5 best smartphones of the world

Honor View 10

AI-assisted selfies hit the mid-range in a handset with modern looks, slim screen, and a great price

It’s probably about time you added Honor and OnePlus to that list. Here are two companies that just can’t seem to stop butting heads over who has the best flagship-besting smartphone. It happened with the OnePlus 5 and Honor 9 last summer, and it’s happening again now.

The View10 is a top-spec handset that wouldn't look out of place alongside big-name rivals like Samsung's Galaxy S8, thanks to a frame-filling 18:9 aspect screen and skinny bezels - only here, you don't need to contemplate selling a kidney to afford one.

Think of it as a Mate 10 or Mate 10 Pro, only made of metal instead of glass. And a heck of a lot less expensive. It's even packing the same AI-boosted dual camera cleverness we saw in Huawei's most recent flagships. And with a OnePlus 5T-matching price, it’s never been harder to pick a winner.

LG G6

LG's screen-centric stunner of a smartphone was the first to bring super-skinny bezels to the mainstream - and has a cracking wide-angle camera to go with it.

The answer, apparently, is to ditch the upgrade-able antics and double down on everything you could want from a flagship phone.

That’s not to say this is just a by-the-numbers upgrade, though: take one look at that 18:9 display, with those barely-there bezels, and it’s clear that the G6 is something special.

After switching from our early production version of the G6 to a finished retail model, and giving it a thorough test, I'm finally ready to deliver a full verdict.

Yes, it might be overshadowed by a certain Samsung, but this is still a fantastic phone

Sony Xperia XZ Premium

Finally, a cool-running Sony flagship that delivers on all its promises, including the camera and performance benchmarks

Having learnt many an important lessons from previous attempts, Sony has pulled out all stops on the path to innovation. The Xperia XZ Premium then, is finally upon us after being teased by it back at MWC. It comes all guns blazing with a price tag that is in line or lesser than other flagships, a Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 chipset which also makes it the first phone in India to be launched with this cutting-edge processor (eat your heart out, OnePlus), 4K HDR 5.5in display and a headline-grabbing 960fps slow-mo mode!

Google Pixel 2

A super-fast software powerhouse with the best camera on any phone

This is a phone that looks almost identical to last year’s model, lacks the headline-grabbing screen of the bigger Pixel 2 XL and misses out on new iPhone tricks such as wireless charging.

In short, it seems a bit boring.

But don’t be deceived, because there’s actually a whole load of reasons to love this phone, from its superb camera to its raft of smart software features. Come on, looks aren’t everything you know.

Apple iPhone 8

The iPhone X looms large over it, but anyone not keen on the heft of the Plus is unlikely to be disappointed here

Apple has chosen a new kind of glass as its material of choice, for the front and back of the new iPhone 8. It has done this to enable two things.

One, to give the phone a bit of a refresh when it comes to the design (though it is still impossibly hard to tell the difference when compared to the iPhone 7 and the 6s). Secondly and more importantly it has used glass to enable wireless charging.

That ends up making the device a touch heavier (148 gm as compared to 138 gm for the iPhone 7) The glass back is reinforced with a laser‑welded steel foundation and an aerospace‑grade aluminum band. It is water resistant down to the micron level.