It’s December, and meaning we will anticipate a slew of end-of-year awards options–which is normally excellent news for large firms like Apple. However not all awards, it seems, are optimistic.
The vastly fashionable tech YouTuber Marques Brownlee, also referred to as MKBHD, this week posted his Smartphone Awards 2025, and Apple topped 4 out of 10 classes. It’s simply that a kind of classes shouldn’t be a class you need to be in.
On the plus facet, there was loads of reward for 2025’s iPhone lineup. The iPhone Air picked up the award for Greatest Design, with Brownlee describing it as “one of the vital stunning and controversial merchandise of the entire yr.” The iPhone 17 was a spectacular success, successful Most Improved and the general Cellphone of the Yr award (“All of the iPhone anybody actually ever wants”), and even receiving honourable mentions within the Greatest Worth and Greatest Small Cellphone classes. And whereas the iPhone 17 Professional didn’t win any awards, it was additionally singled out for reward within the Greatest Small Cellphone and Greatest Digital camera classes, within the latter of which it was known as the “undisputed king of video.”
Sadly, the iPhone 16e acquired solely unfavourable consideration, successful the “award” for Bust of the Yr and a scathing diatribe about its litany of compromises and insultingly mid-market price ticket. “In order that they made a smaller, much less premium iPhone, principally by taking issues out of the bottom cellphone,” Brownlee defined. “So we’ve a binned A18 chip in right here. Nice. It’s additionally a smaller, 60Hz show with a notch. Nice. However then they stored going…”
In the end, he concluded that the iPhone 16e was “only a loopy swing and a miss.” (We’re inclined to agree.)
The awards, like all of Brownlee’s movies, are extraordinarily properly produced and offered, and properly value a watch. I’ll put up a listing of winners under, however the actual worth of the video is the reasons of why every cellphone was chosen, and their significance inside wider business modifications. I like to recommend you give it a watch.
Greatest Huge Cellphone
- Xiaomi 17 Professional Max
- Honorable point out: Oppo Discover X9 Professional
Greatest Small Cellphone
- Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 7
- Honorable point out: OnePlus 13S, iPhone 17 and 17 Professional, Xiaomi 17 Professional
Greatest Digital camera
- Oppo Discover X9 Professional
- Honorable point out: iPhone 17 Professional, Vivo X300 Professional
Greatest Worth
- CMF Cellphone 2 Professional
- Honorable point out: Moto G Play, Pixel 9a, iPhone 17
Greatest Battery
- OnePlus 15
- Honorable point out: OnePlus 13, Xiaomi 17 Professional Max, Doogee S200 Extremely
Greatest Design
- iPhone Air
- Honorable point out: Xiaomi 17 Professional Max, Galaxy S25 Edge, Fairphone 6
Greatest Foldable
- Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7
- Honorable point out: Pixel 10 Professional Fold, Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 7
Most Improved
- iPhone 17
- Honorable point out: OnePlus 15, Samsung Galazy Z Fold 7
Bust of the Yr
- iPhone 16e
- Dishonorable point out: Nothing Cellphone 3
Cellphone of the Yr
- iPhone 17
- Honorable point out: Xiaomi 17 Professional Max
