Buyer’s guide to the Top 10 smartphones of 2021.

2021 is com­ing to an end, and all the top man­u­fac­tur­ers have already unveiled their new mod­els that will define the smart­phone mar­ket next year. We summed up our own results of the year and col­lect­ed the most inter­est­ing mod­els in our selec­tion.

The year 2021 is com­ing to an end, and all the top man­u­fac­tur­ers have already pre­sent­ed their new mod­els that will define the smart­phone mar­ket next year. We sum­ma­rized the results of the year, select­ed the most inter­est­ing mod­els and col­lect­ed them in our selec­tion.

Xiaomi Redmi 10

We start our top with the best bud­get smart­phone. Xiao­mi Red­mi 10 is not the cheap­est mod­el in the hotline.ua cat­a­log, but it is the most afford­able of those we rec­om­mend.

This phone 10 has a large dis­play, a large bat­tery, a good cam­era and NFC.

It even has what used to be only flag­ships and rarely seen in mid-range smart­phones – fast charg­ing, a USB Type‑C port and a dis­play with a 90Hz refresh rate.

Although the mod­el has a rel­a­tive­ly fast proces­sor and is not bad, accord­ing to the promis­es of the brand, the cam­era, Red­mi 10 is not suit­able for fans of games and pho­tog­ra­phers. But the smart­phone will cope per­fect­ly with dai­ly tasks.

Xiao­mi Red­mi 10 is the best solu­tion for those look­ing for a qual­i­ty mod­el at an afford­able price.

Plus­es: a unique ratio of price and func­tion­al­i­ty.

Cons: Con­sid­er­ing the price, this smart­phone is hard to crit­i­cize.

The Xiao­mi Red­mi 10 smart­phone has a large dis­play, a large bat­tery, a good cam­era, and NFC

Apple iPhone 13 mini

The pre­vi­ous com­pact mod­el iPhone 12 mini was like a pen fail­ure. So Apple tried to under­stand the demand for small smart­phones in today’s world, when 6–6.3 inch­es is already a small dis­play.

Demand turned out to be less than Apple had expect­ed, and there were even rumors that the 12 mini might not get a sequel.

For­tu­nate­ly, this turned out not to be the case, and we still have hope that oth­er man­u­fac­tur­ers will join the seg­ment of com­pact smart­phones.

The iPhone 13 mini has kept the dimen­sions of its pre­de­ces­sor, but it has a more pow­er­ful proces­sor and an improved cam­era sys­tem with an inter­est­ing design.

The sta­bi­liza­tion sys­tem has also received an upgrade, which is now the same as in last year’s flag­ship iPhone 12 Pro Max.

The 13 mini is slight­ly thick­er due to the increased bat­tery, but it def­i­nite­ly lasts longer than the 12 mini.

Plus­es: com­pact dimen­sions, cam­era qual­i­ty, good auton­o­my for such dimen­sions.

Cons: cost in Ukraine.

The Apple iPhone 13 mini smart­phone has the most com­pact dimen­sions, a good qual­i­ty cam­era and good auton­o­my for such dimen­sions.

Apple iPhone 13 Pro Max

iPhone 13 Pro Max is the most expen­sive smart­phone in our top, but it has every rea­son for that.

In 2021, the flag­ship of the iPhone line for the first time for Apple received a dis­play with a refresh rate of 120 Hz, as well as an even faster proces­sor and a new cam­era sys­tem.

The top-of-the-line iPhone now takes sharp­er and brighter pho­tos in low light.

The main cam­era was taught macro mode, and video­g­ra­phers received a spe­cial cin­e­mat­ic mode, in which the cam­era can inde­pen­dent­ly change focus from one plan to anoth­er.

Like the iPhone 13 mini, the Pro Max has a larg­er bat­tery than its pre­de­ces­sor and, despite the vora­cious dis­play, it now lasts longer.

You can’t call the smart­phone pop­u­lar because of its price, but it is worth pay­ing atten­tion to every­one who wants to be at the top of tech­nol­o­gy and likes to take pic­tures.

Plus­es: dis­play with a refresh rate of 120 Hz, updat­ed cam­era and video mode, good auton­o­my.

Cons: cost in Ukraine.

