normal flagships 2024

Xiaomi 14

The best compact flagship for most people, better than S24 and iPhone 15 in hardware(including camera).

All 3 cameras perform well, great battery, and 90w charging. HyperOS is a very welcome improvement in UI.

Pros:

Cons:

The dual speakers perform really well, especially considering the size.
A gorgeous 12bit 6.36in display, gets very bright and plenty of clarity.
Carries on the same 90w charging from 14 ultra, charges to full in under 40 mins.
All 3 cameras perform great. Especially the main and telephoto, performing really well even in low light. Much better when compared to the competition.
Its 4600mah battery beats out the 14 ultra and is better than most ultra flagships on moderate use(not under heavy usage).
HyperOS performs really well, animations are improved, and performance is more stable.
Leica filters help in capturing pictures based on your preferences, without manually customizing the camera settings.
HyperOS adds a lot of features and customizations, and a comprehensive photo editor built-in. A phone that you'll not get bored of easily.

The phone heats up under heavy load. Due to the smaller size, cooling system is also not as effective.
If you use it for everyday apps like social media, some camera, and media consumption then you won't notice it as much unless you live in a hot climate. If you play games, or do other stressful tasks, this will be noticeable.
Again, not a con per se, but HyperOS can be overwhelming for first time users coming from stock android or iPhone.

Choose your flagship

Note: the phones are not in order from best to worst, its upto your needs what makes one better than other.

Oneplus 12

If you don't mind a bigger phone, this is the best flagship in this segment. Oneplus recently had issues with motherboard failures in 9 & 10 series, so I'd look out for that. But otherwise, this is a complete package, with an amazingly long-lasting battery.

Pros:

Battery life beats out most flagships, except iPhone 15 pro max.
Charging is very fast, 100w takes less than 30 mins to go from 0-100.
A big bright display, with great speakers, and cooling is improved.
The front camera has been improved a lot, compared to op11.
The new OxygenOS takes a lot of inspiration from ColoroS, which some people may not like. But regardless, it is packed with features and improved animations all around the system.
The 50w wireless charging is back, along with reverse wireless charging.
All 3 cameras are good. Low light pictures have been improved drastically. Carrying on the low light enhancements from Find X series.

Cons:

Oneplus' long-term reliability is being questioned again with the recent motherboard failure on the 9 and 10 series. A year after they finally got off from the widespread green line issues.
The video recording hasn't improved. While its not bad, it's not as good as the competition either.
OxygenOS is now much heavier, compared to older oneplus phones. For people who want a clean and stockish experience, they should look elsewhere.
The device can be quite big for many, standing at 6.82inches, it is heavier than many ultra flagships at 220gms. If you're going to use a case and tempered, then it's going to become pretty heavy and thick to carry around. An upside to this is that you'll not easily forget your heavy phone.

Honor 200 pro

Excellent main camera, the same as Magic 6 pro for half the price. Good battery life with 66w wireless charging, and a 2.5x telephoto specially crafted for taking portraits.

Pros:

This is a camera centric phone and rightly so. The main and portrait camera take excellent shots in all lighting conditions. A lot of AI based optimizations and filters for portraits.
8s gen 3 performs well, the overall performance is smooth and heat generation is controlled pretty well.
MagicOS is improved, many new features added and optimizations have been improved a lot. AI is being integrated into the UI, adding a lot of new features.
Despite being just a 12mp sensor, the ultrawide takes great pictures if you're not zooming in too much looking for the faults.
A much improved night mode, takes great pictures in low light while noise is very low.
The front camera comes with an additional depth sensor, which helps in selfies.

Cons:

Ultrawide sensor could have been better given the price point, but its still good for social media sharing.
While MagicOS is great and improved, it still needs a lot more optimization to be as good as some other competitors.
The background blur in pictures, especially portraits, gives mixed results. Sometimes blurring the human subjects from sides and ruining the picture.
While battery life is great, its not the great battery life you'd expect from a 5200mah capacity.
Charging is fast, upto 80% in 30 mins, but again falls short of the claim "100w" when oneplus and xiaomi charge faster with the same 100w. Perhaps to avoid heating the battery, the voltage is lowered automatically.
Speakers are loud but quality is pretty average.

