Best small phones in 2021

Best small phones in 2021

best small phones
(Image course credit: Tom's Guide)

The best immature phones are progressively more difficult to find, though there are even so some holdouts. Smartphone displays continue to perplex large and bigger, with behemoths similar the Galaxy S21 Ultra, Galaxy Z Fold 3, and the iPhone 13 Pro Max. That's fine for people who like mountainous screens, but there are preciously few options for those who prefer something they can comfortably use one-two-handed.

If you believe good things come through in compact packages, you'd better check extinct Apple's batting order. The iPhone shaper continues to command the securities industry for small phones with a number of in force choices, including both the iPhone 13 mini and iPhone Atomic number 34. Phones from Google death year attempted to restrain the segment sensitive with pocketable, affordable handsets, though the companionship seems to personify moving gone from that with its 2021 Pixels.

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  • iPhone 12 mini vs. iPhone SE: Which small speech sound is best?

A notable vantage to choosing a wee phone is that they typically cost less than Plus-, Goop- or Ultra-sized versions of the same device, so you won't be fined by having to remuneration more for a handset that well fits into your lifestyle.

Small phones are a rarity these years, with your best options limited to Malus pumila's offerings. It's sad to see this product category die dead, but the writing's been on the wall up for a while now.

What are the best small phones?

Small telephone lovers who were also interested in snagging one of the best iPhones didn't have many another reasonable options until recently. Thankfully, you've got two choices, and our pick for forthwith is the iPhone 13 mini, a 5G-equal to phone powered by Orchard apple tree's top processor. The cameras got an kick upstairs and the base storage was bumped to 128GB.

If the iPhone 13 mini's starting $699 price is relieve overmuch, you can ever prefer for the iPhone SE. It repurposes the iPhone 8's 4.7-in design with Apple's A13 Bionic silicon for barely $399.

If you're looking for a small phone that runs Android, you can't do better than the Asus Zenfone 8. It packs upside-tier specs in a little body and it's a great phone. There's also the Google Pixel 4a, which has an OLED screen the same size of it as the one in the interrupted iPhone 11 Pro, for lonesome $349. Of course, you might be intelligent about the new Pixel 5a, but unfortunately, that's a much larger call than the 4a.

You privy also check up on the older Galaxy S10e, which has a likewise-sized panel but benefits from a faster processor, a slightly more premium design than Google's offering and the gain of an ultrawide camera for stunning landscapes. It is, however, acquiring old as ALIR as Android phones a-okay.

Last, Google's 6-edge Pixel 5 packs a display slightly larger than the 5.8-inch Pixel 4 it replaces, but embeds that panel inside a physique with smaller bezels, fashioning it one of the more attractive high-remnant handsets of the year. At $699, IT's quite inexpensive, too, flat if it cuts some corners to hit its low price.

Hither's a closer look at some of the foremost small phones out there right at present, with screens sized at or under 6 inches. For our overall favorite handsets disregardless of size, be sure to take a peek at our list of the best phones available right now.

The best small phones you can buy now

the iphone 13 mini is the best small phone you can buy

(Image credit: Tom's Pathfinder)

1. iPhone 13 mini

The best small phone you bathroom buy

Specifications

Display: 5.4-inch OLED (2340 x 1080)

CPU: A15 Bionic

Aries: 4GB

Storage / Expandable: 128GB, 256GB, 512GB / No

Posterior cameras: 12MP main (f/1.6), 12MP ultrawide (f/2.4)

Front camera: 12MP (f/2.2)

Weight: 4.97 ounces

Reasons to buy

+Capable dual cameras +Comprehensive 5G support +Incredible A15 Bionic power

Reasons to avoid

-Cinematic musical mode capped at 1080p -No courser in the boxwood

Malus pumila continuing the small earphone legacy arranged down by the iPhone 12 mini with the iPhone 13 miniskirt. This little handset is precise all-powerful, thanks to the new A15 Applied science chip shot. On that point's nil it can't care, all while existence easily pocketed or used one-handed. The 5.4-inch OLED display is tranquilize crisp with fantabulous colors and viewing angles.

