The best iPhone may be the one you already own. There is generally no need to buy a fresh phone just because new models have been released, as hardware updates are broadly iterative, adding small bits to an already accomplished package. But if you do want a replacement handset, whether new or refurbished, here are the best devices of the current crop of Apple smartphones.
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Many other smartphones are available besides the iPhone, but if you’re an Apple user and don’t fancy switching to Android, you still have a few choices. Whether your priority is the longest battery life, the best camera, the biggest screen or simply the optimal balance of features and price, there’s more to choose from in the Apple ecosystem than you may expect, especially after the release of the iPhone 16e.
Apple announced four new iPhones, featuring refreshed designs, chips and greatly improved selfie cameras, including an entirely new iPhone Air model that is the thinnest Apple phone to date, on 9 September 2025. The Air has a 6.5in screen and a titanium frame and a single camera on the back (plus the selfie camera), but only supports eSims.
The new iPhone 17 is an update to the standard iPhone, adding a slightly larger and brighter 6.3in screen. This comes with a faster ProMotion refresh rate for smoother scrolling, a feature that has until now been restricted to the Pro models.
The iPhone 17 Pro and Pro Max have a new back design with a camera lump that stretches the full width of the device and features three 48MP cameras. They have larger batteries, are made of aluminium instead of the titanium of their predecessors, and are available in a standout new orange colour.
The new models go on sale on 19 September and are already available for preorder. This guide will be updated once all four models are thoroughly tested and ranked.
At a glance
From £698 at John Lewis£899 at Argos£1,099 at ArgosFrom £599 at Apple
The best iPhones you can buy in 2025
The Apple iPhone 16 Plus with the iPhone 16. Photograph: Samuel Gibbs/The Guardian
Best iPhone for most people:
iPhone 16
The iPhone 16 includes some of the first Apple Intelligence AI features, such as writing, proofing and summarising tools. Photograph: Samuel Gibbs/The Guardian
The base model iPhone 16 has almost all the features that make Apple’s latest smartphones great, but it’s significantly cheaper than the 16 Pro models.
It has Apple’s modern yet familiar aluminium and glass iPhone design and Face ID but has a rearranged camera cluster on the back. It sticks with the same 6.1in OLED screen as its predecessors, which looks good but lacks an always-on mode. It’s also still stuck at a relatively slow 60Hz refresh rate, which can make scrolling and motion more jarring than on models with faster screens.
The latest A18 chip is rapid and enables Apple’s Intelligence features (AI tools). The battery lasts about two days of general use, or at least a day of heavy use, and the phone charges with USB-C. It also supports MagSafe and Qi/Qi2 wireless charging and accessories. It starts with a decent 128GB of storage, although larger models are available if you don’t want to store your photos and videos in the cloud.
The iPhone 16 is light and fairly compact for a modern smartphone, and its IP68 rating means it’s water-resistant to depths of six metres for up to 30 minutes – more than safe enough for any accidental dunks. It gains the useful Action button from 2023’s iPhone 15 Pro, which replaces the mute switch and can be used to mute the phone or for various other functions, such as turning on the torch or launching apps. The new Camera Control button is great for quickly opening the camera, even if zooming, changing settings and shooting photos with the button is fiddly in the camera app.
The dual camera on the back is good, comprising a main 48MP camera and an improved 12MP ultrawide camera, which now has a macro photography mode for fun closeup shots. It also has Apple’s photographic styles features for those who want to customise how the camera captures photos (rich contrast, vibrant, warm) and get creative with tone and colour palette. The main camera can do a 2x in-sensor zoom, which works well in bright light, but the lack of a real telephoto camera holds the 16 back. The 12MP selfie camera is the same as other iPhones.
The iPhone runs the recently released iOS 18.3, which includes support for RCS messaging with Android and adds more of Apple’s new AI features. They include a selection of AI writing tools that are built into the keyboard, which allow you to proof, rewrite and summarise text, create tables and lists, transcribe audio from calls and recordings, among other small features.
An AI object remover in photos can help improve your shots, while the Image Playground tool can generate images for you from descriptions or photos, including cartoon versions of real people. The Genmoji tool in the keyboard can create custom emoji stickers too.
