s therefore possible that image quality may change and improve, in which case I will revisit this review (and remove this paragraph).
I used the OnePlus Open as my primary work phone during my review period, so I used it for all of my work communications, scheduling, and calls, especially video calls on the go. I listened to music and played games with the phone as well.
I tested the camera using mostly the primary photo and video modes, with some venturing into the other camera modes. I used the camera during the day and at night, at home and while traveling, and for sharing as well as scanning documents.
I used benchmarking software to compare the OnePlus Open to other phones I've tested, but I report my experience in real-world usage terms and not benchmark results. For battery testing, I drained the phone as much as possible and recorded my battery percentage at the end of the day, as well as my screen time and other usage notes.
I tested the OnePlus Open with a variety of accessories, as well as with the Android Auto system on my Honda. I used it with many of this year’s OnePlus devices, including the OnePlus Buds Pro 2 and the OnePlus Pad, as well as Google Pixel Buds Pro, an Xbox game controller, and other audio accessories. Read more about how we test
• Original review date: October, 2023
• Google adds circle to search and Gemini to Pixel 8 Pro
• Launch price: $999 / £999 / AU$1,699
• Lowest price on Amazon: $749 / £670 / AU$1,699
Update: April 2024. We're only in the first of Google's seven years of promised updates for the Pixel 8 Pro, but the phone has already seen considerable new features. When the Samsung Galaxy S24 was launched in January, 2024, Google added circle to search and other new AI features to the Pixel 8 Pro, and eventually the Pixel 8. Since then, we've seen Google's Gemini LLM with the Gemini Nano model, capable of producing written text using only the phone's onboard resources. Google has also launched its Find My Mobile network, and the Pixel 8 Pro has the hardware to find Google's new Nest location tags.
Google Pixel 8 Pro: Two-minute review
The Pixel 8 Pro is a sleek update to Google’s venerable Pixel lineup, and while I’ll be ready for a new look and feel this year, I’m happy to report that this is Google's best-looking Pixel yet.
This is also Google’s most ambitious Pixel yet, with some serious camera upgrades that will satisfy even pro photogs, and a Tensor G3 chipset custom built to run Google’s machine learning features. Google is so confident in this phone’s performance that it is promising an unprecedented seven years of major updates, longer than any other phone maker supports its phones, currently.
That said, this is a very, very odd device. If Google had simply released a generic smartphone with the Pixel 8 Pro’s cameras, display and design, it would have had a simple winner, capable of making an argument against not-quite-flagships like the Samsung Galaxy S23 Plus or the Apple iPhone 15 Pro. Instead, Google is pushing deep into machine learning territory with generative AI features that will offer new experiences on your phone.
Some of these, like the amazing new call-screening assistant, work wonderfully, and are set to become an enduring part of our smartphone experience. Others, like the new photo editing features, border on frightening. Most, like AI wallpaper, seem like simple distractions and additions that could have been an app you download, but instead are now part of the Android-on-Pixel experience.
(Image credit: Future / Philip Berne)
This is a decidedly Android phone, for better but mostly, these days, for worse. It’s a confusing mess. You’re faced with setup screens that never seem to end, notifications that never seem to disappear, and Settings menus that are layered deep enough to strike magma.
The good news is that Google has plenty of time to fix Android, and if it does, Pixel 8 Pro owners will benefit from those improvements for seven years, if Google lives up to its promise.
This is very good news indeed. In fact, it’s some of the best news I’ve heard from the Android camp in quite some time. If Google really delivers on seven years of major OS upgrades, Pixel feature drops, and Security updates, the Pixel 8 Pro will be the first Android phone to beat Apple in terms of longevity.
Will the Pixel 8 Pro be worth owning in seven years? Decidedly not, not if you’re buying one today. But, when it comes time to sell your Pixel 8 Pro in a year or two, the person you sell it to will know they aren’t buying an unsupported lemon. They’re buying a phone that could last them, and possibly someone else after them, for years.
If you’re firmly encamped with Google on Android territory, the Pixel 8 Pro is a great choice for your next phone. Software-wise, Google has a lot of catching up to do against iOS 17 before I’d recommend buying it over the iPhone 15 Pro, but Google’s phone is fun and unique enough that I’d consider this phone if you can’t spring for a truly fancy foldable or the mighty Galaxy S23 Ultra.
Of course, the real fun begins when Google starts slashing prices, and it can be liberal with discounts, especially around the sales season. More than with any other brand, I recommend waiting for a deal when you’re considering a Pixel phone, because as good as the phone is now, it feels like an even better buy for a few hundred dollars or pounds less.
Google Pixel 8 Pro review: Price and availability
(Image credit: Future / Philip Berne)
Starts at $999 / £999 / AU$1,699 for 128GB storage
Available with up to 1TB of storage in the US, 512GB globally
Costs $100 / £150 / AU$400 more than the 128GB Pixel 7 Pro
The Pixel 8 Pro costs a bit more than the Pixel 7 Pro, when I was expecting that Google would drop the price. That’s because, frankly, the Pixel 7 Pro didn’t age very well in terms of performance and value, and rumors suggested that the Pixel 8 Pro wouldn’t offer much benefit over its predecessor. However, as it turns out there’s much more value to be found in the Pixel 8 Pro, and it holds up nicely against competitors in its price range.
The most promising way Google has added value to the Pixel 8 Pro is with its promise to support the phone for seven years of major software upgrades, security updates, and Pixel feature drops. Android phones have traditionally been lacking in terms of longevity and long-term value, and no Android phone maker has ever offered this level of long-term support. Even Apple stops supporting iPhones with new OS upgrades after about five years.
The Pixel 8 Pro doesn’t have the best performance, so its prospects as a long-term device are questionable, but at least we know Google won’t ignore it and let it rot on the vine.
Of course, you probably won’t keep your phone for seven years, but when it comes time to trade or sell it, it should hold its value better because of Google’s support commitment. Time will tell; and there are other reasons why this phone is worth more than last year’s model.
The Pixel 8 Pro has a fantastic display, brighter and sharper than those on the iPhone 15 Pro Max and Galaxy S23 Plus. The phone also has the largest battery of the bunch, and battery life lived up to Google's promises during my review period.
The cameras are better in many ways, but the specs can get a bit esoteric and hard to explain. Needless to say, they take much better photos than before, and the new AI editing tools are incredibly impressive. Scary, impressive, and I mean that sincerely.
If you have this much to spend, I’d still recommend the iPhone 15 Pro; not for the cameras or the hardware, but because iOS 17 is leaps and bounds ahead of Android 14. Apple’s software experience isn’t just simplified, it’s elegant and polished. Android has gotten unwieldy again, and it’s hard to recommend even the best Android phone over a comparable iPhone.
That said, the Pixel 8 Pro offers great value against the Samsung Galaxy S23 Plus, although if you can spend more (or get a great contract deal), both Samsung and Apple have even fancier phones with more cameras to sell you, while Google hits its ceiling with the 8 Pro.
Value score: 4 / 5
Google Pixel 8 Pro review: Specs
Check out the Google Pixel 8 Pro's full specs below:
Google Pixel 8 Pro review: Design
(Image credit: Future / Philip Berne)
Yup, it still looks like the Pixel 6
Matte finish and nice color choices add some class
Is this how every Pixel is going to look in the future?
What is there to say about a phone design that has barely changed in three years? Like this year’s iPhone 15 series, the Pixel 8 Pro is a bit more curvy than last year, with new colors and a matte finish. It is decidedly nicer than the Pixel 7 Pro if you care about the fine details, which I do.
The Pixel 8 Pro is more rounded on the corners, and more flat on the display. This makes the phone easier to hold, while also giving you a better view of your content. The finish is lovely, and the colors are more classy and inviting than unusual and modern. Most folks love the Bay blue best, but I’m into these cream-colored phones that dominated 2023, so I asked for a Porcelain sample from Google for my review.
This is the nicest Pixel phone Google has made so far, which is good because it has largely made the same phone three times now, with two more A-series models in between. I feel like these refinements could have come last year, and this year we could be looking at something even more evolved.
(Image credit: Future / Philip Berne)
I don’t mind the Google Pixel camera bump. It adds a distinct touch of flair, and on my Porcelain model it has the slightest golden hue that gives it a nice glint in the sun. It’s a very pretty phone, especially if you’ve never held a Pixel before.
If you are a Pixel owner, especially if you own an older Pixel, you’re probably eyeing this phone for an upgrade. It’s too bad that Pixel 6 owners, ready to upgrade now, have only this slightly refreshed-looking version of their older phone to buy. I’d like to see something more novel next year, especially if the Pixel remains at this higher price level, on par with the titanium iPhone 15.
Design score: 4 / 5
Google Pixel 8 Pro review: Display
(Image credit: Future / Philip Berne)
The standout feature – it’s brighter and sharper than before
Even brighter and sharper than the iPhone 15 Pro Max
Slightly thicker bezel than the iPhone
The Pixel 8 Pro display is a standout feature this year, and Google has even endowed it with its own branding: Super Actua. The Pixel 8 is plain old Actua, you see. In practical terms, it seems this refers to the display’s brightness, because it is incredibly bright. The Pixel 8 Pro can reach 2,400 nits at peak brightness, and still pumps out 1,600 nits when you aren’t in direct sunlight.
In almost every way, the Pixel 8 Pro display beats that of the iPhone 15 Pro Max. In terms of brightness, total resolution, and sharpness (pixel density), the Pixel has the better screen. Side by side, it was much harder to see a difference, though the Pixel was definitely brighter in some cases, especially when viewing a purely white subject.
That’s when I had the Pixel display set to the more vivid ‘Adaptive’ mode, which the iPhone lacks. When I set the Pixel display settings to the ‘Natural’ screen color mode, I got colors and brightness levels that looked much more like I’m used to seeing on an iPhone.
