Best iPhones in 2024: Which iPhone should you buy? (2024)

We'd love to tell you that the iPhone 15 Pro Max — our current top pick as the best iPhone you can buy — is absolutely the model to get. But Apple just revamped its entire phone lineup, with new iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Pro models. And until we spend more time with those devices our iPhone rankings remain up in the air.

Mind you, there's plenty to like about the latest iPhones. The iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Plus jump to A18 chipsets that can power Apple Intelligence features coming to iPhones later this year. There are new Action and Camera Control buttons, too, which also appear on the iPhone 16 Pro models. Those Pro models get the biggest changes — quite literally, when we're talking about their screens, as the iPhone 16 Pro Max now has a 6.9-inch panel. Cameras also get an overhaul on the iPhone 16 Pro models, too.

But the best thing about these new iPhones? They have the same starting price that their iPhone 15 equivalents had when they debuted last year.

Some of those iPhone 15 models are still part of Apple's lineup, only now they cost less than before. So keep them in mind when shopping for a new iPhone if you don't want to pay full price for a brand new flagship.

Look for our iPhone 16 reviews to appear shortly, at which time we'll reassess our best iPhone listings. But until then, here's how the phones compared prior to the iPhone 16's arrival.

The quick list

The best iPhone overall

Who should get the iPhone 15 Pro Max: It's has been the best iPhone for a year now, but at this point, you should wait to see if the iPhone 16 Pro Max lives up to the standard this phone set.

Every premium feature Apple packs into its phones is on display with the iPhone 15 Pro Max, and the phone has the price tag to show it. While this is the most expensive iPhone, you also get the super-fast A17 Pro processor, an improved 12MP telephoto camera with 5x zoom, and an eye-catching titanium alloy frame. Plus, the Pro Max offers an expansive 6.7-inch display with a big battery to match. That battery kept the iPhone 15 Pro Max running for more than 14 hours in our test, placing it near the top of the best phone battery life rankings.

All of that sounds great — but the iPhone 15 Pro Max is giving way to the just-announced iPhone 16 Pro Max, which costs the same while offering a larger display, faster processor and new features like a Camera Control button. We rate the iPhone 15 Pro Max as the best camera phone, but the iPhone 16 Pro Max has a new main camera sensor, a 48MP ultrawide lens and an impressive array of video capture features. It's hard to see how the new phone doesn't surpass the iPhone 15 Pro Max.

Read our full iPhone 15 Pro Max review.

The best iPhone for most of us

Who should get the iPhone 15: Anyone who wants last year's entry-level flagship for less.

The iPhone 15 doesn’t have the flashier features found in its Pro siblings, but it’s still a solid upgrade, particularly if you’re looking to make the move from an older iPhone and don't want to pay an extra $100 for the iPhone 16. That's because the iPhone 16 inherits this phone's old $799 price, while the iPhone 15 drops to $699.

That makes the iPhone 15 more appealing despite the fact that it's no longer the new kid on the block. It's still got some great features like the notch-replacing Dynamic Island and a 48MP main sensor that can take 2x optical-quality zooms. The iPhone 15 also benefits from Apple’s enhanced Photonic Engine, which delivers brighter images.

Most people will likely flock to one of Apple's newer models, but the iPhone 16 delivers more value than ever.

Read our full iPhone 15 review.

Best battery life in an iPhone

Who should get the iPhone 15 Plus: Big-screen phone fans on a budget.

The iPhone 15 Plus is the best iPhone for people who prefer a larger display but don't want to pay big bucks for one of the best big phones. That's espcially true now that price of the iPhone 15 Plus is down to $799 following the iPhone 16's launch.

The iPhone 15 Plus gives you an expansive 6.7-inch OLED screen, whether you want to watch movies and shows on the go or you just want a bigger viewfinder for your photos. And the photos look amazing from the improved cameras on the iPhone 15 Plus, thanks to a bigger main sensor and Apple’s Photonic Engine for better pics in low light.

