Best smartphone: complete buying guide | 2024

Here is the complete guide to buying the best smartphone of the moment divided by price ranges, from the cheapest entry level to the most expensive top of the range. All the advice for the perfect purchase in relation to your needs and your budget

Choose the best smartphone to meet your needs is never easy. To avoid the wrong choice, we offer you some advice on the aspects to be taken into consideration to carry out a conscious purchase unraveling between top of the range, more and more recommended mid-range and interesting entry level.

If you are not interested in our advice and want to directly view the lists of smartphones to buy chosen from the best smartphones of the moment, you can use the list below.

• Best cheap smartphone up to 100 €
• Best budget smartphone up to € 200
• Best mid-range smartphone up to € 300
• Best mid-range smartphone up to € 400
• Best top-of-the-range smartphone up to € 500
• Best top-of-the-range smartphone up to € 600
• Best premium smartphone over € 600

Don't forget to let us know in the comments if, in your opinion, we have overlooked or overestimated any aspect.

Android or iOS operating system? - Guide to buying the best smartphone

The first big question to address is: which operating system to choose? Now that Windows Phone is out of the game the choice inevitably falls between Android, iOS.

iOS It is synonymous with iPhone, and you probably already know if you'd like to have one. They are excellent smartphones with a sea of ​​apps and games at your fingertips, but they are certainly not the cheapest smartphones, they start directly from real top of the range, with some interesting exceptions. Most of the models do not have a first-class quality / price ratio but still have an unrivaled appeal. L'iPhone is always theiPhone they say, no?

If you've already decided not to buy a iPhone then know that Android it is installed on terminals of all shapes, colors and sizes.

Android has the widest range of devices, from the cheapest smartphones to the top of the range. As we said before, it is possible to find smartphones with Android on board equipped with the most disparate hardware for each price range. Most of the terminals manage to make the quality / price ratio a not indifferent prerogative. If chosen wisely, a discreet terminal with Android installed, it will not make you regret your purchase and, probably, it will be cheaper than the counterpart iPhone.

What are the differences between the screen types? - Guide to buying the best smartphone

There is very little to say about the resolution of the displays, the higher the better. But we must also take into consideration the type of screen with which a smartphone can be equipped. Obviously there are substantial differences between cheap smartphones and top of the range.

The displays IPS (In-Panel-Switching) they are an evolution of the TFT and are featured on many of the best budget smartphones. They reproduce colors almost perfectly (thanks to the pixel backlighting) and have very “charged” whites. They do not have the problems of TFT when you vary the viewing angle and consume less energy than the latter. The only flaw? The low contrast ratio and the consequent poor reproduction of blacks.

The displays AMOLED (active matrix OLED) are present on many top-of-the-range smartphones even if lately they are also widespread in the mid-range, such as on Galaxy di Samsung o sui best buy Xiaomi. Their main feature is that the pixels emit their own light and do not need backlighting. They do not present major problems in color rendering but are less "legible" than IPS under the sunlight. On the other hand, they reproduce very intense blacks, since the pixels are physically turned off to reproduce them and this results in a saving in terms of battery. The contrast ratio is the best possible. In recent years they have conquered everyone thanks to their incredibly beautiful and vibrant colors. More and more a must among the best top-of-the-range smartphone.

What is dual-SIM support? - Guide to buying the best smartphone

Some smartphones have the holder Dual-SIM, that is, they allow you to use two SIMs at the same time. But be careful, because they are not all the same. There are terminals DSDS (Dual SIM Dual Standby) that make one SIM unreachable / busy when the other is in use for a call and (only the best smartphones allow it) FASD (Dual Sim Full Active) which instead allow you to keep the two SIMs always active at the same time. Also it should be noted that in many phones Dual-SIM the second SIM slot is also used for microSD, this means that you have to choose whether to use two SIMs or whether to expand the memory of the mobile phone (you cannot do both at the same time).

