For your pound of flesh ($1,200) you get the A16 Bionic chip, 256GB of storage and just 6GB of RAM. I say only 6 GB of RAM because most Android flagship phones offer between 8 and 16 GB of RAM. If you also choose to go all out and get an iPhone 14 Pro Max with 1 TB of storage, you’re looking at spending $1,600 before tax.
Of course, the iPhone 14 Pro Max has great battery life, takes good pictures and records excellent videos. However, it is not the king of achievements it once was, with Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra crushing it in recent benchmark comparisons. Unfortunately, the S23 Ultra will also cost you a leg – and it’s not the best value in the flagship phone segment by a long shot.
Consumers today are more budget conscious in these uncertain economic times, so spending over $1,000 on a phone might not be the best idea. However, we’ve compiled a list of five phones that will satisfy your power-hungry content creation needs, costing you between $500 and $999. Doing so will save you hundreds of dollars that you could spend on things like eating out this week and paying for the separation therapy you might need after possibly. switch to Android (no worries, we have an Apple option).
With all that said, let’s look at five phones that will save you money while delivering a flagship experience.
OnePlus 11
OnePlus 11 specifications
Price: $699
OS: Android
Screen size: 6.7 inch AMOLED
Screen resolution: 1440 x 3216
CPU: Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2
RAM: 8GB & 16GB options
Storage: 128GB and 256GB option
Rear Cameras: 50 MP Ultra-Wide + 48 MP Main Camera + 8 MP Telephoto Hasselblad Tuned
Front camera: 16MP
Size: 6.4 x 2.9 x 0.34 inches
Weight: 7.23 ounces
For under $700, you can grab a OnePlus 11 that lives up to the motto “Never Settle.” A lot of people still need to learn more about OnePlus and I hope this changes in 2023 because they produce some serious flagship-level phones at prices that won’t break your budget.
The OnePlus 11 offers performance on par with most other Android flagship phones, battery life that rivals the iPhone, a beautiful AMOLED 6.7-inch display that’s only surpassed by Samsung, and fast charging that still blows away any of the competition in the US.
The OnePlus 11 also comes with a set of cameras fine-tuned by Hasselblad, the ultra-advanced camera company that co-developed the 10 Pro’s camera array with OnePlus. The primary wide-angle camera is still 48 MP f/1.8 Sony IMX789 exclusive to OnePlus. There’s a 32-megapixel telephoto at f/2.4. The ultra-wide is a 48MP f/2.2 with a dramatic 115-degree field of view. We close with a 32MP front-facing selfie camera powered by a Sony IMX615 sensor.
The setup works well and there have been improvements to the cameras, but it falls short of the low-light performance and telephoto zoom lens of the Pixel 7 Pro, iPhone 14 Pro or Galaxy S23 series, but not by much as OnePlus is closing the gap quickly.
But for under $700, the OnePlus 11 Pro can keep up with the likes of Apple, Pixel, and Samsung phones while saving you tons of money and providing an excellent user experience.
See our full OnePlus 11 review.
Google Pixel 7 Pro
Specifications of Google Pixel 7 Pro
Google Pixel 7 Pro
Price: $899
OS: Android
Screen size: 6.7 inch AMOLED
Specifications Screen resolution: 1440 x 3120
CPU: Google Tensor
RAM: 8GB & 12GB options
Storage: 128 GB up to 512 GB
Rear camera: 50 MP main camera + 48 MP telephoto + 12 MP Ultra-Wide
Front camera: 10.8 MP
Size: 6.41 x 3.02 x 0.35 inches
Weight: 7.48 ounces
Ounce for ounce and dollar for dollar, the Google Pixel 7 Pro ($899) is one of the best Android phones available today.
It comes with one of the best camera apps and editing tools available on any phone. Yes, it has default settings like panorama, night mode and portrait. It also comes with Photo Unblur and Magic Eraser which work wonderfully. Let’s face it – most users’ smartphones are their camera of choice, and being able to edit your photos and videos instantly is a huge plus. Few others do as well as the Pixel 7 Pro at this price point.
Google even has its silicon, the Tensor chip, which is an excellent performer. The Pixel 7 Pro offers consumers 8GB of RAM or 12GB and either 128GB, 256GB or 512GB of storage. The Pixel 7 Pro has a 50MP wide-angle lens, a 12MP ultra-wide-angle lens and a 48MP telephoto lens with 5x optical zoom and 30x SuperRes Zoom. So it has the specs to go head to head with the iPhone 14 Pro or Galaxy 23 Ultra.