As much as we like other phones on this list — not to mention some promising new models, the Plus lets you go longer between charges. The iPhone 15 Plus lasted more than 14 hours on our web surfing test, giving it the longest battery life we've ever recorded for an iPhone on our test. There’s some things we don’t like about the iPhone 15 Plus — including its dated 60Hz refresh rate and slow charging via its new USB-C port — but overall it’s a great value.

Read our full iPhone 15 Plus review.

The most affordable iPhone Pro

Who should get the iPhone 15 Pro: At this point, you'd be best waiting to see how the iPhone 16 Pro performs in testing.

We appreciate how the iPhone 15 Pro gave people most of the iPhone 15 Pro Max's features but for $200 less. With those phones giving way to newer models, though, the iPhone 16 Pro finds itself on more equal footing with the iPhone 16 Pro Max — both phones share the A18 Pro chipset and the tetraprism telephoto lens that was an iPhone 15 Pro Max exclusive. So you definitely get more with the new Pro model than you would have with the iPhone 15 Pro.

That said, we'll remember the iPhone 15 Pro for its A17 Pro chipset, which remains powerful enough to support Apple Intelligence features. it also offers great features like an improved 48MP main camera, a sturdy titanium alloy frame, programmable Action button, and USB-C port.

Read our full iPhone 15 Pro review.

Best discounted big iPhone

Who should get the iPhone 14 Plus: Big-screen phone fans on a budget.

The iPhone 14 Plus remains a great iPhone for people who prefer a larger display but don't want to pay big bucks for one of thebest big phones, especially now that Apple charges even less for this model than it did before. The starting price is now down to $699, equal to what you'd pay for a standard iPhone 15 these days.

The iPhone 14 Plus gives you an expansive 6.7-inch OLED screen, whether you want to watch movies and shows on the go or you just want a bigger viewfinder for your photos. And the photos look amazing from the improved cameras on the iPhone 14 Plus, thanks to a bigger main sensor and Apple’s Photonic Engine for better pics in low light.

As much as we like the regular iPhone 14 — also still available at a considerable discount — you’ll want to get the Plus if you want more time between charges. The iPhone 14 Plus lasted nearly 12 hours on our web surfing test. There’s some things we don’t like about the iPhone 14 Plus — including the 60Hz refresh rate and lack of telephoto lens — but overall it’s a great value.And like the iPhone 14, the iPhone 14 Plus includes ayellow color optiongo with its black, white, blue, purple and red colors.

Read our fulliPhone 14 Plus review.

A good iPhone at a discount

Who should get the iPhone 14: Bargain hunters who are unimpressed with features on newer iPhones.

Even with the iPhone 15 available and the iPhone 16 hitting stores soon, the iPhone 14 remains a viable choice for many people. By skipping more recent iPhones, you won't get the latest chipset or the camera improvements in newer models. But the iPhone 14 is a worthy upgrade from older phones, and at $599, it costs much less than it did when it debuted. (Our iPhone 15 vs. iPhone 14 comparison has more on the differences.)

One of the best things about this model is its storage — Apple includes 128GB with the base model after years of forcing people to upgrade from the skimpy 64GB if they wanted a higher capacity. The A15 processor remains a solid processor, though more recent devices have long since passed it over, including those with more recent Snapdragon chipsets.

Read our full iPhone 14 review.

The least expensive iPhone

Who should get the iPhone SE 2022: Anyone who wants the least expensive iPhone

The iPhone SE (2022) is the most budget-friendly option in the current iPhone lineup. Starting at $429 for the 64GB model, the latest SE is a veritable powerhouse that runs laps around anything else at this price point. You will not find something that performs better under $500, even if its lone camera loses some luster when compared against the the more recently released Pixel 8a. (See our 200-photo Pixel 8a vs. iPhone SE photo face-off to get a sense of how the iPHone is beginning to lag behind.)

With the same A15 Bionic chipset that’s in the iPhone 13 — but lacking the extra GPU core found in the A15 powering the iPhone 14 — the iPhone SE (2022) can handle any task you set before it, all in an incredibly compact body. However, the 4.7-inch LCD is a bit of a letdown with a low resolution by today’s standards (1344 x 750). The chunky bezels of the classic iPhone design also look incredibly dated.

