5 best phones of 2022 – Ivan
2022 is almost over and that means it’s time for us at GSMArena to name our favorite phones of the year. Should you be interested in me? Probably not, but if you insist, keep reading.
In reverse order (my absolute favorite is last)…
ZTE Axon 40 Ultra
The ZTE Axon 40 Ultra is a perfectly sized flagship. It’s neither big nor small, but it has a large 6.8-inch screen, a 5000mAh battery, a great design reminiscent of the beloved Galaxy S21 Ultra, and a unique camera setup.
The focal lengths of the main camera and the zoom are what make the Axon 40 Ultra one of my favorite phones this year – 35mm is such a large all-round field of view that it remains large enough to focus more on the subject. suitable for cityscapes and landscapes. The Axon 40 Ultra’s main camera is a true photographic beast thanks to the relatively large sensor behind the glossy lens. At the other end of the zoom range, at 91mm, the 3.5x camera gets you a bit closer than a typical 3x telephoto lens on a Galaxy or iPhone (which are 70mm to 80mm).
Xiaomi 13 Pro
I haven’t seen it in person yet, but I’ve used enough of the latest Xiaomi smartphones to be sure that the Xiaomi 13 Pro will be elegantly designed, fast, and top-of-the-line. But what interests me are the cameras, especially the prime and telephoto (find the diagram here?). The wide-angle camera has a 1-inch type sensor with huge 1.6µm pixels before grouping, which swells to 3.2µm when combined. We saw this viewfinder on the Xiaomi 12S and thought it was great.
The 75mm f/2.0 camera should make for nice zoom and portrait shots. We haven’t found out the size of the sensor behind this camera yet, but I’m optimistic. And I can’t argue with this ceramic-coated Wilderness Green color.
Asus Zenfone 9
Asus is one of the few manufacturers that gets compact phones right! I spent some time with the Asus Zenfone 9 and we reviewed it and it was great. It has great phone performance and even a great phone battery in a very small package.
Asus has gone with a near stock Android UI that is very smooth and simple and should be easy to maintain with quick updates. The new polymer coating on the back panel gives the phone a different feel and it fits comfortably in the hand.
Samsung Galaxy Z Fold4
I bought Samsung Galaxy Z Fold4 almost a couple of times this year. It may have something to do with the fact that it was seen both at the announcement event and in the office during the review, but I love a big Samsung and they don’t look much bigger than this.
What surprised me about the Galaxy Z Fold4 was how much faster it was than the Galaxy S22 Ultra Android 12 at the time. The large size of the internal screen was also a big factor in my desire to own the Fold4.
Samsung has made strides in the versatility of its latest large foldable device. It’s easier than ever to fit multiple apps on the screen and it works seamlessly. The new persistent taskbar is absolutely genius.
The Galaxy Z Fold4 also received a much-needed camera update. I especially like the new 3x zoom camera. But despite all the improvements, the Galaxy Z Fold4 just doesn’t live up to the…
Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra
My phone of the year – Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra. And many others too, judging by the overwhelming numbers on our specs page, which boasts over 9 million visits.
The Galaxy S22 Ultra is a full-powered flagship. No other phone has the combination of display, camera array, battery life and software capabilities. The S Pen is also unique.
There’s hardly anything I can say about the Galaxy S22 Ultra that you don’t already know, so I’ll conclude by saying that I’ve been using it for most of 2022 and loving it. And it keeps getting better. The OneUI 5.0 update fixed the odd performance issue and made the phone smooth as butter.
On the way to 2023!
