Best big phones in May 2025

The best big phones are normally the top models available from any manufacturer. With extra space for battery capacity, more cameras and other features, bigger is usually better. And if you're reading this guide, chances are that you agree.

As it stands right now, the best big phone is the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra, which uses its size to offer four rear cameras, a beautiful display and a great blend of performance and battery life. We also like the iPhone 16 Pro Max if you want a similar feature set in an iPhone format, the OnePlus 13, Google Pixel 9 Pro XL and iPhone 16 Plus for high-quality options for different budgets, and the OnePlus Open, our current pick of the foldable phones.

But things are never settled in the smartphone world for long. With Samsung's Galaxy Z Fold 7 foldable likely to appear in the next few months, and large handsets from upstart brands launching regularly, we may soon see new phones in our top ranks. But scroll on to see our best big phones that you can buy right now.

Richard Priday

I'm a little sad to have seen the small phone basically go extinct over the six years of my phone-reviewing career. But as a big phone fan and fan of big phones, I'm one of the people the industry is trying to cater to by making their phones larger! Having a big, but still pocketable, smartphone gives me lots of screen space to enjoy video or games on, and a large battery to keep enjoying them on while I'm out away from a charger. And if you're reading this guide, you likely feel that way too.

The quick list

Best big phone overall

Samsung seems to have been paying close attention to its rivals, as it upgraded the Galaxy S25 Ultra's display size to make sure it's still the largest you can get today (excluding foldable phones). But that's only the start of the upgrades that have kept Samsung at the top of this guide.

In my day-to-day use, it's been clear how much better the battery life has become, despite the cell size not increasing from the previous year. I love the flexibility offered by the new 50MP ultrawide camera too, which adds even more detail to close-ups and macro images, plus Samsung's usual top-notch performance thanks to a custom version of the Snapdragon 8 Elite chipset.

It's a pity that in return for those upgrades, Samsung took away the Bluetooth gestures from the included S Pen stylus, although the core functions remain intact. It's also weird to see Samsung offer 25W wireless Qi2 charging but without the integrated magnets used to align the charger. You can get this built into a case instead, but that's more money and an extra step.

Even with these odd little changes, the Galaxy S25 Ultra is still bigger and badder than its rivals. The only real obstacle is its price, but it's worth it if you have the cash to spend.

Read our full Galaxy S25 Ultra review.

Best big iPhone

Now measuring 6.9 inches, the iPhone 16 Pro Max is not just the largest iPhone we’ve ever seen, but also the biggest non-foldable on this list. And we were very happy to discover during testing that Apple’s put this extra-large canvas to good use.

The increased size has allowed Apple to up the iPhone 16 Pro Max’s battery capacity, meaning the largest iPhone ever is also the longest-lasting iPhone ever. The new Camera Control makes taking impromptu photos or adjusting your settings last-minute easier too, helped by the new 48MP ultrawide camera sensor. And while it isn’t present at launch, we have high hopes for the potential of Apple Intelligence to help users out across all their apps and tasks.

We’re less happy to see that Apple’s still not changed the charging speed of the iPhone 16 series, meaning the Pro Max takes an extra-long time to fill up its battery. Plus anyone buying the phone early’s could be disappointed with the drip-feeding of Apple Intelligence features. Still, there’s no better iPhone if you want the most features in the largest package.

Read our full iPhone 16 Pro Max review.

Best big phone value

You will find it hard to get better features on a big phone for less than you do with the OnePlus 13. Its 6.82-inch display is on par with the best in the business, and its 6,000 mAh battery has resulted in one of the best battery life test results we've ever measured. And while I'd be happy recommending the phone on that alone, there's more to discover.

OnePlus has improved the cameras of the 13 once again, making this a phone I'd happily keep in my pocket while out on a photo-taking trip in place of Samsung or Google's latest. The Snapdragon 8 Elite and OxygenOS 15 give the OnePlus 13 the performance and features it needs to compete with this year's top phones, while a $900 start price means you're saving a lot of money compared to rivals that cost well over a grand.

It would be nice if OnePlus had extended the software support period of the 13 to more than the four years it currently offers, and if the price had stayed at $800 like last year's OnePlus 12, then this would be a no-brain recommendation. But the value and the quality of this phone remains despite of this, and I'd certainly buy this phone with my own money if I was shopping for a new handset of my own.

Read our full OnePlus 13 review.

Best big phone for cameras

At 6.8 inches, the Pixel 9 Pro XL remains about the same size as the Pixel 8 Pro before it, but with a new subtitle and redesigned flat sides, it wears its big phone status much more openly. I still find it comfortable enough to handle though, and it's still a reasonable weight too.