How important is the camera to you? - Guide to buying the best smartphone

In the age of Selfie and social, the camera of our smartphone is now our window on the world. Therefore, a hardware aspect to be carefully evaluated and which today has very often become a necessity, as well as among the primary factors that distinguish the best smartphone from the others, is the quality of the camera. It is true that now all offer a minimum of 12MP but many ignore important details such as the quality of the objective, the presence ofautofocus, of a good flash or the image stabilizer; in short, all features that can make a difference much more than a few megapixels in excess. The photographic sector is the one in which the difference between cheap and top-of-the-range smartphones is most noticeable and which often influences the choice of the best smartphone for your needs.

How do I measure the battery capacity? - Guide to buying the best smartphone

The battery capacity of smartphones is expressed in mAh (milliamps). Consequently, the more mAh there are, the greater - at least potentially - the autonomy of the device. Some mobile phones allow you to easily extract the battery and replace it with another one (in these cases we are talking about smartphones with a removable battery), while others do not allow you to perform this operation and require the replacement of the battery only after a "surgical intervention. ”Of technical assistance (in these cases, on the other hand, we are talking about smartphones with a non-removable battery). After the trend of abolishing the removable battery on the top of the range, there has also been an adjustment on the cheaper devices that are almost completely devoid of this possibility.

What is the fingerprint sensor used for?

Most smartphones currently on the market have a sensor capable of detecting fingerprints in order to unlock the mobile phone or make purchases (physical and under the display). The quality of the sensor is the aspect that varies between the different price ranges of the best smartphone (top of the range or cheap smartphones) and, consequently, also the reading and unlocking speed will have timing related to quality. The sensor under the display is now becoming more and more widespread, coming to have almost the same effectiveness as a physical button.

What's your budget? Do I have to buy a top of the range to have good performance or can I also take a look at cheap smartphones?

But how much do you have to spend to have a discreet smartphone? The best smartphones are obviously the most expensive ones but spending little is not always synonymous with low quality.Acceptable models start at 100 euros, such as Nokia 2. Excellent example among cheap smartphones but that does not give up quality and good hardware features. 

The medium-high-end terminals can be found on the market from 250 euros upwards. Smartphone like  Xiaomi Mi 10 Lite e Realme 7 Pro, offer everything you can have from smartphones to the latest but with a significantly lower price, coming in with flying colors among the best smartphones even in comparison with terminals from 4-500 €.

If for you there is only the best and you want the latest sparkling top of the range on the market from 450 euros to go up, you can satisfy your desire and certainly remain satisfied.

It should be remembered that some operators offer the purchase of top-of-the-range smartphones through a monthly fee contract bound by their tariff plans, sometimes it can be the right move to save something, contain spending and be able to take home the best smartphone currently in use. business.

The complete list divided by price ranges

Below we propose the list of best smartphones to buy currently on the market, divided into price ranges starting from less than € 100 up to over € 600 for the top of the range.

BEST CHEAP SMARTPHONE - PRICE UNDER 100 EUROS

Xiaomi Redmi 9C Smartphone, 3 GB + 64 GB, 6.53 "HD + Display Dot Drop 5000mAh (typ), with AI Wristband Unlock, 13 MP, Triple camera, Blue (Twilight Blue)

• AI triple rear camera, make memories last with AI triple camera, capture your favorite moments in vivid colors 13MP main camera, 2MP depth sensor, LED flasher, 2MP macro camera.

189,00 EUR Buy on Amazon

Redmi 9C it has a price a little higher than the 100 € but it certainly remains a point of reference among cheap smartphones. Helio G35 Mediatek, 2GB RAM e 32GB of internal storage, expandable up to 512GB. Triple rear chamber from 13 2 + + 2MP e HD + display with 6,53 ″ diagonal. Redmi 9C is a complete smartphone, with a decidedly fashionable design that, thanks to 5000 mAh of battery and to the hardware not too energy-intensive, it also guarantees excellent autonomy.