iPhone 13 Pro Max (Best Buy)
iPhone 13 Pro Max specifications
Price: $999.99
OS: iOS 16
Screen size: 6.7-inch Super Retina XDR display
Specifications Screen resolution: 2778 x 1284
CPU: Apple A15 Bionic
RAM: 6GB
Storage: 128GB up to 1TB
Rear Camera: 12MP Ultra-Wide+ 12MP Main Camera + 12MP Telephoto
Front camera: 12MP
Size: 6.33 x 3.07 x 0.30 inches
Weight: 8.47 ounces
So you want an iPhone 14 Pro Max, but you don’t have over $1,100 right now. Just buy the 13 Pro Max. It’s almost the same phone – run them through Ancestry.com and 90% of their DNA would be the same. The iPhone 13 Pro Max is still a powerful flagship phone. No, it doesn’t have the iPhone 14 Pro Max’s 48-megapixel wide-angle camera, crash detection or satellite connectivity to make calls if you’re lost in the wilderness, but come on, how often has that happened to you?
iPhone13 Pro Max comes with a Pro camera system with 12 MP telephoto, wide and ultra-wide cameras; a LiDAR scanner; a 3x optical zoom range; macro photography; Photographic styles; ProRes; Smart video, Smart HDR 4; night mode; Apple ProRAW; 4K Dolby Vision HDR recording 12MP TrueDepth front camera with night mode, 4K Dolby Vision HDR recording.
Honestly, even though the iPhone 14 Pro Max has a new primary camera sensor, it’s still not the leap in performance that I was looking for. I’m still holding on to my iPhone 11 because it hasn’t been worth the money to upgrade.
Again, grabbing a 13 Pro Max will save you a few hundred dollars, and you’ll still own a powerful flagship with software support that will last for years.
Samsung Galaxy S23+
Samsung Galaxy S23+ specifications
Price: $999 (Amazon)
OS: Android
Screen size: 6.6 inch AMOLED
Specifications Screen resolution: 1080 x 2340
CPU: Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2
RAM: 8GB
Storage: 256GB to 512GB
Quad rear camera: 50 MP main camera + 12 MP Ultra-Wide + 10 MP telephoto
Front camera: 12MP
Size: 6.21 x 3.00 x 0.30 inches
Weight: 6.91 ounces
Sometimes it’s a bit difficult to tell the S23 series apart, and that’s fine as it’s a great design that works, feels great in the hand and comes with excellent performance. The S23+ also comes in lavender, green, black and cream.
We know Samsung’s design is beautiful, but if you want to know if it’s powerful, the answer is yes. It comes with the latest Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 you’ll find in the S23 Ultra and the OnePlus 11. It also has a gorgeous FHD+ (1080 x 2340) AMOLED display running at 120Hz that will render videos smoothly. It can also reach 1,750 nits of brightness, ensuring that your screen is visible even in the brightest daylight.
With a triple rear camera system that remains the same as the previous generation, the main camera has a 50 megapixel sensor followed by a 10 MP telephoto and a 12 MP ultrawide. However, the S23+ has a new 12MP sensor with f/2.2 aperture and an 80-degree field of view for the front-facing selfie camera.
We didn’t receive a review unit, so we don’t have an actual battery test score to share, but it’s rated for up to 27 hours of battery life. However, its sibling, the S23 Ultra, lasted 12 hours and 22 minutes in our tests, and we expect similar results for the S23+.
Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra (Amazon)
Specifications of the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra
Price: $958
OS: Android
Screen size: 6.8 inches Dynamic AMOLED
Specifications Screen resolution: 1440 x 3088
CPU: Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1
RAM: 8GB & 12GB options
Storage space: 128 up to 1 TB
Quad rear camera: 108 MP main camera + 12 MP Ultra-Wide + 10 MP periscope telephoto 10 MP telephoto
Front camera: 40MP
Size: 6.4 3 x 3.07 x 0.35 inches
Weight: 8.04 ounces
Like the iPhone 13 Pro Max, this Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra, even after a year on the market, remains an excellent flagship phone.
The S23 and S22 Ultra are 6.8-inch AMOLED display beasts with excellent battery life, lively performance, solid camera performance, Snapdragon chips and up to 1TB of storage. They also both come with Samsung’s excellent S Pen.
Why spend $1,200+ on a Galaxy S23 Ultra when you can get so many of the same features for under $1,000? Thanks to Samsung’s unique four generations of Android OS updates and five years of security updates, your S22 Ultra will receive Android updates through 2025 and security updates through 2026.
Save the money now, and in three years you can upgrade to the Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra, which will probably be able to transform into a drone or a car.
You can’t go wrong with the Samsung S22 Ultra; it looks almost exactly like the S23 Ultra. Your friends won’t know the difference.
Final thoughts
You won’t go wrong with any of these five flagship-worthy phones; I just want to make sure you understand and know what your true needs are. If you don’t care about photography and don’t need the best cameras either, a mid-range or even budget phone might be a better choice for you while saving a lot of money.
When you go in, you should know your budget and your exact needs. The best advice I can give you is to buy a phone that fulfills them without worrying about the latest hyped phone.