Best compact phones 2026 - buyer’s guide

The regular iPhone Pro remains one of the few premium compact offerings on the market as a whole. While the 18 Pro Max swims in a sea of Android competitors, the 18 Pro has only a handful to contend with.

And within Apple's own roster, this one may seem like quite an incremental update over the iPhone 17 Pro. And yes, it kinda looks like last year's model, but isn't that how Apple has long approached product design? If you look past that, you may see that while it's not a huge jump forward, it's a meaningful step toward refining the formula.

With the iPhone 18 Pro, Apple has created an incredibly balanced compact smartphone with hardly any shortcomings (except perhaps its rather substantial weight). It has a great display, long battery life, improved charging speed, awesome speakers and an overall very good camera experience. The new chipset's performance is perhaps the biggest surprise this year, delivering a true generational upgrade.

It does come with a hefty price tag, though, so it's certainly not the best deal out there. But if the budget allows and you are looking for a premium compact phone, the iPhone 18 Pro is definitely one of the best you can get right now.

Even though the Razr 70 Ultra has few real competitors, it feels like Motorola is really trying to produce a competitive device. The Razr 70 Ultra offers one of the best battery endurances for a flip phone, has unique design options, charges quite fast, snaps excellent stills with all of its cameras, as far as flip phones go, and offers a fully functional cover screen with some neat features..

The Razr 70 Ultra leaves room for improvement - the main display's HDR brightness is somewhat disappointing, and the 165Hz refresh rate is strictly conditional. Also, just 3 major OS updates no longer cut it for a flagship phone with a premium price tag.

All things considered, as small-size foldables go, the Motorola Razr 70 Ultra is quite the enticing proposition.

The Oppo Reno16 Pro feels like a premium phone and offers a bunch of premium features, too. It checks almost all boxes, especially for compact smartphone fans. It has an impeccable build, impressive battery endurance for the size, a complete and potent camera hardware and a solid display. The handset also adds a useful remappable hardware key.

The Reno16 Pro delivers a balanced image performance. You can expect generally very good results from all three rear cameras in daylight. Low-light performance is also without dealbreakers, but the detail is also leaving us a bit unimpressed. The selfie camera remains a major selling point thanks to its unusually wide lens and great photo quality. Video quality is very good from all three cameras in daylight, and the main and telephoto carry that into the night as well, where the ultrawide is a bit less convincing.

Overall, the Reno16 Pro is a well-built and lightweight premium phone with a commendable camera kit and quality. It does deliver across the board – display, battery life, design, charging. The performance is solid, too, just not on par with other phones in the same price bracket, though.

The Pixel 11 Pro may look like another incremental update, but Google has actually addressed some of the weaknesses of its predecessor. Battery life has finally caught up with the likes of Samsung and Apple, wireless charging is now faster at 25W, and the already excellent display is even tougher thanks to its new scratch-resistant coating while retaining its class-leading maximum brightness. Speaker quality has improved, too, even if it's still not quite up there with the best.

There are also a couple of advantages that are easy to overlook when comparing spec sheets. The built-in magnets make the Pixel 11 Pro one of the very few Android phones that can offer an iPhone-like MagSafe experience without a special case, while Google's satellite SOS service remains something most Android competitors can't match.

Camera-wise, the Pixel 11 Pro does well. It delivers very good photos and video from all of its cameras, but it's hardly the industry-leading package the Pixel name used to signify. There is no properly good solution for close-ups, for instance, and the telephoto camera's video stabilization leaves something to be desired. Rivals can offer more versatile and, in some cases, outright better camera hardware.

Unfortunately, some long-standing Pixel weaknesses haven't gone anywhere. The Pixel 11 Pro is unusually heavy for such a compact phone, outweighing Android rivals, some of which even manage to fit larger batteries. Wired charging remains slow despite the new Extreme charging mode, and while CPU and AI performance have improved, graphics performance has barely moved and is still closer to a 2023 flagship than a current one.

That leaves software as one of the strongest reasons to buy the Pixel 11 Pro. Google's polished, sometimes barebones take on Android, the Pixel-exclusive features, and long-term software support remain compelling. And unlike previous generations, you no longer have to accept mediocre battery life to get them. The problem is that Google is asking flagship money for a phone that still makes quite a few hardware compromises.

Ultimately, the Pixel 11 Pro is the best version yet of Google's compact flagship formula, but it isn't the best compact flagship. Yet, it’s worth getting if you want a Pixel experience in a compact size.

We liked the Galaxy Z Flip8. It's a premium clamshell foldable with a comfortable grip, intuitive ergonomics, and a satisfying, snappy feel whenever you open or close it.

The Z Flip8 delivers a great user experience, complete with top-tier displays, a refined hinge mechanism, robust connectivity, solid battery life, and powerful silicon.

However, Samsung left the camera hardware largely untouched. While image quality remains decent, it falls short of being impressive. Low-light performance and video stabilization still show obvious room for improvement - issues that have persisted for a couple of generations without meaningful upgrades.