The bezel on the Pixel 8 Pro is just a hair thicker compared to the iPhone 15 Pro Max bezel, but the smaller punch-hole camera is much less intrusive than Apple’s Dynamic Island, no matter how much Apple makes it dance and sing.
Display score: 5 / 5
Google Pixel 8 Pro review: Software
(Image credit: Future / Philip Berne)
Great call screening feature is useful and natural
Many features are missing at launch
Some important features are hard to find
There are a few bright spots in the Pixel 8 Pro’s software improvements, couched in the machine learning and AI direction that Google is taking. The new call screening feature works impeccably well. I tried calling my Pixel 8 Pro from another number and the voice sounded natural, if a bit too casual, but that’s a good problem. Better a casual robot screening my calls than a stilted digital voice.
The new AI wallpaper is surprisingly interesting. It seems limited at first, since it isn’t actually a free-for-all generative AI creating images. Instead, it gives you a MadLibs-like selection of categories and prompts. You might choose an ‘Imaginary’ scene of ‘A surreal bicycle made of flowers in shades of pink and purple.’ The bicycle, flowers, and color options are all part of a multiple choice menu. Instead of a bicycle, I might have chosen a boat, a lamp, a lighthouse, or a UFO.
There are 12 options for objects; 30 different material choices, including flowers, fleece, and rhodochrosite (a crystalline mineral); and seven different color combinations. The AI offered me three different fleece lighthouses in coral and tan. By my math, that means the Imaginary category alone can create around 7,500 wallpapers. There are 12 categories, including Imaginary, X-ray, and Volcanic.
Is it a gimmick? No, but it feels like something a really good third-party app could pull off just as well, maybe with even more options. It is generative AI, after all, so the sky's the limit, and then whatever the computer decides comes after sky. The bottom line is that the wallpapers were pretty, and cool, and unique, and fun to play with. So that’s a win.
(Image credit: Future / Philip Berne)
On the Pixel 8 Pro web page, Google says you can “personalize your experience with AI wallpaper,” and that is the heart of the problem that I have with much of Google’s software on the Pixel 8 Pro. I’ve used AI to create a wallpaper, but is it personalized? I chose some options, and swiped through the results. Who is this person?
Google describes its machine language features as if they are created by a real human being disturbingly often. When the machine does the creation, there is no person involved, and there is no experience for a human. When I use Google’s software to write a whole email, or create a group photo that never existed, am I personalizing that email? Have I personalized that photo?
No, I’m using a machine as a tool to help me create or complete a task. And that’s great! That’s useful! But that is not how Google is positioning the Pixel 8 Pro and all of its new AI features. Google is not saying ‘you can create an image,’; it’s saying you can ‘combine’ photos, or ‘reimagine’ photos. There is something missing in that explanation, and it feels like what’s missing is honesty.
The photo-faking tools aren’t the only AI issues I have. Google is pushing the Pixel 8 Pro’s ability to read and summarize web pages for you. That feature will soon come to its Recorder app, so its AI will summarize your past conversations, or lectures you couldn’t attend, perhaps.
(Image credit: Future / Philip Berne)
I tried the summarization feature on a story I wrote about taking a family photo at home. Google’s summary got very basic facts wrong. It said that my family visited a photo studio, even though I never mentioned a photo studio, and in fact I explicitly say that my dad hired a professional photographer to come to our house. If I can’t trust a summarization feature the first time I use it, I will never trust it again.
Many of the other new features are simply hard to find. Google’s new call screening feature is great, but it’s hidden under a submenu that you can only find if you open the Phone app; it’s nowhere to be found under the Settings menu.
Even worse, Google has had a Safety Check In feature on its Pixel phones for years, similar to the new Check In feature that I love on iOS 17. Google’s own site gives instructions for the ‘Personal Safety’ app, but my phone doesn’t have an app called Personal Safety. It’s just called Safety, which sounds like it could be a software security suite, or a health and readiness app. It could be an app for the Boy Scouts, for all it stands out.
I’ll stop complaining, because I’ve run out of features to complain about. See, Google is launching the Pixel 8 Pro without a number of key features ready to go. The camera will get Zoom Enhance, Video Boost, and Night Sight video features, after images have been uploaded to Google’s cloud services for Google to work its magic off-device. Recorder summaries are also coming, as well as the smart reply feature, though I’m skeptical of those AI features, as I’ve made clear.
Software score: 3 / 5
Google Pixel 8 Pro review: Cameras
(Image credit: Future / Philip Berne)
Great photos with improved macro quality
Upgrades on every camera, especially telephoto
Not as good at night shots as the iPhone 15 Pro
The main camera on the Pixel 8 Pro is considerably better than the camera on the Pixel 7 Pro, but the improvements can be hard to explain.
The lens on the camera has a f/1.65 aperture, which is wider than the f/1.9 aperture in last year’s lens, and while the number is lower, a wider aperture is better because it lets in more light, and the improvement is exponential and not linear.
The f/1.65 lens on the Pixel 8 Pro is an amazIng feat, while the f/1.9 aperture on last year’s Pixel 7 Pro was a thoroughly unimpressive spec. See, the numbers are confusing, and it’s just not an easy spec to boast about. The iPhone 15 Pro uses an f/1.8 lens on its main camera, which won’t let as much light through, but of course there are plenty of other factors to consider.
Compared to my iPhone 15 Pro Max, some photos looked better when shot with the Pixel 8 Pro, but others, especially night pics and low-light images, looked better taken with the iPhone. That’s surprising, but there are still some reasons for Google to brag.
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Macro photography is better on the Pixel 8 Pro than on the iPhone, and even if you aren’t going for a macro look you can still get closer to your subject with the Pixel. The Pixel 8 Pro also handled food photos much better than the iPhone. That natural look the iPhone tends towards can make dishes look unappetizing in bad lighting. It’s better to have a camera that can do some enhancements.
Speaking of enhancements, not all of the enhancements coming to the Pixel 8 Pro are ready yet. The Night Sight video enhancement will eventually upload and improve your night-time videos, but it’s not here yet. Neither is the zoom enhancement for the telephoto and main cameras. Those features will presumably come in a feature drop, hopefully before the end of the year.
Once you’ve taken your photos, it’s off to Google Photos to edit them, and Google Photos on the Pixel 8 family is a special app. It has features you won’t find on other Pixel phones, Android phones, iPhones, or even on the desktop.
(Image credit: Future / Philip Berne)
We’ve seen Magic Eraser before, but Google is taking this functionality to a new level with Magic Editor. When you launch Magic Editor by tapping the enticing, colorful button, Google opens a new suite of generative AI tools to help you fake your shots like a pro. You can still erase, and here Google does a much better job of creating a background to replace what’s now missing.
You can also easily manipulate objects in your photo. You can move things around, make things larger or smaller, and generally make the image look completely different. If you stop talking to somebody, you can cut them out of the group photo. If you want to say you caught a bigger fish, you can just grab the fish in the photo and spread your fingers to make it grow. Reality doesn’t matter, as long as you have the right tools.
While the results can be somewhat creepy and uncanny, they aren’t flawless. I erased tourists from a shot of the Statue of Liberty, as an example, and it’s clear where the guardrails were drawn incorrectly to compensate. I erased a shadow from my photo of some ice cream at night and a portion of a sign went missing, replaced with a blank, white wall.
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(Image credit: Future / Philip Berne)
Gee, I wish this guy would move his head
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With Magic Editor, the problem is solved
There’s reason to be cautious and reason to be disturbed by the ease and capriciousness with which Google launches these powerful machine learning features, but for now the quality doesn’t quite justify the fear. It’s possible that some day my phone will be able to make a believable fake that could stand up to scrutiny. For now, though, I’d say Google is just focused on trying to get its promised features out the door.
Google Pixel 8 Pro camera samples
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Camera score: 4 / 5
Google Pixel 8 Pro review: Performance
(Image credit: Future / Philip Berne)
No problem running my favorite apps and games
Still lags behind older competitor phones
Machine learning features run slowly with delays
Performance is tough to measure on a Pixel phone. In terms of raw performance, pushing games and graphics to new heights, the Pixel 8 Pro does just fine, but it won’t win any competitions. It handled all of my favorite games and ran high-resolution videos smoothly, but everything looked better on phones like the iPhone 15 Pro or even older Android phones like the Galaxy S23 Ultra (which can be found for around the same price as the Pixel 8 Pro, now that it’s eight months old).
On the other hand, the Pixel 8 Pro is an all-around solid device, especially compared to other phones in this price range. Battery life is excellent, thanks to a larger battery and better power management, courtesy of Google’s Tensor G3 chipset. The display is snappy and smooth, and it makes Google’s interface design pop when you want, or mimic the subdued and natural iPhone tones if you prefer.
There is a temperature sensor on the Pixel 8 Pro, and I cannot figure out why. It is only accurate up to 300 degrees Fahrenheit (around 150 Celsius), so it isn't actually useful for checking the temperature of pans while cooking, as Google suggests. I need my frying oil to be around 350 degrees, and I want to check my oven up to 500 degrees or more. Try again, Google.
(Image credit: Future | Alex Walker-Todd)
When the Pixel 8 Pro is running Google’s special machine learning features, it stumbles quite a bit. When you edit photos with the new Magic Editor it takes a while to open the app, then longer to create the edits, and it frequently crashes while saving a copy. The AI wallpaper feature is cool, but it took several seconds to create a single set of wallpapers.
I hope to see these features improve over the next seven years as Google upgrades this phone with software improvements, which begs the question: this phone won't possibly be capable of handling Android 21. Will this phone really be a viable phone in seven years? Google has promised this will be a seven-year phone, the first ever. How will the Google Tensor G3 stack up in seven years, compared to every phone that comes after it?
It's far too early to say, but I have serious reservations about Google’s promise. First of all, the Tensor chipset already feels like it’s behind the curve compared to Qualcomm’s best Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chips, and no phone maker using Qualcomm is offering more than five years of major software updates. And the Tensor doesn’t even begin to compare to Apple’s A17 Pro chipset, which actually feels like it could last seven years, though Apple has never made that explicit promise.
