Popular tech YouTuber Marques Brownlee (better known as MKBHD) holds his own Smartphone Awards each year, where he selects the best smartphones in various categories. While last year the iPhone received awards in three different categories, Apple’s smartphone lost the spotlight to the competition at this year’s awards.
Like last year, MKBHD has set several price categories for smartphones. They are:
- Best Big Phone
- Best little phone
- Best camera system
- Best battery
- The design prize
- value award
- bust of the year
- MVP (Phone of the Year)
Unsurprisingly, there are plenty of Android smartphones competing for the awards, while Apple currently only sells eight different iPhone models – and only five of those were released this year. Although the awards are based on MKBHD’s own criteria, he naturally took into account both technical aspects and his personal experience with each device that competed for the awards.
But how does the iPhone compare to all the other Android smartphones?
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Best Big Phone
The iPhone 14 Pro Max is certainly a big phone with its 6.7-inch screen. However, MKBHD chose Samsung’s Galaxy S22 Ultra as the best big phone of 2022. According to the YouTuber, the S22 Ultra takes advantage of the massive 6.8-inch screen with the stylus combined with software optimized for the big screen, the 5,000mAh Battery and four camera lenses on the back of the phone.
MKBHD also praised the ASUS ROG Phone 6, which is considered a gamer’s smartphone, in the same category for “incredible, massive stereo front-facing speakers” and a headphone jack. The Xiaomi Mix Fold 2 also received an honorable mention for being the same thickness as a regular phone when folded.
Best little phone
Last year, Apple won the Best Small Phone category with the iPhone 13 mini. After all, there aren’t many small phones left on the market, and the iPhone 13 mini was essentially an iPhone 13 with premium hardware in a body with a 5.4-inch screen. But this year Apple killed the iPhone mini and replaced it with the iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Plus.
So the winner of the Best Small Phone of 2022 was the ASUS Zenfone 9. It’s certainly not as small as the iPhone 13 mini since it has a 5.9-inch screen, but it’s still significantly smaller than most smartphones from today. With flagship specs, a “surprisingly great camera,” headphone jack, and decent battery life, the Zenfone 9 is “by far the best phone at this size,” according to MKBHD.
Oppo Find N2, a foldable phone, received an honorable mention in this category because it looks extremely compact when folded.
Best camera system
Choosing the best camera on a smartphone can be very subjective, especially since there are different criteria for photos and videos and everyone has their own preferences in terms of color depth and sharpness. A few days ago, MKBHD shared the results of its blind smartphone camera test, in which Google’s Pixel 6A took first place, while the Pixel 7 Pro took second place.
But what about MKBHD’s preferences? Despite praising photos taken with the Pixel 7 and Vivo X90 Pro+, the iPhone 14 Pro Max won Best Camera System this year.
The YouTuber says the iPhone has a more solid camera experience, which includes how quick it is to open the camera app and snap a picture, consistency across lenses, and how well the device compares to all Android phones at capturing of videos is.
Best battery
The winner of the Best Battery of 2022 is the ASUS ROG Phone 6. As it is considered a smartphone for gamers, ASUS put a 6,000 mAh battery in the phone. At the same time, it supports fast charging up to 65W, which allows users to charge the battery from 0% to 100% in less than an hour.
Last year, the iPhone 13 Pro Max won the Best Battery award, and many other reviews also praised last year’s iPhone’s battery life despite the added 120Hz display. However, the iPhone 14 Pro Max didn’t offer the same battery experience as the iPhone 13 Pro Max, as Apple kept the battery the same size and added an always-on display.
Interestingly, Marques praised the battery life of the iPhone 14 Plus, which outperforms the iPhone 14 Pro Max because it has a regular 60Hz display without the always-on feature. As a result, the iPhone 14 Plus consumes less power than the Pro model.
The design prize
The design category is pretty subjective too, and even MKBHD agrees. And the smartphone that won the design award in 2022 is the Nothing Phone. Viewed from the sides, the Nothing Phone is reminiscent of the latest iPhones. However, Nothing Phone has a transparent back full of LEDs that can be used for various things like notifications and a flash while you’re filming.
“It definitely skirts the line between gimmick and feature. […] I think it’s really chic. I think it’s cool that you can see how much battery is being charged as you charge. […] Such little things. You don’t see a lot of phones trying new things.”
The Xiaomi Mix Fold 2 received an honorable mention in the design category for being a foldable phone that looks much more solid than other foldable phones.
value award
Last year, Google’s Pixel 6 won the Value Award, and this year the prize went to the Pixel 7. MKBHD argues that the Pixel 7 is the best in its $599 price range, and its specs even beat some more expensive flagships. “It’s so good that it did that [Pixel] 7 Pro doesn’t feel that good somehow,” he added.
ASUS Zenfone 9 received another honorable mention, this time in the Value Award category, for offering a “truly unique combo” that includes a 120Hz display for $699.
bust of the year
The bust of 2021 was Microsoft’s Surface Duo 2, which has two separate screens and launched at a price of $1,500. This year, however, MKBHD chose the OnePlus 10T as the Bust of the Year because it had “quite a big delta between expectations and possibilities and actual results”.
MVP (Phone of the Year)
Samsung’s Galaxy S21 Ultra was the 2021 Phone of the Year winner. But what about this year? The winner for 2022 is Google’s Pixel 7. As mentioned, MKBHD says the Pixel 7 is great value with its good cameras, display and battery, and “flagship software experience” while costing a lot less than other premium smart phone.
With similar arguments, ASUS Zenfone 9 also won an honorable mention as Phone of the Year. In third place, MKBHD chose the Galaxy S22 Ultra for this category, which he defines as “boring” and “expensive”, but at the same time one of the best phones you can get in 2022.
Wrap up
Out of three categories in 2021, the iPhone has now only been recognized in one of the categories in 2022. And yet, MKBHD pointed out that he prefers the iPhone camera for video recording because of its excellent quality.
In terms of photos, MKBHD has already said in his videos that the iPhone 14 Pro’s camera exaggerates post-processing effects like HDR, which makes some photos look very unrealistic – and I personally agree.
What do you think of the results? Would you have a list other than MKBHD for the best phones of 2022? Let us know in the comment section below.
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