While the 2026 chipset is a welcome addition, Samsung's chip segmentation remains frustrating. Furthermore, the compact clamshell form factor makes efficient heat dissipation nearly impossible, leading to noticeable thermal throttling.

Ultimately, despite these shortcomings, the Galaxy Z Flip8 is very well positioned against the competition with its recent price drops and is a great foldable that's definitely worth considering.

The vivo X300 turned out to be an exemplary phone in pretty much every department - size, design and build, battery life, screen quality, camera experience, and OriginOS got a massive upgrade that made vivo's phones on par with all recent Androids. And that's just great!.

The vivo X300 impressed us with its smooth design and its super bright screen that has an impressively dynamic refresh rate. The battery life is a blast, too.

The X300 is part of the vivo's photography flagship series and it does not disappoint - all four cameras deliver superb photo and video quality during the day. While the low-light photos remain impressive, the videos are somewhat average and that's our only remark here.

We are glad that vivo has worked a lot on OriginOS and the underlying Android, and it has made some impressive improvements. The iOS and macOS integration were surprising, or were they given how much vivo has taken from iOS 26? Still, iOS inspired or not, we liked OriginOS very much.

There are few compact flagships out there, and fewer compact cameraphones. But vivo X300 is amazing in both categories and we think it will easily find many fans out there looking for either option.

It would be unfair not to highlight Samsung's efforts to optimize for the existing hardware. Compared to last year's Galaxy S25, there are certainly some improvements. We see a notable gain in battery life, a tad faster charging, and a bunch of new AI and video recording features that may sound enticing enough to the right crowd.

On the other hand, it's becoming increasingly hard for Samsung to sugar-coat the minor upgrades offered by the new generation. The Galaxy S26 still feels like the flagship underdog next to the Plus and Ultra. Even the mid-range Galaxy A57 gets 45W fast wired charging. The vanilla S26 is also more than a few laps behind the competition in terms of camera hardware, battery technology and charging.

At the end of the day, Galaxy S26 is a solid all-rounder. It doesn't stand out, but it's somehow "good enough", especially if you are looking for a compact Samsung flagship. That's pretty much your only choice. You can rest assured that the display is excellent, performance is on point, the camera experience is just okay and battery life is dependable.

In keeping with tradition, the Galaxy S26 continues to be a mighty yet surprisingly compact package. It is one of the few small flagships left out there, and that alone will ensure its popularity with buyers. Also, as usual, it is the cheapest way to get into Samsung's latest flagship line and for better or worse, that appeals to a particular crowd.

Apple finally gave the most compact iPhone – the iPhone 17 - the two upgrades that matter most day-to-day: a premium 120 Hz LTPO display (with thin bezels) and usable base storage. A meaningfully better selfie camera, an upgraded 48 MP ultrawide (with AF for macro) and finally some progress in terms of charging speed make this the best rounded vanilla model Apple has ever made. It is also by far the easiest iPhone to recommend in the 2025 lineup.

It's not like it's flawless, but none of the downsides are actually deal-breakers. The A19's lack of a vapor chamber means noticeable heat and throttling under sustained load, but how often are you even going to push it that hard. The stereo speakers are quieter than last year's, the USB port still operates at 2.0 speeds, and Apple has effectively capped the brightness to 1,000 nits in what we assume is an attempt to extend battery life. iOS 26 brings Liquid Glass, but lacks polish.

Thus the overall package is very compelling: a phone with traditional Apple aesthetics, Pro-grade screen and performance, a capable camera and usable storage capacity was never this cheap. We'd be amazed if it's not by far the most popular option in Apple's 2025 lineup. Read full review

The Xiaomi 17 is a solid all-around flagship phone with no critical flaws in any aspect, despite its size and overall portability. It's the perfect choice for users looking to buy into the premium Android experience, without having to deal with today's humongous screens.

The ultrawide camera may not be the phone's strongest suit, and the zoom camera has a modest focal length, but it gets everything else right. The display is flawless, the battery life is chart-topping, charging is more than decently fast, and the simple and elegant build is easy to like. We just wish the telephoto camera had a longer optical zoom like most competitors and a nicer ultrawide camera that's as wide as its name suggests.

Overall, despite the couple of shortcomings, the Xiaomi 17 is one of the best compact flagships you can get right now.

The Pixel 10a is incredibly compact, with great camera, screen, and performance capabilities. We also loved the stock Android and its AI options, the good speakers, and the excellent battery life.

It is a great little phone despite the lack of any upgrades over the Pixel 9a. It was not meant to please the Pixel 9a owners, but more like those having a Pixel 6 or Pixel 7, maybe even Pixel 8. And it should work for them nicely if they can stomach the high launch price.

Our advice is quite simple - if the feature set and the price tag work for you, you will not regret getting the Pixel 10a..