(Image credit: Future | Alex Walker-Todd)
Second, Google has a terrible track record when it comes to supporting its own products and keeping promises. Google offered a Pixel Pass upgrade program with the Pixel 6, promising an upgrade after 24 months if you subscribed to the program. It killed the program within two years, and nobody got an upgrade. The Pixel 8 should have been the phone subscribers received.
Maybe Google will support this phone for seven years, for real, giving it every software upgrade and every new feature that it invents between now and 2030. Or maybe this phone will only get a portion of those upgrades, and new features every now and then. Or maybe Google will invent an entirely new class of Android for old phones like this one; some disappointing, stripped-down version that will work with the oldest devices.
We just don’t know – and Google hasn’t established a record of trust when it comes to longevity and long-term support.
Performance score: 3 / 5
Google Pixel 8 Pro review: Battery life
(Image credit: Future / Philip Berne)
Improved battery life lasts all day, no sweat
Aggressive power management and adaptive display
Faster charging would have been nice
Battery life on Pixel phones gets better every year (as long as you avoid the A-series), and I’m happy to report that the Pixel 8 Pro had no trouble lasting through a full day of use. That should come as no surprise, since it has a larger battery than either the Samsung Galaxy S23 Plus or the Apple iPhone 15 Pro Max. Google really packed in the biggest cell it could fit, and you’ll need to buy a gaming phone to find bigger.
The power management can be quite aggressive. That screen is bright, but Google keeps it dialed down to a healthy brightness that won’t strain your eyes or drain the battery too much. There are plenty of baked-in power management features, as well.
You can choose the Standard battery saver or the Extreme battery saver, which limits more apps and background processes. There’s also an enigmatic adaptive battery feature that’s turned on by default. All the better, because that battery really lasts.
The Pixel 8 Pro charges at a respectable 30W, which meant I had a full battery within an hour, and 50% in 30 minutes. Still, there’s some room for improvement, especially if the battery is going to keep getting bigger.
Google includes a USB-C cable in the box and, oddly, a USB-A to USB-C adapter, but no wall charger. You need to buy a compatible Power Delivery charger or wireless stand. I used an Anker Nano charger, which can handle the fastest charging the Pixel can accept.
Battery score: 4 / 5
Should you buy the Google Pixel 8 Pro?
Buy it if...
You’ve taken a lot of bad photos and videos The Pixel 8 Pro can fix whatever photos you have in your Google Photos library, even if you took them with a different phone in the past.
You’re a die-hard Android fan forever and ever
Good news, Android fan, this phone will last longer than any other Android. If you want an Android that will get updates in 2030, this is the first.
You want a receptionist to answer your calls The call screening feature really works (if you can find it), and it gives you a quick, written transcript of what your caller wants before you decide to answer.
Don't buy it if...
Your friends all have iPhones
With iOS 17, Apple is making a compelling argument for sticking with the same phone everybody around you is buying.
You want the absolute best cameras While the Pixel 8 Pro is impressive, and the iPhone 15 Pro Max is a serious upgrade, nothing beats the Galaxy S23 Ultra for camera capabilities and quality.
You are a journalist or reporter The camera editing tools on the Google Pixel 8 Pro may create questions about credibility from the shots it makes, and the summary tool is factually inaccurate.
Google Pixel 8 Pro review: Also consider
The Google Pixel 8 Pro is a fun and unique phone offering features only Google can give you, but that doesn't mean it's the best phone for everyone. Here are the best alternatives in the same price range.
Samsung Galaxy S23 Plus Samsung's Mama Bear of the Galaxy S23 family is just as big as the Pixel 8 Pro, and faster, with a lot more features packed into One UI. Plus, you can find great deals that give you more storage and deep discounts on this older phone.
Apple iPhone 15 Pro The iPhone 15 Pro gives you blazing performance and the great new titanium design. The cameras may not match the Pixel 8 Pro, but the software is better by miles. This phone is smaller, but you may appreciate the better grip.
How I tested the Google Pixel 8 Pro
I took the Pixel 8 Pro to homecoming, but my kid wouldn’t let me use any of the photos I took for my international website. I used the Pixel 8 Pro for a week leading up to this review, using the phone as my only device with an active SIM card during this time. I used it for all of my personal and professional needs.
I used the Pixel 8 Pro to take photos, to navigate with maps, and to play games. I used it for phone calls and messaging of all sorts, including RCS messages and various messaging services, including Slack and WhatsApp. I also used Google Assistant to send messages using voice commands, especially while I was driving and using Android Auto.
I played games extensively with the Pixel 8 Pro, and I tested it with a number of streaming services, including Netflix, Hulu, and Max.
Normally, I would benchmark a phone using benchmark apps, but these apps are not whitelisted for download on the Pixel 8 Pro before launch. It should be noted that Google makes the final decision about whitelisting apps on the Play Store, so Google is keeping pre-launch reviewers from benchmarking this phone.
I tested the Pixel 8 Pro with various accessories, including the new Pixel Watch 2 and the Fitbit Charge 6. I also used it with Pixel Buds Pro, my MX Master 2 mouse, and an SD card reader. For battery testing, I recorded my usage during the day and noted the times the phone died. I timed the phone during the charging process to verify charging claims.
The Google Pixel 8 is less like a smaller version of the larger and more expensive Pixel 8 Pro than a true subset, with lesser camera capabilities, less RAM, and a somewhat less impressive screen. It's still attractive, and a lot more affordable, and it should appeal to those who want the Pixel aesthetic, but at a more pocketable size and price.
Like the larger Pixel 8 Pro, the 6.2-inch Pixel 8 got a subtle body redesign and new new Tensor G3 chip (plus, all the on-board AI that comes with it). Unlike that larger flagship, though, the Pixel 8 has just two rear cameras that appear virtually unchanged from those on the Pixel 7. A 50MP main camera and 12MP ultrawide is nothing to sneeze at, but the Pixel 8 Pro has more lenses and more pixels across the board.
At least you don't lose much on the display side. It's still a high-resolution screen that's capable of impressive brightness, although lacks the Pixel 8 Pro's LPTO capabilities, which means its variable refresh rate can bounce between 60Hz and 120Hz, but never really goes low enough for an always-on display.
The new Tensor G3 chipset, and both local and cloud-based Tensor processing units (TPUs), should, though put the Pixel 8 on equal footing with the 8 Pro when it comes to some impressive AI photo, text, and automation prowess.
And there's something to owning a much lighter and more pocketable Android phone that still manages to pack in an impressively large battery and virtually match the larger phone's promised battery life.
Overall, if you don't prize a telephoto lens, and can live with fewer ultra-wide pixels, you won't sacrifice too much if you choose the Pixel 8 over the Pixel 8 Pro. Is this an serious rival to Apple's pricier iPhone 15? It's soon to tell.
Google unveiled the 6.2-inch Pixel 8 and 6.7-inch Pixel 8 Pro at its October 4 Made by Google event, at which it also launched the new Google Pixel Watch 2.
The Pixel 8 starts at $699 / £699 / $1,199 for the 128GB model. While there's also a 256GB option that costs $759 / £759 / $1,299, you can't buy the Google Pixel 8 in the 512GB or 1TB variants that are options if you get the Pixel 8 Pro and in Australia, you can only buy the larger capacity 256GB model in Obsidian, while the 128GB version can be had in all three colorways.
Preorders started October 4, and the phone ships on October 12.
Of course, if you've heard enough and are ready to snag yourself a new Google Pixel 8, you can check out our Google Pixel 8 preorders page, which we're constantly updating with the best offers available.
Google Pixel 8 preview: Specs
Google Pixel 8 preview: Design
Softer, familiar look and feel
Relatively lightweight
(Image credit: Future / Lance Ulanoff)
There's now more of a size difference between the Google Pixel 8 and its bigger sibling, the Pixel 8 Pro, and it's also noticeably different to the Google Pixel 7.
While the Pixel 7 has a 6.3-inch display, is 155.6mm tall, 73.2mm wide and 8.7mm thick, and weighs in at 197g oz, the Pixel 8 has a 6.2-inch display, is 150.5mm tall, 70.8mm wide and 8.9mm thick, and weighs 187g.
It feels great in the hand, even if it did get just a tiny bit thicker. Compare this phone to the ample specs of the Pixel 8 Pro, which is 162.6mm tall, 76.5mm wide and 8.8mm thick, and weighs 213g.
Aside from the dimensions, and a slight softening of the curves (and some nice color choices), the Pixel 8 does still look a lot like the Pixel 7. The body is again IP68-rated, which means it should handle a dunk in the pool and some dust.
It has a polished metal frame (the Pixel 8 Pro is specified as aluminum), and Gorilla Glass Victus covering the screen. The buttons and ports (USB-C for charging, SIM slot) are unchanged from the Pixel 7.
On that now-iconic metal band (some love it, some not so much) is the dual camera array and flash. Unlike on the 8 Pro, there's no thermometer on this model.
(Image credit: Future / Lance Ulanoff)
Google Pixel 8 preview: Display
Brighter
Faster
Google shrunk the screen just a tiny bit compared to the Pixel 7, but maintained the resolution while updating the peak brightness to 2,000 nits and increasing the max refresh rate to 120Hz (the minimum is 60Hz).
While I didn't spend a lot of time with the phone, the Pixel 8's 6.2-inch OLED display did look bright and sharp. As before, it accommodates an under-screen fingerprint reader and a single drill-through hole for the 10.5MP selfie camera.
