2024's top stylus phones

Samsung continues to create the pinnacle of smartphones with the S24 Ultra. It’s a step up from the S23 – which still remains a great choice, though – and beats other huge brands like Apple and Google. In our Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra review, we say that it aims to be the best Android phone out there, and it’s certainly up there with the best of the best, fending off competition from the Google Pixel 8 Pro, Xiaomi 14 Ultra, and Honor Magic6 Pro.

The S24 is incredibly polished with refined technology going into the cameras, hardware, and the suite of Galaxy AI tools available with the phone. The tools mostly pertain to image editing, which we think is finally up there with Google Pixel’s suite of tools, but assist with productivity, too. The price is a little higher to reflect these changes, but this seems unavoidable when getting the latest flagship devices.

The phone itself is actually a little lighter and thinner than the S23, which we found made it a little bit more comfortable for day-to-day use. It’s available in a stunning range of colors – including an orange shade if you purchase directly from Samsung, otherwise, you can pick from violet, yellow, black, and gray.

In terms of performance, the S24 is powerful. It’s got a sublime display with now 2,600 nits, a good 300 more than the previous model, allowing for brighter output and the ability to use the phone even in harsh sunlight. Samsung uses Gorilla Armor glass, a new type on the market, which is up to four times more scratch-resistant than other competitors, which is especially important when using a stylus.

If you like the look of the S24 Ultra but can’t justify the cost, then an earlier Samsung model may be the one for you. The Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra is a solid stylus phone that is a little bit behind its successors but still offers solid performance and a stunning display for a slightly lower price.

The S22 Ultra comes bundled with an incredibly smooth S Pen boasting a latency of only 2.8ms that slots right into the phone’s built-in pen holder. The phone uses AI to predict your hand movements, emulating that real pen-and-paper feel, and offers very accurate handwriting-to-text conversion so you can jot down notes on the go without worrying about deciphering them later. Plus, its 120Hz AMOLED screen is just as impressive as the S24’s, offering a gorgeously vivid and smooth display capable of running demanding mobile titles.

Around its release, the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra was a major competitor for the best camera phone on the market and, while newer phones have out-paced its specs now, it still stands up today. It boasts a 2.4um pixel sensor for capturing more light and data, a 12MP ultrawide lens, and dual 10MP telephoto cameras, offering 10x optical zoom and 100x space zoom.

On top of that, it makes use of a Super Clear Glass lens for capturing low-light photos without flare, as well as adaptive pixel technology that combines nine pixels into one. As a comparison, its camera is a good leap ahead of both the S21 and the iPhone 13 Pro Max, capturing far sharper and more detailed images regardless of lighting.

The S22 Ultra was one of the first phones to make use of the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 chipset. Newer phones now have the Gen 3 or Gen 2 version of the chipset, and this means it’s a little behind some of its competitors, but it still offers silky smooth performance.

On the other hand, the S22 Ultra is still pretty expensive, especially if you go for the higher storage versions – which you may want to do, considering there’s no expandable storage via microSD slot. Additionally, while its battery capacity is decent, its lackluster charging of 45W wired and 15W wireless is quite disappointing. However, if you’re happy to splash the cash and can deal with the minor downsides, it will certainly serve you well.

Another Samsung pick, but it’s a leader in the market for a reason. The Samsung Galaxy Fold 5 is a large device and it folds out to boast a brilliant display. It doesn’t exactly fit snugly into the pocket, but if you’re buying a foldable, you might not care about portability anyway. Plus, typing on the thin outer display can be a bit of a pain.

However, getting through tasks, scrolling social media, and just generally messing around with that huge unfolded display is a breeze, especially if you pick up a stylus. The power of the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 not only helps the OS in every aspect but also helps to squeeze a little more life out of that 4,400mAh battery.

If you already have the Fold 4, there’s sadly not a huge amount of change here. The aforementioned improved chipset is the main push, but a couple of design changes do make a difference. The Samsung Galaxy Fold 5 boasts a better hinge that lets the phone fold completely flat, unlike its predecessor.

It all depends on what you want from a phone, but the Samsung Galaxy Fold 5 is a great pick for watching videos, reading books, and playing games on that huge display. Only you can decide if those functions are worth sacrificing portability (and a decent chunk of change), but if you like getting work done on your smart device, the new Fold 5 is an absolutely fantastic pick. For more on this one, check out our Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4 review.

