[0:00] I have tracked down 16 of the latest
[0:02] smartphones from all around the world,
[0:04] including countries that I had no idea
[0:06] even made phones. And each device will
[0:08] represent its home country. So, all 16
[0:10] will be battling out in a proper
[0:12] knockout bracket tournament to determine
[0:14] the true winner of the smartphone World
[0:16] Cup. So, let's kick things off with our
[0:17] opening match.
[0:19] Korea, represented by Samsung's Galaxy
[0:21] S26 Ultra,
[0:24] >> [music]
[0:24] >> up against Japan, who's responsible for
[0:26] the brand new, pretty controversial Sony
[0:29] Xperia 1 Mark 8.
[0:36] And here's what's tricky. Both sides
[0:39] have the same core formation, same chip,
[0:41] same size battery, but it's just they
[0:43] play [music] different strategies. It's
[0:45] like Sony's playing defense. Their
[0:47] entire mission is to protect the things
[0:49] that everyone else has dropped. Like
[0:51] this phone still has a headphone jack, a
[0:52] micro SD card slot, and dual
[0:55] front-firing speakers, which actually
[0:57] sound amazing. While Samsung has
[0:59] relegated those things, but they've
[1:00] traded them for this all-out barrage of
[1:03] software features. There is nothing that
[1:04] you can't do on a Samsung flagship, with
[1:07] more regular updates than Sony. And then
[1:09] because there's no chunky speakers, you
[1:10] get this larger edge-to-edge screen
[1:13] that's [music] industry-leading in all
[1:15] sorts of ways, including this. And so,
[1:17] what I'd say breaks the deadlock here is
[1:20] the cameras. [music] While the Sony is
[1:22] capable, as you might have seen with
[1:24] some recent controversies on X, it's
[1:26] also less dependable than Samsung's
[1:28] camera. I think the reliability of
[1:30] Samsung's super refined image processing
[1:32] makes this a better phone for most
[1:34] people, [music] which means Sammy's
[1:35] through into the quarter-final, and
[1:37] Sony's taking a quiet coach back to the
[1:39] hotel. And that takes us to match two,
[1:41] India, home of the Lava Agni 4.
[1:53] Up against Turkey with their General
[1:55] Mobile's Phoenix 2 Pro.
[2:01] And you'll notice something immediately
[2:03] unusual [music]
[2:03] about this match-up. These look like the
[2:05] same player. Both of these phones,
[2:07] released by separate companies in
[2:09] separate countries, are the same size,
[2:11] the same color, with the same camera
[2:13] bump. They even both have their own
[2:15] versions of an AI virtual pet. Lava dog,
[2:18] tell me a joke.
[2:19] >> My name is Vayu AI, not Lava dog. I am
[2:22] happy to tell you another joke. Why do
[2:24] not scientists trust atoms? Because they
[2:26] make up everything.
[2:27] >> I've heard that joke before, but I've
[2:29] heard it with correct grammar. Also,
[2:31] does not sound like a dog. Right,
[2:33] General Mobile's cat, tell me a joke.
[2:35] >> Why did the cat sit on the computer?
[2:37] >> [music]
[2:37] >> Because it wanted to keep an eye on the
[2:39] mouse.
[2:39] >> Did it tell me a cat joke because I
[2:40] called it a cat? Did it tell me a cat
[2:42] joke
[2:44] because it is a cat? So, because neither
[2:46] of these countries has managed to build
[2:48] their own end-to-end supply chains, the
[2:50] companies in these countries are having
[2:52] to source their devices from a Chinese
[2:54] supplier. And they're then [music] just
[2:56] slightly tweaked and rebranded for their
[2:58] home crowds. And both of these just so
[3:01] happen to have had the same supplier.