Google Pixel 8 preview: Cameras
(Image credit: Future / Lance Ulanoff)
The pair of rear cameras and the front-facing camera on the Google Pixel 8 are largely unchanged from the Pixel 7. They are:
Main: 50MP f/1.68
Ultrawide: 12MP f/1.95
Front-facing: 10MP f/2.2
I didn't get to take any pictures with the phone, but you can expect image quality that at least matches what you got from the Pixel 7 – and with the backing of a new Tensor G3 CPU and updated AI capabilities, your photos, and your options for editing and enhancing them will likely be better. Google has also redesigned the Camera app, with a new layout and access to more pro-level tools.
Want a telephoto camera as well? You'll have to upgrade to the Google Pixel 8 Pro for that.
As you would expect from Google, AI features throughout the phone, and it's employed to impressive effect in photos.
The new Magic Editor is an evolution of Google's Magic Eraser tool. It lets you tap and drag on subject in a photo to move it, with the AI processing intelligently filling in the space where the subject was.
I watched as a Google exec opened a photo of his son shooting a basketball, tapped his son, and moved him to within inches of the basket to make it look like he was executing a dunk. The exec told me that while the child’s shadow now looked out of place, he could use Magic Editor to move that too.
In a similar fashion, Best Take can take a collection of photos shot in succession and, with your guidance, find the best expression for each person across all the photos, and then create one photo in which everyone is looking at the camera and smiling. I saw it, and thought it was wild – and maybe a little disturbing.
Video, which you can shoot at up to 4K 60fps, gets an upgrade as well, with Google processing every frame of video through its HDR pipeline for better low-light performance. There’s even a new Audio Eraser to help you remove distracting noises from your videos.
I'll know more about the quality of these cameras when I put them through their paces for my full review.
Google Pixel 8 preview: Performance and specs
Tensor G3
A dedicated Titan M2 security coprocessor
Maximum of 256GB storage
While I'm excited to see what kind of performance Google has squeezed out of its new Tensor G3 GPU, on the Pixel 8 this is backed by only 8GB of RAM, as opposed to the 12GB you get with the Pixel 8 Pro.
It's probably safe to assume that the more affordable Pixel 8 will perform some tasks a little more slowly, but again, it's hard to know without conducting more thorough testing.
The Pixel 8 has similar AI capabilities to the Pixel 8 Pro, but I only saw some of these demoed, and only on the Pixel 8 Pro, which means I can't say for sure that the Pixel 8 will perform similarly.
Those capabilities, some which are available out of the box and some of which are coming post-launch, include onboard large language model (LLM) capabilities in Google Assistant. It’ll be able to summarize web pages (like a recipe), or read aloud from a variety of text sources, even translating to another language on the fly.
Google’s Call Screening also gets an update, with a much more natural-sounding voice. In a demonstration, a Google rep, acting as a delivery person, called a Pixel 8 Pro that was set to screen calls. The Pixel 8 Pro answered, and we explained that we had a package to deliver. On the Pixel 8 Pro, we were able to type a note telling the delivery person they could leave the package by the door, and the Pixel 8 Pro relayed that message in its normal-sounding voice. If the voice hadn’t identified itself as a personal assistant, I would never have known it was an AI.
Google Pixel 8 preview: Software
Android 14
On-board AI
7 years of OS and security updates
If the looks and specs don't tempt you, perhaps Google can turn your head with its impressive new support promises, which now include seven years of security and OS updates.
Not only will the Pixel 8 Pro come running Android 14 out of the box, it will have a lengthy lifespan thanks to more than half a decade of operating system updates. Seven years of updates beats the likes of Apple, Samsung, and OnePlus.
Google Pixel 8 preview: Battery
A big battery for its size
Fast wireless charging
The Google Pixel 8's 4485mAh battery is fairly large considering the phone's diminutive size. It's rated for 24 hours of life, although we won't know what kind of battery life performance it offers until we're able to do more testing.
The Pixel 8 (and Pixel 8 Pro) supports Qi-based fast wireless charging and Battery Share.
Google Pixel 8 preview: Early verdict
If you want the essence of Google's new Pixel phone experience in a small package and for an affordable price, and if you can live without the Google 8 Pro's telephoto camera, and don't mind having less storage and less memory compared to the 8 Pro, the Google Pixel 8 might be a promising choice.
We'll know a whole lot more when we're able to spend more time Pixel 8 and put it through our full review process – watch this space.
iOS 17 review: How to get it and which phones support it
Every iPhone since the iPhone XS is eligible for iOS 17 (Image credit: Future)
Apple has announced that iOS 17 is out of its public beta phase and ready for download. If you have any iPhone that was released in the last five years, you can download iOS to your phone now – and you really should.
You can find the update in the Settings app by going to General Settings, then Software Update. If you've been using the iOS 17 public beta, your device may have already updated itself to the final launch version of the software.
Every iPhone from the iPhone Xr and iPhone Xs, through the iPhone 11 family and newer, is eligible for the update. If you have an iPhone SE (2020) or a newer iPhone SE, you can also get iOS 17.
The iPhone X and earlier models are unfortunately left behind, but with five years of full OS updates Apple is still by far the best phone maker for long-term software support, which is a big reason why the best iPhones hold their value better than even the best Android phones.
The iPadOS 17 update is also available now, for iPad models released within the last five years.
iOS 17 is everything I’d want in a smartphone update, and much more. It fixes issues that have been bugging iPhone owners for years, and answers longstanding user requests. It adds cool and important new features, and it improves other features so much, especially when it comes to sharing, that they feel brand-new again. Most of all, it will make iPhone owners pleased to own an iPhone, and get them interacting with other iPhone owners in new ways.
Some of the best iOS 17 improvements are simple, yet so effective, like the StandBy screen that appears whenever I’m charging my phone and not using it. Some of the improvements are vital, like the safety Check In feature that tells my dad that my son and I got home safely after our four-hour drive back to New York. And some of them are subtle, but necessary improvements, like much better search options in Messages and improved Autocorrect.
While geeks get excited about using a new OS update, the iOS 17 update will be fun for every iPhone user. Make a Contact Poster, then get out and find new iPhone friends. You’ll be able to share your style, your music, and even your gaming skills. Apple is making it easy and fun to share with the new NameDrop gesture, while adding more safety filters to block unwanted content from reaching your eyeballs.
(Image credit: Future / Philip Berne)
There's little disappointment to be found in this update. The Journal app sounds very promising, although it won’t be available until a later update. There are also some questionable new options if you want to leave someone a message: Apple has actually revived the answering machine with live voicemail screening. Otherwise, this update will be an overall positive for every iPhone user.
For Android owners, it’s going to hurt. Apple has added new sharing features that are going to make Android owners feel more left out than ever before. If you thought the green bubble was bad, wait until everyone in the car gets to add music to the playlist, as long as they have an iPhone, via SharePlay.
It’s funny, until it gets serious – Apple also excludes Android phones from receiving alerts via the new and valuable Check In safety feature.
Overall, this is one of the best iOS updates I’ve seen in years, and it gives iPhone owners more cool things to try than most updates provide. Whether you’re buying the new iPhone 15 Pro Max or updating your iPhone 11 Plus, you’re going to have fun with this one.
iOS 17 review: StandBy mode
(Image credit: Apple)
Starting with the most elegant of the new iOS 17 features, StandBy gives my iPhone something to do when I’m not using it. It also gives you a great reason to get a charging stand, though your iPhone only needs to be propped up on its side for StandBy to work. I use it with a regular charging wire and a simple magnetic tripod from Moment, and it works great.
StandBy is basically two Smart Stack widgets, side-by-side, on your lock screen. A Smart Stack is a pile of widgets that you can swipe through, and you can add widgets from Apple or any of the third-party apps you have that include a widget. You can pick the widgets manually, or let Apple make suggestions automatically.
For a simple clock, calendar, and notification system, StandBy looks very clean and crisp. It’s easy to read across the room, and when you get a notification, you can see the app icon large, but it hides the actual message until you want to read it.
StandBy mode works very well as a bedside clock (Image credit: Apple)
You can also set StandBy to be a basic clock, without the widgets, or you can make it a digital photo album. I especially like that StandBy is well designed for bedside clock duties. It turns a deep red at night, and it won’t disturb your night vision. On the iPhone 14 Pro, it works with the always-on display, but for other iPhone models, it will look for motion, or wait until it feels a gentle nudge before it turns on the bedside clock at night.
I’m sure there are probably apps that can do the same job as StandBy, but having this feature automatically baked into the system makes it effortless. While it’s not the most exciting new feature, StandBy is the iOS 17 feature I use most often, pretty much every moment I’m not using my iPhone.
iOS 17 review: Sharing with AirDrop, NameDrop, CarPlay and more
(Image credit: Future / Philip Berne)
It has long been possible to share information and content with other iPhone users, but Apple has made the experience so much more fun and easy with iOS 17 that I expect it will spark a new wave of sharing between friends and users of all stripes. Whether you want to just share your contact information, or if you want to share photos, music, documents and more, the new iOS 17 is a game changer.
It starts with NameDrop, which is a gesture that you can use to share contact information between iPhone owners. You just bring your iPhone close to another iPhone (or even any of the best Apple Watches) and they find each other. Your new Contact Poster appears, so make sure you have a contact poster created and ready. Then you can start sharing.
(Image credit: Future / Philip Berne)
Before I get to the fun stuff, let me address the elephant in the room here. Some nefarious people use AirDrop to spread unwanted imagery. iOS 17 has protection against sensitive content, and that starts with Contact Posters. If there’s nudity in a contact poster, you can choose to be notified first, and the image will remain blurry.
The new sensitive content protection also protects you when you're receiving photos via AirDrop sharing, over Messages, and even during the new FaceTime messages that callers can leave. If somebody gets naked on a FaceTime ‘voicemail,’ iOS 17 will warn you before your eyes are exposed.
Once you’ve started a NameDrop, you can choose which email or phone number to share, or you can just receive info and share nothing. Depending on what you’re doing when you start sharing, you can also share a lot more than just your contact info.
