The 11 best smartphones of 2025, including the devices worth the upgrade

Reviewed by Britta O’Boyle

The iPhone 17 Pro and 17 Pro Max are Apple’s latest top-of-the-range smartphones, offering the best the company has to offer in terms of camera capabilities, battery life and performance. They are by no means cheap, especially the larger iPhone 17 Pro Max, which costs £1,999 if you buy the 2TB storage option, but they are excellent phones.

The camera performance is superb from the three-lens rear system, delivering images with excellent detail, natural colours and the best point-and-shoot experience available on any smartphone. The 8x optical zoom is also brilliant, allowing you to get closer to a subject while keeping details sharp. The upgraded front camera, meanwhile, allows for portrait and landscape selfies at the touch of a button on the screen with no need to rotate the phone. Centre Stage technology automatically reframes your shot.

The battery life is particularly impressive on the iPhone 17 Pro Max, though both phones will see you through the day and into the next. Faster charging also means 50 per cent in 20 minutes. Elsewhere, the display is smooth and incredibly bright, with vibrant colours and great contrast. Performance from the A19 Pro processor is also excellent, and with the integrated vapour chamber, it allows for better performance for longer than previous iPhone Pro models.

The iPhone 17 Pro shares a number of the core features with the iPhone 17 (reviewed below) this year, and its design may divide opinion while also being aluminium instead of titanium. However, this is a superb phone overall, ticking all the boxes you would hope for from our Best Buy smartphone recommendation.

Read my full Apple iPhone 17 Pro review.

Key specifications

• Operating system: iOS 26
• Screen: 6.3in/6.9in OLED, 120Hz refresh rate
• Battery: 3,988mAh / 5,088mAh
• Camera: Triple (48MP main, 48MP ultrawide, 48MP 8x telephoto), 18MP selfie
• Processor: Apple A19 Pro