Sometimes we don’t have loads of cash to splash or simply want to get the job done. The TCL Stylus 5G is here to provide a great entry point Android device with a stylus, and that’s just about everything it does. For that great budget price it’s hard to complain, just don’t go in with huge expectations.

For that budget price, however, you are getting quite a wide and bright screen, which alongside the stylus means this could be a fantastic pick for older users who simply want to browse emails and maybe scroll through some videos. If you need to grab a phone for Gran, she’s going to love that slide-out stylus.

It also features a 50MP camera which is not bad for this budget range, and pictures do look lovely on that modest display. The sensor captures color accurately, and if you just need to grab a few snaps the TCL Stylus 5G won’t disappoint you.

However, if you’re looking for a stylus phone that also plays some games, the TCL Stylus 5G just doesn’t have the power under the hood. With just 4GB RAM and that MediaTek Dimensity 700 chip, don’t expect to load up Honkai Star Rail and get anything near a playable experience. It’s absolutely fine for Fruit Ninja, but just make sure you adjust your expectations.

Another budget-friendly pick, but the Motorola Moto G Stylus 5G just starts to nudge the price point into that middle range. With that enormous battery and a pretty decent chip under the hood, the Moto G Stylus is a surprising pick that performs pretty well under pressure.

The Motorola Moto G Stylus 5G is also a nice, slim device, feeling great to hold in the hand, and the compact stylus makes navigating the OS a breeze. However, the device is absolutely stuffed with unnecessary apps, so have fun getting rid of those to clear up your cluttered menus.

However, that impressive Snapdragon 480 5G does open up some gaming possibilities, though maybe don’t expect the world. With this chip and particularly with the option for 6GB of RAM, titles like Genshin can get up and running fairly well, though obviously, they don’t match up to more premium devices.

Similarly, the fairly standard 50MP camera is fine for snaps, but it just doesn’t cut the mustard when it comes to nighttime pictures. But, as the device is pretty new, at the moment Motorola is promising around three years of updates to the OS, so if you choose the Moto G Stylus you can expect some lovely little improvement over time.

It might not be an obvious pick but don’t count this one out. The Microsoft Surface Duo 2 looks a little like Dr. Frankenstein put it together, but if you’re a busy professional and enjoy using Windows, then you just might have a good reason to pick this one up.

First of all, the gorgeous dual displays are really impressive. Thanks to that HDR AMOLED screen, this is a decent way to unwind and watch some of your favorite clips or flick through your holiday snaps. It’s also really quite big when spread out to its widest, though that does mean it’s not the most portable of devices even when snapped together again.

However, the Microsoft Surface Duo 2 is also a Microsoft device first and foremost, meaning it doesn’t quite have the snappy OS of something like the iPhone or the Pixel 7. If you’re used to using a Microsoft Surface or something similar, a lot of the operating system here is quite familiar, but the midpoint between phone and laptop is apparent in just how sluggish the device is at points.

It’s still a phone though, and thankfully the three rear cameras are quite good. Pictures are bright and full of color, and you can grab some lovely wide-angle shots that still maintain a great amount of detail. Plus, flicking through your photos and videos on that amazing screen is a blast. With the stylus to boot, that huge screen is easy to navigate and simple to use for just about every task you can throw at it.

There are rumors that the Microsoft Duo 3 could turn up in the future, but Microsoft seems committed to improving and stabilizing the current generation of devices for at least the next year or so.

While the Porsche name might draw in car lovers, the HONOR Magic V2 RSR is a great bit of kit for smartphone aficionados, too. Most notably, the design of the phone is incredibly sleek, modern, and in a pleasantly muted grey color.

The V2 RSR excels as a foldable phone. When open the displays are crisp and there’s not a crease in sight, and there’s no noticeable gap when closed. The display is helped by the 16GB of RAM, keeping videos looking excellent and games running smoothly – speaking of, you can fit tons on this phone, too, as it boasts a giant 1TB of storage.

The cameras on the phone are excellent, which is another key selling point for us. While they may not be the best in low light, any brighter situations produce vivid and crisp images with up to 10x zoom.

HONOR’s V2 is expensive, we can’t deny, but with the price you don’t just get a really good handset – you get a fabulous Porsche design, two chargers, cables, of course a stylus, and cases for both phone and stylus. You also get four years of Android software updates and five years of security updates, making sure your device has longevity. For an in-depth look at the phone, you can read our Porsche Design HONOR Magic V2 RSR review here.