Welcome to the world of smartphones

Which phone should I buy?" This is the single most common question readers like you ask phone reviewers like us every day.

We get it -- it can be a challenge, especially with superb choices such as the Samsung Galaxy S6 and iPhone 6S Plus. But depending on your price range and what's available where you live, the new phone you should be getting may not be a flagship -- it could turn out to be the Nokia Lumia 640 or one of the many Motorola Moto Gs.

On the bright side, options are a good thing, so long as you're armed with the knowledge necessary to make smart shopping decisions. Sit tight as we lay out what you need to know to find the best new device for you.

Smartphone OS Market Share, 2015

82.8% Android

13.9% iOS

2.6% Windows

0.7% Other

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SmartphoneWorld a definitive guide to this connected life.

Technology isn't all about bits and processors. It's the car with no driver, human organs printed in a lab and leisurely flights into space. It's the future and we're here to tell you all about it.

SmartphoneWorld tracks all the latest consumer technology breakthroughs and shows you what's new, what matters, and how technology can enrich your life. We give you the information, tools, and advice that will help you decide what to buy and how to get the most out of the tech in your life.

Since our start in 2016, we have exhaustively covered cutting edge devices and the technology that powers them. Now we're looking beyond the gadgets themselves to explore how they impact our lives.

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Samsung Galaxy S6

Samsung announced the Galaxy S6 at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona on March 1, 2015, as a fresh successor to 2014's Galaxy S5. Aside from the general shape and size, there's not much in common between the two models. The Galaxy S6 has the same sized 5.1-inch screen and button placements, but is made of a solid metal frame with Gorilla Glass 4 on both sides giving it a completely different look and feel. The display is now QHD (2560x1440), and the internals have been bumped up to support it — with an Exynos octa-core processor, 3GB of RAM and 32/64/128GB of storage.

Huawei Nexus 6P

Huawei's Nexus 6P improved where the Nexus 6 just barely make the mark. The 6P does manage to be a bit taller than the 6, but the narrower body of the 5.7" screen of the 6P makes it significantly manageable with one hand. The new camera experience yields much better than the 6 did. And the use of current generation AMOLED panels proves to be a welcome improvement to OLED displays. USB Type-C was a sure choice, ensuring a nudge for other smartphone makers to adopt the new USB standard. In the past, every single Nexus device had some kind of compromise, however, we think this may be the first time a Nexus device has ever gotten every aspect about performance, camera, battery, and design just right. But we wouldn't know until we check that thoroughly first hand.

LG G4

The LG G4 has a lot to live up to since its predecessor, the LG G3, was crowned TrustedReviews’ Phone of the Year in 2014. It largely succeeds, too. The LG G4 has taken all the best bits from the LG G3 and rolled them into a new and improved package. Its alterations are more evolutionary than revolutionary. Don’t let that deceive you, though – it’s brought with it changes that hit nearly all the right notes. This is another all-round excellent flagship from LG and it costs considerably less than most of the models in the same class, while matching, or surpassing, the competitors in nearly every respect. It provides speedy performance, a great screen and arguably the best smartphone camera around. If you don’t mind the hard plastic that LG seems intent on persisting with, then this could well be the handset for you. Down from £450/ $550 at launch to £355/$500 SIM-free, the LG G4 is now even better value for money.

Sony Xperia Z5

Sony has gone ahead with the same design for its 2015 flagships that we have been accustomed to being seeing for the last many years. Sure there’s nothing wrong with the rectangular design, but Sony could have been more innovative instead of just adding on an engraved Xperia logo on the left hand side. The Xperia Z5 has ditched the glossy glass back and instead you get one with frosted glass which has an elegant matte appearance. We got the golden coloured variant for testing. The Xperia Z5 is slightly thicker and heavier than the Xperia Z3+. Also, the phone has sharp top edges where the display meets the metal frame. The Xperia Z5 houses the Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 chipset having a octa-core processor and Adreno 430 GPU paired with 3GB of RAM and having 32GB storage. You have an option to expand the storage to up to 200GB using a microSD card. There is the same 5.2-inch full HD display with scratch-resistant glass and oleophobic coating. The Xperia Z5 takes in two nano SIM cards which support 4G LTE bands.

Xiaomi Mi 4c

Xiaomi Mi 4, one of the hottest Chinese-bred flagships of 2014, got two modifications over the course of its lifecycle - that's an achievement right there. The Mi 4i was more of an attractive mid-ranger rather than a Mi 4 spiritual successor, but the Mi 4c is what we call a flagship in disguise and a true successor of the Mi 4. Xiaomi is supposed to announce the anticipated Mi 5 in just few weeks, but yet it surprised its loyal fans with a device so good that it's almost impossible to resist. The Xiaomi Mi 4c looks absolutely the same as the Mi 4i. And this is where the ordinary talk ends. The new Mi 4c is widely advertised because of the Fast Charging-enabled USB Type-C port. In fact, Xiaomi thought this was a major enough upgrade to add the letter 'c' in the name. But there is more about the Mi 4c than that. Take the powerful Snapdragon 808 chip for example. It's the one to power the top of the shelf V10, and Xiaomi is shipping this flagship-grade hardware at half the same class phones asking price. The camera got upgraded too - it is now capable of higher resolution panoramic images and higher resolution slow-mo videos. And there is the refreshed and stylish MIUI v7 coming right out of the box.