The Apple iPhone 13 Pro Max smart­phone has a dis­play with a refresh rate of 120 Hz, an updat­ed cam­era and video mode, good auton­o­my

OnePlus 9

The top mod­el of the pass­ing year from One­Plus will not dis­ap­point those who expect to see max­i­mum func­tion­al­i­ty in a smart­phone for a rel­a­tive min­i­mum of mon­ey.

Equip­ment in One­Plus 9 accord­ing to the last word of tech­nol­o­gy:

• dis­play with a refresh rate of 120 Hz;
• the fastest Snap­drag­on 888 proces­sor;
• var­i­ous mem­o­ry con­fig­u­ra­tions to choose from, includ­ing 8 and 12 GB of RAM;
• light-sen­si­tive Has­sel­blad lens with an aper­ture of f/1.8.

A fea­ture of all One­Plus smart­phones is fast charg­ing, and this mod­el also has it.

The kit also includes a 65W adapter that charges the smart­phone from 1 to 100% in 29 min­utes.

Plus­es: high-qual­i­ty cam­era, gen­er­al lev­el of equip­ment, fast charg­ing.

Cons: only one and it is rel­a­tive — no wire­less charg­ing.

The One­Plus 9 smart­phone has a high-qual­i­ty cam­era, a gen­er­al lev­el of equip­ment and fast charg­ing

Samsung Galaxy S21

In the annu­al top of smart­phones, it is dif­fi­cult not to men­tion the mod­el from Sam­sung.

Galaxy S21 is one of the most com­pact mod­ern flag­ships: the diag­o­nal of its dis­play is 6.2 inch­es, the refresh rate is 120 Hz.

Every­thing else is also on par: top proces­sors from Exynos and Snap­drag­on to choose from, 8 GB of RAM, fast wired and wire­less reversible charg­ing.

With the help of the last func­tion, you can charge oth­er devices that sup­port wire­less charg­ing.

If you are used to the Android oper­at­ing sys­tem and are look­ing for the fastest smart­phone with one of the best cam­eras on the mar­ket in 2021, then the Galaxy S21 is a good choice.

Plus­es: qual­i­ty dis­play.

Cons: offi­cial price in Ukraine.

The Sam­sung Galaxy S21 smart­phone has top proces­sors from Exynos and Snap­drag­on to choose from, 8 GB of RAM, fast wired and wire­less reverse charg­ing

Xiaomi Poco X3 Pro

Above, we already talked about the afford­able and well-equipped Xiao­mi Red­mi 10 smart­phone, but it has com­pro­mis­es in cam­era and per­for­mance.

Poco X3 Pro costs a lit­tle more, but there will be no com­pro­mis­es in per­for­mance, because the smart­phone is equipped with a Qual­comm 800 series proces­sor, and this is the flag­ship line.

The mod­el’s cam­era is also up to par — it’s a 48-megapix­el sen­sor that takes good pho­tos even in the dark.

Xiao­mi Poco X3 Pro can be con­sid­ered a bud­get smart­phone, but even for its mod­est price, the user will get a dis­play with a fre­quen­cy of 120 Hz.

Plus­es: ratio of price and gen­er­al lev­el of equip­ment.

Cons: Con­sid­er­ing the price, it’s hard to com­plain about this smart­phone.

The Xiao­mi Poco X3 Pro smart­phone has a Qual­comm 800 series proces­sor, a 120 Hz dis­play, a cam­era with a 48-megapix­el sen­sor

Google Pixel 5a 5G

The Google Pix­el 5a 5G does not have any spe­cial tech­no­log­i­cal fea­tures, but users liked this mod­el for oth­er rea­sons.

First, this is a rare exam­ple of a rel­a­tive­ly com­pact smart­phone. After all, in the mod­ern world, the com­bi­na­tion of a diag­o­nal of 6.34 inch­es and thin frames is already con­sid­ered a small phone.

Sec­ond­ly, the advan­tage of Pix­el 5a 5G is a pure ver­sion of Android, it will receive all updates of the oper­at­ing sys­tem first.

Tech­ni­cal­ly, this smart­phone def­i­nite­ly can­not be called a flag­ship: it has a fair­ly sim­ple mid-lev­el proces­sor, but quite mod­ern amounts of RAM and non-volatile mem­o­ry.

After all, the mod­el has every­thing you need: NFC, a fin­ger­print scan­ner and even sup­port for the promis­ing 5G stan­dard.

Pix­el 5a is not the case when you buy a smart­phone for its fea­tures.