A performance focused flagship with great cooling, great cameras, and 120w charging.

It finally gets ingress rating, although only at ip64.
The battery lasts long, and unlike other performance focused phones, this performs good in other aspects all.

Just like S24 ultra, this was one of the best flagships last year. In some markets, it's still available and that too for in the $800-$900 range. Making this a great option for those who don't want to spend a premium on S24 ultra.

It also has a better 10x camera compared to the 5x on s24 ultra.

The best motorola phone. Great main camera, a proper 3x periscope lens, and a 50mp ultrawide.

You get stock android, with moto features. A proper desktop mode and PC connectivity features, something that many others in this segment lack.

A proper ip68 rating, and a wooden back option.

Iqoo 12

Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra

Motorola Edge 50 ultra

Pros:

Very good performance, good heat management, and sustained performance is great. One of the better phones for gaming.
All 3 cameras are great, especially the main camera. The night mode is improved for all 3 lenses.
A full charge in mere 25 mins, the 120w is ridiculously fast especially when paired with good cooling.
Great display, and can offer accurate colors depending on the color mode you choose.
Funtouch OS has improved a lot from where it used to be, 3 years of OS updates.

Cons:

This is not really a con, just nit-picking, but it's only ip64. Could have been better.
To keep the price down, a lot of pre-installed apps are there out of hte box. Which are quite annoying, especially with their notifications. Good thing they can be un-installed.
One of the places where cost-cutting has been done is the selfie camera. Like many others in this segment, selfie camera is cheaped out to give good specs to price ration.
Cameras are really good, but oneplus, Xiaomi, and honor provide better cameras around the same price range.

Pros:

A complete ultra phone, no compromises and constant price drops in sale.
Very similar to S24 ultra, 8 gen 2 for galaxy performs great, for normal usage there will be no issues at all.
One of the best battery life in flagships. Has bypass charging and the same 45w charging speed as S24 ultra.
It got Galaxy AI features via updates, more to come in the future.
S-pen is really useful for productivity and for drawing/editing.
Will get updates for 3 more years and security updates for 5 years. More than enough for most users, will easily last 5 years.
Great screen, better than the competition in this segment. Along with proper ip68 protection.
A better 10x camera than s24 ultra.

Cons:

Very big, not for people with small hands.
8 gen 3 performs anywhere from 10-30% better depending on the task, so if you're looking for the latest and greatest then your best bet is to look at other options.
For this price, there really are no other compromises, unlike others in this price.

Pros:

A no bullshit software experience. You get stock android with very slight changes and optimizations, along with some pretty useful moto apps. Smooth experience all around the OS.
A proper ip68 rating, something that many in this segment skip.
All 3 cameras take great pictures, the night mode is improved.
Improved front camera compared to the 50 pro, takes great pictures.
A good display, with aggressively curved screen on both sides.
Battery life is great, one of the best in this segment despite the capacity being only 4500mah. Thanks to the stock-ish android.
The fastest charging you'll find. 0-100 charging in less than 25 mins. Faster charging than the 120w iqoo 12, not just in numbers but also in real life.
The better phone for connectivity and productivity with its plethora of 'Readyfor' features built into smart-connect.

Cons:

8s gen 3. Oneplus 12, Iqoo 12, and xiaomi 14 all have 8 gen 3. While 8s gen 3 isnt bad, but even last years 8 gen 2 phones will perform better.
The phones battery while good, suffers under heavy usage. If you're someone who uses their phone heavily, you should look elsewhere.
Another reason this phone is bad for heavy usage or gaming, is heat generation. Cooling seems to be ignore by motorola.
4500mah battery will deteriorate faster since the maximum capacity is already low, it will drop battery heatlh at a fast year after 2 years. Combining that with the fact it heats up easily.
This phone is targeted towards light users with productivity features, who want a stock android experience. If you're a power user look elsewhere.