Hardware Awards 2023: Best smartphone –

Although foldable devices have entered the market and the occasional space-age 200-megapixel sensor pops up here and there, the smartphone market is pretty consolidated. We’re not just talking in terms of market share, but creatively, as most manufacturers seem to be in relative agreement on what kind of experience a modern smartphone should be able to offer consumers.

Yes, the days when Nokia released phones that immediately challenged your sense of reality are truly gone, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t winners and losers every year. The point is that it’s harder to decide who’s who, and it’s usually price, availability and software preferences that are the deciding factors.

Therefore, this year’s winners are probably some that you would have seen coming from miles away, and that says something about how stagnant things have become. But at the same time, you can turn it around and realize that it is now very, very hard to go wrong with a smartphone that is a complete waste of money and time.
Okay, that’s enough market analysis, so let’s take a closer look at which phones have impressed us the most over the past year.

Winner: iPhone 15 Pro Max

While Apple usually wins on the robustness of their extensive ecosystem, as well as how long they support older devices and maintain fairly broad functionality across a huge range of products, this year actually saw quite a bit of change from generation to generation.

First, the new iPhone 15 models come with USB-C – all of them, and so iPhones now support a wide range of accessories, from LAV microphones to other USB-C-enabled smartphone gadgets. The new action button gives enthusiasts more ways to use their phone, especially since it supports shortcuts, which allow you to perform a series of actions at the touch of a button.

The new rounded edges also make for a very comfortable shape in the hand, and the fact that the Pro Max model now has 5x optical zoom may not make it directly competitive with Samsung’s Galaxy S23 Ultra, but it certainly helps matters.

Winner: Google Pixel 8 Pro

Google has created a furor because it can do something other companies can’t. It’s not just because their pure form of Android is so endlessly expressive, colorful, simple and personal, it’s because Google knows how to design hardware that feels good to use.
And the Pixel 8 Pro is so insanely fun to use, almost whatever you do. The new Actua displays are bright, color-correct and responsive, the new camera is finally a hit when it comes to video recording, and the consistency from build quality to software is really satisfying.

If you want a kind of mobile butler, someone who knows you, takes care of you and keeps track of your life, the Pixel 8 Pro is the ultimate Android.

Winner: OnePlus Open

As you may have already seen, the OnePlus Open won quite a few awards at this year’s Hardware Awards, so at the risk of repeating ourselves a bit too much, this is just a pretty amazing smartphone on almost every parameter that matters.

Great OxygenOS software, cool cameras with versatile settings and options, solid build quality, fast charging via a charger that comes with the phone, excellent displays both inside and out, and blazingly fast performance thanks to advanced components.

And yes, it folds out into a mini tablet if necessary. That’s really the bottom line here; the OnePlus Open is just a great smartphone without the folding part, and if you add that as some kind of extra value, well, it’s starting to look like something.

Winner: Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra

There’s not much new under the sun to be honest for Note fans in this year’s S23 Ultra, but if you look closely, it’s a collection of everything important to the so-called “power user”; a beautiful screen, great camera that beats most others, and that’s for photos, 4K video, night and zoom. There’s plenty of space, Samsung’s user interface works superbly, it’s easy to transfer and manage files, and the S Pen is just that little bit finer to use than before – and yes, once you get used to it, it’s hard not to have it, combined with very impressive battery life, even in heavy gaming, on a bright and colorful AMOLED screen. It really is the whole package.

We are big Note fans on the editorial staff, and while it is very clear that the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra is not a revolution, it is still a noticeable improvement over last year’s model. Since the introduction of the Ultra variant, Samsung has struggled to find a balance in their lineup, and with the S23 Ultra it has come full circle – a phone that is expensive, but returns the favor with features.