(Image credit: Apple)
If you have a photo on screen, or if you’re looking at a web page in Safari, starting a NameDrop session will let you immediately share whatever you’re seeing. You can send the same web page or share that photo with the other person. For other apps, you can go to the Share button menu and share quickly with your new iPhone buddy.
If you’re listening to music, things get even better. You can start sharing a song, and the other person will listen along at the same time. You don’t just share a link to Apple Music or Spotify; you actually listen together, bopping along to the same beat. Both of you get music controls, too, so you can pause or rewind if you need.
You can even add more people as you meet them, building a group-share of folks listening to the same tunes. Everybody gets playback controls. This synchronized sharing works with music, videos, and games, as long as the app supports the latest SharePlay features.
(Image credit: Future / Philip Berne)
The coolest new implementation of this might be in the car, sharing with CarPlay, one of the new features coming to Apple Music with iOS 17. Say goodbye to the tyranny of the driver controlling the music. Now, everybody in the car with an iPhone running iOS 17 can add to the car’s playlist. You can let passengers connect with the same NameDrop gesture, or you can give them a QR code on screen that they can scan.
This music sharing works with Apple Music, even if not everybody is a paid subscriber. As long as the host subscribes, everybody can choose tunes from the Music library.
If you want to share more than just music and beats, AirDrop is improved for document and photo sharing as well. If you want to share a very large file, like a full 48MP image or a Pro Res video, for instance, you don’t have to sit around within Wi-Fi range to finish sharing. AirDrop is now smart enough to send the remainder of the file over the internet if you have to run.
iOS 17 review: Improvements we’ve been asking for
Autocorrect has gotten better on iOS 17 (Image credit: Future / Philip Berne)
We had been hearing, via leaks and hints from Apple, that iOS 17 would provide improvements and features that users had been hoping to see for years. We’re not sure which of the updates counts, but there are a bunch of great improvements that will make longtime iPhone users sigh with relief.
The keyboard is updated, with a newly improved autocorrect engine. Apple says the iPhone will do a better job autocorrecting words in the context of the sentence. It’s also easier to edit and change autocorrections if they aren’t quite right.
Messages now works natively with Android phones… just kidding, this whole update seems to be focused on dissing Android, hard. But Messages did get some great improvements that make searching easier. You can add multiple filters in search for people, keywords, or content types. If you’re looking for a photo from a birthday, you might search for 'cake' and photos together, for instance.
Messages will also clean up one-time passcode messages for you, which is a very slick feature that will come in handy on a regular basis.
(Image credit: Future / Philip Berne)
Unfortunately, Messages has become something of a hub for Apple and all of your connections. If you want to share a new Safety Check In, for instance, you do that using Messages. If you want to set up a recurring payment to someone using Apple Pay, Apple has added this feature, but it’s part of Messages. Most sharing between contacts is now handled through Messages as part of your conversations.
The problem is that there are a lot of new sharing features. That Check In feature is great, but it’s hidden deep beneath the ‘plus’ sign in Messages. You need to tap the plus sign, then tap 'More' just to find Check In, for example, which is an important and useful new feature (more on that below).
(Image credit: Future / Philip Berne)
Android fans love to point out when iOS finally catches up to longtime Android features, so it may be hard for iPhone users to brag about new live widgets, which can actually take actions like checking off a to-do list or playing a song in a streaming app. Likewise, Android has long enabled you to download maps offline for faster navigation, or navigating without cell service, and Apple Maps has finally caught up with this handy feature.
iOS 17 review: Important health and safety additions
(Image credit: Future / Philip Berne)
Some of the best improvements made in iOS 17 will keep iPhone users happier and healthier, and perhaps save you from a dangerous situation. The new Check In feature is great for keeping your loved ones updated on how you’re doing and keep you safe, and improvements to Lockdown Mode can protect you from dangers as far reaching as state-sponsored hacking.
If you’re starting a drive, or a run at night, or if you just want someone to keep tabs on you for a period of time, you can start a Check In through Messages. When you Check In, you choose a destination or a period of time. When you get to your destination, your recipient is notified. After the time has elapsed, you check in with your iPhone, and your recipient knows that everything is okay.
(Image credit: Future / Philip Berne)
What happens if things go wrong? If you get delayed on the way to your destination, your phone will ask you to check in. If you are more than 15 minutes off schedule, the phone will check in on you. If your time elapses and you don’t check in, your recipient will be notified.
What they get will depend on how you set up the Check In, but you can send information including your location, your phone’s battery level, and how many bars of cellular service your phone was showing. This can at least help them determine if there may be reason to worry, or if your phone may have run out of battery, and they should check in with you a different way.
You can also send a lot more info. You can send the complete route that your phone took from the time you started the Check In, and the last location where your phone screen was unlocked. If you have an Apple Watch, it will send the last location where the watch was removed.
(Image credit: Future / Philip Berne)
Apple and Android both have a Lockdown Mode, but Apple’s Lockdown for iOS 17 is so much more advanced that it’s a whole different world. If you're worried about your phone being stolen or hacked, you can engage Lockdown Mode. On Android, that blocks your fingerprint from being used. On iOS 17, Lockdown Mode will even protect your iPhone against the Pegasys spyware sold by NSO Group to various state-sponsored spy agencies.
Like I said, it’s literally a world of difference, and I love the way Apple describes its efficacy: “... designed for the very few individuals who, because of who they are or what they do, may be personally targeted by some of the most sophisticated digital threats. Most people will never be targeted by attacks of this nature.” On iOS 17, this mode will also work with your Apple Watch and WatchOS 10.
iOS 17 review: A questionably retro direction for calls and messages
Did you ever have an answering machine in your home? I’m guessing that many younger iPhone users never listened to someone leave a message before deciding whether to actually pick up the phone and answer a call, but with iOS 17, you get that retro experience once again. You can send a call to voicemail, and listen while the person leaves a message, then interrupt the process and talk to them if you want to.
(Image credit: Future / Philip Berne)
I’m not sure if anybody was asking for this, but I expect people will use it. On a similar note, you can also now leave a voicemail in FaceTime. If you're on your iPhone, you can leave a short video message for someone to see later. If you start a FaceTime call using your Apple Watch (yes, that’s a thing you can do), you can just leave an audio message.
Another change in iOS 17 affects Siri and how it responds. You no longer need to address Siri with a “Hey.” As my grammar school math teacher would say: “Hey is for horses.” In any case, Siri now answers to simply “Siri.” You can say “Siri, how much money is Mike Tyson worth?” and marvel at the results without saying "hey" first.
(Image credit: Future / Philip Berne)
Siri is also listening in on phone calls, and if you want to ask Siri a question during a phone call, go right ahead. Your caller won’t hear Siri’s answer, but of course they will hear you calling out “Siri, what’s the weather in Ocean City, Maryland” when your friend suggests a beach weekend.
While that is useful, Siri can already be intrusive sometimes, and the idea of the assistant listening in on phone calls is a little unsettling. I have no doubt that my privacy is protected; this is Apple, after all. Still, I’d rather have to press a button than just feel like Siri is constantly monitoring my conversations.
iOS 17 review: What's to come – Journal app
(Image credit: Apple)
One of the coolest features I’m excited to try in iOS 17 hasn’t arrived yet. That’s the new Journal app, which Apple says will be available as a download at some point in the future, and knowing Apple, there’s no way of knowing when that will be. It could be a matter of weeks, or it could be months.
Journal is an exciting app for many reasons. First of all, I like the idea of journaling, but I have trouble getting started, and that’s what Journal is all about. It uses your iPhone, and whatever you’ve done with your iPhone, to suggest journal entries. It can even offer prompts for writing ideas.
What’s cool is where it gets its information from: everywhere. There seems to be no limit to the ways in which Apple suggests Journal could gather information to create a story of your day. It could be based on obvious clues like photos you’ve taken, or places you’ve visited using Maps. Apple also says that Journal will know when you’ve done a workout, or when you’ve listened to a new album by one of your favorite artists for the first time.
There are suggestions that Journal will know when you meet people, and when you are close to people you know. It will know music and activities, location, and your contacts. The Journal app has the potential to build quite a robust picture of your day, once Apple graces iOS 17 with its presence.
• Original review date: September, 2023
• Apple keeps improving iOS 17
• Spacial video is now possible with Apple Vision Pro
Update: April 2024. Apple continues to show the rest of the smartphone world how to update phones, and iOS 17 has added new features to the iPhone 15 Pro Max as well as every iPhone released in the last five years. With new discovery features, Apple's new Journal app, and plenty more, iOS 17 is the gift that keeps on giving. The iPhone 15 Pro Max also now has the capability to record videos with an added depth component. These videos take advantage of Apple's spatial computing platform, Apple Vision Pro, and give you a more realistic, 3D look at whatever you record, as long as you watch the videos while wearing Apple's new headset.
iPhone 15 Pro Max: Two-minute review
Leave it to Apple to make titanium sound sexy, while also putting me in mind of my somewhat aging joints.
I know, Apple enthusiastically told us how the iPhone 15 Pro Max (and Pro) uses the same titanium as was used by NASA on the Mars rover. I buy that, and it sounds impressive; but when I think of titanium, I usually think of hip or knee replacements. The low-corrosion, lightweight, and high-strength material is favored by surgeons for those properties, and it's for those same reasons that it makes perfect sense as the new frame material for the iPhone.
Patients sporting new titanium knees and hips will likely never get to touch the metal, but if you buy an iPhone 15 Pro Max or – as I did – test it, you'll find that it's smooth yet solid, with a brushed surface that feels cool but not cold. Holding the 6.7-inch iPhone 15 Pro Max is a distinctly different experience compared to handling the iPhone 14 Pro Max; it's lighter, and the titanium feels a little warmer than the polished steel of its predecessor.
It's not just the titanium, though; Apple has made a small yet subtle change to the frame, removing just enough metal to add contoured edges all around. It's one of the smallest yet most impactful changes I've seen a smartphone manufacturer make to a design, and it truly changes how the phone feels in the hand.