This year, Apple unbroken the design the same, but improved the battery liveliness — in the Tom's Pass over battery exam, the iPhone 13 mini lasted for more than 1.5 hours longer than its predecessor. The cameras too got an upgrade. Some the 12MP optical lens of import and 12MP ultrawide cameras feature larger sensors directly that let in more light. The ultrawide besides has autofocus now. Only also hot this year are Cinematic Mode and Photographic Styles.

The former lets you record portrait videos with dynamically shifty focus for that aesthetical look. Exact Styles are basically real-time filters that you seat test out while you're aiming the camera, rental you capture photos that mates your personal taste.

The iPhone 13 mini is perfect for people who deprivation a small earphone with powerful hardware and important creative capabilities.

Read our full iPhone 13 miniskirt review .

the iphone se 2020 is the most affordable iphone and also a great small phone

(Image course credit: Tom's Guide)

2. iPhone SE (2020)

Apple's cheapest small phone

Specifications

Reveal: 4.7-inch LCD (1334x750)

CPU: A13 Unreal

Drive: 3GB

Storage/Expandable: 64GB, 128GB, 256GB / No

Hind end tv camera: 12MP wide (ƒ/1.8)

Front camera: 7MP (ƒ/2.2)

Weight: 5.22 ounces

Reasons to buy

+Very affordable +Fast A13 Bionic execution +Fantabulous camera for the price +Supports wireless charging

Reasons to avoid

-Big bezels

They just don't make fast, agio midget phones like the new iPhone SE anymore. This diminutive 4.7-inch handset packs the A13 Bionic processor — still lightning-straightaway even though newer iPhones feature the A14 and A15. And yet, symmetric with all that power, the iPhone SE costs $300 little than our top pick, the iPhone 13 mini.

The iPhone SE also brings more luxuries you rarely imag in small and cheap phones, like wireless charging, IP67 water resistance and a exchange premiu metal-and-glass intention. While virtually flagship earphone makers have shunned developing highschool-end handsets with displays littler than about 5.5 inches, the iPhone SE feels similar a blast from the past in the best right smart possible — a meter when you could buy up a super small phone with big-time functioning.

Information technology power non have the flashiest-looking design or a camera equipped with the Night Fashion stage in pricier iPhones, but the SE handles most everything other flawlessly.

Read our full iPhone Southeastward 2020 review .

the asus zenfone 8 is the best small android phone

(Image credit: Tom's Conduct)

3. Asus Zenfone 8

The best small Android ring

Specifications

Display: 5.9-inch AMOLED (2400x1080)

CPU: Snapdragon 888

RAM: 8GB, 12GB

Storage / Expansive: 128GB, 256GB / No

Posterior cameras: 64MP (f/1.8) important, 12MP (f/2.2) ultrawide

Front camera: 12MP

Weight: 5.96 ounces

Reasons to buy

+Compact and easy to handle +Clean, stripped software +Excellent performance +Good cameras

Reasons to avoid

-No wireless charging

Asus decided not to the use the flipping photographic camera module with the Zenfone 8 (that's a detached twist, the Zenfone 8 Flip), or else opting for a compact device with the best hardware available. Top side every of that off with clean, stock Android and you've got yourself a recipe for a great phone.

In practice, the Zenfone 8 is the best small Android phone you can get, hands-down. While IT posterior't quite keep up with the Picture element 5 in price of the camera, IT runs laps around anything else that isn't an iPhone in this category. That's not to say that IT dismiss't take good pictures, quite the opponent.

Asus knocked it out of the park here and the price is something other awesome about this phone. It's truly a wonderful phone.

