Best Samsung phones 2022: the best Samsung smartphones, rated

The best Samsung phones in 2022 come in all sorts of shapes, sizes and prices. Whether you're after a budget smartphone that doesn't cut too many corners, a foldable phablet to work on the go, or an all-singing, all-dancing flagship with trendy features and an even trendier design, Samsung has something for you. 

Samsung's top phones are among the very best phones made by anyone, full stop. They often lead the market in terms of innovation, specs and features. 

The 2022 Samsung Galaxy S22 range is evidence of that – phones packed with cutting edge tech and killer cameras – but you don't need to look at the absolute top of the range to get a great Samsung phone, because there are lots of mid-range models that do great things for a lot less cash. Samsung doesn't just make some of the best high-end phones. It also makes some of the best Android phones at every price point.

In this guide we'll show you Samsung's very best phones and focus on the features that really matter – so whether you're looking for state of the art features or a phone to cover the everyday essentials, you'll find both kinds here. And of course, you'll also find the best deals on Samsung phones too.

Don't just buy on price, though. The best Samsung smartphone is the one that does everything you want it to do not just today, but years to come. It's a good idea to think about what you're likely to want in the future and to choose your Samsung phone accordingly. 

Samsung isn't the only firm making great phones, mind you. That's why we've put together dedicated guides for particular kinds of phones, so for example our best small phones guide is perfect for those with small hands or small bags, and our best gaming phones feature is a great starting point for gamers who need serious horsepower in their hardware.

We've tried and tested every single one of the phones on this list, if you want to find out more then check out our how we test page.

If you want a brief summary of what's below, we think the best Samsung phone for most people is the Samsung Galaxy S22, striking the perfect balance between price and performance. You miss out on some of the more premium features in the more expensive S22 models, but for most people it's a sensible compromise.

Then there's our pick for the best premium Samsung phone, which goes to the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra. Samsung has thrown everything at this particular handset, whether that's the processor running the show or the camera module on the back, and with stylus support it's a worthy successor to the Note series.

If you're after something a little bit different then there's the best foldable Samsung phone, which for us is the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 3. It oozes class and quality, it can hold its own against anything else in terms of power and camera quality... oh and it folds as well.

The best Samsung phones you can buy today in 2022

With both style and substance, the Samsung Galaxy S22 is a people-pleaser. Not only does it look fantastic and feel durable but it also packs in powerful hardware and the latest Android 12 with One UI 4.0 software. 

You can buy it in one of four colours, those being Phantom Black, Phantom White, Pink Gold or Green. All of them look great, and because the phone is made from Armos Aluminium, it should stay looking great over time. 

The 6.1-inch screen is equally as good-looking and premium – as you'd expect from Samsung’s flagship series – and you’ll be able to use it for everything from gaming to photo editing. Speaking of photography, the camera system should do you well too, there are loads of different features to play around with to make your shots look like they were snapped by a pro. 

While it may not be the most impressive Samsung phone, it is without a doubt, the best Samsung phone for most people because the price won’t make your eyes water, and it’s small enough to slip into your pocket which many phones aren’t.  Take a look at the Samsung Galaxy S22 review (early verdict) to find out more about it. 

The star of Samsung’s show is the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra. It won’t be for everyone because it’s very expensive but if you’re willing to splash out then you will not regret it. 

A fresh sophisticated design sets it apart from the other phones in the S22 series, and there are new elegant colourways to match. Unlike its predecessor, it comes with the S Pen hidden in the body of the phone which is endlessly useful. 

If you’re a smartphone enthusiast, a creative or a professional, this handset looks set to be one of the best you can buy in 2022. You can use it for work, play or life admin - and the huge 5,000mAh battery means you won’t need to worry about running out of juice. 

Under the hood, the latest 4nm processor is paired with up to 12GB of RAM and up to 1TB of storage so it should cope with just about any task you could throw at it. And as you’d expect, the camera system is stellar with loads of cool features to try out. Want to know more? Here’s the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra review. 

If you want the very best in cutting edge smartphone technology, then you want a phone that folds, and that's exactly what you get with the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 3, which is a proud member of T3's best foldable phones buying guide.

