Joe Maring / Android Authority
After three straight days of voting across multiple platforms, thousands of Android Authority fans have selected the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra ($1299.99 at Samsung) as the best phone of 2025 and the winner of this year’s Reader’s Choice award! Out of all the amazing smartphones you could buy, our readers say this one is at the top of the heap.
Now that you know the Reader’s Choice award winner, you might be curious how that came to be. Although the winner was pretty predictable based on past years, the voting process was a WILD ride this year in multiple ways. We’ve got all the data for you below!
Elimination round: 38 phones started us off!
Ryan Haines / Android Authority
Our first round of voting happened here at Android Authority. This year, we started with a very long list of 38 phones, which is even more than we saw in 2024, and that was even more than we saw in 2023, and THAT was even more…you get the picture. As with previous years, we correctly assumed the Google Pixel 10 Pro XL ($899 at Amazon) and the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra would shoot to the top four, but there were a few surprises we didn’t expect.
This year's elimination round was the largest pool of phones we've ever had.
For example, in the first half of the 24-hour voting period, the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7 ($1999.99 at Samsung) was doing really, really well. In fact, we assumed it would come in fourth place behind the Pixel 10 Pro ($749 at Amazon), Galaxy S25 Ultra, and Pixel 10 Pro XL. That would have made the final four a very interesting round, and would have represented the first time a foldable had ever made it to that stage.
However, out of nowhere, the iPhone 17 ($799 at Apple) started getting a ton of voting love, pushing it past the Galaxy Z Fold 7. The OnePlus 13 ($849.99 at Amazon) and the OPPO Find X9 Pro ($1515 at Amazon) also made good gains late in the voting process, but not enough to overtake the iPhone. In the end, the iPhone ended up in the final four, making the second round of voting very similar to previous years.
Check out how the elimination round votes tallied below.
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