Siri has a new design and can now pass queries to ChatGPT for more advanced answers. Apple’s notification summary tool has been tweaked too: it now summarises stacks of notifications with stylised italics and has paused summarising news and media notifications after a backlash.
Apple’s visual intelligence feature allows users to point their camera at an object, text or information, such as URLs, calendar entries or phone numbers, to use them or find out more about them, including sending images to ChatGPT or Google for information.
From £698 at John LewisFrom £699 at Apple
Why should you buy it?
The iPhone 16 provides the standard iPhone experience at a cheaper price and in the most pocketable size, offering good battery life and access to new and future AI features.
Buy if: you want the default, good iPhone experience today
Don’t buy if: you want optical zoom on your camera
Read our full iPhone 16 review: more buttons and speed for Apple’s standard phone
Screen: 6.1in Super Retina XDR (OLED)
Processor: Apple A18
Storage: 128, 256 or 512GB
Camera: 48MP main + 12MP UW; 12MP front-facing
Dimensions: 147.6 x 71.6 x 7.8mm (HWD)
Weight: 170g
Battery and size upgrade:
iPhone 16 Plus
Though somewhat bulky to fit in a pocket, the iPhone 16 Plus has great battery life and a 6.7in screen. Photograph: Samuel Gibbs/The Observer
For an extra £100, the iPhone 16 Plus matches the specs, camera and features of the base model but adds a bigger 6.7in screen and long battery life, which can last up to three days of general use. It still has the same pitfalls as the vanilla iPhone 16, such as a 60Hz display and no optical zoom camera, while its size makes it more difficult to use one-handed and somewhat bulky in a pocket.
From £798 at John LewisFrom £799 at Apple
Read our full iPhone 16 Plus review: Apple’s battery beast
Screen: 6.7in Super Retina XDR (OLED)
Processor: Apple A18
Storage: 128, 256 or 512GB
Camera: 48MP main + 12MP UW; 12MP front-facing
Dimensions: 160.9 x 77.8 x 7.8mm (HWD)
Weight: 199g
Best iPhone for camera:
iPhone 16 Pro
The iPhone 16 Pro has a ‘crisp, bright and slick’ display. Photograph: Samuel Gibbs/The Guardian
The iPhone 16 Pro is Apple’s best phone. It’s the step-up option to the basic iPhone 16: the same good bits, but a slightly larger (6.3in) screen, despite being squeezed into a similarly sized titanium and glass body. The display is crisp, bright and slick, with a faster 120Hz refresh rate to keep scrolling and animations smooth. The screen also supports the handy always-on feature, showing the time and notifications when not in use.
The 16 Pro also has a slightly more powerful A18 Pro chip and starts with 128GB of storage, with greater space available – up to 1TB – for those who need it. The battery lasts a good 40 hours of general use, meaning it will go through the heaviest of days, and most will need to charge it only every other day.
It has the same two extra Action and Camera Control buttons as the regular model, but the camera on the back is better. The 48MP main camera and 48MP ultrawide camera are great and the extra 12MP 5x telephoto camera meaningfully closes the distances to objects. Combined, they shoot great photos across various lighting conditions and scenarios.
£899 at Argos£899 at Currys
Why should you buy it?
This is Apple’s best phone, with its most powerful camera, top performance and a high-quality big-enough screen in a device that’s still easy to fit in a pocket.
Buy if: you want the Pro screen, titanium body and best camera without a massive display
Don’t buy if: you want the longest battery life or biggest display on an iPhone
Read our full iPhone 16 Pro review: Apple levels up its smaller ‘pro’ phone
Screen: 6.3in Super Retina XDR (120Hz OLED)
Processor: Apple A18 Pro
Storage: 128, 256, 512GB or 1TB
Camera: 48MP main + 48MP UW + 12MP 5x; 12MP front-facing
Dimensions: 149.6 x 71.5 x 8.25mm (HWD)
Weight: 199g
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Best iPhone for screen:
iPhone 16 Pro Max
The iPhone 16 Pro Max, left, has a big battery and a big screen, which often makes it feel like a small tablet rather than a phone. Photograph: Samuel Gibbs/The Guardian
The biggest, most expensive iPhone in Apple’s 16 series lineup is the iPhone 16 Pro Max. It takes everything great from the smaller iPhone 16 Pro and adds a bright, crisp and smooth 6.9in display. Watching movies on it feels more like using a small tablet than a phone.
