Best flagship killers 2026 - buyer’s guide

The Xiaomi 15T Pro is a solid all-rounder that's easy to recommend. It is an excellent phone that can deliver impressive value for your money. It offers superb performance, great display, stellar battery life and an excellent camera - meaning top marks in each of the big 4.

The Leica cooperation is paying off, as all rear cameras (50MP main, 50MP 3x tele/macro, 12MP UW) deliver outstanding photo and video quality day and night.

Admittedly, if selfies are of utmost importance, one of the niche areas becomes more of a pressing issue.

Long story short - the Xiaomi 15T Pro is a very competent offering with a compelling set of flagship-grade capabilities and it’s one of the, if not the best phone you can get for about €640. A flagship killer, if you will.

The Poco F8 Pro is an excellent all-rounder with just one misstep - the overall camera experience. We are glad its retail price has gone down in the past few weeks, making its flagship-grade body, screen and performance accessible to the masses.

The overall greatness of the F8 Pro is quite enticing, making the camera trade-off easily justifiable. The handset has dependable battery life, excellent screen, snappy charging, and there aren't many phones in this price range offering a Snapdragon 8 Elite chipset.

Now priced at about €500 or less, the Poco F8 Pro can easily be considered as a flagship killer if you are not that picky about camera quality. While not our top pick in this category, it sure is the most powerful phone in its price range.

The Galaxy S25 FE brings a couple of upgrades over its predecessor, and it's a generally well-rounded phone. The device has a sleek, solid build, excellent display, good performance and a versatile camera setup, albeit not ideal. The main and selfie cameras are definitely solid performers in the class. Last but not least, Samsung is promising 7 major OS upgrades. The package as a whole is a rather enticing option for the US.

However, you can find more powerful phones with better cameras, and many of the S25 FE's competitors excel in battery life and charging speed, which are two aspects in which the Fan Edition is not particularly good at.

The base version of the Galaxy S25 FE now costs about €500, which is a super competitive price for a smartphone with last year’s flagship hardware. Which does not make it exactly a flagship, but a solid contender for the flagship killer category. And that’s why it’s here.

Motorola has always managed to strike a pretty good value mix with its Edge series, at least in our opinion. This year, the formula for the Pro has been tweaked somewhat, and both upgrades and downgrades are involved.

There is a lot to like here. For instance, the very bright, 10-bit, HDR10+ capable display, the very nice stereo speaker system with Dolby Atmos, the overall good camera quality with the special highlight on the new 50MP ultrawide camera and the dedicated 3x telephoto, the powerful Dimensity 8350 chipset with fast UFS 4.0 storage and the large 6,000 mAh Si/C battery.

On the flip side, there are some downgrades from the Edge 50 Pro, like the plastic frame, the 120Hz refresh rate (down from 144Hz), the selfie camera no longer has autofocus, and the charging speed has also decreased from last year's 125W wired and 50W wireless to 90W wired and only 15W wireless. Of course, some of these might have been the tradeoffs needed in pursuing longer battery life, and we don't think there are any dealbreakers here.

With the Edge 60 Pro, Motorola has come up with a nicely balanced smartphone, which is worth considering for your purchase list.

The Honor 400 Pro is a near-perfect all-rounder. The camera system punches above its class, battery life is dependable even if not exceptional, the display checks all the boxes, charging is faster than most, and the loudspeakers sound nice. Honor also promises "six years of software upgrades" (potentially six major OS updates), which is up there with the best. Let’s not forget the excellent camera performance across the board.

Our only complaint is the chipset. While the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 isn't inherently a bad chipset, you could easily get a device with the Snapdragon 8 Elite in this price bracket. Now priced at about €550, the Honor 400 Pro easily ventures into flagship killer, or even full-fledged flagship, territory, making it tougher to compete.

The Honor 400 Pro is worth considering for its many premium features and flagship traits.

The OnePlus 15R with its recent price cuts has begun to look like a proper flagship killer, packing plenty of top-notch features.

The 15R offers a likable and durable design that can be universally praised. Then there is the bright HDR display with a smooth refresh rate. Our positive impressions were topped off with absolutely incredible battery life. Of course, we cannot but mention the powerful speakers, fast charging, and the more than adequate raw and sustained performance.

Cameras have become a pillar across modern smartphones, and the OnePlus 15R's main camera offers superb photo and video quality across the board, plus incredibly solid video stabilization. The selfies turned out pretty good, and that basic 8MP ultrawide shooter saves above-average daylight photos.

Some of the things we didn't particularly like are the limited use for the 165Hz refresh rate support and the lack of a proper telephoto camera - cheaper phones have better specs right now. And there is no wireless charging support, a feature that is quite popular in the US market.

But that's about it. The OnePlus 15R is a very good smartphone, ticking all the right boxes and delivering on every promise.

The Realme 16 Pro+ is a mid-range phone with a flagship-grade camera kit, and that’s why it has made its way to our shortlist.

If Realme's goal was to offer one of the best camera experiences in this class, we can confidently say it achieved it. The outstanding battery life is another standout feature. The display may not be the best, but it's solid nonetheless, providing a good viewing experience outdoors. The loudspeakers leave more to be desired, though.

In case you are not into mobile photography that much, but value raw performance and charging speed highly, there are more sensible solutions at a much lower price.