• Display: da 6,53 pollici HD+ (720 x 1.600 pixel)
• SoC: Helio G35 Mediatek
• Operating System: Android 10 MIUI 11
• RAM: 2GB
• Internal Memory: 32 GB of internal storage expandable with MicroSD up to 512 GB
• Rear camera: 13 + 2 + 2 MP sensor with digital stabilization and LED flash
• Front Camera: da 5 MP F2.2
• Connectivity: WiFi 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth 5.0 A2DP/LE, A-GPS
• Battery:  5.000 mAh
• Dimensions: 164.9 x 77.07 x 9 mm
• Weight: 196 grams

Nokia 2 Dual SIM Smartphone, 8 GB, Black [Spain]

• Operating System: Android 7.1 (Nougat)

Buy on Amazon

Nokia 2 it is made of aluminum and shaped polycarbonate, able to characterize the low range of the Finnish company's proposals with a refined design. The hardware equipment is minimal but still guarantees good performance in relation to the selling price. The screen is a panel 5 ″ LCD with HD resolution (720 × 1280). Nokia 2 comes with a 8MP main camera with LED flash and a 5MP front camera. The processor is a Qualcomm Snapdragon 212 combined with 1 GB of RAM and 8 GB of internal storage (expandable up to 128GB). To conclude the data sheet, a good battery 4100 mAh, able to guarantee several hours of multimedia use.

• CPU: Qualcomm Snapdragon 212 MSM8909 v2 Cortex-A7 – Quad Core da 1,3Ghz – 32 bit
• GPU: Adreno 304
• RAM: 1GB
• Camera: rear 8 Mpx with LED flash, autofocus, HDR and video recording at 30fps in 720p (HD) - front 5 Mpx
• Screen: 5 pollici, IPS LCD, 720 x 1280 pixel (HD), 294 ppi
• Connectivity : 4G LTE – Bluetooth 4.1 con A2DP – Micro USB 2.0 – WiFi 802.11b/g/n – Radio FM- ingresso audio 3.5mm – A-GPS/GLONASS/BeiDou
• Sim Card: Nano
• Sensors: Accelerometer, Proximity
• Storage: 8 GB expandable with microSD up to 128GB
• Battery: 4100 mAh
• Operating system: Android 7.1.1 Nougat
• Dimensions:: 143.5 x 71.3 x 9.3 mm

1.476 Reviews Xiaomi Redmi 8A Smartphone Dual SIM 32GB 2GB RAM, Midnight Black

• Screen: 6.22 ", 720 x 1520 pixels

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Redmi 8A it is the smartphone that we recommend you to buy among the best cheap smartphones. Snapdragon 439, 2 GB of RAM, an impeccable construction and a camera certainly more performing than one could hope for in this price range make this smartphone the ideal forklift but not only. Also thanks to Xiaomi that with his MIUI it also updates low-end smartphones.

• CPU: Qualcomm Snapdragon 439
• GPU: Adreno 505
• RAM: 2GB
• Camera: rear 12 Mpx with LED flash, autofocus, HDR - front 8 Mpx
• Screen: 6,22 pollici, IPS LCD, 720 x 1520 pixel (HD), 270 ppi
• Connectivity: 4G LTE – Bluetooth 5.0 con A2DP/LE – Type-C 2.0 – WiFi 802.11b/g/n –
• Radio FM- A-GPS/GLONASS/BeiDou
• SimCard: Nano
• Sensors: Accelerometer, Proximity, Compass
• Storage: 32 GB expandable with microSD up to 512GB
• Battery: 5000 mAh
• Operating System: Android 9 MIUI 10
• Dimensions: 156.48 x 75.41 x 9.4 mm

BEST CHEAP SMARTPHONE - PRICE UNDER 200 EUROS

Xiaomi Redmi Note 8T– Smartphone Display a goccia da 6,3" Full HD+ (Quad Camera AI da 48MP, 4000 mAh, Jack de 3,5mm, NFC, Radio FM, Snapdragon 665, 3 + 32 GB Neptune, Blu

• 48mp AI quad camera for ultra-wide-angle and macro shots

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Redmi Note 8T is Xiaomi's proposal for the medium-low range, a very balanced smartphone, equipped with a complete hardware that will not make you miss anything. Snapdragon 665, Full HD display and even a quad rear for a smartphone that seems to have nothing cheap.