More importantly though, the Pixel 9 Pro XL is a fantastic phone for photos. Even if the cameras haven't changed all that much from last year, Google's well-balanced color science, and high resolution sensors still produce great images. And if you don't like them, you can easily edit them to tidy up parts you don't like, or add whole new elements with generative AI tools. While I've tried Samsung's equivalents of these features and appreciated them, the Pixel 9 Pro XL's are on another level.

Praise also has to be given to Google for improving the Pixel 9 Pro XL's battery life significantly, after years of lagging behind the competition. Big phones should last you a full day of constant use, and the Pixel can now claim that too. If only it offered a higher basic storage capacity, it would earn a higher spot on this list through its sheer value.

Read our full Pixel 9 Pro XL review.

Best big foldable phone

The first-ever OnePlus foldable is an amazing first attempt, so if you need the biggest-possible screen in your pocket, we recommend the OnePlus Open.

It's the most expensive phone on this list, but it is at least cheaper than an equivalent foldable from a brand like Samsung. It's also got a surprisingly long battery life for its size, and speedy 67W charging. And on the software front, the Open Canvas system lets you open multiple windows more flexibly to suit whatever tasks you need to do at the same time.

Our main complaints are that the night mode photos are lagging behind the quality of the Open's other shots. Plus OnePlus has once again forgotten to offer wireless charging. Thought you'll probably forget all about that once you open up the 7.8-inch main display and start enjoying your apps, photos and videos in all that space.

Read our full OnePlus Open review.

Best big iPhone value

Sporting a new look and some notable upgrades over its predecessors, the iPhone 16 Plus is the best of Apple’s new-generation Plus phones so far. And for the money, we can’t recommend a better big iPhone.

It doesn’t have some premium features like a 120Hz display or a telephoto camera, but it’s still got a 6.7-inch OLED display backed up by a sizeable battery. The new Camera Control is joined by the Action button for greater control over your photos, apps and other functions, plus with its new A18 chipset, the iPhone 16 Plus can run your apps and games at top speed.

Without all its Apple Intelligence features at launch, and with the same old charging speeds as generations of iPhones prior, Apple’s shown it is in no hurry top address these long-standing complaints. That shouldn’t be enough to put people off of the iPhone 16 Plus though. It’s a great option we’d happily recommend to any user who isn’t fussed by the Pro features, or doesn’t like their price.

Read our full iPhone 16 Plus review.

How to choose the best big phone for you

• Android or iPhone? Android phones give you more choice in terms of price, size and innovative designs — many of them happen to be larger, too. However, iPhones offer speedier software updates, better games and apps and better security and privacy. See our iPhone vs Android face-off.
• Unlocked or carrier? Most shoppers in the U.S. buy new phones through their wireless carrier. But an unlocked phone gives you the freedom to buy the device without any sort of contract and then bring it to the provider you want to use.
• Screen size: For fans of big phones, 6 inches and up is a good place to start. The biggest phones are 6.5 to just under 7 inches. If you want something you can easily use with one hand, go with one of the best small phones with a screen under 6 inches.
• Cameras: Don't pay attention to the megapixel count. Instead, look at camera face-offs between phones to see the photo quality and look for special features like Night Mode to get better quality in low light. Also see our best camera phone roundup.
• Battery life: Generally, phones with larger batteries (measured in mAh) offer the longest battery life, but that's not always the case. That's why we run our own custom battery tests, where phones repeatedly load webpages over a T-Mobile data connection while set to 150 nits of display brightness until they run out of juice.

How we test smartphones

In order for a smartphone to make our best phone list, it needs to excel on several tests that we run on every handset. We perform some of these tests in our labs and some in the real world.

When it comes to performance, we rely on such synthetic benchmarks as Geekbench 5 and 3DMark to measure graphics performance. These tests allow us to compare performance across iPhones and Android devices. We also run a real-world video transcoding test on each phone using the Adobe Premiere Rush app and time the result. (We unfortunately have to skip this test on some phones due to app compatibility issues, but we attempt this benchmark with each device we get in to review.)

To measure the quality of a phone's display, we perform lab tests to determine the brightness of the panel (in nits), as well as how colorful each screen is (DCI-P3 color gamut). In these cases, higher numbers are better. We also measure color accuracy of each panel with a Delta-E rating, where lower numbers are better and score of 0 is perfect.

One of the most important tests we run is the Tom's Guide battery test. We run a web surfing test over 5G (or 4G if the phone doesn't have 5G support) at 150 nits of screen brightness until the battery gives out. In general, a phone that lasts 10 hours or more is good, and anything above 11 hours makes our list of the best phone battery life.

Last but not least, we take the best phones out in the field to take photos outdoors, indoors and at night in low light to see how they perform versus their closest competitors. We take shots of landscapes, food, portraits and more, and also allow you to be the judge with side-by-side comparisons in our reviews.