Best Verizon phones 2024

As one of the world's largest wireless carriers, Verizon offers excellent 5G services in the US, and supports nearly all mainstream smartphones with little exception. Unsurprisingly, the best phones for Verizon have a lot in common with the best phones in general.  

Whether you want one of the best Android phones that money can buy or something simple and affordable, the best Verizon-compatible phones can be found below. In most cases, there are also plenty of Verizon deals to pair with these devices, particularly if you have an old or broken phone to trade in. If you prefer buying unlocked phones, Verizon may even hook you up with a BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) discount. No matter which route you take, there's sure to be a great Verizon phone just waiting to be found. 

Samuel Contreras

Sam has been an Android fan since first trying out the HTC Evo 4G at a Sprint store. As a phone technician, he became familiar with what matters most to those picking a new phone and accessories and has been writing about carriers and plans at Android Central since 2019.

At a glance

Best overall

The Pixel 8 might look similar to the Pixel 7 in design but it’s a leap forward compared to its predecessor. That’s thanks to new updates, like its AI and cameras being powered by the excellent Google Tensor G3 chip. As we said in our review, "the Pixel 8 manages to take truly outstanding shots in any scenario, and it outshines its predecessor."

It also sports great cameras, which is to be expected from any smartphone in the Pixel line. The front 10.5MP camera has the ability to shoot 4K video at 60fps, the 50MP camera doubles as a 2x lens to get optical-quality images, and the Tensor G3 chip coupled with camera algorithms make the cameras truly shine. 

One of the downsides is an extremely limited color options of either a Hazel, Obsidian, or Rose. A poor selection of colors isn’t going to make or break the usefulness of a smartphone, but it’s something to keep in mind for anyone wanting a fun or flashy device. That said, you’re likely going to be zhushing it up with a case regardless. 

The Pixel 8 is ultimately a great choice for anyone wanting a smartphone with solid photo and video capabilities and the comfort of knowing there are years of software updates ahead. And best of all, it supports Verizon 5G with Ultra Wideband Support.

Best premium

When it comes to premium Android phones, the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra has just about everything going for it. It’s one of the best smartphones Samsung has to offer without a doubt. The true star is its Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chipset and the suite of Galaxy AI features.

If you’re someone who likes to play everything from Fortnite to Genshin Impact on their phone and doesn’t necessarily want a phone just for gaming, the S24 Ultra is exactly what you’re looking for. It can keep games locked at 60 FPS and running buttery smooth all without making you feel like you’re holding hot coals. And games look absolutely gorgeous thanks to a 6.8-inch AMOLED display at 120hz.

Depending on your usage, the battery can last up to two days on a single charge alone. The main camera sensor is still 200MP like before, but the 10X telephoto camera now only has 5X optical zoom. However, the increased resolution of 50MP makes up for it. The included S Pen is identical to that of the S23 Ultra, but remains a ton of fun to play around with. 

To put it simply, the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra is a powerhouse of a smartphone, and one of the best Android phones you can buy — so long as you can afford its hefty price tag.

Best foldable

The Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5 is a great choice for anyone looking to get their first foldable. It's not as intimidating of expensive as the Galaxy Z Fold, and it's way more pocketable and easy to use with one hand. We had a lot to gush about when we reviewed this phone. One of our main praises was its 6.7-inch AMOLED screen, which offered good levels of brightness and gorgeous color vibrancy.

Part of the phone’s novelty also lies in its cover screen. It's larger and more funtional now. You can view notifications without having to open your phone, reply to messages, and there are customizable widgets for the usual standards such as weather and alarms. But a new feature for the Galaxy Z Flip 5 allows you to hold the phone like a camcorder while it's in Flip Mode to increase your grip.

Aesthetics will undoubtedly play some role in choosing a clamshell foldable, and the Galaxy Z Flip 5 comes in flashy Mint, Graphite, Cream, and Lavender, with others available based on carriers and regions. The Motorola Razr Plus is perhaps this phone's biggest rival, but between the two, we'd advice picking the Galaxy for its more robust software and update history, and better performance. 

Best cameras

As with all phones in the Pixel line, the cameras are the stars of the show on the Pixel 8 Pro. However, even more noteworthy than the quality of the cameras themselves are the new AI features. Best Take, for example, automatically captures multiple photos in a row and then the phone will identify and clip out each face so you can replace it with the one with the best (or funniest) expression. Magic Editor, on the other hand, lets you fully erase objects *and* both move and resize objects.

Both the rear and front cameras record in 4K at 24 FPS, 30 FPS, 60 FPS. They also offer 10-bit HDR, cinematic blur, and 4K timelapse. Its closest competition is the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra, but ultimately, we prefer the cameras offered by the Pixel 8 Pro.

Google has evolved the design too, making the 8 Pro feel more premium and comfortable to hold thanks to softer edges and more rounded corners. The matte glass back feels increbile to hold and it does a hell of a job at resisting fingerprints. The display is also brighter and more eye-friendly this time around. While Tensor G3 is powerful and works well, it's still a bit behing Qualcomm's chips when it comes to gaming. If you don't already have the Pixel 7 Pro and want to have a unqiue Android experience and some of the best cameras, the Pixel 8 Pro ranks high on our list. 

Best mid-range

What if you don’t want all the bells and whistles of a premium smartphone but also want something with more features than a more basic one? Mid-range phones exist exactly for that reason. And as we said in our review, the Galaxy A54 5G is the best mid-range phone that Samsung has made to date. 

