Every year, Digital Trends editors hand pick the most exciting products we’ve had the privilege of handling this year. Make sure to check out award winners in categories from cars to computers, plus the overall best product of 2017! Read on for the mobile products that floored us this year.
Winner
Apple iPhone X
It has been a spectacular year for smartphones, from the Galaxy Note 8 and LG V30 to the Google Pixel 2 and OnePlus 5T. Modern phones look great, perform brilliantly, and have cameras that take stunning photos — but only one rolls off every tongue: The iPhone X.
Most phones released this year are iterative improvements over 2016, but the iPhone X is a whole new beast, and the changes introduced set the bar for the next decade of iPhones. Gone are the chunky edges flanking the screen, and the iconic home button. In their place, say hello to a gorgeous bezel-less OLED screen, and Face ID, a futuristic and far more secure way to unlock your phone. It’s not as convenient as Touch ID yet, but it is improving day by day.
Face ID makes interactions with your phone seamless, from unlocking the screen to accessing secure apps and making payments. The iPhone X is also sandwiched by glass, which allows support for wireless charging. While both of these technologies have been on other phones before, expect them to be a highlighted feature in smartphones next year.
But the iPhone X isn’t just the best because it’s so different from its predecessors — it maintains the crown in key areas. The A11 Bionic processor is a powerhouse that easily bests the Android competition. ARKit, Apple’s augmented reality platform, uses this processor to bring the world around you to life, and there’s a respectable growing list of apps that are actually useful.
When Apple implements a feature, expect it to become standard.
iOS 11 introduced a drastic and great redesign of the App Store, a faster way to send money through Messages with Apple Pay Cash, and more. It’s all better on the iPhone X, because of the new way to fluidly interact with the operating system with gestures. The animations are slick and satisfying.
Throw in immediate iOS version and security updates for quite a few years, a great camera with fun Portrait Lighting features on both the front and rear lenses, as well as excellent customer support, and the iPhone X a phone that’s nearly unmatched.
The iPhone X is revolutionary. When Apple implements a feature, expect it to become standard not just for the smartphone industry, but for many others: Bezel-less screens, wireless charging, and facial unlocking are the future, and so is the iPhone X.
Read our full iPhone X review
See itRunners up
You may have missed Huawei’s latest offering, the Mate 10 Pro. It’s one of the most beautiful smartphones of 2017, and it hits all the right notes. It’s fast, runs Android 8.0 Oreo, and you can connect it to a TV to launch a productive desktop mode.
Whether you want to shoot in portrait mode, or take photos with the monochrome camera, this phone is versatile. It has a camera we keep wanting to use, and it’s the only phone in its class with a two-day battery life.
In a year where every flagship phone had some flawed features, the Mate 10 Pro excels in every way that counts.
Read our full Huawei Mate 10 Pro review
Almost every major smartphone in 2017 featured a dual-lens camera, but Google managed to have the best with just one on the Pixel 2. It just shows that dual-lens cameras shouldn’t mean an automatic improvement, and it also reveals Google’s software prowess.
Google’s Pixel 2 can match and sometimes beat out the iPhone X’s Portrait Mode — with the selfie or the rear camera — but its dynamic range is where it excels.
An excellent camera is paired with a brilliantly simple software experience, and a guarantee to fast Android version and security updates make this a smartphone that’s tough to beat.
Read our full Pixel 2 review