Perhaps the most egregious omission from the iPhone SE is the lack of Night mode. It’s even sadder because the phone takes great photos in daylight. And it also lacks mmWave 5G, so people hoping to take advantage of Verizon’s Ultra Wideband network will be left out in the cold with the latest iPhone SE.

Read our full iPhone SE (2022) review.

How to choose the best iPhone for you

When shopping for an iPhone, take stock of the features and capabilities that matter most to you. If battery life is especially important, seek out a larger iPhone, as they tend to have bigger batteries to match their screen size. What's more, because iOS is known to be generally efficient in terms of energy consumption, even the smaller models tend to last longer than average on a charge.

If you're basing your next iPhone purchase off camera quality, the top-tier Pro variants are easy recommendations, thanks to triple-lens designs that allow you to capture multiple different perspectives, from zoomed-out ultra wide-angle images to shallow depth-of-field portraits. They're also remarkably good in challenging lighting scenarios, like when shooting in a dimly-lit indoor space, or outdoors at night.

All that said, if price is king, and saving the absolute most on your next smartphone purchase is your top priority, you should have no reservations about nabbing either the iPhone SE or an older model with a lower price tag. They may be on the cheaper side of Apple's range, but they're still made of flagship-quality materials, with enough power and performance to sustain years of use. iOS software updates, which are available to every model at the same time, generally provide five years of support, adding to the value of older models.

After Apple dropped the iPhone 12 a year ago, you no longer have to worry quite as much about storage. The base model of nearly every iPhone starts with 128GB of storage — the exceptions are the iPhone SE (a paltry 64GB), the iPhone 15 Pro Max (a more generous 256GB) and now the iPhone 16 Pro Max (also 256GB).

If you buy your iPhone through Apple, you may be able to save money by trading in your current phone. Apple offers up to $650 off your purchase when you trade-in a device.. (The more recent your iPhone, the higher the trade-in value, and yes, switchers, Apple will accept Android devices, too.)

Note that if you buy your iPhone unlocked from Apple, you'll need to tack another $30 onto the base price of the iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus. (The iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max start at the same price, whether unlocked or not.)

We track special offers from carriers and retailers to find the best iPhone deals and we've also got information on how to preorder the iPhone 16. Other deals worth checking out include:

• Best iPhone 15 deals
• Best iPhone 14 deals
• Best iPhone SE deals

All of the iPhones mentioned here can run iOS 17, Apple's latest iPhone software that came out just ahead of the iPhone 15 release. On September 16, Apple releases iOS 18, which brings new features include home screen customization, a redesigned Photos app and other app improvements to all of the devices ranked among our top picls.

When are the next iPhones coming out?

Apple showed off the iPhone 16, iPhone 16 Plus, iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max at its September 9 Glowtime event. The phones hit stores on September 20.

After that, the next iPhone release we're likely to see is the iPhone SE 4, which has been tipped for a spring 2025 release. The iPhone 17 won't arrive until next fall.

How we test iPhones

As with any smartphone we test at Tom's Guide, we evaluate iPhones for days in real-world use cases. We also benchmark Apple's phones using a gamut of performance-measuring apps that allow us to compare iPhone performance to what Android devices are capable of. In addition to synthetic benchmarks, we also run real-world tests, including a video transcoding test in Adobe Premiere Rush that compares the iPhone's processing speed with other devices.

In our lab, we use a light meter to ascertain display quality data, like brightness and color accuracy to help us evaluate the display of the best iPhones. Our proprietary battery test determines longevity on a charge by endlessly streaming webpages over an LTE network; we then recharge the iPhones to see how quickly they charge in 15-minute intervals.

To compare cameras, we take any iPhone we review out and shoot photos in a variety of settings. We also bring along a comparable smartphone to see how the iPhone's photographic output measures up.

We explore Apple's iOS improvements, test gaming performance and evaluate the phone's speakers — and each of these factors play a part in our final verdict.