With this third handset in the series, Samsung has managed to finally show that foldable phones are really a thing that genuinely work, with this handset successfully combining a phone and tablet experience into one device. You get flagship-grade internal hardware, too, and the battery life and operating system software are top notch. The camera system isn't the best on the market but is very feature packed and comes with strong core lenses.

A long with that screen, though, it is the Fold 3's support for Samsung's S Pen Digital Stylus that has got a lot of people very excited about this phone, as it unlocks next-level creative and productivity functionality. Everything from illustrating to note taking and annotating is now possible.

The Galaxy Z Fold 3 isn't perfect though. Despite a price drop it still costs a lot of money, and there's small details like it not coming with a charger in the box, and it still showing a visible crease down the centre of the screen that take some of the gloss off the package. However, if you want a folding phone then the Z Fold 3 is the best on the market.

Not everyone is willing to spend an eye-watering amount of money on their next phone. If that sounds like you, the Samsung Galaxy S21 FE could be the best choice. FE stands for Fan Edition - it takes all the best parts of the S21 and packs them into a more affordable device. You won't be missing out on much because there are really only a few areas where they've cut back to keep the cost low. 

You still get a dazzling display with FHD+ resolution and a 120Hz refresh rate. Adding to that, the performance is delivered by a top-tier CPU and you get strong battery life even if it does take a bit of time to charge.

Granted, the rear camera system has been simplified, so you won't get quite the same level of detail as you do from the phones above. But in saying that it still manages to produce impressive point-and-shoot photography, especially when the lighting is good. 

Big into selfies? The selfie snapper has actually been boosted to a whopping 32MP here so you're guaranteed flattering shots of yourself and your friends. It's a decent all-round package that doesn't make too many compromises.

Read our review of the Samsung Galaxy A53 5G and you'll see that it's one of the best Samsung phones around in terms of value for money. It costs much less than the Samsung flagships, and yet it doesn't make too many trade-offs in terms of the specs or the capabilities of the device.

For example, you get really good battery life (up to two days if you're careful), but you miss out on wireless charging – that's a compromise that a lot of people are going to be willing to make if it means they have to spend less to get the device.

The 6.5-inch, 1080 x 2400 pixel Super AMOLED screen is something of a stunner, with a 120Hz refresh rate that ensures everything looks super-smooth while scrolling, whether that's game or social media feeds. We were also impressed with the handset's point-and-shoot photography skills, and there's a quad-lens rear camera on the back.

Obviously there are going to be some differences with the phones that cost twice as much, and the performance isn't as top-end as it is on a flagship. If you can live with that, we think you'll be very happy with the Samsung Galaxy A53 5G.

The Galaxy Z Flip 3 is going to really appeal to some people, and really put other people off – it all depends what you think of that clamshell fold and form factor. Here at T3 we really dig its compact (when folded) sizing, which is very bag and pocket friendly.

Samsung hasn't skimped too much on specs here either – the Galaxy Z Flip comes with the Snapdragon 888 chipset, 128GB/512GB of storage space and 8GB of RAM on board, which while falling short of the spec on the Fold 3, is still flagship level. It also has a few software tricks up its sleeve, with the ability to split the screen in half, top to bottom, if needed.

Where the phone falls short of flagship, and indeed where it falls short in terms of the money needed to ring it up, is in the camera department. You very much get a mid-tier camera system, which while perfectly good for shooting photos and videos, cannot match up to rival flagship phones with one screen that cost under half the Flip 3's price. If that is a trade-off you're willing to take only you can decide.

Apart from that, though, this is a fantastic, compact folding phone from Samsung.

There's an argument to be made that the Samsung Galaxy S22 Plus is the best of the three S22 handsets, and there's certainly not much in it. We've put the Plus model a little lower in our standings here but it's still a fantastic phone, and absolutely one of the best you can buy from Samsung right now.

Its screen size is right in between the Galaxy S22 and the Galaxy S22 Ultra, but a lot of the other specs are similar to the standard S22 model – except for the battery, which is larger. It's really the S22 Ultra that's a long way ahead of the other two in terms of rear camera spec and RAM and storage options.