Microsoft Lumia 950

Much has changed in the last few years for Windows Phone. Today, we have Windows 10 Mobile, which is yet another rewrite of Microsoft's mobile ambitions. Market share has also retreated due to the lack of new high-end phones and the widening app-gap problem. Now, Microsoft are getting behind the Lumia 950. The flagship brings a lot to the table regarding raw specs. Sure, it may not look the part with its matte coat and distinctive lack of metal, but underneath the removable battery cover sits a powerful mobile device by any standards. First up is the Qualcomm Snapdragon 808 hexacore processor timed at 1.8GHz. This engine results in a large jump in performance from the old quad-core Snapdragon 800 found in the previous model. Next is the ample 5.2-inch 2560 x 1440 OLED ClearBlack display, with Gorilla Glass 3, and an impressive 564 ppi for outstanding color and clarity.

Microsoft Lumia 550

The Lumia 550 brings a lot of nice features that were previously found in only higher-end phones to the budget arena. Between the HD display, decent rear camera, 2MP front-facing camera, and Glance screen, the Lumia 550 is a solid phone. Some have been dismissive of the budget focused device, but there are some considerations to keep in mind. For one, the phone ships with build 10586.0, but it had an update for 10586.29 ready to install. That update along with the 34 or so app updates seemed to have improved the user experience. Throw on the even newer Insider build of 10586.36 and we are sure things will get even better.

Microsoft Lumia 640

The Lumia 640 is a mid-range, affordable Windows Phone announced by Microsoft on March 2, 2015 at Mobile World Congress. The Lumia 640 was co-announced by Microsoft with the Lumia 640 XL, a similar device with a larger display and beefier cameras. The Lumia 640 significantly improves upon hardware specifications that were highly criticized in the previous version. The Lumia 640 features a 5-inch 1280 x 720 (HD) display, up from the 4.5-inch 854 x 480 one of the previous model. The Lumia 640 brings back the Glance Screen, which was omitted from the previous models. Perhaps the biggest improvements around found in the front-facing camera (it now has one at 1MP), an 8 MP rear camera (up from 5 MP) and ambient light and proximity sensors.

Apple iPhone 6S

The iPhone 6S has the same dual-core A9 processor and 2GB of RAM as the 6S Plus and performs similarly. It’s as snappy as an Apple smartphone can currently be, limited by the fixed duration of iOS 9’s animations, all of which are as smooth as they were on the previous model. It’s not nearly as snappy as the competitors` models, which are not held back by the same animation speed limit. A couple of larger apps and heavier processes, such as video or photo editing, are slightly faster to load and get work done than last year’s iPhone. Switching between apps is also slightly faster and the Siri suggest screen on the left-most homescreen within iOS 9 also loads faster on the iPhone 6S compared to the previous model.

Apple iPhone 6

With a 4.7in display, new design, improved specs and new features, the iPhone 6 is bigger and better than ever before. We've now been using the iPhone 6 for four momths, so we bring you our updated iPhone 6 review. See also: iPhone buying advice When it launched in Septemner 2014, the iPhone 6 was joined by a bigger sibling, the iPhone 6 Plus, which has a 5.5in screen and a few additional specs to the smaller iPhone. iPhone 6 spots the same curvaceous design as the iPhone 6 Plus, all-be-it slightly smaller dimensions. It measures 138.1mm tall by 67.0mm wide, just 6.9mm thick, and weighs just 129 grams (it's one of the lightest smartphones out there). It is available in silver, gold or space grey.

Apple iPhone 5

There's a very simple way to describe the Apple iPhone 5: thinner, lighter and a bit taller than the iPhone 4S it replaced. While that gets across the general look of the phone, it rather underestimates what's gone into the design to achieve this. One of the biggest reasons for the change in size of the iPhone 5 is because it has a larger 4in screen with a 16:9 aspect ratio, rather than the 3:2 aspect ratio used on the iPhone 4S. What this means in practice is that both screens are the same width, but the iPhone 5's is slightly taller, with a resolution of 1,136x640 (the iPhone 4S had a resolution of 960x640), maintaining the same high 326ppi. That's still a Retina display, which Apple defines as a screen where you can't see the individual pixels.

