The Google Pixel 7 Pro is Android Authority’s Pick for Best Phone of 2022

Every now and then a year passes in the mobile world where a clear and overarching theme emerges. In 2022, that theme was consolidation. While there have been a handful of exceptions – whether cheeky OEMs or established names trying to stand out from the crowd – most of the industry’s biggest hitters and household names have passed. the last 12 months to repeat previous successes. With the reality of global inflation driving up costs for brands and consumers, it’s not hard to see why many brands have stuck to a tried-and-true formula to try and weather the storm.

The ripple effect was a calendar year of phones that overall looked a lot like the previous year’s crop of contenders. The margins that separate good phones from great ones have become slimmer than ever, but there are some clear highlights to be found in the class of 2022 nonetheless.

But what was the best phone of 2022? You had your say in our Reader’s Choice award, but now is the time to top it off Android AuthorityWinner of the Editor’s Choice for Best Phone of 2022 (along with our top five), chosen by our editorial and review teams.

“Best” is a loaded descriptor. How do you decide what’s “best” in anything, especially when it comes to things as complex as smartphones? After all, these are devices we carry with us for almost every minute of the waking day; we are all sure to have our own prejudices. Phones can also be evaluated in myriad ways – from their raw specs to their perceived value for money, from their objective benchmark numbers to personal preferences for how a particular user interface looks and works.

It’s a dilemma we constantly face as our experts tackle all the biggest releases of consumer technology every year. Register authority in Android Authority is important to us. The hundreds, if not thousands of hours we spend testing and analyzing the increasingly subtle changes between rival phones, or from generation to generation, give us a rigorous expectation base when anointing of a particular device as the absolute best a given year has to offer. And it’s not just about hardware testing either, we’re always sure to consider the more intangible metrics like long-term software support promises and track record, price, and value (two very different things! ), market availability, and more. .

Our Editor’s Choice selection process for Phone of the Year dials it all down to the max. Our shortlist combines the hottest, best-reviewed phones of the year, with due diligence to ensure every major brand is represented across multiple price segments. This includes devices sold only in the United States, as well as globally. From there, our experienced management team and trusted product reviewers each assign votes to their picks for the top five phones, ranking them from fifth to first in a point-based scoring system. The phone with the most points wins.

Now on to the winner (and our runners-up!).

For the second year in a row, a Google Pixel flagship wins our biggest prize – but this time it’s not just a Pixel flagship, it’s the Flagship product of Google. In 2021, we found the delicate balance between specs, overall quality, and affordability of the vanilla Pixel 6 to be an undeniable combo. But in 2022, our hearts – and yours, it turns out! – were with the “Pro” offer of the Big G.

And it’s not hard to see why when you go through all the best things about the Pixel 7 Pro. It all starts with the refined design, which enhances the Pixel 6 series’ immediately iconic camera bar by applying an aluminum casing and sleek cutouts for each shooter. This attention to detail extends to the still excellent camera suite, as Google’s computational photography smarts combine with expanded zoom capabilities, plus new photography tricks like Photo Unblur. The latter is just one of many benefits provided by Google’s second shot at its own custom silicon, the Tensor G2 – a machine learning-focused chipset that eschews CPU and GPU power for power. cerebral, while still managing to impress with its sustained performance capabilities.

In 2022, Google sought to broaden its horizons with an all-new portfolio of devices to tackle Apple’s dominance as the go-to ecosystem. However, to even get the ball rolling, it needed to deliver a high-end phone to bring its ambitions to life. The phone was the Pixel 7 Pro, and what a phone it turned out to be.

The Pixel 7 Pro was the big winner, amassing just over a quarter of the total points in our vote on a shortlist of 20 phones. But that doesn’t mean we’ve forgotten about its smaller, flatter and even more affordable sibling.

Matching its predecessor’s sub-$600 price tag — a feat that still seems too good to be true — makes the Pixel 7 perhaps the easiest phone to recommend of any handset coming out in 2022. It lacks the bells and whistles. Pixel 7 Pro whistles, and the missing telephoto lens, lower resolution, a 90Hz-capped display, and even slower charging (seriously, Google, fix that in 2023), but the Pixel 7 otherwise offers the best of the contemporary Pixel experience, while saving you a hefty $300. You can’t argue with that.

What happens when the world’s most successful smartphone maker combines two of its elite devices into one? It’ll be the Galaxy S22 Ultra – a Galaxy Note/Galaxy S Ultra hybrid that looked and felt immediately familiar, but in the best possible way. If the Galaxy S21 Ultra was a “peak smartphone,” the Galaxy S22 Ultra is the celebratory flag planted atop that peak.

Yet despite reigning as the best camera phone, offering all the extra features of the S Pen and having the best software support outside of Cupertino, the indomitable Galaxy S22 Ultra still fell short of the more reasonably priced alternatives from Google in our vote. However, for those with no limits to their budget, Samsung’s powerhouse is still a clear winner.

The Plus member of every Galaxy S generation faces a tough conundrum: how can it strike the right balance between the Ultra’s over-the-top spec sheet and the entry model’s cheaper price to deliver something of genuine value? ? Too often the answer has been “it doesn’t”, with the Plus variant becoming the clumsy middle child. This year, however, the Galaxy S22 Plus was a true all-rounder that made this balancing act effortless.

It took Oppo another year to crack our top five again after reaching fourth place in 2020, but the Find X5 Pro deserves its place in the upper echelons of 2022’s smartphone hall of fame. exquisite and smooth, super-fast charging (both wired and wireless) and a world-class display, the Find X5 Pro wasn’t the most polished handset of 2022, but it was one of the phones with the most of personality.

Out of an outstanding list of 32 phones, the Pixel 7 Pro emerged victorious. Congratulations to the Mountain View giant who not only wins our Editor’s Choice award, but also your Reader’s Choice award for best phone of 2022.

Check out our Reader’s Choice recap for a look at how the highly contested battle of the Pixel 7 Pro against a certain Samsung phone played out over multiple ballots and over 17,000 responses. It was closer than you think!

While our phone of the year is over, be sure to keep it locked for Android Authority throughout the holiday season, as we’ll have tons of 2022 retrospective content, fun year-end pieces, and even more items to look forward to in 2023 as we take a look at what lies ahead in the world. of technology.

Until then, from our families to yours, have a very happy holiday season!