This is the choice of those who do not want to use third-par­ty shells for Android, but pre­fer the sys­tem exact­ly as the devel­op­ers intend­ed it.

Plus­es: rel­a­tive­ly com­pact dimen­sions.

Cons: ratio of price and indi­ca­tors.

The Google Pix­el 5a 5G smart­phone has NFC, a fin­ger­print scan­ner and 5G sup­port

Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 3 5G

2021 did­n’t make flip phones more pop­u­lar, but Sam­sung con­tin­ues to push the trend. The new Flip 3 can be called a full-fledged smart­phone that jus­ti­fies its price.

Even if you do not take into account the rare form fac­tor for which you can buy this mod­el, its char­ac­ter­is­tics are quite in line with mod­ern flag­ships.

Sam­sung Galaxy Z Flip 3 5G has an inter­nal dis­play with a refresh rate of 120 Hz, a top proces­sor Qual­comm Snap­drag­on 888 and 6 GB of RAM in the basic con­fig­u­ra­tion.

There are no prob­lems with the cam­era either — the mod­el has two 12-megapix­el cam­eras, which are enough for any sit­u­a­tions.

It is impor­tant to under­stand that the Flip3 cam­era is not as cool as the Galaxy S21, because it is more of an image flag­ship, and not a tech­no­log­i­cal top of the line.

Plus­es: design and flag­ship equip­ment.

Cons: the dura­bil­i­ty of the struc­ture is ques­tion­able.

The Sam­sung Galaxy Z Flip 3 5G smart­phone has a dis­play with a refresh rate of 120 Hz, a top Qual­comm Snap­drag­on 888 proces­sor and 6 GB of RAM in the basic con­fig­u­ra­tion

Samsung Galaxy Z Fold3 5G

If the pre­vi­ous mod­el is rel­a­tive­ly inex­pen­sive for a smart­phone in this form fac­tor, the Sam­sung Z Fold3 is a device for those who do not accept com­pro­mis­es and sav­ings, but want to be at the cut­ting edge of tech­nol­o­gy here and now.

The smart­phone has two full-fledged dis­plays: one of them is the same as in the Galaxy S21, and the inter­nal fold­ing one has been increased to 7.6 inch­es.

Advanced stuff­ing – Snap­drag­on 888, 12 GB of RAM, 256 or 512 GB of mem­o­ry to choose from.

Sam­sung did not skimp on the cam­era and installed the same one as in the flag­ship Galaxy S21, and even a lit­tle bet­ter. There are three main cam­eras, but two self­ie cam­eras — one each for the front and inter­nal dis­play.

Sam­sung Galaxy Z Fold3 will be appre­ci­at­ed by those who are look­ing for the most unusu­al smart­phone and want max­i­mum fea­tures for max­i­mum mon­ey.

Plus­es: still unusu­al design, qual­i­ty of dis­plays and cam­eras.

Cons: cost and reli­a­bil­i­ty of the design.

The Sam­sung Galaxy Z Fold3 5G smart­phone has two full dis­plays, a Snap­drag­on 888 proces­sor, three main cam­eras, 12 GB of RAM, 256 or 512 GB of mem­o­ry to choose from

Apple iPhone 13

Apple iPhone 13 is sim­ply a beau­ti­ful iPhone. It is him, not Mini or Pro. For all fans of Apple smart­phones, the ver­sion with­out any set-top box­es is the most opti­mal.

With its 6.1″ diag­o­nal, the mod­el will be con­ve­nient for many users.

Although the Apple iPhone 13 lacks sup­port for increased refresh rates, it makes up for the flu­id­i­ty of iOS, com­ple­ment­ed by Apple’s lat­est gen­er­a­tion A15 proces­sor and 4GB of RAM.

The cam­era unit of the smart­phone is the same as in the 13 mini, and inside there is a bat­tery of increased capac­i­ty, thanks to which it lasts a lit­tle longer than the iPhone 12 and 11.

Plus­es: time-test­ed com­fort­able design, one of the best cam­eras this year, auton­o­my.

Cons: the tra­di­tion­al dis­ad­van­tage for Apple is the price.

The Apple iPhone 13 smart­phone has a time-test­ed com­fort­able design, one of the best cam­eras this year and good auton­o­my

We hope that our buy­er’s guide will help you choose a great smart­phone, and we wish you smart pur­chas­es from the Hot­line!

Author: Vitaly Bohdanov