Best phone 2021: the top smartphones to buy right now

How we test smartphones. In order for a smartphone to make our best phone list, it needs to excel on several tests that we run on every handset.

1. Apple iPhone 13 Pro Max

This is the highest variant of the iPhone 13 series, of course the iPhone 13 Pro Max already has everything. He pocketed the performance of the Apple A15 Bionic chipset which carries 16-inch neural engine technology for maximum performance. The screen also carries the Super Retina XDR Display panel with the largest size in the iPhone 13 series.

It also offers an Ultra Wideband sensor which makes it able to track the whereabouts of objects through accessories accurately and precisely. The presence of UWB also makes this phone capable of being used as a car key or door lock.

One of its most innovative features is located on the rear camera, where it packs a LiDAR Scanner sensor that can enhance AR (Augmented Reality) application capabilities. Coming with MagSafe, this phone also supports faster wireless charging, and supports a solid accessories ecosystem.

iPhone 13 Pro Max also packs camera features that make users feel like professional filmmakers, namely by using Cinematic Mode. In short, this feature will detect the subject’s face and lock focus automatically and will adjust the bokeh effect dynamically.

2. Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra

There is nothing ‘mitigated’ from the Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G as a top caste phone in the Galaxy S21 Series family. 

The chipset it uses is indeed the same as the other two Galaxy S21 Series phones, namely the Exynos 2100. However, the Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G is equipped with reliable features that its two brothers don’t have.

The first and most obvious is the configuration of the four rear cameras. The main lens which has an aperture of f/1.8 is powered by a 1/1.33-inch Samsung ISOCELL HM3 sensor. 

With 9-in-1 pixel binning technology, this sensor is able to make a photo with a maximum resolution of 108 MP. The shots are also very good, no matter day or night.

As for the rear camera, there are two telephoto lenses that can zoom optically 13 times in total. Other than the impressive camera of the Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G is the support for Ultra Wide Band technology, a sharp and power-efficient 2K 120Hz adaptive screen, and of course the stylus pen (S Pen).

3. Google Pixel 6 Pro 

Are you looking forward to tasting Android 12? Why not just use the Google Pixel 6 Pro? Indeed, this phone is one of the first to bring Android 12 in the world. A thing that is obvious for the phone made by Google. Android 12 has a better navigation and customization system than ever.

Even when you select a wallpaper, the system will detect a dominant color and adjust the colors so that application icons matched with the wallpaper. Google Pixel 6 Pro also offers a more integrated speech recognition feature, a tighter security system, and much more.

The advantage of this flagship phone also lies in its body design which is so fresh, presenting a blade that extends from side to side as a rear camera module. Of course it’s different from the boba camera module that the iPhone 13 series has or the camera bump in the corner like most other cellphones.

The kitchen is also now using a chipset made by Google itself, namely Google Tensor. Its performance is indeed not as good as the iPhone 13 series, but you can say it is almost on par with Snapdragon 888. 

Anyway, don’t worry, Google Pixel 6 Pro still offers maximum game performance. Interested?

4. Xiaomi Mix 4 

The Xiaomi Mix series always presents unique innovations, not least the Xiaomi Mix 4 which does not present bangs or punch holes as its front camera. 

So, can users still take selfies? Certainly can. The front lens of this phone is embedded in the screen through the CUP (Camera Under Panel) mechanism.

The camera is completely hidden, and no matter how hard you try to find it, the lens will still be hard to see. This hidden camera concept is more solid than the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold3 which has a similar technology where the front camera can still be seen in the form of a kind of shadow.

With the absence of the front lens, the screen is ideal for multimedia activities. Thanks to the presence of Dolby Vision technology, movies or series will be more “live” and provide more immersion.

Phone is running out of battery? With 120W fast charging, the Xiaomi Mix 4 will be fully charged very quickly. Left to the toilet for a while to take a shower, back and forth the battery was full again.

In short, this is a phone that is suitable for those of you who not only want to have the best specs, but also be one of the first to taste the latest innovations.

5. OPPO Find X3 Pro

The latest flagship from OPPO, OPPO Find X3 Pro was finally born into the world in March 2021. Seeing its appearance, people can immediately be amazed by the beauty of the successor design of the OPPO Find X2 Pro. 

The front is a thin-framed 2K LTPO AMOLED display that can spit out 1 billion colors.

Meanwhile, on the back, there is an elegant cover made of a glossy sheet of glass. There are no cuts on the camera module like other phones. However, OPPO designers chose to bend the glass symmetrically so that it can house the four rear cameras along with the flash.

Because it only uses a sheet of glass on the back, the dimensions of this phone have become relatively thin (8.3 mm). Another part that steals the attention is the camera, there are two 50 MP lenses powered by the Sony IMX 766 sensor. Namely the main lens and the ultrawide lens which is claimed to be able to produce images with a color depth of 10 bits.

There is also a 3 MP lens that is claimed to be a microscope because it can do 60 times magnification. Beyond that, the specifications that this phone brings are still not frivolous. The Snapdragon 888 chipset , UFS 3.1 storage , bluetooth aptX HD, dual antenna NFC, and 65W charging technology are proof of that.

6. Asus ROG Phone 5s Pro

Talking about the most sophisticated cellphones, of course our minds will not be separated from the gaming phone series made by ASUS. The generation present in 2021 is the ASUS ROG Phone 5 series with Ultimate as the highest variant. But on top of Ultimate, now ASUS has also released the ROG Phone 5s Pro which is trying out a more modern chipset.

Rely on Snapdragon 888 Plus, this phone is more capable of delivering superior performance when playing games than the regular Snapdragon 888. 

Not only superior raw performance, its features are also really supportive for games. For example, there are two USB Type-C ports to free users to play while charging.

In addition, the presence of shoulder buttons and connector pins for accessories makes it easier for users to control the game, while adding an external cooling system to avoid throttling issues. This is a gaming cellphone for those of you who are not only satisfied with mediocre specs, but also want to taste the world’s greatest performance.