You’ll have to make some compromises with a mid-range phone, of course. The Galaxy A54 5G lacks a telephoto lens, and while it can certainly run games like Fortnite and Genshin Impact fine, you won’t be getting the same level of quality as more premium phones. Plus, the overall design lacks a sense of panache. 

If you don’t mind those missing features, there’s still a lot to like about this phone. Its cameras offer 4K recording, it has a nice and bright OLED display, and Samsung has promised four OS upgrades and five years of security updates. It comes in some striking colors, and it also has an IP67 rating for dust and water resistance. We think the phone hits a nice middle ground by offering just enough features, to more than justify the price. 

Best stylus

Another mid-ranger, the Moto G Stylus 5G is a great pick for anyone wanting a stylus phone without breaking the bank. You won’t be doodling over animated GIFs like the Galaxy S24 Ultra, but the included stylus does the job when it comes to taking notes comfortably. 

The phone itself is very nice for general use, too. It has a Snapdragon 6 Gen 1 chip that helps it run smoothly. In our review, we noted that graphically intense games like Honkai: Star Rail could be bumped up to high settings at 60fps with stable performance. It slightly faltered on the highest settings, but it's not exactly a phone intended for gaming.

The cameras are also suprisngly decent on the G Stylus 5G. Daylight images look bright and colorful, with plenty of detail thanks to the 50MP main sensor. Night shots are also usable if you use Night Mode. The ultrawide camera is eually competent as it doubles as a macro and depth camera too. We found macro photos to be much better than most other phones with dedicated macro cameras. 

Overall, the Moto G Stylus 5G is somewhere along the lines of the Galaxy A54 5G, but with an added bonus of having a built-in stylus.

Best budget

The Google Pixel 8a offers some solid improvements over the Pixel 7a starting with the display. You get a 6.1-inch OLED panel with a 120Hz refresh rate and up to 2000 nits of peak brightness. Naturally, the phone has also been updated with the same Tensor G3 SoC with 8GB of RAM that's found in the main Pixel 8 phones. You've also got the choice of 128GB or 256GB of storage, which is important because there's no microSD expansion.

The battery got a small upgrade to 4492mAh, and wireless charging has been improved to 7.5W, but the 18W wired chagring still leaves a lot to be desired.The camera hardware didn't see any updates with a main 64MP shooter and 13MP ultrawide camera. Still, with Google's camera software, this is still one of the best camera systems available, especially at this price range.

You can get this phone unlocked, but for the best performance on Verizon 5G, you'll want the Verizon version with support for mmWave 5G bands. No matter which version you get, Google is providing seven years of Android OS updates, so you can keep using it for years to come.

Best flagship

The Plus model in Samsung's S series has long been the neglected and often forgotten child. This is mainly because apart from having a physically larger display and battery, there was little else to differentiate it from the base, non-Plus model. This year, thankfully, Samsung finally upgraded the display to a QHD+ resolution on the Galaxy S24 Plus, which makes content and system menus look sharper and clearer, which is what a display of this size deserves. 

Performance is fantastic thanks to the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 SoC from Qualcomm and the 12GB of RAM, which is now standard even on the base variant. In our review, we noticed zero lag when jumping between games, apps, and the new AI features that are baked in. We also found that it kept more apps running in the background, making it quiker to switch to them when needed. The brighter LTPO display is also easier on the eyes thanks to its ability to drop to 1Hz when needed. 

The cameras are still fantastic. The main one still struggles a bit to capture freeze motion of moving subject, but this has improved from before. The 3X telephoto camera and ultrawide perform really well too, in daylight and at night. Overally, the S24 Plus is something we highly recommed over the standard S24, and the monthly fee is only a bit more via Verizon, making it a great flagship pick. 

Best durability

Performance is the most important factor to take into consideration when choosing a phone. Sometimes where that performance matters the most is in practicality. While the Kyocera DuraSport 5G UW won’t be the fastest phone in technical performance, it’s one of the most durable you can get.

The DuraSport 5G UW has an IP68 rating, meaning it’s not only highly resistant to dust but can also be submerged at 6.5 feet of water for 30 minutes. It also has an MIL-STD-810H drop rating and can withstand up to a 5 foot fall on concrete. 

While the focus might be on its durability, the phone still has enough power for daily tasks thanks to its Snapdragon 480 SoC. And it does, of course, have 5G support on Verizon’s network. The in-built storage is not a lot at 64GB, but there is a microSD card slot which can be used to expand storage by up to 1TB. 

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How to choose

What is the best Verizon phone?

Verizon supports the majority of the best Android phones if you want to buy unlocked. If you want to buy your phone from Verizon, you can pay full price to get the phone from the carrier, or can opt for monthly payments on your bill. The latter is required for some discounts, so it can be worth it. However, with 36-month payment plans being the only option, you may find yourself paying the device off early if you like to upgrade frequently.

The Google Pixel 8 is priced like a mid-range phone, but it stands toe-to-toe with the best phones on the market. Google's Tensor G3 CPU delivers plenty of performance, and the camera hardware works with the software to provide rich photos and realistic colors.

The Galaxy Z Flip 5 is one of the best of Samsung's compact foldable design. Unlike folding phones that open up like a tablet, this phone folds vertically to easily fit in a pocket or bag. Since it has the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 CPU, you don't give up any performance in pursuit of style either. Or, if you're a Samsung fan who prefers a classic phone design, you can also get the Galaxy S24 Ultra if you want the absolute best or even the Galaxy S24 Plus for standout flagship, through Verizon.

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