Consumer Reports Rates the Best Smartphones on the Market

It’s a high compliment: Consumer Reports has described the Galaxy S7 and S7 edge as not “just Samsung’s best smartphones, but, perhaps, the best smartphones.”

The nonprofit publication ranked these members of the latest generation of Samsung Galaxy phones as No. 1 and No. 2, respectively, out of dozens of cellphones in its latest batch of ratings.

The top smartphones overall were:

• Samsung Galaxy S7
• Galaxy S7 edge
• Galaxy S5
• LG G4
• Galaxy S6 active
• LG G3

The Galaxy S7 earned an overall score of 80 out of 100, followed by the S7 edge and S5, both of which earned a 79.

The LG G4, Samsung Galaxy S6 active and LG G3 each earned a score of 78, putting them one point ahead of the best-rated Apple iPhone models.

Features that helped propel the Galaxy S7 and S7 edge to the top of Consumer Reports’ list include:

• Water resistance and expandable memory (meaning a microSD slot that can support large memory cards), which Samsung did away with for the prior generation of Galaxy phones before reintroducing
• Excellent battery life (the highest of five qualitative scores awarded by Consumer Reports)
• A camera that earned a host of compliments from Consumer Reports, which describes the camera as “terrific” despite its 12.2 megapixels (a downsize from the S6’s 15.9 megapixels) and describes its still-image quality as “ultra-sharp”
• The ability to record video in Ultra HD, also known as 4K

In fact, when Consumer Reports rated the 7 best smartphone cameras, only one outranked the latest generation of Galaxy phones:

1. LG V10
2. Samsung Galaxy S7 edge
3. Samsung Galaxy S7
4. Nexus 6P
5. Nexus 5X
6. Microsoft Lumia 950
7. Motorola Droid Turbo 2

When Consumer Reports rated smartphones with the best battery life, both of the latest Galaxy models made it into the top five:

1. Motorola Droid Turbo (BN)
2. Samsung Galaxy S7 edge
3. Samsung Galaxy S6 active
4. Samsung Galaxy S7
5. Motorola Droid Turbo 2

If you’re in the market for a new cellphone or plan, be sure to do your own comparing before you buy or sign a contract.

Which smartphone would you rate No. 1? Let us know in a comment below or on our Facebook page.