Read our full Asus Zenfone 8 review .

the iphone 12 mini is still one of the best small phones around

(Image credit: Tom's Run)

4. iPhone 12 miniskirt

A year old, it's still one of the best fine phones

Specifications

Show: 5.4-inch OLED (2340 x 1080)

Central processing unit: A14 Bionic

Tup: 4GB

Storehouse / Expandable: 64GB, 128GB, 256GB / No

Rear cameras: 12MP wide of the mark (ƒ/1.6), 12MP ultrawide (ƒ/2.4)

Fore camera: 12MP (f/2.2)

Weight: 4.76 ounces

Reasons to buy

+Capable dual cameras +Incredible A14 Bionic baron +Reasonable protrusive toll

Reasons to obviate

-Only 64GB storage to start -Underwhelming battery life

Piece it's been supplanted aside the virgin iPhone 13 mini, 2020's iPhone 12 miniskirt is still a great small call up. From its compact 5.4-inch presentation to its dual camera organisation, the iPhone 13 mini is still the little phone that could. If we had to level any true complaint against it, it'd be that the barrage sprightliness is pretty poor. Oh, and the base storage is just 64GB.

Even so, you get the powerful A14 Bionic chip powering the whole have, making for a handset that can draw laps around the best that Humanoid has to offer. The briny camera lens and secondary ultrawide angle can charter some well-favored photos thanks to Apple's computational photography skills.

Best yet, you force out in all likelihood find the iPhone 12 mini on a cracking sales agreement right now since the iPhone 13 miniskirt is out.

Read our rotund iPhone 12 miniskirt review .

the google pixel 4a is one of the most affordable best small phones

(Image credit: Tom's Channelis)

5. Google Picture element 4a

The top small telephone set at an unbeatable cost

Specifications

Show: 5.81-inch OLED (2340x1080)

CPU: Snapdragon 730G

RAM: 6GB

Storage / Expandable: 128GB / No

Rear camera: 12.2MP (ƒ/1.7)

Foremost camera: 8MP (ƒ/2.0)

Weight: 5.04 ounces

Battery lifespan (Hrs:Mins): 8:55

Reasons to buy

+Best-in-class photographic camera +Bright OLED display +128GB storage +Low-altitude price

Reasons to avoid

-Battery life could be better

With a 5.81-column inch OLED display and very slim bezels, the Google Pixel 4a stands out as same of the Charles Herbert Best teensy phones with a big screen, even with the larger Pixel 5a now available. In point of fact, the OLED instrument panel dominates the Picture element 4a's footprint, thanks to a hole-punch selfie camera design and a very lean earpiece, keeping the mete encircling the screen to its unequivocal token.

At a hairsbreadth over 5 ounces, the Pixel 4a is also exceptionally floodlit, owing to its polycarbonate-but-tone build. IT's pretty bladed overly, despite having a healthy 3,140 mAh battery. Unfortunately, the battery doesn't finally quite as long on a charge arsenic we'd like, but the Pel 4a's opposite benefits — from that pretty screen to its software and update support, impressive camera, solid (if not iPhone-rhythmic) carrying into action and debased damage — complement its exceptional one-handed serviceability well.

The Pixel 5a has landed, simply a small earpiece it is not, with a display greater than 6 inches. So turn to the Pel 4a if summary size is what you value, though the phone is acquiring progressively harder to find.

Read our full Google Pixel 4a review

the google pixel 5 is has one of the better cameras of the best small phones

(Image deferred payment: Tom's Guide)

6. Google Pixel 5

A pocketable, premium Pixel

Specifications

Display: 6-in OLED (2340x1080)

CPU: Snapdragon 765G

RAM: 8GB

Storage / Expandable: 128GB / No

Rear end camera: 12.2MP wide (ƒ/1.7); 16MP ultrawide

Front television camera: 8MP (ƒ/2.0)

Weight: 5.3 ounces

Battery life (Hrs:Mins): 9:29

Reasons to buy out

+Gorgeous compact design +Superior television camera, now with ultrawide lens +Solid barrage lifespan

Reasons to avoid

-Underwhelming operation -Expensive for what it is

Google's Pixel 5 isn't an improvement o'er the Picture element 4 in every respect, which is equiprobable why it's fairly disappointing. The new flagship Pixel's battery life is much better and it supports 5G crossways millimeter-wave and sub-6GHz bands, simply IT's less powerful than the old model, and lacks 3D Face up Unlock and the capability to read Motion Sense air gestures, which were quite unique features.

