If you're on the hunt for the best Android smartphone around, you've come to the right place. We've put all the major Google-powered handsets through their paces to give you our best Android phones round-down.
There's one key way in which Android is massively different from its Apple-branded smartphone competition – the number of phones out there running Google's hot mobile OS.
Update: The Samsung Galaxy S10 Plus has been put through our in-depth review process and it's managed to nab itself the top place in our best Android phone list.
The big names are all here; Samsung, LG, Huawei and OnePlus are at the fore. The many variations in screen size, processor power, software features and design makes finding the best Android phone for you extremely tough.
- Best smartphone: the top phones we've tested
- Best affordable phones: head here if don't want to spend thousands
To help find the most fitting Android phone for you, we've rounded up the best Android handsets out there today, rating the phones on hardware performance, OS upgrade potential and, of course, how shiny and nice they are to have and boast about to work colleagues.
So here they are – the best Android phones money can buy today. Perfect if you're looking for a gift for a loved one… or yourself.
The Samsung Galaxy S10 Plus is the best Android phone you can buy right now, packing the best of what Samsung has to offer.
It's a big phone that's designed for big hands – and it takes the very best of what's on the smartphone market and puts it together in a compelling package that we've loved testing.
The Super AMOLED 6.4-inch display has been measured as the very best around, with super colours, plus there's a fingerprint scanner embedded in the display.
Battery life is an improvement over the S9 Plus, thanks to the larger 4,100mAh battery inside and you also get Samsung's new Wireless PowerShare, allowing you to wirelessly charge other devices on the rear of the handset.
The trio of cameras on the rear of the Galaxy S10 Plus are among the best on the market, offering more features, shooting modes and overall clarity.
Read more: Samsung Galaxy S10 Plus review
The Huawei Mate 20 Pro is the best phone from the Chinese firm to date, offering up a heady mix of design, power and performance with a party piece in the form of an in-display fingerprint scanner thrown in too.
The Mate 20 Pro packs a huge 6.39-inch display giving you a lots of space for gaming and movies, and its QHD resolution and HDR10 support ensures everything looks great.
It also comes with three rear cameras, nabbing the excellent 40MP wide-angle and 8MP telephoto lenses from the P20 Pro – but the third sensor is new. It's an ultra-wide 16MP snapper allowing you to cram even more of your surroundings into each shot.
The Mate 20 Pro is a full-featured phone for a full-featured price – it even has a few tricks you won’t see elsewhere, and more powerful specs than most of its competitors.
Read more: Huawei Mate 20 Pro review
The Galaxy Note 9 boasts a huge screen and a huge amount of power under the hood, plus there's the iconic S Pen stylus which slides into the body of the phone for safe keeping.
It means the Note 9 offers a huge array of productivity functions few phones can compete with, but the overall package isn't quite as finessed as the Galaxy S9 Plus – not to mention its high price tag.
For power users who want a phone that will doing pretty much anything they ask of it, the Galaxy Note 9 is a top choice.
Read the full review: Samsung Galaxy Note 9
Samsung's latest Galaxy S9 Plus is in the third position of this list thanks to an incredible design, amazing display and some truly great power packed into the phone.
Everything that has made Samsung phones great over the last few years has been packed into this 6.2-inch device – that's almost bezelless too – and comes with top of the range hardware and some easy to use Android software.
Samsung has added a dual-camera to the rear to enhance low-light photography, plus there's a better located fingerprint scanner and 960fps slo-motion video recording.
Read the full review: Samsung Galaxy S9 Plus
What's this? A second Huawei phone in the top 5? Your eyes do not deceive you, the Huawei P20 Pro really is fourth in our best Android phone rundown.
After years of threatening the top players in the smartphone game without really worrying them, 2018 has seen a significant uptick from the Chinese firm and the beautiful P20 Pro.
The triple camera setup on the rear of the P20 Pro provides great flexibility – and an excellent low-light mode – while the battery life comfortably gets through a day.
Then there's the eye-catching, two-tone finish on the rear which really sets the P20 Pro apart from the competition.
Read our full review: Huawei P20 Pro
The price of flagship phones are rising every year, but you don't need to pay top dollar for a top-notch experience.
OnePlus offers flagship phones at a lower price point and while its first few handsets didn't trouble the established names, its more recent efforts have really pushed the likes of Samsung, Apple and co.
You get the latest flagship power under the hood, a huge screen, dual rear cameras and an in-display fingerprint scanner included with the OnePlus 6T.
The OnePlus 6T is a good-looking and powerful smartphone that can compete with handsets from the larger and more established brands on the market while undercutting them in price.
Read more: OnePlus 6T review
The Samsung Galaxy S9 is a great smartphone, but it's not quite as good as its bigger brother which boasts an extra camera on the rear and more screen real estate.
There's still a lot to love about the S9 though with an expansive 5.8-inch Infinity Display, powerful chipset, 4GB of RAM and excellent 12MP rear facing camera.
Its battery life isn't quite as strong as the S8 it replaces, and visually it's almost identical to its predecessor. However, the small changes are welcome and it's an impressive all-round offering.
Read the full review: Samsung Galaxy S9
The LG G7 ThinQ is a confident step up from its predecessor – the LG G6 – with LG allowing itself to be a little bolder with the design and features on its latest flagship Android phone.
Its display comes with an ultra-bright mode which boosts brightness to an eye-dazzling 1000nits, handy if you're desperately trying to Instagram your latest snap from the beach.
The AI built into the camera can recognize what you're shooting and adjust the settings accordingly, to give you the best shot.
There are two cameras on the rear of the G7 ThinQ, with the secondary snapper offering up a super-wide angle lens to give you a different perspective on things. We just wish LG would drop the 'ThinQ' part of the name.
Read our full review: LG G7 ThinQ
With average phone sizes rising, the Galaxy S8 Plus at 6.2-inches has become the gold standard.
Everything we love about the Galaxy S8 is available here as Samsung has decided to only really changed the sizes of the screens rather than fiddling with the spec inside the device.
That same powerful 12MP camera and top of the range power setup is here to do everything you want it to as well as the new biometric tech that may allow you to unlock your phone faster than ever before.
Read the full review: Samsung Galaxy S8 Plus
The Honor View 20 is the best phone to come out of the Chinese brand, with a striking rear design (which may divide opinion), plenty of power under the hood, an impressive 48MP camera and a 'punch-hole' display which ushers in the post-notch revolution.
Screen: There's a huge 6.4-inch display on the View 20, giving you plenty of space to play with. It's the location of the front-facing, 25MP camera within the screen which is the real talking point though, as rather than appearing in a bezel or a notch which juts into the screen, it's surround by screen. It's different, but will it catch on?
Battery life: The Honor View 20 has a big 4,000mAh and the result is a battery which will comfortably last through an entire day and into the next on a single charge.
Camera: The View 20 is the world's first smartphone to boast a 48MP rear camera, as the firm has used Sony's new sensor to provide a camera which really packs a punch.
Mini verdict: An ultra-high-resolution camera and punch hole screen are the highlights on the Honor View 20, and they set a standard this year’s more expensive phones will need to match.
Read more: Honor View 20 review
Price comparison: The best Honor View 20 deals
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