After reviewing the latest and greatest in the industry for many years, it’s somewhat difficult to get excited or be truly impressed by a smartphone. However, there are always those phones that just work for me for one reason or another.
Xiaomi 15 Ultra
Perhaps it’s no surprise for my colleagues that I’m picking the current Xiaomi Ultra for yet another year. I chose this phone for my daily driver mainly due to its versatile camera hardware. It has all the focal lengths I need, and the 4.2x telephoto camera uses a large 200MP sensor that allows for further cropping without sacrificing quality too much. Sure, the selfie isn’t amazing, and post-processing has its quirks, but I’ve gotten used to it, and with just a little tweaking, I get amazing shots out of this chunky boy.
Additionally, I find HyperOS’ aesthetic pleasing, I don’t find any deal-breaking bugs, and it remains consistently smooth after months and years of use.
vivo X300 Pro
Speaking of cameras, I can’t go without mentioning the vivo X300 Pro. I’ve grown fond of vivo’s processing, and I only wish vivo had a globally available phone that combines the Xiaomi 15 Ultra’s camera versatility and vivo’s processing.
Additionally, after having the chance to play around with OriginOS, I think I can give it a shot as a daily driver.
Xiaomi 17 Pro Max
I think Xiaomi nailed it with this one. It’s still unclear whether Xiaomi will bring its newest flagship phone outside of China, but I got the chance to play with it, and I absolutely loved it.
The design is by far the best one I’ve seen in a while (I’m not a fan of those big, circular lumps on the back of modern phones). And the secondary display on the back is a nice touch, too. It doesn’t feel like a gimmick and provides a nice workaround for the lackluster selfie camera.
To be perfectly honest, I wasn’t impressed by the telephoto and ultrawide cameras, but the 17 Pro Max is still a solid flagship handset.
I hoped Xiaomi makes the next Ultra with a similar design, but alas we got another huge circle.
iQOO 15
The IQOO 15 is very different from the three above and is the “pragmatic” option on the list. It’s too bad the phone isn’t offered in my region, as it would be a frequent recommendation among my friends and acquaintances looking for a new phone. Even with its hefty price increase over the previous generation.
Still, there are only a few, and quite minor, in my opinion, drawbacks to the iQOO 15. It’s a solid all-rounder that still manages to undercut the competition and punch above its weight class in many aspects. It has a solid display, excellent camera, long battery life, snappy charging and a very polished new software. Well, new for markets outside of China, at least.