The 16 Pro Max also has a big battery, lasting about 55 hours of general use between charges, so it needs charging every third day. That means it will manage even the heaviest all-day use, and is ideal if you want to game for hours.
However, Apple’s superphone is so big that it is hard to handle, needing two hands to wield. It’s also quite heavy and bulky, making it a bit of a lump to carry in a pocket or small bag.
£1,099 at Argos£1,099 at Currys
Why should you buy it?
The 16 Pro Max is Apple’s superphone with a massive, beautiful screen and excellent battery life, as well as everything good about its smaller 16 Pro sibling.
Buy if: you want a huge, high-quality display and a long-lasting battery
Don’t buy if: you want a smaller, more pocketable device
Read our full iPhone 16 Pro Max review: totally maxed out
Screen: 6.9in Super Retina XDR (120Hz OLED)
Processor: Apple A18 Pro
Storage: 256, 512GB or 1TB
Camera: 48MP main + 48MP UW + 12MP 5x; 12MP front-facing
Dimensions: 163 x 77.6 x 8.25mm (HWD)
Weight: 227g
Cheapest new iPhone:
iPhone 16e
The iPhone 16e fits Apple’s latest chips into the body of an iPhone 14 to make it the cheapest new model. Photograph: Samuel Gibbs/The Guardian
The cheapest entry in the iPhone 16 line is the iPhone 16e, the spiritual successor to the iPhone SE but with a modern design and chips.
It has an aluminium body, glass front and back, and a good 6.1in OLED screen with the older-style notch from 2022’s iPhone 14. It is thin, light and pretty compact for a modern phone, and it’s water-resistant like the rest of Apple’s iPhones.
Inside is the latest A18 chip with at least 128GB of storage. That enables the same Apple Intelligence features as the rest of the iPhone 16 line, which will not run on the iPhone 15 and older models, though none of them are killer features as yet.
It had a solid battery life of up to two days in my tests, which is slightly longer than the regular iPhone 16, and USB-C charging. But the 16e misses out on a few things including the new Camera Control button, MagSafe on the back for accessories, the new fasterwifi 7 standard and a handful of other specs that are common on the regular iPhone 16 models. A bigger deal-breaker might be the single camera on the back, which is good but lacks any ultrawide or telephoto options.
Despite costing about 25% less than the regular iPhone 16, it’s not that cheap, so better options can be found refurbished for similar or less money.
From £599 at Apple£544 at John Lewis
Why should you buy it?
The 16e offers the modern iPhone experience with the latest chips and AI but with a few things missing to hit a lower price, such as a dual camera and MagSafe.
Buy if: you want the cheapest new iPhone from Apple with the latest AI features
Don’t buy if: you are at all into photography or have MagSafe accessories
Read our full iPhone 16e review: Apple’s cheapest new phone
Screen: 6.1in Super Retina XDR (OLED)
Processor: Apple A18
Storage: 128, 256 or 512GB
Camera: 48MP rear; 12MP front-facing
Dimensions: 146.7 x 71.5 x 7.8mm (HWD)
Weight: 167g
Other iPhones still on sale at Apple
The iPhone 15 will have software support for about five to six years. Photograph: Samuel Gibbs/The Guardian
The iPhone 15, released in 2023, has the same screen and aluminium body as the current iPhone 16 but lacks the action and camera control buttons. It was great on release and will receive about five to six years of software support. However, it lacks Apple Intelligence support and is fairly expensive at an RRP of £699, so look for refurbished models or deals.
Replace or spruce up?
Replacing your iPhone’s battery can be quick and breathe new life into it. Photograph: Apple
If your iPhone is running slow or the battery doesn’t last as long as it used to, there may be something you can do. Check your battery health in settings. If it’s past its best, a replacement costs £65 to £109 from Apple, or cheaper through third parties, and will give your iPhone a new lease of life. To speed things up, check you have enough free storage and clear out any unused apps or content, off-loading photos and videos to the cloud and deleting music. Aim for at least 2GB of free space.
