Best iPhone in 2025: Here's Which Apple Phone You Should Buy

September 11, 2025

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Article updated on September 10, 2025 at 6:42 PM PDT Patrick Holland Managing Editor

Patrick Holland has been a phone reviewer for CNET since 2016. He is a former theater director who occasionally makes short films. Patrick has an eye for photography and a passion for everything mobile. He is a colorful raconteur who will guide you through the ever-changing, fast-paced world of phones, especially the iPhone and iOS. He used to co-host CNET’s I’m So Obsessed podcast and interviewed guests like Jeff Goldblum, Alfre Woodard, Stephen Merchant, Sam Jay, Edgar Wright and Roy Wood Jr.

Expertise Apple | iPhone | iOS | Android | Samsung | Sony | Google | Motorola | Interviews | Coffee equipment | Cats Credentials

Patrick’s play The Cowboy is included in the Best American Short Plays 2011-12 anthology. He co-wrote and starred in the short film Baden Krunk that won the Best Wisconsin Short Film award at the Milwaukee Short Film Festival.

iOS or Android?

If your family and friends are on Apple services like iMessage and FaceTime, stick with an iPhone. If you’ve been deep on Samsung, stay on Android. But know that switching between the two has never been easier.

Cameras

Phone cameras have gotten better over the past five years. But don’t be fooled by how many cameras a phone has. More is not necessarily better.

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Apple announced its new iPhone line this week, featuring a base iPhone 17, a thin iPhone Air and a high-end iPhone 17 Pro. These new phones will replace the iPhone 16 line as the top flagship models. As a result, it might be wise to hold off on buying any new iPhone for a bit.

Best iPhone

Apple iPhone 16

Best premium iPhone

Apple iPhone 16 Pro

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Best iPhone under $700

iPhone 15

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Apple iPhone 16

If you need an Apple phone now, we’ve tested and reviewed the iPhone 16 lineup, as well as some older models available for purchase. You have a lot of options depending on your needs and budget. The $829 iPhone 16 gets you additional buttons for shortcuts and MagSafe. The $999 iPhone 16 Pro has a bigger screen and a main camera with a new sensor.

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There’s also a new Camera Control button that not only lets you take photos and quickly change things like zoom, Portrait mode aperture and Photographic Styles, but can also trigger a new feature called Visual Intelligence, which will add context to whatever the camera is pointed at.

Best iPhones of 2025

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Hold the iPhone first: You may love or hate the way it looks and feels in person.

Don’t discount the last year’s model: Apple has a history of keeping recent iPhone models from previous years around at a lower price. You can get a great phone that does almost everything that a new iPhone 16 can do for a fraction of the price. The iPhone 15 packs a great camera and a big battery, but comes at a more reasonable price.

Buy an iPhone case and screen protector: You’ll protect your iPhone from costly damage, and will increase the phone’s resale or trade-in value for when you’re ready to move on.

Know what you care about most: Is it screen size? Camera quality? Battery life? Phones like the iPhone 15 Pro or Pro Max, for example, pack incredible cameras that almost rival the quality you’d get from a DSLR. If you’re a photographer, then spending money here is a good idea.

Seek out holiday discounts: Look for deep discounts and promo deals around major holidays, especially Amazon’s Prime Day and Cyber Monday. And find out what your grace period is in case you need a quick return or exchange.

While Apple doesn’t sell the iPhone 15 Pro, you can still find it at carriers and third-party retailers. The 15 Pro has a 6.1-inch adaptive-refresh rate screen that adjusts between 1-120Hz depending on what’s on the screen. It has excellent cameras, a fast processor, an always-on display, supports iOS 18 and safety features like Crash Detection and Emergency SOS via Satellite. Driving all these upgrades is Apple’s A17 Pro chip which in use feels peppy. The iPhone 15 Pro is still an excellent phone in 2025. Check out our iPhone 15 Pro review.

In the early days of smartphones the iPhone vs. Android rivalry was at it peak. But in 2025, the difference between Android and iOS has shrunk quite a bit. Nearly everything you can do on an iPhone, you can do on an Android phone and vice versa. If you are trying to decide between buying an iPhone or Android phones, first start by seeing what phones your family and closest friends use. For example, if your family is on iPhone and uses services like iMessage and FaceTime, then it makes sense to shop for an iPhone.

Apple has been selling iPhones since 2007. The current lineup was released in September 2024 and all have a dust and water resistance rating of IP68, which means they can survive being submerged under 6 meters of water (about 20 feet) for 30 minutes. The screens are covered in Apple’s Ceramic Shield which is a glass-ceramic material created by Corning, in collaboration with Apple, and consists of nano-ceramic crystals embedded in the glass matrix. It’s highly transparent, and according to Corning, the tough structure formed by the crystals means it’s less likely to break.

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