The best smartphones of 2026 are elite — and expensive

Source Domain: mashable.com

Every year, Apple, Samsung, and Google grace us with plenty of great handsets across the price spectrum. This year is different in one notable way, however. Thanks to RAMageddon, even budget phones are getting more expensive.

If you want something good for under $500, you can still get that. But if you want a true flagship device or a bendy screen, you’ll have to set aside $1,000 to $2,000 and up.

The year is almost halfway through, so we thought we would celebrate the greatest smartphone achievements of the year to date. Here are the five best smartphones of 2026 so far, in no particular order.

Best flagship: Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra

‘Ultra’ is right.
Credit: Chris Taylor/Mashable

Putting together a “best smartphones of the year” list in June is a bit difficult because most companies wait until the back half of the calendar year to unleash their flagships. Samsung is not most companies.

The Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra is the best flagship of the year so far, almost by default, but that doesn’t mean it’s undeserving. This is a powerhouse of an Android handset, with a huge 6.9-inch display with a 120Hz refresh rate, an excellent camera array, and a massive 5,000mAh battery that keeps it chugging all day long. It’s also chock full of Samsung’s latest AI features, if you’re into that, and it stands out from the competition by including an S Pen stylus for your note-taking needs. Yes, $1,199 is a lot for a phone, but you get what you pay for, in this case.