We traditionally review a lot of phones at Gizmodo Australia and 2022 was no exception. We started the year with Samsung’s annual Galaxy drop and ended it with the Nokia G60 5G. But there were a tonne of others in between.
I’ve praised the iPhone 14 Pro Max and the Google Pixel 7 Pro more than I probably should have this year, but it’s been hard to split the difference: they’re both near-perfect phones. If this list was about my favourites, they’d be the clear winner. But, this list is about the range of phones that came out in 2022 so let’s run through the year – the 13 smartphones worth talking about.
A look back on the phones of 2022
Google Pixel 6a
Google and Apple both gave us budget flagships this year (Apple’s iPhone SE 5G was released in March and Google’s in July). In our review of the Google Pixel 6a, we declared that for 57 per cent of the cost of the Pro (at the time, the Pixel 6 Pro), you can walk away with a phone that behaves much the same. It is a good phone, you get a decent enough camera and you still get all the Google smarts its more expensive siblings pack. We also pinned the Pixel 6a against the iPhone SE 5G and crowned the Pixel 6a victorious in the 2022 battle of the budget phones.
Apple iPhone SE 5G
Speaking of the iPhone SE 5G, it would be a disservice to not give it a mention of its own. In my review, I said I felt like I was using a 2022 phone trapped in the body of a 2016 iPhone. It’s honestly like it’s a six-year-old model iPhone that has been given a performance boost and the latest iOS update (definitely not on par with the other phones of 2022). It doesn’t tap to wake (a feature I only now realise I use a lot) and the battery life is quite short (bad, actually) but the display quality is amazing and you can get 5G reception. It’s a decent enough phone if you want a cheap iPhone ($719 versus the $1,899 the iPhone 14 Pro Max starts at).
ASUS Zenfone 9
While you’d assume the next phone I want to talk about would be the iPhone 14 Pro Max given that heaps natural segue, I want to switch out from the Cupertino giant for a sec and talk about the ASUS Zenfone 9. In our review, we described the phone as great when talking about performance, and completely and utterly bad when it comes to its camera system. That being said, we didn’t have anything else bad to say and ASUS gave us a pretty decent phone for under $1,000.
ASUS ROG Phone 6
We may have been impressed by the Zenfone 9, but we weren’t by the company’s ROG Phone 6. We reckon it has an unbeatable gaming performance, very little bloatware, nice battery life and charging, and a cute sci-fi prop aesthetic with backlighting. Everything gamers want, right? Wrong. It’s basically a $1,700+ gimmick that had every opportunity to be a handheld gaming device competitor but instead went on to be a dud.
Apple iPhone 14
Segueing from the ‘dud’ comment above with this one. Apple makes great smartphones, we all know this, but the iPhone 14 and 14 Plus seem like nothing but money-grabbing opportunities for the company. In my review of the iPhone 14, I spent a lot of time comparing the cost of Apple’s two ““““affordable”””” new phones because they’re not cheap enough to justify not spending a little bit more on the Pro series. The phone itself was fine, Apple makes good phones, as I said, but the iPhone 13 Pro and Pro Max were still a little better and they came out a year prior. I also pinned the iPhone 14 against Google’s Pixel 7, which was without a winner ‘cause iOS fiends gonna iOS and Android stans gonna Android.
Apple iPhone 14 Pro Max
While I didn’t like the iPhone 14, I loved the iPhone 14 Pro Max. It has brilliant battery life, super cool safety features, a pill-like mini display known as Dynamic Island (which, a few months later, I gotta say I really appreciate this feature) and a stellar camera system. It’s quite a leap from the iPhone 13 in terms of camera and smarts. The only bad thing about this phone is its price: $1,899 will get you a 128GB model and $2,769 will bump the storage up to 1TB. It’s the best phone Apple has ever made and I somehow say that every year.
Nothing Phone (1)
Everything about the Nothing Phone (1) and the hype surrounding its launch was like a page straight out of OnePlus’s original playbook, which made sense because the startup Nothing was founded by Carl Pei, a co-founder of OnePlus, who picked up funding from Tony Fadell (one of the inventors of the iPod), Kevin Lin (one of Twitch’s co-founders) and Steve Huffman (Reddit’s CEO). The Nothing Phone (1) is pitched as a revolution in the phone space, but don’t be taken for a ride: it’s a premium-oriented smartphone entering a crowded market with a lot of investor hype built up around it. While not available in Australia, in our review, we declared it was a cool smartphone for Android users.
Samsung Galaxy S22+
Samsung back in February gave us the Galaxy S22, Galaxy S22+ (like the S22, but a little bigger), and the S22 Ultra (like the S22+, but larger and secretly a Note). In our review, we said the Galaxy S22+ strikes the right balance between power, comfort, camera and price. But we also said don’t bother upgrading if you have the S20 or newer. It was a fine phone that did the fine phone things you’ve come to love as a Samsung user. The S22, meanwhile, was stuck in iPhone 14 land (Pointlessville, I believe it’s called).
Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra
Samsung played things fairly safely with its S range. Once Samsung’s vehicle for smartphone innovation, the Galaxy S range has been stuck on incremental improvements for a few years, with the big innovations saved for the folding phones (we’ll get to them). That is, except for the top-of-the-range Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra model that finally does something new (by doing something old). It’s basically a Note v2 but that’s OK, we liked the Note, was one of our favourite phones of 2022.
Google Pixel 7 Pro
Back to Google for a moment because the Android maker without a doubt has the best Android experience. Plus, it’s a much nicer-looking phone than anything Samsung makes. I tried to determine if the Pixel 7 Pro was better than the iPhone 14 Pro Max and couldn’t pick a favourite child. But unlike with Apple, the company’s cheaper flagship also got a tonne of praise from us this year. The Google Pixel 7 Pro is by far the best phone for an Android lover who wants incredible smarts and a great camera system.
Samsung Fold4
If you like phones and working on them, the Samsung Fold4 is the 2022 phone for you. While the Fold4 isn’t a full evolution, it still fixes enough of the gripes we had about the Fold3, to the point that in our review we recommended it if you’re seeking productivity. It is a very specific phone, I don’t think it will suit all users. But if you’re a particularly cashed up student who wants to be able to take notes on videos on your phone without needing a second device, or you’re a businessperson who does business things, the Z Fold4 is ready for you now.
Samsung Flip4
2022 was the year Samsung’s flippy boy came out on his own as a phone that wasn’t just a gimmick. It’s not the productivity beast that the Fold4 is, but a large-screen smartphone for people with small pockets, now with a bigger battery and more useful front screen. With the Galaxy Z Flip4, the folding phone is ready to go mainstream. The only things holding it back are the slightly disappointing camera and the high price. But neither are unreasonable for what it is, given that it’s an engineering marvel.
OnePlus 10T 5G
What is happening to OnePlus? This year, the brand scaled down on its flagship launch to the singular OnePlus 10 Pro. The upside is that there’s only one OnePlus model to consider among the sea of Android smartphones currently offered. The downside is that OnePlus’s options have become severely limited. That being said, you have to really want to wield a OnePlus smartphone to choose the OnePlus 10 Pro over Google’s Pixel 7 and Samsung’s Galaxy S22 series.