Just the Pixel 5 still has a dole out going for it. It retains its class-leading camera, now armed with a secondary ultrawide camera sensor; it's cloaked in a identifiable totally-Al project; and naturally, it benefits from Google's latest exclusive Android features, like Hold For Pine Tree State and Call Screen for phone calls.

And it packs totally of this into a supremely pocket-size footprint, making for perhaps the most trimmed-consume tiny phone I've ever seen in terms of screen-to-body ratio. The Pixel 5 isn't perfective tense, and the Pixel 4a 5G can claim a administer of the same features for $200 less, though the 4a 5G is larger and lacks some luxuries, ilk wireless charging.

Of course of study, the Picture element 6 is here with a return to the two simulation sizes. However, the Pixel 6 is not a small speech sound with its 6.4-edge in display. Just it's a serious upgrade over the Pel 5 in every regard except perchance battery lifetime — Google just tush't seem to become battery life right. But if you'ray non set on a small speech sound, the Pixel 6 is worth your fourth dimension.

Read our full Google Picture element 5 review .

the galaxy s10e used to be one of the top best small phones but it's getting old

(Pictur credit: Tom's Guide)

7. Samsung Galaxy S10e

An older cloggy Android flagship

Specifications

Display: 5.8-inch Organic light-emitting diode (2160x1080)

CPU: Snapdragon 855

Tup: 6GB, 8GB

Storage / Expandable: 128GB, 256GB / Yes

Rear camera: 12MP wide (ƒ/1.5, ƒ/2.4); 16MP ultrawide (ƒ/2.2)

Front photographic camera: 10MP wide (ƒ/1.9)

Weight: 5.29 ounces

Barrage life (Hrs:Mins): 9:21

Reasons to buy in

+Incredible display +Delightful, compact design +Phone jack

Reasons to avoid

-Cameras could be better -Battery life is acceptably

The Galax S10e is a different kind of flagship phone from Samsung. Information technology price $749 when it debuted back in 2019, and these years, you tail end find the telephone set for $350 or less. There are a few concessions for that take down price — videlicet a treble rear camera apparatus alternatively of a three-base hit ane, and a slope-adorned fingermark sensing element, not to advert an older Snapdragon 855 chipset.

Yet the S10e is all scra as powerful and fast as more expensive S10 models. The handset's 5.8-inch Dynamic AMOLED panel is quite large, simply because it's wrapped in a torso with extremely slim bezels, the solution is one of the most compact premium phones happening the market now.

Though now old past Humanoid telephone standards, the S10e remains a great small phone. It might've been overshadowed by the Galaxy S20 FE of yesteryear or the brand new Galaxy S21, but both phones are perceptibly larger. They simply Don River't primed in this list.

Scan our complete Samsung Galaxy S10e review .

the galaxy note 10 is the largest best small phone

6.3 inches isn't small, simply because the Note 10 utilizes nearly the totality of its front coat for its display, information technology feels thickset for a phablet. (Image credit: Future)

8. Samsung Galaxy Note 10

The smallest phone with the biggest screen

Specifications

Expose: 6.3-inch AMOLED (2280x1080)

CPU: Snapdragon 855

RAM: 8GB

Storehouse / Expandable: 256GB / No

Rear camera: 12MP wide (ƒ/1.5, ƒ/2.4); 16MP ultrawide (ƒ/2.2); 12MP 2X telephoto (ƒ/2.1)

Front camera: 10MP (ƒ/2.2)

Burthen: 5.9 ounces

Shelling life (Hrs:Mins): 9:25

Reasons to buy up

+Heavyset design with huge display +256GB storage standard +Live Focusing now for video

Reasons to avoid

-No headphone jack operating theatre microSD -Barrage life a bit underwhelming

We know what you're thinking — a 6.3-inch smartphone is not teeny-weeny, and doesn't tied adhere to the criteria of this name! We understand, but take our word for IT: the Galaxy Government note 10 is more compact than you'd ever imagine, and it's each thanks to the phone's minuscule bezels, which deliver an all-screen receive in the truest sense. Addition, the panel Samsung shoehorned into its latest phablet is a beaut — a rich Dynamic AMOLED display with upcurved edges, shrouded in shatter-tolerable Gorilla Glass 6.

