Best Phones of 2020
The Samsung Galaxy Note20 Ultra 5G is not only a great all-rounder, it's one of the best camera phones to come out in 2020
The trailblazing year 2020 is coming to an end, and people are bringing out their notebooks to calculate the best and worst of everything. Undoubtedly, which phones have stood out with specifications and won people's hearts are definitely one of the most anticipated rankings. Despite a global halt during the pandemic, the smartphone giants managed to deliver their products as promised, in continuation to the previous years.
GSMARENA conducted a public poll to elect the best phones in different categories of 2020. Let's see which brands made it to the list and which proved to be a major failure.
Best flagship phone: Samsung Galaxy Note20 Ultra 5G
The Samsung Galaxy Note20 Ultra 5G, won the poll with a commanding lead. It's a successor to the 2019 winner, the Note10+, and the 2018 winner, the Note 9. This winning streak is no accident, the Note series has proven itself to be a market leader.
The Apple iPhone 12 Pro Max is a worthy runner-up. Despite several hardware related problems being reported, they managed to grab the second position unlike last year's 11 Pro Max.
Best camera phone: Huawei Mate 40 Pro
Huawei has emerged as a market leader in this category, so Huawei Mate 40 Pro's victory comes as no surprise. Sony sensors, Leica know-how and Huawei engineering have proven to be a winning combination, it's a shame that the politics of 2020 will prevent the Mate from becoming as popular as it could have been.
The Samsung Galaxy Note20 Ultra 5G is not only a great all-rounder, it's one of the best camera phones to come out in 2020. It narrowly beat out the iPhone 12 Pro Max, a second victory over the Apple phone.
Best Mid-ranger phone: Poco X3 NFC
After being separated from it's parent company Xiaomi, many were in doubt about Poco's leading presence and quality in the market. But, throwing all those questions in the wind, the Poco X3 NFC has become the best mid-ranger of the year, a title previously held by a Redmi Note.
The Samsung Galaxy A51 (the original 4G version) came in a close second.
Best Affordable 5G phone: OnePlus Nord
OnePlus participated in a gamble and they won. The brand which is known for producing only flagship phones - issued their second mid ranger phone after the major fail of last year. And this year's Nord category phone managed to grab the first position in this category.
The Xiaomi Mi 10T Lite 5G managed to build a strong following in only a couple of months – it easily defeated its sibling, the Mi 10 Lite 5G (no T), in the preliminary round and topped the Galaxy A51 5G in this round to become the runner-up in the affordable 5G category.
Best Gaming and Trailblazer phone: Asus ROG Phone 3 ZS661KS
The Asus ROG Phone 3 ZS661KS is elected as the Best Gaming phone while the LG Wing 5G was chosen as the Trailblazer phone of 2020.
Best Flagship Killer: Samsung Galaxy S20 FE 5G
Last but not the least, take a glimpse of which phones came out first from the last.
Whereas, one Galaxy rules as king, its brother sets out to kill it. That would be the Samsung Galaxy S20 FE 5G, whose victory is perhaps a clear indication of how people feel on the Snapdragon vs. Exynos matter.
The OnePlus 8T is the runner-up, after outdoing competitors from larger brands. The 8 Pro didn't quite make it to the top two steps in the flagship category, but the 8T is one of the best flagship killers of 2020.