Staying with the frame, Apple's retirement of the silence / ring button is one of the most welcome and useful changes. It takes a dull, one-trick-pony analog feature and transforms it into a sleek, customizable button that can be almost anything you want it to be.
Apple contoured the edges on the iPhone 15 Pro Max (Image credit: Future / Lance Ulanoff)
The biggest change for some iPhone fans, though, will be the introduction of the USB-C port in place of Lightning. I know there's a fair amount of frustration over the change (all those now-useless cords in your home, office, and car) but it doesn't change the operation of the phone, and at least Apple supplies you with a woven USB-C-to-USB-C cable. I will miss the old port, but believe we'll all soon forget it.
Naturally, if those external changes were the only differences between this phone and its predecessor, the iPhone 15 Pro Max might be a disappointment. However, this is a significantly more powerful phone than the iPhone 14 Pro Max, with Apple's all-new A17 Pro silicon that, for the first time ever, brings console-quality gaming to the iPhone line. Granted, console games like Resident Evil: Village were not designed for a 6.7-inch display, even Apple's high-definition Super Retina XDR OLED panel, although at least that display now benefits from the smallest iPhone bezels I've seen.
The iPhone 15 Pro Max's triple-camera array looks unchanged from the iPhone 14 Pro Max's, but looks can be deceiving – there are upgrades both inside and out that help to deliver one of the best photography experiences you'll find on any phone.
While Apple appears to have used the same 48MP primary camera sensor as in last year's Pro Max, it's basically rebuilt its image processing pipeline.
The three-camera array looks the same, but there's now a more powerful 5x optical zoom lens (Image credit: Future / Lance Ulanoff)
There's a new 24MP default image size that cannily combines 12MP of pixel-binned image data with full-sensor 48MP information for images that are, in almost all instances, true-to-life (Apple may be over-blueing the sky a little).
The new setup is more versatile too. I never had to decide if I wanted to shoot portrait mode now or later – in most instances, if the iPhone 15 Pro Max could read depth information, it stored all the detail I'd need to change a photo to portrait mode and choose the focus subject post-shoot.
If you were hoping for 10x optical zoom on an iPhone, though, the iPhone 15 Pro Max will disappoint you (though not as much as the 3x optical iPhone 15 Pro). I was frustrated when Apple announced that it had only raised the maximum optical zoom on its largest smartphone to 5x; after all, the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra has an excellent 10x optical zoom, plus the wild, AI-assisted 100x Space Zoom (which may add too much 'artificial' information for my taste, but it's an option if you need it). Apple does do a remarkably good job of competing with just half that zoom range, largely because the image quality at that extended focal length is simply excellent, rivaling and sometimes beating Samsung's best camera.
The combination of its new 3nm chipset, a display that can stop down to a power-sipping 1Hz, and smart power management may account for excellent full-day-plus battery life; though your experience will depend on how you use the iPhone.
In short (this is my two-minute review, after all), this is my favorite iPhone ever. I usually don't like Apple's largest iPhone, but the iPhone 15 Pro Max is lighter (and a tiny bit smaller) than the iPhone 14 Pro Max which – along with the new contoured edges – makes it feel comfortable in my hand. Add to all that excellent photography, fast performance, and seemingly unlimited potential and you've got a lock for a place at or near the top of our best phone list.
There's your new USB-C port (Image credit: Future / Lance Ulanoff)
The iPhone 15 Pro Max starts at $1,199 / £1,199 / AU$2,199 , which is a price hike over its predecessor – the iPhone 14 Pro Max – but you do get twice the storage in the base model: 256GB. This also puts the iPhone 15 Pro Max in line with the starting price of the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra (both now start at 256GB).
The iPhone 15 Pro Max became available to buy in-store and online on September 22, and if you're interesting in picking one up, head over to our iPhone 15 Pro Max deals page for a roundup of all the best offers available now.
It's not entirely accurate to say Apple raised the price of the iPhone 15 Pro Max (from the iPhone 14 Pro Max base price) because what it actually did was remove a tier and settle on the 256GB storage and $1,119 as the new base model. This makes the iPhone 15 Pro Max a little less affordable (no less so than the similarly configured Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra) but, as I see it, 256GB should really be the base storage on all smartphones nowadays, especially as we continue to shoot higher resolution photos and videos (and manage our lives on them).
If storage is your jam, you can pack the iPhone 15 Pro Max (or iPhone 15 Pro) with up to 1TB of storage and pay $1,599 / £1,599 / AU$2,899 for the privilege. What you won't get for that price, though, is more memory. While the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra raises the RAM level to 12GB – starting with its 512GB model, the iPhone 15 Pro Max seemingly sticks with 8GB through all tiers.
There's no getting around that this is Apple's most expensive iPhone, but at least there are numerous payment options, including those from Apple which can start as low as $33 a month in the US. As for whether or not the iPhone 15 Pro Max is worth the money, its design, build, quality, and exceptional capabilities convince me it is. Even at this price, I suspect it will be Apple's best-seller.
Value score: 4.5 / 5
iPhone 15 Pro Max review: Design
The iPhone 15 Pro Max is lighter and a little easier to hold (Image credit: Future / Lance Ulanoff)
Titanium!
Contoured edges make it a pleasure to hold
It's lighter and slightly smaller
Exquisite build
In case you haven't heard, Apple's 2023 Pro-level iPhone has traded in its shiny stainless steel frame for a brushed titanium one. It's tough (though not necessarily harder than steel), corrosion-resistant, and – perhaps most importantly for your hands, pockets, and bags – a lighter material.
Apple made a handful of other changes that give the phone a new look and feel beyond changing up the outer metalwork, however. First are the new contoured edges. It's true that this iPhone can, at a glance, look almost exactly the same as the iPhone 14 Pro Max, but close inspection reveals rounding along the sides that give the phone a softer look and make it – especially at this size – much more comfortable to hold. Additionally, the Super Retina XDR display looks larger (and the Dynamic Island looks smaller), thanks to a noticeably thinner bezel.
The phone feels different because the dimensions and weight are different. Where the iPhone 14 Pro Max was 77.6 x 160.7 x 7.85mm, the iPhone 15 Pro Max is 76.7 x 159.9 x 8.25mm. That means it's just a hair smaller than the last model, a fact I confirmed when I tried slipping the iPhone 15 Pro Max into an iPhone 14 Pro Max leather case (Apple is no longer selling leather accessories) and it was loose inside it. It is worth noting that the new phone is almost a millimeter thicker than the last model.
This side of the iPhone 15 Pro Max looks just like the iPhone 14 Pro Max (Image credit: Future / Lance Ulanoff)
However, thanks to the titanium body and new recycled aluminum frame, the iPhone 15 Pro Max is 19 grams lighter than the iPhone 14 Pro Max (221g vs. 240g). That's a noticeable difference.
Another major design change is actually a functional one: the new USB-C port. It's a little bit larger than the departed Lighting port but will – if you have the right cable – bring some 10Gbps high-speed data transfer capabilities (the cable Apple ships with the iPhone is not a high-speed one).
The body is covered on the front and back with what Apple calls "tough glass-based materials", and on the front is also their Ceramic Shield, designed to protect the glass from damage. I'm not in the business of dropping my phones, so I could not tell you much about the strength of these glass materials. I did, though subject the phone to a dunk in a water fountain. The IP68-rated phone handled it just fine. That was just for a moment, but the phone is rated to handle swimming in up to six feet of fresh water for 30 minutes. If you dunk your phone, just remember that you can't plug it into a charger again until it's completely dry.
Apple didn't mess with the power/sleep/Siri button or the pair of volume buttons but right above that is Apple's other big design/functionality change: the new Action button, which is only available on the iPhone 15 Pro Max and iPhone 15 Pro.
This tiny little button replaces the long-surviving silence/ring switch (still available on the iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus). Instead of a single-function switch, the Action button is programmable via one of Apple's most high-designed utility interfaces ever.
The Action button defaults to ring/silence control but instead of a switch, it takes a press to check the status of your phone (ring or silent) and a long press to change it. Many people may leave well enough alone here, but then they'd be missing out on all the hidden utility. Action button can enable a preferred Focus Mode (with detailed controls inside the Action button settings page), turn the flashlight on and off, launch voice memos, turn your phone into a digital magnifying glass, run your favorite Shortcut, offer instant access to accessibility features, launch the camera, or even turn off all Action button features (a waste, really). If you miss the ring/silent control you can still find it under the updated Control Center too.
Apple's Action Control settings are look unlike any other iPhone feature settings (Image credit: Future)
After trying out the Action button in default mode, I quickly switched it to control the camera. From there, I could use a long-press to instantly open the camera and then use a quick press to take a picture.
The only downside to this new button is that if you are in the habit of taking a lot of screenshots by simultaneously pressing the power and volume up buttons, you may accidentally press the new Action button instead because, well, it's now the top button on the left side of the phone. I expect this to become an iPhone 15 Pro Max meme ("When you press Action instead of Volume Up").
In total, I think the iPhone 15 Pro Max design retains what was good about the last model while making ergonomic and functionality tweaks that move the familiar into the future, with a lighter chassis, smoother lines, a bigger screen, and more functional buttons and ports.
Doesn't that button look at home next to the two volume buttons? (Image credit: Future / Lance Ulanoff)
Design score: 4.5 / 5
iPhone 15 Pro Max review: Sustainability
The iPhone 15 Pro Max's new FineWoven case. (Image credit: Future / Lance Ulanoff)
Over the years, Apple has been rethinking its packaging and, increasingly its products, with an eye toward sustainability. I can still remember when Apple started using biodegradable packaging on its EarPods. The corn-based material would dissolve in water. Now, Apple's efforts extend to its Apple Watch Series 9 (Apple claims the product is now carbon neutral) and iPhones.
