TierMarks

Best Phones of 2013

Ranked by our critic's grades, best first.

  1. iPhone 5s2013The first 64-bit phone and the first fingerprint reader that worked; the industry spent two years catching up to a 4-inch handset.Read the review
  2. HTC One M72013The aluminium unibody and front stereo speakers every Android flagship copied, wrapped around a 4 megapixel camera it never lived down.
  3. Motorola Moto X (2013)Motorola Moto X (2013)2013The phone that listened for its own name and let you pick its colours, then charged flagship money for a mid-range camera.
  4. Motorola Moto G (2013)Motorola Moto G (2013)2013The phone that proved a 179 dollar Android did not have to be junk, and made every cheap phone after it better.
  5. Samsung Galaxy S42013Samsung's best selling phone and its most bloated: a superb screen and a fast chip wrapped in gimmicks nobody used twice.
  6. Nokia Lumia 10202013The best stills camera ever bolted to a phone, in 2013 or for years after, attached to a platform that was already dying.
  7. Google Nexus 52013A $349 Snapdragon 800 flagship whose battery and camera reminded you every day where the savings had come from.