My top 5 phones of 2025 - Ivan

Unveiling the Best Smartphones of 2025: An Editor's Top Picks

As another year draws to a close, it's time for us to reflect on the most outstanding devices that have graced our pockets and photographic endeavors. We are incredibly fortunate to experience the pinnacle of smartphone technology, and this privileged position is never taken for granted. To all our readers and viewers, thank you; your support fuels everything we do here.

I'm Ivan, a dedicated editor and the primary photographer for many of the stunning phone shots you see on GSMArena. Looking back at my previous annual selections, a significant shift is evident. Notably, a Samsung phone is absent from my top choices this year. For me, superior camera performance is paramount when choosing a daily driver, and frankly, Samsung's mobile photography hasn't consistently met my competitive standards recently.

My fascination with foldable phones has steadily grown over the past few years, starting with the innovative Galaxy Z Fold4. This desire has only intensified, pushing me towards a foldable form factor that also delivers exceptional cameras. By the end of 2025, I believe foldable camera systems have finally matured to a point where they align with my high expectations. With that in mind, here are my definitive top 5 phones of 2025.

Oppo Find N5: A Flagship Foldable's Strong Return

The year 2025 marked a significant turning point for book-style foldables, with several manufacturers achieving remarkable strides. While devices like Samsung's Galaxy Z Fold7 and Honor's Magic V5 impressed, it was the Oppo Find N5, launched in February, that truly set the benchmark.

After a year-long hiatus from the foldable market, Oppo's comeback with the Find N5 was nothing short of spectacular. Succeeding the much-loved Find N3, the Find N5 delivers substantial upgrades across the board. Its enhanced design features a larger, more functional 6.5-inch cover screen, yet it retains a sleek, lightweight profile that feels incredibly natural when folded. Furthermore, the Find N5 boasts a robust battery, offering impressive endurance and rapid charging capabilities.

Crucially, as a worthy successor to the Find N3, the Find N5's cameras are truly top-tier. Both the main and telephoto lenses excel, capturing sharp, dynamic photos in diverse lighting conditions. For a moment, it nearly swayed me away from my existing vivo X200 Ultra. However, Oppo's commitment to true-to-life color reproduction ultimately led me to stay with vivo, as I personally favor a more punchy and vivid image aesthetic from my smartphone camera.

Honor Magic V5: A Close Contender with Vibrant Cameras

The Honor Magic V5 stands as a formidable rival to the Oppo Find N5. Much like its Oppo counterpart, it features an exquisite design, characterized by a slender build and a comfortable, natural feel when closed. It also integrates a capacious battery, capable of powering through an entire day, though its charging speed is marginally slower.

Its camera system is undeniably among the finest found on a folding phone, easily meeting the expectations of most users (though perhaps not quite matching the exacting standards of an "Ultra" owner like myself). Honestly, there's very little to fault with the Honor Magic V5; it's a truly versatile and accomplished device. I place the Magic V5 slightly above the Find N5 primarily for its perceptibly livelier camera output, which aligns more with my photographic preferences.

Oppo Find X9 Pro: Impressive Design Meets Immense Battery Life

I genuinely didn't anticipate being as captivated by the Oppo Find X9 Pro as I was. From the moment I first held it, I became an instant admirer. There's an undeniable special quality to its aesthetics, tactile feel, and superior construction.

This Oppo flagship boasts outstanding specifications and, crucially, offers global availability – a compelling advantage over my China-only vivo X200 Ultra daily driver. The Oppo Find X9 Pro's substantial 7,500mAh battery also delivers immense battery life, a significant bonus for my usage patterns.

Without a doubt, it ranks among the top 5 cameraphones of 2025. I spent approximately a week testing the Find X9 Pro and thoroughly appreciated every aspect. Yet, after a direct side-by-side comparison with the vivo X200 Ultra, I ultimately chose to stick with the vivo. Its photos consistently offer greater punch and contrast. In my view, vivo has truly perfected the balance in its image processing.

Huawei Mate X7: A Premium Foldable with Promising Imaging

The Huawei Mate X7 represents the latest foldable challenger vying for a spot in my pocket, potentially displacing my beloved vivo. It's still too early to definitively declare if the Mate X7 possesses the best camera on a foldable yet, but its specifications certainly paint a promising picture. Our comprehensive review is still underway, but early samples from the device in Dubai strongly suggest its impressive capabilities.

The premium 16/512GB variant features a superior 1/1.28-inch 50MP main camera (the 12/256GB model offers a 1/1.56-inch 50MP sensor), and its 81mm f/2.2 zoom lens sounds particularly appealing. Beyond the specs, there's a tactile quality you won't always read about online: the Huawei Mate X7 feels exceptionally refined in hand. It's masterfully crafted and, to my eye, possesses the most sophisticated aesthetic among its book-style foldable peers.

Being a Huawei device, it comes with certain limitations. The Mate X7 relies on Huawei's custom silicon, the Kirin 9030 Pro. While performance and fluidity feel perfectly adequate, I anticipate its battery life might fall short compared to foldables equipped with the latest Qualcomm and MediaTek chipsets.

Nonetheless, I eagerly await our full review and the opportunity to put the Huawei Mate X7 through its paces with my own rigorous testing.

Missing in Action: OnePlus and Xiaomi's Flagship Camera Phones

By now, my favorite phone of the year is quite clear, but before diving deeper into the vivo X200 Ultra, I must voice some disappointment regarding other manufacturers. I was once a significant OnePlus fan, especially when they began prioritizing camera development with devices like the OnePlus 9 Pro and its impressive 1/1.43-inch main sensor. The OnePlus 13 maintained this momentum in 2024, but the OnePlus 15 in 2025 regrettably took a step backward with its camera system, reverting to a smaller 1/1.56-inch main sensor and a less capable zoom lens.

Then there was the OnePlus Open, hailed as the first truly great foldable for photographers. It had immense potential, yet OnePlus inexplicably ceased production of foldables thereafter. This decision has diminished OnePlus's standing as a serious flagship contender in my eyes. I can only speculate on the reasoning behind their camera backtracking, perhaps a pursuit of an overly slim profile, a compromise I personally don't favor.

And then there's Xiaomi. Renowned for the Xiaomi Ultra series, often an automatic choice for the best cameraphone of any given year, and the Mix Fold – which, on paper, boasted the most comprehensive camera system for a foldable. Despite this, Xiaomi did not release a new book-style foldable in 2025, leaving us with the Mix Fold 4 from 2024. Even a year later, the Mix Fold 4 remains competitive with its dual zoom cameras – a 47mm f/2.0 and a 115mm f/2.9. This absence merely intensifies my curiosity about what a Xiaomi Mix Fold 5 could have achieved this year.

The Ultimate Cameraphone: Why the vivo X200 Ultra Tops the List

My admiration for vivo's (and Zeiss') color science, contrast, and overall image processing on the X200 Ultra is profound. There's an unparalleled depth and emotional quality to its photographs that I haven't found replicated anywhere else on the market. Images captured with this phone truly sing, consistently eliciting impressed comments from friends and family comparing them to their own photos.

The vivo X200 Ultra is exclusively a China-only phone, yet I willingly navigate its limitations because the cameras are simply that exceptional. The user experience is further enhanced by OriginOS, which is refreshingly clean and intuitive. I previously found Funtouch rather unappealing, so I'm delighted that global vivo devices have transitioned to Origin. Nonetheless, I eagerly anticipate a global vivo X300 Ultra in 2026!

vivo X200 Ultra Camera Samples:

More vivo X200 Ultra Assortment:

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