• CPU: Snapdragon 665
• GPU: Adreno 610
• RAM: 4 GB
• Camera: 48 + 8 + 2 + 2 Mpx rear with Dual LED flash, autofocus, digital stabilizer, HDR and video recording in 4K - front 13 Mpx 
• Screen: 6,3 pollici, IPS LCD, 1080 x 2340 pixel (FHD+)
• Connectivity: Bluetooth 5.0 con A2DP/LE – Type-C 2.0 – WiFi 802.11 a/b/g/n – A-GPS/GLONASS/BeiDou
• SimCard: Nano
• Sensors: Accelerometer, Proximity, Compass, Gyroscope
• Storage: 64 GB expandable with microSD up to 256GB
• Battery: 4000 mAh
• Operating System: Android 9 MIUI 10
• Dimensions: 158.3 x 75.3 x 8.35 mm

realme 6 Smartphone, 4 GB + 128 GB, 64 MP AL QUAD Camera, 90 cm Ultra Fluid 16.5 Hz Display, Helio G90T Processor, Blue (Comet Blue)

• AI Quad 64MP rear camera

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Realm 6 is THE best buy among the best smartphones in the range of price up to 200 €. If you are looking for a smartphone complete, fast, with a good photographic sector and not obvious in design you don't have to search further. If your budget is below its price, we still advise you to make a little effort, from 100 € to 200 € is the absolute champion.

• CPU: Mediatek Helio G90T
• GPU: Mali-G76 MC4
• RAM: 4 GB
• Camera: rear 64 + 8 + 2 + 2 Mp, LED flash, digital stabilizer, HDR and video recording at 30fps in 4K - front 16 Megapixel
• Screen: 6,5 pollici, IPS LCD, 1080×2400 pixel Full HD+
• Connectivity : Bluetooth 5.0 con A2DP/LE – Type-C 2.0 – WiFi 802.11a/b/g/n/ac – Radio FM- A-GPS/BeiDou/Galileo
• Sim Card: Nano 
• Sensors: Accelerometer, Proximity, Compass, Gyroscope
• Storage: 64 GB
• Battery: 4300 mAh
• Operating system: Android 10 Realme UI
• Dimensions:: 162.1 x 74.8 x 8.9 mm

Xiaomi Redmi Note 9 Pro Smartphone con 6.67" DotDisplay, 6 GB + 64 GB, 64 MP AI Quad Camera, 5020 mAh (type) NFC, Grigio (nterstellar Grey)

• Screen: 6,67 ", 1080 x 2400 pixels

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Redmire Xiaomi Note Pro 9 challenge the best buy mentioned above on an equal footing, placing itself on the same level, indeed, from some points of view you will probably prefer it. Smartphone recommended? Absolutely yes! 

• CPU: Snapdragon 720G
• GPU: Adreno 618
• RAM: 6 GB
• Camera: rear 64 + 8 + 5 + 5 Mp, LED flash, stabilizer
• digital, HDR and video recording at 30fps in 4K - front 16 Megapixel
• Screen: 6,67 pollici, IPS LCD, 1080×2400 pixel Full HD+
• Connectivity: Bluetooth 5.0 con A2DP/LE – Type-C 2.0 – WiFi 802.11a/b/g/n/ac – Radio FM- A-GPS/BeiDou/Galileo/GLONASS – NFC
• SimCard: Nano 
• Sensors: Accelerometer, Proximity, Compass, Gyroscope
• Storage: 128 GB
• Battery: 5200 mAh
• Operating System: Android 10 MIUI 11
• Dimensions: 165.75 x 76.68 x 8.8 mm

BEST MEDIUM RANGE SMARTPHONE - PRICE UNDER 300 EUROS

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Xiaomi Mi 10 Lite it is one of the most purchased phones in this price range. It is difficult not to recommend this smartphone in the face of performances that do not envy more expensive devices and the full screen design of a true top. BEST BUY in its category.

