Best Nokia phone 2024: Find the finest Nokia smartphone for you

Nokia topped the mobile phone market for a decade around the turn of the millennium but, with the rise of the iPhone and then Android, it seemed as though they just didn’t understand the smartphone market and they nearly disappeared from view. The smartphone market can be brutal, and making phones that can regain lost market share is a tall order. Nokia certainly seems to have achieved it. Their phones are definitely worth considering again, with their best phones proudly standing shoulder-to-shoulder with workhorse handsets from the other big brands.

We’ve tested thousands of phones over the years and, even without our rigorous battery of tests, we can tell a good phone from a bad one. There’s no Nokia nostalgia at play here – if the phone’s no good, we won’t sugarcoat it.

Below, you’ll find a roundup of the best Nokia phones that the Finnish brand has to offer for contemporary customers. Nokia may not have the market dominance it once had, but this underdog is fighting back and rising fast. All of the phones we’ve highlighted here are worth your attention.

Best Nokia phone: At a glance

How we test Nokia smartphones

Every smartphone we review is tested against our list of benchmarks. We begin with performance and GPU testing, where we use the Geekbench and GFXBench apps available on the Google Play store. These tests provide us with performance figures which we can use to directly compare the phones against their predecessors and similarly priced competitors.

Next, we test a Nokia phone’s screen using a display colorimeter and DisplayCal software. This data lets us know how colour-accurate the display is, as well as the peak brightness and contrast.

After charging the phone up to 100%, we perform our battery rundown test. This consists of playing a 20-hour looped video with the screen set to a standardised brightness and data connections switched off. We let this run the phone dry, then charge it back up and record the timestamp where the video left off.

Finally, we test all of the shooting modes available in the camera app, putting each camera sensor through its paces via low-light tests, portrait shots (using both front and rear cameras) and landscape photography. We also test the various video recording settings on offer.

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The best Nokia smartphones you can buy in 2024

1. Nokia G42 5G: Best Nokia Phone

Price when reviewed: £200 | Check price at Amazon

• Great for… performance, repairability, and battery life
• Not so great for… display quality and long-term updates

Replacing the Nokia G50, the G42 5G is a great mid-range phone that carries over the novel repairability features of Nokia’s G22, meaning that you can easily replace a worn-out battery or repair a broken charging port, for example.

In our opinion, this is the best all-around phone that Nokia offers, without a doubt. It might not be the best in any particular category when taken in isolation but, as an overall package, it gave us very little to complain about. Regardless of its mid-range price, this should be enough phone for anyone: it has a competent camera, a fairly mediocre – yet still quite acceptable display – and great battery life. Unless you’re a mobile phone enthusiast, what more do you really need?

Our biggest gripe with the G42 is that Nokia only promises it two OS updates, which does seem counter to the whole concept of having a more repairable phone. Nonetheless, if it’s a Nokia you want, the G42 is what we’d recommend.

Read the full Nokia G42 5G review for more details

Key specs – Processor: Octa-core 2.2Ghz Qualcomm Snapdragon 480+ 5G; Display: 6.56in, 720 x 1,612; Storage: 128GB; Cameras: 50MP, 2MP (macro), 2MP (depth), 2MP (macro); Operating system: Android 13; Weight: 193.8g

2. Nokia C21 Plus: Best budget Nokia

Price when reviewed: £110 | Check price at Amazon

• Great for… being on a tight budget
• Not so great for… long-term needs

This is super cheap for a new smartphone so, if saving money is the aim of the game, you’ll struggle to do better than the Nokia C21 Plus – flagship features and premium componentry may be lost, but you get excellent value.

The phone runs Android 11 Go. You’ll find a large 6.52in screen on the front and two decent cameras on the back, and it’s all packaged in a robust, plastic chassis. There may only be 32GB of storage but there’s space for a microSD card to expand things much further. Fetching an Expert Reviews Recommended award during its full review, we really couldn’t knock this one too much given its price – virtually unbeatable as things stand.

Like a few of the phones on this list, the C21 is getting on a bit in years, so it’s probably a good idea to check whether something newer in the series has come out by the time you read this. However, either way, it’s still hard to beat this phone for being a bargain.

Read out full Nokia C21 Plus review for more details

Key specs – Processor: Quad-core 1.6GHz Unisoc SC9836A; Display: 6.52in, 1,600 x 720; Storage: 32GB; Cameras: 13MP, 2MP (depth); Operating system: Android 11 Go; Weight: 178g

3. Nokia G50: Best big-screen Nokia

Price when reviewed: £130 | Check price at Amazon

• Great for… big screen lovers
• Not so great for… smaller hands

There was a time when phones were tiny, but now so many are supersized. If that’s how you prefer your smartphone, or if your larger-than-life hands simply require a bigger handset, then the massive 6.82in screen on this Nokia G50 should suit you down to the ground. The G50 has been superseded by the G42 but, depending what you’re looking for, it’s still worth considering as an alternative since the two don’t quite cater to the same audience.

Other than its size, what stood out for us was the quality of the G50’s cameras for the price: you get a 48MP main lens, a 5MP ultrawide and a 2MP depth sensor. Expand its 64GB storage using a decent microSD card and you’ll be able to use those lenses almost without limits. The Snapdragon 480 processor is pretty great value too, since this same chipset can be found in more expensive Nokias, such as the X20 and XR20. Plus, its 5G compatibility may sneak it ahead of other similarly priced rivals, like the Poco X3 NFC.

Read the full Nokia G50 review for more details

Key specs – Processor: Octa-core 2GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 480 5G; Display: 6.82in, 720 x 1,560; Storage: 64GB/128GB; Cameras: 48MP, 5MP (ultrawide), 2MP (depth); Operating system: Android 11; Weight: 220g

4. Nokia XR20: Best rugged Nokia phone

Price when reviewed: £236 | Check price at Amazon

• Great for… clumsy people or those who work outdoors
• Not so great for… those looking for the best specs

In the market for a near-indestructible phone? Nokia probably already came to mind, but perhaps you had a mental image that was closer to the 3310 than the XR20. Yet, the XR20 is tough, particularly for a smartphone, with its reinforced screen and rubber bumpers packed into a sturdy design. Anybody working in a physical profession or leading an outdoor lifestyle will appreciate this added protection.

Admittedly, for the price, the internal specs didn’t blow us away, nor did the cameras or the 6.67in display, so there is a bit of a compromise being made in that regard. It’s also worth bearing in mind that the XR20 is one of the older phones in Nokia’s lineup, so something in this vein that’s better may be just around the corner. Still, it’s relatively future-proofed by 5G connectivity and updates to at least Android 14. So, if you’re the type who’s prone to damaging your phone and you just want something competent that will last you more than a few months, look no further.

Read out full Nokia XR20 review for more details

Key specs – Processor: Octa-core 2GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 480 5G; Display: 6.67in, 1,800 x 2,400; Storage: 64GB/128GB; Cameras: 48MP, 13MP (ultrawide); Operating system: Android 11; Weight: 248g

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