[3:03] But that doesn't mean it's a draw
[3:04] because there's an astronomical
[3:07] difference in price. While the Turkish
[3:09] phone retails for the equivalent of $998
[3:12] on their website, the Indian Lava is
[3:15] 316. I would guess partly because
[3:17] India's smartphone market is super
[3:19] competitive. So, you actually can't take
[3:21] customers for a ride. But then also
[3:23] because Turkey applies an absolutely
[3:25] enormous consumer tax to smartphones.
[3:28] >> Well, that's a bit of an own goal.
[3:30] >> Like, if we convert the retail price of
[3:31] an iPhone 17 Pro Max to dollars from
[3:34] both countries, in India you'll be
[3:35] parting with just under $1,600, which is
[3:37] already a lot, but Turkish customers
[3:40] would have to dish out nearly 2,900.
[3:43] This Indian Agni does start with a
[3:45] little less RAM than the Turkish phone,
[3:46] but the price gap between these two is
[3:49] unignorably [music]
[3:50] huge. So, India's through. But if match
[3:52] two is like spot the difference, then
[3:54] match three is spot the
[3:56] similarity. Cuz we've got the United
[3:59] Arab Emirates with their flagship
[4:00] company [music] Thuraya
[4:07] versus France and their Crosscall.
[4:15] >> [music]
[4:17] >> In a way, this is the battle of the
[4:18] gimmick. UAE is a satellite phone. So,
[4:21] it works like a regular device with a
[4:22] SIM card. But, then if I eject this
[4:24] mahoosive antenna, it can also, when you
[4:27] leave cellular coverage, switch to
[4:29] satellite mode to carry on calls, SMS,
[4:31] and location tracking. And it works. We
[4:33] went extremely remote and still got
[4:35] signal. And then, France's device is a
[4:38] rugged phone. It's not defined by any
[4:39] one single killer feature like UAE's,
[4:42] but I genuinely think I've never seen
[4:44] this rugged concept done better than it
[4:45] is here. When you put the two side by
[4:47] side, it is so clear just how much more
[4:49] thought the French company has put into
[4:51] its design. Same with the software,
[4:53] which feels more polished and custom as
[4:55] opposed to the Thuraya that feels
[4:57] rustled together at half time as an
[4:59] afterthought. France is better on paper,
[5:00] too. It's got a bigger battery. It's got
[5:02] double the storage. It's got a lower
[5:04] price, too. And then, just seriously
[5:06] thoughtful touches like not one, but two
[5:09] programmable action buttons, one on each
[5:11] side. That it comes with this X-Blocker
[5:13] mounting system that lets you connect
[5:15] the phone up to tripods and bikes. And
[5:18] that because USB-C ports are one of the
[5:20] biggest points of vulnerability, a cover
[5:22] for yours. And then, this entirely new
[5:25] X-Link connector that lets you transfer
[5:27] data and do a whole lot more just using
[5:29] this waterproof magnetic contact point.
[5:33] I think it's pretty clear that France
[5:34] has made the better product here. So,
[5:37] into the quarterfinals you go. But, that
[5:39] brings us to one of the clear
[5:40] heavyweights in this tournament, China,
[5:42] walking out with the Oppo Find X9 Ultra.
[5:47] The challengers, Finland with the HMD
[5:49] Skyline.
[5:54] >> [music]
[5:57] >> Now, to put some respect on the HMD
[5:58] [music] name, the Skyline's got some
[6:01] genuine consumer-friendly perks. There's
[6:03] a microSD card slot and the back cover
[6:05] pops off so you can swap out the battery
[6:07] or even the [music] screen by just
[6:09] unscrewing them. And obviously, it's far
[6:11] more affordable than this Oppo. This is
[6:13] a $400 mid-ranger versus a $1,200
[6:16] flagship. But even factoring in the
[6:18] price, the Skyline really is like
[6:21] bringing a plastic spoon to a gunfight.
[6:24] Even when compared to other phones at
[6:26] its own price, it's just lacking. The
[6:28] camera does not feel good enough for
[6:30] $400.
[6:32] >> I'm seriously like
[6:35] What is that?
