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 massively fashionable tech YouTuber Marques Brownlee, often known 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 is just not 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 crucial lovely and controversial merchandise of the entire yr.” The iPhone 17 was a spectacular success, successful Most Improved and the general Telephone of the 12 months award (“All of the iPhone anybody actually ever wants”), and even receiving honourable mentions within the Greatest Worth and Greatest Small Telephone classes. And whereas the iPhone 17 Professional didn’t win any awards, it was additionally singled out for reward within the Greatest Small Telephone and Greatest Digicam classes, within the latter of which it was known as the “undisputed king of video.”
Sadly, the iPhone 16e obtained solely detrimental consideration, successful the “award” for Bust of the 12 months 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, mainly by taking issues out of the bottom telephone,” Brownlee defined. “So we’ve got a binned A18 chip in right here. Wonderful. It’s additionally a smaller, 60Hz show with a notch. Wonderful. 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 introduced, and properly price a watch. I’ll submit an inventory of winners under, however the true worth of the video is the reasons of why every telephone was chosen, and their significance inside wider trade modifications. I like to recommend you give it a watch.
Greatest Massive Telephone
- Xiaomi 17 Professional Max
- Honorable point out: Oppo Discover X9 Professional
Greatest Small Telephone
- Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 7
- Honorable point out: OnePlus 13S, iPhone 17 and 17 Professional, Xiaomi 17 Professional
Greatest Digicam
- Oppo Discover X9 Professional
- Honorable point out: iPhone 17 Professional, Vivo X300 Professional
Greatest Worth
- CMF Telephone 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 12 months
- iPhone 16e
- Dishonorable point out: Nothing Telephone 3
Telephone of the 12 months
- iPhone 17
- Honorable point out: Xiaomi 17 Professional Max