If you want something a little bit bigger and longer lasting (in terms of battery life) than the plain S22 then this is worth a look, though obviously you have to pay that little bit extra too.

The internal processors on all the S22 phones are the same, so you're not really gaining or losing anything in terms of performance (aside for those RAM and storage upgrade options we mentioned on the Ultra). For a lot of people, the S22 Plus will hit the sweet spot.

The Samsung Galaxy S21 may be over a year old now, but that means that you can get it at a very reasonable price – and it still has more than enough power to cope with everything that you need a modern-day smartphone to do.

As well as powerful CPU and graphics performance here, you've got superb battery life too, and the 120Hz display on the Galaxy S21 will guarantee super-smooth motion in video, games and apps. Samsung has always excelled with its phone screens and this particular handset is no different.

The S21 is a stylish phone with serious horsepower inside, and while the cameras are largely unchanged from the S20 series that came before it, the camera software does deliver some clever new features including better low-light photography.

Of course this is no longer the most powerful Samsung smartphone – you'll need to look elsewhere in our list for that – but it is still a very capable device. We think that for a good chunk of people out there, it's still going to appeal.

Like the Samsung Galaxy S21, the Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra is on the way out now and so can be had for cheaper. You still get a lot for your money though: fast performance, a large 6.8-inch screen delivering 1440 x 3200 pixels at refresh rates from a battery-saving 10Hz to a silky smooth 120Hz, a large 5,000mAh battery and support for Samsung’s much-loved S Pen (which is available separately).

But the real draw here is the camera assembly, which has four cameras compared to the three in the rest of the S21 range. And what an assembly it is: there’s a 108MP wide camera, a 21MP ultra wide camera, two 10MP telephoto cameras with 3x and 10x optical zoom, and a maximum zoom of 100x. The front camera is 40MP.

There's no doubt that when it was first released the Galaxy S21 Ultra was the best smartphone that Samsung had ever put out – and even with the subsequent arrival of the Galaxy S22 series, it's still a fantastic phone.

The question of whether or not you go for this or something in the Galaxy S22 range largely comes down to your budget. The new phones have faster processors and better cameras, but the year-on-year jump isn't a particularly huge one. It might be that you find that the Galaxy S21 Ultra does everything you need and then some.

The Samsung A90 5G is the cheapest way to get 5G connectivity on a Samsung phone, and one of the cheapest ways to get 5G connectivity full stop... sure, it makes some compromises to get to a lower price point (no waterproofing, no wireless charging), but you might well consider the trade-offs to be worth it.

It's not exactly a budget phone either, but you do get that 5G and a top-of-the-range Snapdragon 855 processor here for your money. The 6.7-inch screen looks the part too, and the triple-lens camera on the back is not to be sneezed at either. This is clearly one of the best mid-range Samsung phones.

Mid-rangers can do everything that flagships do – they just do them a bit more slowly, and they may need upgrading earlier. It's all about what you want to prioritise and how much you want to spend, and from any angle you look at it, the Galaxy A90 5G is very appealing for the price.

With 5G now appearing in more parts of the country, it might be wise to make your next smartphone purchase one that's futureproofed – the coverage is only going to get better over time, and those download and upload speeds really have to be seen to be believed.

How to choose the best Samsung phone for you

When it comes to smartphones, everyone's needs are different of course – some people want the best Samsung phone camera (something Samsung excels at, by the way) whereas some people want the best Samsung phone on a budget, and so on. We've tried to cater for all those different needs in our guide.

Samsung's One UI layer that it puts on top of Android continues to go from strength to strength as well. The bloat has been trimmed down, the interface is now much more intuitive, and it even has a few features that Google would do well to copy for its own Pixel phones.

Almost 1 in 5 phones sold worldwide is a Samsung one (opens in new tab) – that's almost as good as Apple's figures and way ahead of anyone else in the market besides the big two. And considering Samsung's phones are well built, powerful and stylish, it's no surprise either.

Decide what's most important to you ahead of time, whether it's the screen, the performance, the quality of the photos you can get with the camera, or the overall price you're going to be paying. You can then make a more informed decision when it comes to picking the best Samsung phone for you.

• You can opt to go Apple instead with our list of the best iPhones