Best-sounding phones and tablets we tested in 2025
The top speakers among compact flagships
In stark contrast to the mid-range category, choosing the best-sounding compact flagship was easier. Firstly, in 2025, we reviewed fewer than a dozen phones that could be considered compact flagships. And among those, Apple continues to fit the best speakers in its smartphones.
Among all the compact flagships we reviewed in 2025, our top pick for speaker quality is the Apple iPhone 17 Pro. The iPhone 17's performance was quite close but not entirely identical.
The Google Pixel 10 Pro had a much better showing this year and even ranked slightly higher than the Galaxy S25 and Xiaomi 15, but ultimately, the three phones are no match for the iPhones in this category.
The exhaustive list of devices considered for this category includes the vivo X300, Apple iPhone 17, Apple iPhone 17 Pro, Google Pixel 10, Google Pixel 10 Pro, vivo X200 FE, Samsung Galaxy S25, and the Xiaomi 15.