[6:36] >> The battery life and the chipset are
[6:37] disappointing. And it's all crammed into
[6:39] a package that's the worst of both
[6:41] worlds. Rounded corners on the screen,
[6:44] but sharp jutting corners on the body.
[6:46] Meanwhile, this Oppo is very much at the
[6:49] bleeding edge of its price category with
[6:51] not one, but two 200-megapixel cameras,
[6:55] one of the biggest batteries that you
[6:56] can get on a phone at 7,050 mA hours,
[6:59] and the fastest chip, too. This thing
[7:01] ain't just a striker, it's the entire
[7:04] front three. Which makes it incredibly
[7:06] tough competition to come up against in
[7:08] HMD's first round. But all's fair in
[7:10] love and
[7:11] ball.
[7:13] Finland's road ends here. And that takes
[7:15] us to the bottom half of the bracket
[7:16] with two almost polar opposite devices.
[7:19] Germany's Volla Quintus, a
[7:21] privacy-focused phone for people who
[7:22] want to disconnect from Google.
[7:25] And everything else.
[7:28] >> [music]
[7:29] >> And against them, Sweden, whose Doro
[7:32] phones are specifically designed to get
[7:34] older people more connected. Okay, well,
[7:37] the Germans clearly have taste.
[7:39] >> the Germans always make good stuff.
[7:41] >> But this jet-black, stealthy-looking
[7:42] thing that really has the right
[7:44] aesthetic for a security-focused digital
[7:46] detox device. And there's clearly some
[7:48] thought gone into this software they've
[7:50] built. Like how the home page is
[7:51] springboard, where you just scribble in
[7:53] your thoughts, and that can go straight
[7:54] into either an internet search or a note
[7:57] to be saved on the device. So you write
[7:58] first, and then decide what you want to
[8:00] do with that writing. Volter doesn't ask
[8:02] you to make any accounts or log into
[8:04] anything. And the absolutely insane
[8:07] thing is that while this is currently
[8:08] running Android with a skin, it can also
[8:10] just dual boot into an entirely
[8:12] Google-free Ubuntu operating system,
[8:14] which makes this Doro look pretty lame
[8:17] by comparison. Obviously, it's not
[8:19] trying to be as cool. It's for your
[8:21] granddad. But granddads can still
[8:22] appreciate a bit of intentional software
[8:24] design. Everything about this just feels
[8:28] so budget. How they've given you a
[8:30] physical home button, but still left the
[8:32] digital one on two. How laggy and slow
[8:35] this software is. How they've not even
[8:37] properly programmed it to be aware of
[8:39] its own screen corner radius. So part of
[8:42] your battery percentage and
[8:43] notifications are sometimes just cut
[8:46] off. Credit where due, this alert button
[8:48] is a genuinely good idea to be able to
[8:50] get help when needed, even if granddad
[8:52] will probably spend half his time trying
[8:54] to take a photo with it. But overall,
[8:56] it's a win to Germany.
[8:58] Engine L 4 our elders. I hear this next
[9:01] country is hosting some other type of
[9:03] World Cup this year. Can't remember what
[9:04] it's for. It's Mexico, and their [music]
[9:07] Lanix Alpha 6.
[9:13] Up against the Netherlands with the
[9:14] Fairphone Gen 6.