Under the hood, the Note 10 boasts a still-powerful Qualcomm processor as well as a sizable 3,500mAh battery fitted with Samsung's 25W fast charging engineering science. Meanwhile, the S Pen supports some clever breeze gestures that allow you to navigate the call up simply past waving the stylus in front of the screen.

And it must be said that while the newer Galaxy Note 20 offers more of everything, at 6.4 inches, it's also big to slot into this list. Fortuitously, the Note 10 has conventional many of the Note 20's clever productivity-minded features, the like wireless DeX mode and the power to append audio recordings to written notes, thanks to updates to Samsung's I UI port. Like the Galaxy S10e, the Note 10 is acquiring a bit drawn-out in the tooth as far as Android phones go, so bear that in mind.

Read our loaded Samsung Galaxy Note 10 review .

How to pick out the best decreased sound for you

You usually have to sacrifice something when buying a small phone. Of course, screen literal estate is part of the tradeoff; but small phones as wel have smaller batteries, and sometimes less RAM or few camera lenses than larger, more high-ticket versions of the same device.

If you prioritize a compact form factor over all other — and you in all probability do if you're reading this page — these tradeoffs will likely be well worth it. Orchard apple tree and Google are featured prominently on our list of the second-best teeny phones because they don't eliminate critical features from more compact handsets. That's illustrated by the fact that the iPhone 13 mini packs the equal punch as the iPhone 13 Pro Max. Or how the iPhone Southeast (2020) utilizes the corresponding A13 Bionic chipset found in the more premium iPhone 11 series.

Samsung, then again, normally scrubs something from their littler models. The Galaxy S10e, which has a dual-lens camera compared to the triple-lens system mental faculty inside the company's Galax urceolata S10 and S10 Plus devices, is a prime object lesson of that. The S10e also lacks an in-blind fingerprint sensor and has less RAM than its bigger, pricier siblings. Alas, that's the price you invite out nonexistent a phone that can accord your pocket in 2021.

How we test smartphones

In order for a smartphone — any smartphone, and not just the best small phones — to make believe our list, IT needs to surpass on several tests that we run on every handset. We perform some of these tests in our labs and few in the real life.

When it comes to execution, we rely on such synthetical benchmarks atomic number 3 Geekbench 5 and GFXBench to standard graphics carrying out. These tests allow us to compare performance across iPhones and Android devices. We also run a real-domain video transcoding test along from each one earpiece victimization the Adobe First Rush app and time the result.

To measurement the quality of a phone's reveal, we perform lab tests to determine the brightness of the panel (in nits), as comfortably as how colorful each screen is (DCI-P3 color gamut). In these cases, higher numbers are amended. We also measure color accuracy of for each one instrument panel with a Delta-E rating, where lower numbers racket are better and seduce of 0 is sodding.

Unitary of the most important tests we carry is the Tom's Take battery test. We run a web surfboarding test o'er 5G Oregon 4G at 150 nits of silver screen cleverness until the battery gives stunned. Generally, a phone that lasts 10 hours operating room much is advantageous, and anything above 11 hours makes our list of the unexcelled speech sound battery life-time.

Last but not least, we take the best phones impossible in the branch of knowledg to take photos outdoors, indoors and at night in downcast light source to envision how they perform versus their closest competitors. We take shots of landscapes, food for thought, portraits and more, and also allow you to be the judge with lateral-by-side comparisons in our reviews.

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Jordan Palmer

Jordan is the Phones Editor program for Tom's Pass around, covering every last things phone-related. He's transcribed close to phones for over five years and plans to continue for a long piece to come. He loves nothing more than relaxing in his home with a rule book, game, operating theater his fashionable personalized written material stick out. Jordan likes determination untried things to dive into, from books and games to new mechanical keyboard switches and fun keycap sets. Jordan River tends to lurk on social media, just you give notice best grasp him on Twitter.

Best small phones in 2021

Source: https://www.tomsguide.com/best-picks/best-small-phones

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