This iPhone 15 Pro Max has a 100% recycled aluminum interior and uses recycled cobalt in its battery. Beyond the phone, Apple is whittling away at its carbon footprint by using more earth-friendly materials. In past years, I would usually get leather cases to protect my iPhone test unit but leather is not exactly carbon-friendly. This year, Apple is using a new material, FineWoven, on cases and MagSafe Apple Wallets.
Those cases, by the way, still feel luxurious. My wife thought they were faux suede, but I pointed out the ultra-fine weave.
iPhone 15 Pro Max review: Display
The iPhone 15 Pro Max's Super Retina XDR screen's 2,000 nit max brightness can beat back the sun (Image credit: Future / Lance Ulanoff)
6.7-inch Super Retina XDR OLED
Surrounded by ultra-thin bezels
Unchanged resolution. Still supports ProMotion adaptive refresh rate
Always-on display
If you liked the 6.7-inch display on the iPhone 14 Pro Max, you'll probably like the iPhone 15 Pro Max's screen just that little bit more.
Apple shaved millimeters off the black bezel surrounding the Super Retina XDR OLED screen to make it seem larger (this also makes the Dynamic Island look smaller). Between that and the newly-curved edges, it really looks as if the screen extends all the way to the outer edge of the phone.
To be clear, the screen is slightly larger but the resolution, 2796 x 1290 and 460ppi is unchanged from the iPhone 14 Pro Max. Essentially, this iPhone is just giving those pixels a little more breathing room.
It remains a beautiful and bright screen, with a maximum brightness of 2000 nits, which means I had no trouble using it outdoors in bright sunlight. Its wide color gamut means visuals are rich and the 2,000,000:1 contrast ratio endows it with support for the inkiest of blacks. Looking at everything from photos to games, apps, websites, and videos on this display is a pleasure.
ProMotion support means the iPhone 15 Pro Max is as adept at handling web page scrolling as it is at videos and gaming. All motion looks smooth. Plus, the phone's ability to stop down to 1Hz means that, when it needs to, it sips power while still providing you information; ideal for always-on functionality.
Everything, including streaming videos looks great on the big 6.7-inch display. (Image credit: Future / Lance Ulanoff)
I put the iPhone 15 Pro Max on a Belkin Boost Charge Pro 2-in-1 Wireless charge stand with MagSafe, which automatically puts the phone in iOS 17's new Standby mode, and then set it up on my nightstand. Overnight, the Always-On display was just bright enough that I could glance at it in the middle of the night and see the time.
This is still an excellent smartphone display, though I wonder why, now that Samsung's flagship has an integrated pen and supports not only touch but stylus input, Apple can't finally add Apple Pencil support to its biggest and best smartphone. Even so, I understand that not everyone needs or wants pen input and that may be something Apple intuits as well.
Basically, what you have is Apple's top-notch screen technology, slightly embiggened and now supported by some excellent new iOS 17 functionality.
Display score: 4.5 / 5
iPhone 15 Pro Max review: Cameras
The iPhone 15 Pro Max camera array (Image credit: Future / Lance Ulanoff)
Dedicated 5x optical zoom camera
New 48MP primary sensor
Impressive new portrait photography capabilities
If you read the iPhone 15 Pro Max's specs, see 48MP, and think little has changed since the iPhone 14 Pro Max, you would be mistaken.
Leaving aside the obviously-different 5x optical zoom camera (even the iPhone 15 Pro doesn't get that new snapper), let's look at the leading 48MP sensor. It's not the same one as was introduced on the iPhone 14 Pro Max (or the new iPhone 15). It's larger and, reportedly a Sony-made IMX903. And Apple is using this sensor in ways it has never done before.
Every default image I shot with the iPhone 15 Pro Max comes rendered at 24MP resolution. Yes, that's a new resolution for iPhones and Apple manages it by first pixel binning 48 megapixels-worth of data into the best possible 12 megapixel still and then combining that with the full detail of the 48MP sensor. The only downside is that 24MP images will be larger than 12MP stills (by about a megabyte). Apple mitigates the storage cost a bit by automatically storing photos in HEIF (High Efficiency Image Format) format. You can also shoot in 48MP RAW format for uncompressed imagery, ready for editing.
The result is some truly eye-popping images. The colors are brighter and, with the exception of maybe a just too-blue sky (possibly a result of more aggressive use of smart HDR), the most accurate I have ever seen from a smartphone. Even in direct comparison with the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra, the iPhone 15 Pro Max won. The colors in flowers are perfect and the sharpness is startling. My macros are levels above what I gathered with the iPhone 14 Pro and 14 Pro Max. The skin tones are exact. It didn't matter the skin tone, the iPhone 15 Pro Max understood it and reproduced it. I, for instance, look just as pale and freckled as I do in real life.
Apple has stuffed this iPhone full of more pro-level photography tools than ever before. In particular, you can now choose physical camera-like digital lenses, from 13mm to 24mm, 28mm, 35mm, 48mm, and 120mm for the 5x zoom. You can see these measurements in the camera app by holding down on one of the main magnification levels. You can also go into settings and set one of the lenses as a default.
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You can change digital lenses on the fly. Here's the 13mm view, (Image credit: Future)
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Here's your 24mm lens. (Image credit: Future)
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This is the 28mm lens. (Image credit: Future)
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Here's the 35MM lens. (Image credit: Future)
For most consumers, though, this might be more control than they want or need. It might help to understand what millimeters (mm) in lenses actually mean. The mm defines the degree of magnification and field of view. Lower mm means a wider field of view and lower magnification. Obviously, you can ignore this or act like a pro photographer and start switching up digital lenses during a shoot.
Apple's decision to use just a 5x optical zoom is a source of frustration but I can't really argue with the result. The lens, which uses an unusual tetraprism (four turns of the light between the lens and the image sensor), captures some lovely images. So while this is a long way from 10x optical zoom, I think Apple fans will still be pleased with this result. You can zoom quite a bit further with digital zoom but these images never hold up upon close examination.
Working in conjunction with that zoom is the new 3D sensor shift optical image stabilization which does a much better job of keeping shots stable, especially on digitally zoomed videos. I was impressed with the stabilization when I was capturing a video of a robin who was perched up in swaying branches at least five yards away from me.
The entire iPhone 15 line essentially refines portrait photography. There's still a specific mode, but you no longer need to use it to get the same result. As long as the iPhone 15 Pro Max's cameras can capture depth information, you can turn almost any photo into a portrait shot after the fact, even if it was shot with only the main camera.
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This photo started off as a standard image. I changed it to portrait. (Image credit: Future / Lance Ulanoff)
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You can see the controls here. (Image credit: Future / Lance Ulanoff)
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With portrait turned off. (Image credit: Future / Lance Ulanoff)
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I tapped the car to switch focus. (Image credit: Future / Lance Ulanoff)
You can tell if the camera is seeing any depth while you shoot because a little "Portrait f" will appear in the upper righthand corner. You can tap on it and then select Portrait (On or Off) to see what the photo would look like in portrait mode. it doesn't always work because, if the camera does not 'see', say, a person, or pet or fails to capture any useful depth information, then you can't change a photo to portrait mode; in my experience, most photos were convertible, however. As with traditional Portrait Mode shots, you can set the depth of field but additionally, you can now also tap on different subjects to change the focus point. This works just as advertised and makes you feel like a god of portrait photography.
Portrait photography – including that taken with the front-facing TrueDepth camera – got a huge upgrade with access to Apple's Photonic Engine (I know, Apple, loves it's tech labels) that just makes portrait photography look more authentic and less computational than ever.
Apple has made some leaps in low-light and night photography. The iPhone 15 Pro Max's ISPs (image signal processors) collect more light and make better use of it in even the most challenging situations. It's not vastly better than what you get with the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra, but I think Apple achieves parity.
Night photography is better, too. I noticed less green in the star photography and more stars. The one thing I still can't do as easily as I can with the Galaxy S23 Ultra is take star trail photography (without a third-party app).
The iPhone remains a great video capture tool, with a wide variety of lens options, Action mode for shooting your child's soccer game without nausea-inducing judder, and Cinematic mode for when you want to shoot auteur-quality video. The last, by the way, works just like portrait mode photography in that you can, while capturing video, shift focus from one subject to another with just a tap (in filmmaking, this is the job of the focus puller). What the iPhone 15 Pro Max can do that you can't with the traditional film is change the focus point of the video after shooting. It's more than a neat trick and could be useful if you happen to forget to focus on the right subject during the initial shoot.
iPhone 15 Pro Max: Camera samples
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This photo started out as a regular shot with the main camera. I tapped to convert it to portrait. (Image credit: Future / Lance Ulanoff)
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The iPhone 15 Pro Max can capture action shots (Image credit: Future / Lance Ulanoff)
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A front-facing camera selfie. The blue sky might be a little over-baked. (Image credit: Future / Lance Ulanoff)
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This was an impressive lowlight shot that captured me and the night sky (Image credit: Future / Lance Ulanoff)
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New Yorker "P.pataci on Instagram" was kind enough to pose for me and let me try out the new potrait features. (Image credit: Future / Lance Ulanoff)
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(Image credit: Future / Lance Ulanoff)
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A city shot with the ultrawide camera (Image credit: Future / Lance Ulanoff)
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Stepped up to the Main camera (Image credit: Future / Lance Ulanoff)
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Using the 2x zoom that uses the center 12MP of the 48 MP main camera (Image credit: Future / Lance Ulanoff)
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Using the 3x optical zoom camera. The sky was blue. Was it THAT blue? (Image credit: Future / Lance Ulanoff)
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An untrawide city shot (Image credit: Future / Lance Ulanoff)
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A shot with the Main camera (Image credit: Future / Lance Ulanoff)
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Using the 2x zoom mode (Image credit: Future / Lance Ulanoff)
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Using the 3x optical zoom (Image credit: Future / Lance Ulanoff)
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A macro shot (Image credit: Future / Lance Ulanoff)
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Flower that looks just like this in real life. (Image credit: Future / Lance Ulanoff)
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(Image credit: Future / Lance Ulanoff)
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A city bird (Image credit: Future / Lance Ulanoff)
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Ultrawide city shot (Image credit: Future / Lance Ulanoff)
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Main camera (Image credit: Future / Lance Ulanoff)
The phone now maxes out at shooting 4K 60fps ProRes, while I'd say leaving out 8K video shooting capabilities (which some rivals support) could only be a problem if I thought anyone actually had an 8K TV in their home.
