The premium smartphone phase, for practically half a decade, has been dominated by Samsung and Apple. Nonetheless, we noticed a small shift a number of years in the past, with Vivo bringing in additional premium merchandise to India, whereas Google’s Pixel collection returned to the nation with its Pixel 7 and Pixel 7 Professional after a three-year hiatus. This 12 months, the premium phase has been choc-a-bloc with smartphone manufacturers, giving customers a wide range of gadgets and kind components to select from. Other than OnePlus and Vivo which have caught with their premium choices we additionally noticed Oppo returning to the premium phase with its Discover X8 and Discover X8 Professional smartphones. Google, too, determined to carry all of its smartphones to India this 12 months, which included its most costly gadget to this point, the Pixel 9 Professional Fold.
Be it book-style foldables, clamshell foldables or common bar-shaped smartphones, there’s sufficient selection within the premium phase in 2024, which features a lengthy listing of all-rounders. However simply because they’re priced larger, it doesn’t imply that we might wholeheartedly advocate all of them. So, here is a brief listing of one of the best smartphones from 2024 (in no specific order) that we might advocate to our readers.
Every cellphone has one thing particular about them that helps them stand out. So, if you’re wanting to herald the brand new 12 months with a brand new smartphone buy, be sure you flick thru this information earlier than you are taking the leap.
| Telephones | Devices 360 score (out of 10) | Value in India (as beneficial) |
|---|---|---|
| Apple iPhone 16 Professional Max | 9 | Rs. 1,44,900 |
| Apple iPhone 16 | 9 | Rs. 79,900 |
| Samsung Galaxy S24 Extremely | 9 | Rs. 1,21,999 |
| Motorola Razr 50 Extremely | 9 | Rs. 79,999 |
| Vivo X Fold Three Professional | 9 | Rs. 1,59,999 |
| Google Pixel 9 Professional XL | 9 | Rs. 1,24,999 |
| Oppo Discover X8 | 8 | Rs. 69,999 |
| Realme GT 7 Professional | 8 | Rs. 59,999 |
| OnePlus 12 | 9 | Rs. 59,999 |
| Vivo X200 Professional | 9 | Rs. 94,999 |
Apple iPhone 16 Professional Max
Claiming to be Apple’s first set of iPhones which have been designed from the bottom up for Apple Intelligence, the Apple iPhone 16 Professional Max comes with attention-grabbing upgrades. Other than being bodily greater than the earlier mannequin, there is a greater show with tremendous skinny bezels, a brand-new devoted Digital camera Management button and improved battery life together with some new digicam and video recording tips as nicely.
We aren’t positive whether or not Apple will make the brand new Digital camera Management button a regular on all of its iPhones going ahead. Nonetheless, we’re fairly positive that Apple is not afraid so as to add extra buttons to its iPhones, offered they create some added performance. In our evaluation, the Apple iPhone 16 Professional Max left us impressed with its uncooked efficiency, top-notch show, imaging prowess and battery life, regardless that it nonetheless appears to be like and feels very very like final 12 months’s mannequin. Charging remains to be comparatively sluggish, and Apple Intelligence stays a promise that may hopefully sustain with Google’s AI developments when it is lastly out there to everybody within the coming 12 months.
Apple iPhone 16
Regardless of having some {hardware} shortcomings like sluggish charging and a regular 60Hz show, Apple’s iPhone 16 is a superb selection for these trying to improve from an older non-Professional iPhone mannequin. Its show and software program aren’t going to really feel any smoother when in comparison with your iPhone 15, however Apple has taken greater strides by including a brand new processor (Apple A18 as an alternative of its top-end A18 Professional), which lets it ship efficiency that may really feel nearly as good as the brand new Professional fashions.
For the previous few years, Apple has chosen a processor from the earlier 12 months’s Professional mannequin for its new non-Professional iPhones. And because it didn’t maintain again with its chipset this 12 months, it additionally will get the brand new Digital camera Management button, together with varied Apple Intelligence and photograph modifying options (a few of which ought to arrive within the coming 12 months). We obtained the iPhone 16 Plus mannequin for evaluation and had been left impressed by its uncooked efficiency, digicam efficiency and battery life. Digital camera efficiency can be noticeably higher in comparison with the earlier mannequin.
Samsung Galaxy S24 Extremely
Samsung’s Galaxy S24 Extremely might not look too totally different from final 12 months’s mannequin, but it surely does have a number of qualitative developments underneath the hood. Its brighter show exhibits fewer reflections, which is nice when viewing content material outside. The cameras have improved, however we aren’t large followers of the shift from a 10X telephoto digicam (on the Galaxy S23 Extremely) to a 5X digicam.
Like with another Galaxy gadgets, this one, too, is loaded to the brim with loads of AI-enabled options that come underneath Samsung’s Galaxy AI branding. Powering that have is the Qualcomm Snapdragon Eight Gen Three SoC, which, other than Samsung’s optimisations, is a more sensible choice over the Exynos chips the model makes use of in its [Galaxy S24] and [Galaxy S24+] fashions. Our evaluation discovered its charging velocity comparatively sluggish, however you get 7 years of software program and safety updates. It is a large cellphone total, but it surely’s choc-a-block with options and delivers good battery life.
Motorola Razr 50 Extremely
Motorola’s Razr 50 Extremely simply possesses one of the best clamshell foldable design to this point. It takes design to the very extremes whereas providing premium options like an IP score and wi-fi charging.