If your phone is worn out, broken beyond repair or no longer receives crucial security updates, it’s time to upgrade. The latest software, version iOS 18, supports devices back to 2018’s iPhone XS/XR, so anything older should be replaced soon – though some older models may still receive occasional security updates from Apple.
What to look out for in a refurb
Buying refurbished phones is better for the planet and your wallet. The iPhone makes for an excellent refurbished phone, typically staying responsive for years and being supported with software updates for about seven years from release, or longer in some circumstances. That means you can use an older model for several years before it will need replacing.
There are broadly two types of refurbished iPhone available: those refurbished and sold directly by Apple that come, essentially, as new, and those refurbished by third parties that come in various grades or condition – but cost less.
Quick Guide
A buyer’s guide to refurbished phones
Show
Several third-party retailers offer refurbished phones, including the UK high street chains CeX and Game and online stores such as musicMagpie and Envirofone. Marketplaces like Amazon and eBay and refurb specialist Back Market also have a wide range. And some phone operators, including O2, giffgaff, EE and Vodafone, sell refurbished iPhones.
The condition of the phone is among the most important things to consider before parting with any cash. This is graded as follows:
Grade A – virtually identical to a new phone on the outside, usually with the original box and accessories. These are often customer returns rather than trade-ins and are the most expensive.
Grade B – in full working order but typically with light scratches, dents or nicks, and may come with original accessories.
Grade C – in full working order but visibly worn and typically sold without original accessories.
Grade D – also known as “for spares and repairs” or similar. These are broken devices sold for people to fix or gut for parts.
Once you’re satisfied with the condition of the phone, be sure to also size up the device’s:
Battery health – batteries wear out, typically only maintaining up to 80% of their original capacity after 500 full-charge cycles (about two to three years of nightly charging). Has it been replaced?
Charging port – check for signs of damage, as these are among the first parts to break.
Buttons – do they all work without pressing too hard? Broken buttons make phones difficult to use and can be expensive to fix.
Fingerprint scanner – is the fingerprint reader functioning as it should? Scratches or repairs can cause them to be faulty.
Network locks – check the phone works with the provider of your choice, as some are originally sold locked to certain networks and must be unlocked before being used on another.
Unauthorised parts – not all repairs are done by the manufacturer or using certified parts, which can affect performance.
Check it isn’t stolen – check the phone’s 15-digit IMEI (International Mobile Equipment Identity) number against a database of stolen devices through a service such as CheckMEND or similar.
Warranty – what kind of warranty does the retailer offer on its refurbished phones?
Thank you for your feedback.
Do not buy
-
Any model older than an iPhone 13, because you won’t get many years of software support before you’ll have to replace it.
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An iPhone 13 mini unless it has a new battery. It had a relatively short battery life to start with and needed more frequent charging than larger iPhones, so its battery wears out faster.
How I tested
Quick Guide
How I tested
Show
We combine real-world testing with various tools, such as benchmarking systems that perform standardised tasks. These help us evaluate a phone, measure its performance, confirm that it works as expected and compare it with its competition and predecessors.
We use the phones at different times and in various environments, from firing off emails on packed commuter trains to weekends spent shooting photos in national parks, and everything in between. We do everything a typical smartphone user would, such as messaging, browsing, using apps, listening to music, watching videos, playing games and navigating the real world. That gives us a good impression of how a smartphone handles the rigours of day-to-day life – plus, it shows us how long the battery lasts and the strength of its wireless performance.
The findings from our general use of the phones are combined with the results from specific tests for things such as the camera zoom, video playback and charging, to inform the reviews and help us rank the devices.
Thank you for your feedback.
Why should you trust me?
I have been reviewing consumer electronics for 17 years, with more than a decade spent as the Guardian’s gadget expert. In that time I’ve seen all manner of tech fads come and go, smartphone giants rise and fall, the cutting edge morph into the mainstream, and have poked, prodded and evaluated more than 1,000 devices – sometimes to destruction.
Samuel Gibbs is the Guardian’s consumer technology editor
This article was originally published on 4 October 2024. Reviews published in the Filter may be periodically updated to reflect new products and at the editor’s discretion. The date of an article’s most recent update can be found in the timestamp at the top of the page. This piece was updated on 11 September 2025; information about the recently revealed 2025 iPhones was added.