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Ryan Haines / Android Authority
In all the years we’ve been doing a Reader’s Choice Award at Android Authority, we’ve never had a race this exciting. There were multiple twists we didn’t expect and the final winner won by one of the slimmest margins we’ve ever seen. In the end, though, the champion is the Google Pixel 7 Pro, which you have selected as your Reader’s Choice best phone of 2022.
Congratulations to Google for winning this prestigious award. The last time a Google-branded device won our Reader’s Choice award was in 2015, when the Nexus 6P walked away with the crown. But since the first Pixel phone launched in 2016, we’ve never seen a Pixel reign supreme. So this is a momentous year for Google.
But how did this all play out? We’ve summarized the twists and turns of the race below!
Google Pixel 7 Pro
Best Google camera • High-quality display • Big battery
The Pixel 7 Pro is the top-of-the-line phone on Google’s roster.
The Google Pixel 7 Pro takes the best features from the Pixel 6 Pro, and makes them even better. Enjoy numerous camera upgrades and some fun new software tricks, all for the same cost as the last-gen Pixel phone.
Round 1: Fight!
Robert Triggs / Android Authority
In the first round of voting — which started on December 5, 2022 — we pitted 32 smartphones against one another. The match was pretty bloody. Roughly 28% of the phones didn’t get enough votes to break above the 1% margin, leaving just 23 to the fight. Out of all of them, only four were able to escape unscathed and head into the semi-finals. We saw over 3,300 votes during this round.
Aside from the four winners, we saw notable support for some underdogs. Although they wouldn’t become the best smartphone of 2022, the Asus Zenfone 9, Samsung Galaxy S22 Plus, Google Pixel 6a, and Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4 walked away with 3% of the vote each. The Zenfone 9’s success, in particular, is notable when you consider Asus’ comparative stature in the mobile market.
The Nothing Phone 1 also garnered 2% of the vote, which is an impressive feat for a debut phone. The vanilla Galaxy S22 getting 2% of the vote is also notable, considering how much better the Galaxy S22 Ultra did.
You can see a tally of all the percentages below. Please note that the percentages do not all add up to 100% due to rounding.
Phone | Votes | Phone | Votes |
---|---|---|---|
Phone
Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra |
Votes
25% |
Phone
Motorola Edge (2022) |
Votes
1% |
Phone
Google Pixel 7 Pro |
Votes
23% |
Phone
Samsung Galaxy A53 5G |
Votes
1% |
Phone
Google Pixel 7 |
Votes
10% |
Phone
Samsung Galaxy S21 FE |
Votes
1% |
Phone
Apple iPhone 14 Pro |
Votes
9% |
Phone
Sony Xperia 1 IV |
Votes
1% |
Phone
Asus Zenfone 9 |
Votes
3% |
Phone
Sony Xperia 5 IV |
Votes
1% |
Phone
Google Pixel 6a |
Votes
3% |
Phone
Vivo X80 Pro |
Votes
1% |
Phone
Samsung Galaxy S22 Plus |
Votes
3% |
Phone
Xiaomi 12 |
Votes
1% |
Phone
Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4 |
Votes
3% |
Phone
Motorola Razr (2022) |
Votes
0% |
Phone
Apple iPhone 14 |
Votes
2% |
Phone
OnePlus 10T |
Votes
0% |
Phone
Nothing Phone 1 |
Votes
2% |
Phone
Oppo Find X5 Pro |
Votes
0% |
Phone
OnePlus 10 Pro |
Votes
2% |
Phone
Poco X4 Pro |
Votes
0% |
Phone
Samsung Galaxy S22 |
Votes
2% |
Phone
Poco F4 GT |
Votes
0% |
Phone
Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 4 |
Votes
2% |
Phone
Realme GT 2 Pro |
Votes
0% |
Phone
Asus ROG Phone 6 |
Votes
1% |
Phone
Redmi Note 11 |
Votes
0% |
Phone
Honor Magic 4 Pro |
Votes
1% |
Phone
Samsung Galaxy A23 5G |
Votes
0% |
Phone
Huawei Mate 50 Pro |
Votes
1% |
Phone
ZTE Axon 40 Ultra |
Votes
0% |
Round 2: Semi-finals
Robert Triggs / Android Authority
With the elimination round complete, we started the semi-finals on December 6, 2022. This saw four heavyweights battling it out for the chance to be crowned the best smartphone of 2022. Those phones were the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra, Google Pixel 7 Pro, Apple iPhone 14 Pro, and Google Pixel 7.
Many of our readers were no doubt surprised that the Apple iPhone 14 Pro made it to the semi-finals. Not only did it make it, but it exited the semi-finals in third place with a solid 15% of the vote. That put it well ahead of the fourth place contender, the Pixel 7, which landed with 12% of the vote. It’s clear that plenty of our readers like iPhones!
Of course, only two phones could walk away the winners of this round, and those two were the Galaxy S22 Ultra in first place and the Pixel 7 Pro in second. At this point, we thought the Galaxy S22 Ultra was a shoo-in, considering it had emerged on top of both the elimination round and this semi-final round. Samsung had also won six out of the last seven Reader’s Choice awards dating back to 2015 — surely another win was guaranteed, right?
There were still plenty of surprises, though!
Phone | Votes |
---|---|
Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra |
39% |
Google Pixel 7 Pro |
34% |
Apple iPhone 14 Pro |
15% |
Google Pixel 7 |
12% |
The finals: The best smartphone of 2022 according to you
By December 7, 2022, we had whittled down the competition to just two devices: the Galaxy S22 Ultra and the Pixel 7 Pro. So far, the Galaxy S22 Ultra was two-for-two in wins with the Pixel 7 Pro relegated to second place each time. Naturally, we expected that trend to continue and for the Samsung device to emerge victorious.
Unbelievably, the Pixel 7 Pro skirted by the Galaxy S22 Ultra to become the new reigning champion. Although the Galaxy S22 Ultra won the vote on Instagram and Facebook, it lost at Android Authority by a significant margin — 11%, actually. When we combined all the votes, that lead helped it stay in first by a slim margin, with it getting 52% of the overall vote. That left the Galaxy S22 Ultra with just 48%, and gave the crown to Google.
Phone | Votes |
---|---|
Google Pixel 7 Pro |
52% |
Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra |
48% |
Honestly, this is one of the closest races we’ve seen for any Reader’s Choice award. Both phones are clearly terrific and our readers are quite passionate about them. Only one can walk away the champion, though, so congratulations again to the Google Pixel 7 Pro, the best smartphone of 2022 according to Android Authority readers!
You’ve had your say, now we’re going to have ours! Check back with us tomorrow to find out which phone won our Editor’s Choice award for the best phone of 2022!
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