(upbeat music)
- All right, what's up y'all?
MKBHD here and welcome to the Smartphone Awards.
So you already know,
we usually spend the whole year
gathering all the phones that come out
during the course of the year and reviewing them,
evaluating them, testing them, picking our favorites,
and recommending the ones that are really good.
But it got me thinking,
when we do that at the end of the year,
is it really fair to
have phones that are eight, nine, ten months old
stacked up against the newest phones
with the newest hardware?
Like tech moves fast.
We gotta keep that all into account.
So for the first time ever in MKBHD history,
welcome to the mid-season Smartphone Awards.
As you can see, of course,
less phones have come out at this point during the year,
but that's never stopped anybody.
So let's get into it.
All right, so first up category is best design.
And now there are a couple of interesting phones
that have come out this year,
some of them with interesting materials
and different proportions.
We do have some folding options,
but I'm pretty confident with this one.
My favorite design so far of a smartphone
to have come out this year is the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra.
So this is a subjective award of course, but I don't know,
I kind of can't help it.
The matte black, the clean understated look.
I mean this phone is packing so much stuff,
and yet at the front it just looks
like a big corner to corner display.
They also did flatten the size this year,
which was huge for feel in the hand.
I love it.
So that's the design award.
So next up, best battery.
And now we already know this is
like best battery life, best battery experience,
best overall battery in a smartphone.
And we keep seeing the numbers go up and up,
which is really exciting.
And there have been some phones on this desk
with great combinations of efficiency and battery.
But the award for this one,
I think it's actually pretty clear,
it's the S23 Ultra.
5,000 milliamp hour battery in this phone.
It doesn't come with the charger in the box,
but that's gonna be a 45 watt peak charging.
It also has wireless charging,
it also has reverse wireless charging,
and it's just a combination of Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 plus
like you can go 1080P, you can go 60 hertz.
Like this is the phone that can get you the two days
if you really need it.
I've used it all out this year and actually achieved that
which is rare to say.
So that's your battery award.
Okay, next up, best big phone.
This is the award that just goes
to the one that makes the best use of a lot of space.
Now we know smartphones get bigger and bigger every year,
so it's kind of rare to not have a big phone,
but also I think
we kind of know where we're going here.
This has been a perennial top runner in this category,
and that is the Galaxy S23 Ultra.
Man, this phone, it's got the huge,
incredible screen like I talked about.
Big battery, 5,000 milliamp hours,
and it also still has room for the S Pen.
This is something we kind of forget if we don't use it,
but it's the same gigantic battery as previous ones
but also with the S Pen inside,
like these phones are consistently
around the top of this category for their software too
with the split screen stuff,
this is the best use of a lot of space in your pocket.
Best big phone.
So, all right, next up, best small phone,
best compact phone.
I've sort of renamed it over the years,
and it's more of a rare breeds than ever.
Phones are getting bigger, but also like what is small?
What is compact?
I mean, think about it, really.
You've got a map of the world in your pocket, a GPS locator,
satellite connectivity potentially,
but also a gigantic battery,
a world-class note-taking device,
10,000 songs in your pocket, 5G internet everywhere you go,
like there is a ton going on inside of a smartphone.
So when you think about it, the best compact phone is just,
it's just a good phone, right?
So the award for best compact phone goes to
Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra.
I mean, I know it sounds crazy,
but think about everything that it does.
Think about all the things, the songs,
the GPS and everything,
and then shove it into this tiny package.
This is compact, this is small, and it's got the pen.
We are living in great times, I swear.
Okay, it sounds like you guys do need a little bit
of a break to maybe calm down.
I think we're gonna take a quick sponsor break.
I'll be right back after the end.
Hey, are you in the middle of an award show
and your favorite phone didn't just win a design award,
but the winner just looks like any other phone?
Well thankfully you can make your phone
look like something else.
Matter of fact, that's what it's called, Something.
This is the Something Skin from Dbrand.
You can get one
for yourself at dbrand.com/something.
Shown here on the phone that wins
the new easiest phone to skin award, the very square,
very generic Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra,
distinctly designed and engineered
to look like nothing before it.
Back to you on stage.
All right, we're back.
Next category, guys, pay attention.
It's the best camera in a smartphone.
This is one of the heavy hitting categories,
and you already know
the heavy hitters aren't out yet, right?
No iPhone yet, no Pixel yet.
Those are the things that come out at the end of the year.
The OPPO Find X6 Pro is pretty good,
but I'm gonna go ahead and give this award
to the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra.
See, it's not just about the high megapixel count,
it's also great software processing, great zoom range
with a variety of focal lengths,
and some pretty jaw dropping features like Space Zoom,
like if you ever wanted to zoom all the way in
and get incredible photos
and high resolution of a totally real moon
using patented Far Out Optical Lens Technology,
this is clearly the phone you gotta get.
Okay, I'm gonna rifle through the last
couple awards real quick.
So most improved award over the last year version
is gonna be S23 Ultra.
Also, you're gonna have bust of the year,
the one you hate to give out, but yeah, what the heck?
S23 Ultra.
Also the MVP of all the smartphones. That's 23 Ultra.
You already know what's coming.
But also best folding phone, a new category.
(dramatic music swell)
(upbeat music)
Now, this is a joke, obviously,
as you could probably already tell,
Happy April Fool's Day.
I hope I get to upload this on April 1st
and not get it spoiled by all the March 31st jokes.
But this is just pointing fun at the fact
that a mid-season smartphone awards is kind of hilarious
because most of the best phones
come out in the fall, in the second half of the year.
Matter of fact,
if you wanna know what my actual picks would be
at this point in the year for each category, here they are.
There's not that many options yet
but there's some good stuff,
in case you actually are wondering.
But take this video as your annual reminder
not to take any headlines you see
for the next 24 hours or so too seriously,
to double check any images
you see on Twitter for extra fingers
because AI is usually bad at hands, stuff like that.
Just keep your thinking cap on.
Anyway, the real awards will be in December as usual.
Thanks for watching. Catch you on the next one.
Peace.
(upbeat music)
Hmm.