• CPU: Qualcomm Snapdragon 730
• GPU: Adreno 618
• RAM: 6 GB
• Camera: rear triple camera from 48 + 8 + 13 Mpx, LED flash, autofocus, digital stabilizer, HDR, video recording at 30fps in 4K - front 20 Mpx
• Screen: 6.39 pollici, AMOLED, 1080 x 2340 pixel (FHD+) – 403 ppi
• Connectivity: Type-C 2.0, Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, Bluetooth 5.0 LE/A2DP/aptX, A-GPS/GLONASS/BeiDou/Galileo
• SimCard: Nano 
• Sensors: Accelerometer, Proximity, Gyroscope, Compass
• Storage: 128 GB
• Battery: 4000 mAh
• Operating System: Android 9 MIUI 10
• Dimensions: 156.7 x 74.3 x 8.8 mm

realme 7 Pro Smartphone, 6.4 "Super AMOLED Display, Eight - Core Snapdragon 720G Processor, 8 GB RAM + 128 GB ROM, 64 MP Sony Quadruple Camera + 32 MP Selfie Camera, Silver

• SuperDart 65W Fast Charging: 0 to 100% in 34 minutes.

Buy on Amazon

As it happened in the lower price range, here too the challenge between Xiaomi and Realme is re-proposed and also in this case you will find yourself in front of two smartphones able to offer (excellent) similar performances. Realme 7 Pro it is a complete smartphone in every respect, also capable of being a best buy.

• CPU: Qualcomm Snapdragon 720G
• GPU: Adreno 618
• RAM: 6 GB
• Camera: rear quadruple camera from 64 + 8 + 2 + 2 Mpx, LED flash, autofocus, digital stabilizer, HDR, video recording at 30fps in 4K - front 32 Mpx
• Screen: 6.4 pollici, Super AMOLED, 1080 x 2400 pixel (FHD+) – 409 ppi
• Connectivity: Type-C 2.0, Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, Bluetooth 5.1 LE/A2DP, A-GPS/GLONASS/BeiDou/NavIC
• SimCard: Nano 
• Sensors: Accelerometer, Proximity, Gyroscope, Compass
• Storage: 128 GB
• Battery: 4500 mAh
• Operating System: Android 10 Realme UI
• Dimensions:160.9 x 74.3 x 8.7 mm

OPPO Reno2 Smartphone 8GB + 256GB Ocean Blue

• Operating system: android 9 (pie)

492,00 EUR Buy on Amazon

OPPO Reno 2 it is a smartphone that you will fall in love with from the first glance, with a definitely higher value than the price at which it is proposed in recent weeks. Aesthetically beautiful, guarantees top-level performance in every context, even if at the hardware level it is not equipped with the most interesting technical data sheet in this price range.

CPU: Qualcomm Snapdragon 730G
GPU: Adreno 618
Screen: 6,5” AMOLED Full HD+ (1.080 x 2.400 pixel, 19:9)
RAM: 8 GB
Rear camera: 48 + 13 + 8 + 2 Megapixel, optical stabilization + electronic stabilizer (max video: 4K 30fps), dual led flash; front camera: 16 megapixels
Connectivity: Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, Bluetooth 5.0 con A2DP/LE, GPS, USB Type-C 2.0,A-GPS, GLONASS, BeiDou, Galileo
Sim Card: Nano
Sensors: Accelerometer, Proximity, Gyroscope, Compass
Storage: 256 GB 
Battery: 4000 mAh
Dimensions: 160 x 74.3 x 9.5 mm
Operating System: Android 9 ColorOS