MKBHD is back with its annual Smartphone Awards, in which it chooses the best smartphones in different categories. While the iPhone won only one award last year, Apple’s smartphone this year won in two different categories – including best camera in a smartphone. Read on as we detail Marques Brownlee’s choices.
MKBHD Smartphone Awards 2023
This year’s categories are very similar to last year’s, with just a few differences. There’s now a category for foldable phones and another for the best-improved phone. These are the categories for the MKBHD Smartphone Awards 2023:
- Best Big Phone
- Best Small Phone
- Best Camera
- Best Value
- Best Battery
- Best Design
- Best Foldable
- Best Improved
- Bust of the Year
- Best of the Year
Best Camera and Best Battery: The ones the iPhone won
As mentioned earlier, the iPhone won in two categories at this year’s MKBHD awards: Best Camera and Best Battery in a smartphone. When it comes to the camera, MKBHD has chosen the iPhone 15 Pro as the leader in this category.
According to the YouTuber, there are smartphones that capture better photos than the iPhone, especially with zoom, but the iPhone is still the best for video capture. He praises the consistency of the cameras and the new video capabilities of the iPhone 15 Pro, such as recording in ProRes Log and storing everything directly on an external SSD.
For the Best Battery category, the choice was not the iPhone 15 Pro or 15 Pro Max, but the iPhone 15 Plus. Because it has a 60Hz display that consumes less power, it performs better than the Pro models in this aspect. MKBHD says that the iPhone 15 Plus is ideal for people who want a “risk-free no-brainer” phone that stays unplugged all day.
Best Big Phone
Samsung’s Galaxy S23 Ultra was chosen Best Large Phone by MKBHD, which comes as no surprise since the S22 Ultra won in the same category last year. The YouTuber highlights the massive 6.8-inch screen, great battery life and one of the most advanced camera systems, as well as the S Pen that comes included with the device.
Best Small Phone
Apple used to win this category a few years ago because of the iPhone mini. But now that the mini is gone, the Asus Zenfone 10 has been chosen as Best Small Phone. Zenfone 10 isn’t exactly super small, but 5.8 inches can be considered small by today’s standards. The more compact form-factor comes combined with reasonable hardware for people looking for smaller phones.
Samsung’s Galaxy Z Flip 5 earned an honorable mention in this category for offering premium hardware in a device that can be folded to become ultra-compact.
Best Value
This time, Samsung’s Galaxy A54 was chosen for the Best Value category of the MKBHD Smartphone Awards 2023. Found for less than $400, this phone is described as a good balance between having essential features and keeping the price low. Google’s Pixel 7A won an honorable mention in this category.
Phone of the Year
The main award, Phone of the Year, went to the Google Pixel 8. Despite costing $100 more than its predecessor, it now has a much better display and many interesting software features. At the same time, Google promises 7 years of software updates for the Google Pixel 8. It’s a “well-rounded package for impact, for price, for stepping it up and being a really good phone.”
You can watch the full video below to see all the winners of the MKBHD Smartphone Awards 2023:
What do you think about the winners of the MKBHD Smartphone Awards 2023? Would you choose different ones? Let us know in the comments section below.
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