New Year, New Phone: giffgaff's Top Picks

Once the heavy head from New Year’s Eve is over, it’s time to get the new year going. New year, new you - the obvious phrase. How about new year, new phone? It’s a fantastic time to upgrade your device for something that’s going to suit the new you. But that begs the question: Which phone should you go for?

To help you out, we at giffgaff have picked out the best smartphones to upgrade to in the new year.

Samsung Galaxy S9 Plus

The Galaxy S9 Plus is Samsung’s latest and strongest release to date; it’s a bill option for anyone looking to upgrade in the new year. As well as having a really cool, sleek look, it’s also loaded with a a big, colourful screen (which has a resolution of 1440 x 2960) and a 12 megapixel dual camera with some incredible features. That includes 4K quality video recording and HD super slow-motion videos. The Galaxy S9 Plus is really secure, too. You can secure it using an iris scanner, fingerprint reader and facial recognition. Now that’s a phone worth showing off to your mates…

See the Samsung S9 Plus on giffgaff

Google Pixel 3 XL

The Galaxy S9 Plus isn’t the only strong camera phone you can splash out on if you’re in love with Androids, though. The camera has been a stand out feature on every generation of Google’s Pixel phones and the Pixel 3 XL is no different. The 12 megapixel rear camera on the Pixel 3 XL was called “the best camera phone on the market” by TechRadar recently, that is one impressive accolade. It has a range of smart features that ensure you get a stunning shot every time; there’s no blur or loss of quality when you zoom in to take a photo and it comes with HDR+ on as default. You can even take a photo automatically just by smiling.

The Pixel 3 XL also supports the Google Daydream VR Headset, wireless charging and is even e-SIM ready, so if you want a phone that’s ready for the future, the Pixel 3 XL is the phone for you.

See the Google Pixel 3 XL on Google

iPhone XS Max

If a new smartphone is on the agenda for 2019, chances are you’ll have considered getting an iPhone. If you’re a fan of Apple’s phones, then the iPhone XS Max is the one to get. It’s the best version of the iPhone available, with a better battery life, bigger screen and better quality camera than all of its previous generations. The high quality screen is ideal for those that love to stream videos and TV shows and it comes with a really cool feature called “Screen Time”. This allows you to see how much time you’ve been spending on your phone and using certain apps, and lets you set usage limits for each app to stop yourself spending too much time on it. Need something to kick that Twitter addiction? Apple have got your solution.

See the iPhone XS Max on giffgaff

Fancy holding out for just a few more weeks?

Are you willing to wait for something that’s really new? If you want to be amongst the first to get your hands on a phone that is truly innovative, it might be worth waiting before acting on your new year’s resolution for just a few short weeks. This is because back in November, details of Samsung’s hotly anticipated foldable phone were leaked by a South Korean news agency. It revealed that the “Galaxy F” is going to be released in March 2019 and will feature a flexible display that will allow it transform from a phone to a tablet, but also to fold up so that it can comfortably fit inside a jacket pocket - imagine being one of the first people to own one of those, how cool would that be?

There’s also the Mobile World Congress in late February, which always hosts plenty of new smartphone announcements. In the past, we’ve seen new phones from Samsung, LG, Xiaomi and others, and MWC 2019 isn’t likely to disappoint either!

So, those are our top recommendations for new year phone shoppers. Which one is your favourite? Are there any others that you like which we’ve missed? Get in touch and let us know so that we can spread the word and let other fellow giffgaffers know.