Even as Apple dips its toes further into the pro-level smartphone photography waters, its camera app does not yet feel as deep and versatile as Samsung's, which may go a bit too far and accidentally bury some really useful features.
Again, I think Apple knows its consumers better than most and is being careful about what it presents to iPhone users; not wanting to confuse them while also not holding them back, either. It's a delicate balance. In the end, Apple mostly pulls it off and the real proof is in the fantastic image quality, which should make any smartphone owner envious.
Camera score: 5 / 5
iPhone 15 Pro Max review: Performance
Hello new A17 Pro
8GB of RAM
More base storage (for a price)
Ever since Apple launched Apple silicon, it's been pushing the boundaries of what's possible, with system-on-chips (SoCs) in laptops, desktops, and mobile that rival and often beat the competition, and sometimes they even take generational leaps.
I think it's fair to call the A17 Pro a leap forward from the A16 Bionic in the iPhone 14 Pro Max (the chip now also powering the iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus). As compared to the A16 Bionic, the A17 Pro is built on an even-smaller 3nm process, which should improve efficiency (think battery life), with a CPU that is 10% faster and a six-core GPU that's not only 20% faster but supports on-hardware Ray Tracing.
Geekbench 6 comparison (Image credit: Future)
The iPhone 15 Pro Max Geekbench 6 results support Apple's performance claims. It shows that the A17 Pro is running at a 3.78GHz clockspeed, as compared to 3.46GHz for the A16 Bionic and 3.36GHz for the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 inside the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra.
Numbers, naturally, only tell part of the performance story. For me, it's what I can do with the iPhone 15 Pro Max. One of the promised experiences is playing console-quality games natively. Not gonna lie, I was skeptical. Console gaming is not mobile gaming and never the twain shall meet – until they do on the iPhone 15 Pro Max.
Playing Resident Evil: Village on iPhone 15 Pro Max (Image credit: Future / Lance Ulanoff)
Capcom gave me test flight access to the ported version of Resident Evil: Village. It was a large file that I needed to download at home on WiFi. Once it loaded up I immediately saw a problem. The game is designed for consoles and their controllers. Without one, Resident Evil put the controls on-screen – all the buttons you would usually find on a console controller were crowding the 6.7-inch display. I realized I needed a physical controller, so I borrowed one of my son's extra Xbox controllers and connected it to the phone via Bluetooth.
I'm not much of a gamer, but the visuals, especially on the cut scenes, look quite good on the 6.7-inch display. Still, on such a small console gaming screen, losing even a little bit of space to the Dynamic Island is frustrating.
The graphics never stuttered or tore. I only noticed one spot of pixelation early in the game, where a shadow didn't quite hold together on the snow. This was a repeatable experience which makes me wonder if it's less about the A17 Pro and more about the game port from console to mobile.
The game was otherwise responsive and the sound was excellent. When I put in my AirPods Pro, I was presented with a really captivating and immersive experience; an experience good enough for me to proclaim that console-quality gaming has finally arrived on the mobile phone.
Outside of gaming, every action on the iPhone 15 Pro Max was as responsive as I expected and wanted it to be. I tried editing multiple 4K 60fps clips in iMovie and found no issues with it or the output. The speed of the latter was no faster on the A17 Pro than it was on the A16 Bionic on the iPhone 14 Pro Max.
The SIM tray started to disappear with last year's iPhone 14 series in the US. It's still available on 15 models elsewhere in the world, however. (Image credit: Future | Alex Walker-Todd)
As with last year's iPhone 14 Pro Max (pictured above) in the US, my test unit was eSIM-only. It's incredibly easy to transfer your phone number from an existing phone to these new eSIM variants, but it also means you can no longer easily swap in and out SIM cards without carrier assistance and support.
This is also a 5G phone, though your 5G experience will depend largely on the proximity of cell towers and how many people are sharing them. Lately, 5G speeds are making me pine for still-under-development 6G.
Call quality is good. My wife remarked I sounded good, clear, and "younger". I don't know if that's a product of the connection or if the iPhone 15 Pro Max includes a time machine for free; if it's the latter, Apple should adjust its marketing to place a little more emphasis on that particular upgrade.
This is also Apple's first Wi-Fi 6E iPhone, which is good news if you have a Wi-Fi 6E router in your home or office. In my anecdotal tests, the iPhone 15 Pro Max had consistently faster download and upload speeds (as measured by Google's online Speet Test) than the WiFi 6-supporting iPhone 15 and my iPhone 14 Pro (also WiFi 6).
There's also a new Ultra Wide-band chip (across all iPhone 15 models) that should help with precision finding of not only your Apple stuff but other friends carrying iPhones too.
Apple is also expanding its integrated Satellite services support beyond Emergency SOS to free (for two years) roadside assistance. The idea is that in areas where cell service is poor or non-existent, the system can guide you to connect with an orbiting satellite and then message nearby road services.
Performance score: 4.5 / 5
iPhone 15 Pro Max review: Software
Apple iPhone 15 Pro Max on a Belkin MagSafe charger showing off iOS 17's StandBy feature. (Image credit: Future / Lance Ulanoff)
iOS 17 out the box
Nice quality-of-life improvements
No major changes otherwise
iOS 17, which will come pre-installed on your new iPhone 15 Pro Max is, in total, a relatively lightweight update to what is already a very rich and deep platform, of which I suspect most iPhone owners barely scratch the surface.
The StandBy feature turns the iPhone 15 Pro Max into one of the best bedside clocks and at-a-glance-info hubs around. New Contact Posters are a nice extension of some of the features first found in the impressive Lock Screen update. I also like the new Name Drop feature, which utilizes AirDrop to instantly share contact information with another iPhone placed next to it. Just know that this feature is on by default and if you have two phones near each other with this enabled it might automatically connect. If and when you get your iPhone 15 (of any model), I'd suggest you go into settings and turn this off until you learn how and when to use it.
When I made a FaceTime call – which looked fantastic, by the way – I used iOS 17's new gestures to send thumbs ups and balloons, some of which appeared behind me; it was a neat effect.
Software score: 4.5 / 5
iPhone 15 Pro Max review: Battery life
Same quoted battery life as iPhone 14 Pro Max
Marginally larger capacity YoY
USB-C charging (and data speeds up to 10Gbps)
Power adapter not included
MagSafe for iPhone
The new USB-C-to-USB-C cable that ships with the iPhone 15 Pro Max (Image credit: Future / Lance Ulanoff)
Apple never shares the battery capacity and one can only assume that the iPhone 15 Pro Max battery is at least as big as the one in the iPhone 14 Pro Max (independent sources suggest it's fractionally larger). Battery size, though, is only part of the story. Managing battery life is a product of mAhs (milliampere-hours), processor efficiency, and onboard intelligence (often AI-based), to manage battery consumption.
All of this, I would say, is done well on the iPhone 15 Pro Max, which managed 28 hours of mixed-use. This is an anecdotal measure and your results will vary depending on what you do with the phone. Remember that part of my time with the phone was not using it while I slept for five hours (I did not charge it).
The new USB-C port (Image credit: Future / Lance Ulanoff)
Apple says the iPhone 15 Pro Max can recharge to 50% in 30 minutes with an optional 20W USB-C adapter. Mine charged 47% in that time. It took another hour and a half for it to fully charge. I'm not sure why Apple can't get fully on board with faster wired charging.
As for how you charge the iPhone 15 Pro Max, now you'll use the new USB-C port and the included USB-C cable. I was surprised to see that the cable is now woven – as opposed to the classic plastic/rubber protective jacket. This is similar to MacBook and HomePod cables and may prove more durable than the old cables.
The phone also supports Qi and, obviously MagSafe charging (and accessories).
Battery score: 4 / 5
iPhone 15 Pro Max review: Verdict
The iPhone 15 Pro Max raises the bar, not only for the iPhone family but for smartphones in general. From the new materials to some of the best smartphone cameras we have ever used; Apple's big flagship satisfies your smartphone needs in virtually every aspect. It falls just short of perfection thanks to a slightly higher price tag than the last model, the lack of true fast charging, and Apple's frustrating insistence in presenting 5x optical zoom as the apex of smartphone telephoto technology. Still, these end up being minor quibbles for a broadly exceptional iPhone experience.
Should I buy the iPhone 15 Pro Max?
Buy it if...
Don't buy it if...
iPhone 15 Pro Max review: also consider
Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra If the myriad of mentions didn't give it away, the most like-minded rival to the 15 Pro Max right now remains Samsung's Galaxy S23 Ultra. It can zoom further, boasts a larger battery and stylus support too.
Google Pixel 7 Pro* Google's current flagship boasts and excellent similar-sized display, a clean take on Android, designed by Google itself and a camera experience that stands ahead of its competitive price tag. *The caveat is that the Pixel 8 Pro is set to arrive on October 4.
iPhone 14 Pro Max Some phones don't hold up the further from launch you get, but Apple's previous flagship will not only cost you less but still deliver a great all-round experience.
How I tested the iPhone 15 Pro Max
I tested the iPhone 15 Pro Max for four days, using it to take pictures, play games, watch videos, listen to music, and do a variety of other mobile tasks. I ran anecdotal battery tests and various benchmarks, but I have also included benchmark and battery results from Future Labs.
I bring almost 20 years of phone testing experience and 32 years of technology media experience to my review work and have tried or reviewed almost every iPhone since Apple first released them in 2007.