We’re nonetheless followers of its floating cameras embedded into its massive cowl show that now has skinny borders throughout. The cellphone has additionally misplaced some weight and is slimmer than the earlier mannequin. In our evaluation, we discovered that efficiency was not an issue and the cellphone does handle warmth nicely, save for when recording video.
Its cowl show design and software program stay finest in school. And Motorola’s all added improved cameras (in comparison with the earlier mannequin), quick wired charging and at last, a battery that may final a full day with out issues.
Vivo X Fold Three Professional
The most effective book-style foldable designs now we have seen this 12 months, Vivo’s X Fold Three Professional additionally has essentially the most smart one because it presents a big (and barely taller cowl show), which makes means for a wider fundamental show that’s nice for watching films. Its design can be tremendous slim, and that digicam bump, whereas being thicker than Google’s Pixel 9 Professional Fold and Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold 6‘s digicam modules, makes up for it relating to nonetheless digicam efficiency.
Whereas Vivo FunTouch OS did have some tough edges once we reviewed the cellphone, the newest model with Android 15 squishes most bugs and provides some extra AI options to the combo. When it comes to battery life, Vivo’s foldable nearly appears like an everyday bar-shaped premium flagship because it can’t solely final past a day however may also cost up very quick at 100W, quite a bit larger than all of the gadgets on this phase.
Google Pixel 9 Professional XL
Google has at all times struggled with efficiency with its Pixel Professional smartphone lineup. This 12 months, the Pixel 9 Professional XL additionally got here with a brand new Tensor G4 chipset with incremental updates, but it surely additionally added a vapour chamber cooling system that aimed to deal with all of these heating points that we confronted within the Pixel 7 Professional and even the Eight Professional collection. With this in place, the Pixel 9 Professional XL now runs cooler even when utilizing the digicam, and this lastly makes it straightforward to advocate to anybody who’s in search of a premium smartphone with the cleanest software program expertise and an incredible set of cameras.
In our evaluation, we discovered that the brand new Tensor G4 SoC additionally brings a number of new AI options and makes the present ones quite a bit sooner. Video Enhance characteristic, which debuted with the Pixel Eight Professional, now works quite a bit higher with the Pixel 9 Professional fashions, creating some impressively steady and clear low-light video recordings. However you’ll have to wait till the on-cloud processing is finished, so be ready for that. AI tips apart, Google’s Pixel 9 Professional XL can be one of many
Oppo Discover X8
Oppo’s Discover X8 Professional didn’t make it to this listing, however the smaller Discover X8 positive stands out as a result of it is a compact powerhouse out there at a aggressive worth. There are only a handful of compact premium flagships in India, and Oppo’s Discover X8 stands out as a result of it’s the most feature-packed gadget within the phase.
In our evaluation, we beloved its design, which saved issues easy and chic with its flat show (with skinny borders) and flat sides. There is a succesful processor onboard that may simply deal with every little thing from video games to imaging. Cameras are fairly good for its asking worth, and with options like an IP69 score, 50W wi-fi and 80W wired charging, they need to shortly put it on prime of your listing when looking for a smart compact flagship.
Realme GT 7 Professional
Realme has at all times stood out as a result of the model tends to launch worth for cash merchandise which might be exhausting to beat. Realme’s GT Professional collection returned to the premium phase after an extended break, however similar to the earlier GT Professional mannequin, presents loads of worth for its asking worth.
If efficiency is your factor, then look no additional, because the Realme GT 7 Professional presents Qualcomm’s newest and biggest providing at a low worth. It appears to be like just like the half, in addition to the GT 7 Professional, is a departure from the cheesy designs which have plagued Realme flagships previously. Whereas we reviewed the Chinese language cellphone variant, which has a considerably bigger 6,500mAh battery, Realme claims to supply wonderful battery life and charging speeds from the 5,800mAh unit. Digital camera efficiency can be fairly sorted, which is an effective factor, as previous fashions had been a bit shaky on this space.
OnePlus 12
The OnePlus 12, given its pricing and options, is likely one of the most easy smartphones to advocate within the premium phase. It has sufficient energy and presents well-tuned and optimised software program to make the most of its high-resolution show.
Easy software program expertise apart, the cameras are nice as nicely. It presents quick wired charging and, with the current software program replace, a number of usable AI options. The one catch is that the OnePlus 13 is on its approach to India, so we advocate holding on to this one, because the 13 is turning out to be a worthy alternative.
Vivo X200 Professional
With Oppo launching its Discover X8 Professional, it was a bit shocking to see Vivo launch its X200 Professional flagship in India on the very finish of 2024. The cellphone has a 3nm MediaTek processor that packs sufficient energy for day-to-day duties. It’s up there with the Qualcomm Snapdragon Eight Elite, which is on the market in different high-end flagships.
Vivo’s focus for the X collection has at all times been digicam efficiency, and issues are not any totally different this 12 months. In our evaluation, the cellphone managed photographs which have wonderful color copy that continues to be constant in each and any capturing state of affairs. The star of this present is the 200-megapixel telephoto digicam, which manages wonderful zoom photos nicely past its native 3.9X optical zoom. The Zeiss collaboration goes a step additional this 12 months with the optics specialist becoming a member of palms for a Zeiss-calibrated color show to go along with its Zeiss-branded cameras.