Samsung Galaxy S6
Dimensions:	143.4 x 70.5 x 6.8 mm
Display:	5.1 inches, 1440 x 2560 pixels
OS:	Android OS, v5.0.2 (Lollipop)
CPU	Quad-core 1.5 GHz Cortex-A53
Memory:	32/64/128 GB, 3 GB RAM
Camera:	16 MP, LED flash
Battery:	Li-Ion 2550 mAh

Huawei Nexus 6P
Dimensions:	159.3 x 77.8 x 7.3 mm
Display:	5.7 inches, 1440 x 2560 pixels
OS:	Android OS, v6.0 (Marshmallow)
CPU	Quad-core 1.55 GHz Cortex-A53
Memory:	32/64/128 GB, 3 GB RAM
Camera:	12.3 MP, dual-LED flash
Battery:	Li-Po 3450 mAh

LG G4
Dimensions:	148.9 x 76.1 x 6.3 - 9.8 mm
Display:	5.5 inches, 1440 x 2560 pixels
OS:	Android OS, v5.1 (Lollipop)
CPU	Quad-core 1.44 GHz Cortex-A53
Memory:	32 GB, 3 GB RAM
Camera:	16 MP, LED flash
Battery:	Li-Ion 3000 mAh

Sony Xperia Z5
Dimensions:	146 x 72 x 7.3 mm
Display:	5.2 inches, 1080 x 1920 pixels
OS:	Android OS, v5.1 (Lollipop)
CPU	Quad-core 1.5 GHz Cortex-A53
Memory:	32 GB, 3 GB RAM
Camera:	23 MP, LED flash
Battery:	Li-Ion 2900 mAh

Xiaomi Mi 4C
Dimensions:	138.1 x 69.6 x 7.8 mm
Display:	5.0 inches, 1080 x 1920 pixels
OS:	Android OS, v5.1 (Lollipop)
CPU	Quad-core 1.44 GHz Cortex-A53
Memory:	32 GB, 3 GB RAM
Camera:	13 MP, LED flash
Battery:	Li-Ion 3080 mAh

Lumia 950

iPhone 6S

Galaxy S6

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Welcome to the world of smartphones

Smartphone OS Market Share, 2015

About Us

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Samsung Galaxy S6

Huawei Nexus 6P

LG G4

Sony Xperia Z5

Xiaomi Mi 4c

Microsoft Lumia 950

Microsoft Lumia 550

Microsoft Lumia 640

Apple iPhone 6S

Apple iPhone 6

Apple iPhone 5

Samsung Galaxy S6

Huawei Nexus 6P

LG G4

Sony Xperia Z5

Xiaomi Mi 4c

Microsoft Lumia 950

Microsoft Lumia 550

Microsoft Lumia 640

Apple iPhone 6S

Apple iPhone 6

Apple iPhone 5

Microsoft Lumia 950
Dimensions:	145 x 73.2 x 8.2 mm
Display:	5.2 inches, 1440 x 2560 pixels
OS:	Microsoft Windows 10
CPU	Quad-core 1.44 GHz Cortex-A53
Memory:	32 GB, 3 GB RAM
Camera:	20 MP, LED flash
Battery:	Li-Ion 3080 mAh

Microsoft Lumia 550
Dimensions:	136.1 x 67.8 x 9.9 mm
Display:	4.7 inches, 720 x 1280 pixels
OS:	Microsoft Windows 10
CPU	Quad-core 1.1 GHz Cortex-A7
Memory:	8 GB, 1 GB RAM
Camera:	5 MP, LED flash
Battery:	Li-Ion 2100 mAh

Microsoft Lumia 640
Dimensions:	141.3 x 72.2 x 8.8 mm
Display:	5.0 inches, 720 x 1280 pixels
OS:	Microsoft Windows Phone 8.1
CPU	Quad-core 1.2 GHz Cortex-A7
Memory:	8 GB, 1 GB RAM
Camera:	8 MP, LED flash
Battery:	Li-Ion 2500 mAh

Apple iPhone 6S
Dimensions:	138.3 x 67.1 x 7.1 mm
Display:	4.7 inches, 750 x 1334 pixels
OS:	iOS 9
CPU	Dual-core 1.84 GHz Twister
Memory:	16/64/128 GB, 2 GB RAM
Camera:	12 MP, LED flash
Battery:	Li-Po 1715 mAh

Apple iPhone 6
Dimensions:	138.1 x 67 x 6.9 mm
Display:	4.7 inches, 750 x 1334 pixels
OS:	iOS 8
CPU	Dual-core 1.4 GHz Typhoon
Memory:	16/64/128 GB, 1 GB RAM
Camera:	8 MP, LED flash
Battery:	Li-Po 1810 mAh

Apple iPhone 5
Dimensions:	123.8 x 58.6 x 7.6 mm
Display:	4.0 inches, 640 x 1136 pixels
OS:	iOS 6
CPU	Dual-core 1.3 GHz Swift
Memory:	16/32/64 GB, 1 GB RAM
Camera:	8 MP, LED flash
Battery:	Li-Po 1440 mAh