[9:24] This is the first time I'd say I'm
[9:26] really disappointed. This Lanix has
[9:29] zero redeeming qualities. I mean, it is
[9:32] only $205, but even then, the [music]
[9:34] screen looks incredibly soft. And it
[9:37] genuinely feels like not one person
[9:39] checked this software before shipping. I
[9:41] mean, just look how much space is taken
[9:42] up by the UI in the camera. Why do the
[9:45] apps almost touch the search bar when
[9:47] you go into the app drawer? Who decided
[9:49] to leave just one icon's gap on the home
[9:51] page to finish the line? And then you
[9:53] realize that on top of that, while this
[9:55] is clearly designed to look like three
[9:57] cameras, this one's a flash, and this
[9:59] one's an IR depth sensor. So, it's one
[10:02] rear camera, and uh
[10:05] not a very good one. This is such a
[10:07] no-show from Mexico that the Netherlands
[10:09] is Fairphone, just by being at least
[10:11] decent and extremely pro-consumer with
[10:14] its almost limitless repairability, can
[10:16] stroll right through into the next
[10:18] round. Final two matches now before we
[10:20] get to the quarters. It's the home team,
[10:22] Nothing, and their Phone 4a Pro from
[10:24] [music] England.
[10:24] >> Good morning, England.
[10:28] >> Against Taiwan, makers [music] of the
[10:29] Asus Zenfone 12 Ultra.
[10:34] You got to give credit to Nothing.
[10:35] They're probably the most refreshing
[10:38] brand in the game right now. They're
[10:39] making something that's actually [music]
[10:40] interesting to look at and talk about in
[10:43] the big 2026. Whereas the Zenfone 12
[10:45] Ultra is [music] perhaps the most stale
[10:48] ultra phone I have ever seen. The design
[10:50] is incredibly boring. The software is
[10:52] boring. The display is boring. It's
[10:54] genuinely a less good display than the
[10:57] Nothing Phone, a device that's half its
[10:58] price. And even [music] the cameras,
[11:00] which are usually the headline of any
[11:02] ultra phone, they're just nothing to
[11:04] write home about. This phone's main
[11:05] camera is the same as this phone's main
[11:07] camera. And Asus's image processing is
[11:10] just not as advanced as their
[11:11] competitors. So, it [music] makes sense
[11:14] why this is one of the last phones that
[11:16] Asus made before getting out of the game
[11:18] earlier this year. And look, I think
[11:20] it's pretty fair to say that this
[11:21] Nothing Phone is
[11:23] gimmick-heavy. It's got this wacky
[11:25] design, this glyph matrix interface that
[11:27] lets you run any number of these glyph
[11:29] toys on it, and the essential app
[11:31] builder,
[11:31] >> [music]
[11:31] >> where you can just in a little text
[11:33] prompt and generate these little
[11:34] widgets. Not to mention a 140 times max
[11:38] digital zoom, which is a little silly
[11:40] and extra. But the best thing about this
[11:42] is that you can take all of that away,
[11:44] and this is still just a rock-solid
[11:46] piece of hardware that feels polished.
[11:50] So, the home crowd gets its moment. Easy
[11:52] win for England in my books. Which
[11:54] leaves us with the US, represented by
[11:56] the Google Pixel [music] 10 Pro XL. I
[11:58] had to keep iPhones out of this. They're
[12:00] like entering an NFL team into a soccer
[12:02] tournament. And that is beefing it out
[12:04] with Indonesia's Advan Barca, which is
[12:07] one of the top performance-focused
[12:08] devices made in the country. That
[12:10] [music]
[12:10] I'm going to guess doesn't taste as good
[12:12] as it sounds. But with a little digging,
[12:15] it turns out that unfortunately, this is
[12:17] just another example of a cookie-cutter
[12:19] sourced phone. Funnily enough, from the
[12:21] exact same supplier that India's Lava
[12:23] seems to use. I can literally see a
[12:26] phone on the Lava website that looks
[12:28] identical. It's just disappointingly
[12:30] uninspired. It literally has the same AI
[12:33] cat as Turkey, just with a different
[12:35] name. Actually, why don't we put it
[12:36] against Gemini, just in case it's
[12:38] better. Generate me a logo for a video
[12:40] I'm making called The Smartphone World
[12:43] Cup.
[12:43] >> I don't have the ability at the moment.
[12:46] >> I expected no more.
[12:47] >> Sure, here is the image.
[12:48] >> Gemini's done it. That is sick. Can you
[12:51] start a timer for 5 minutes?
[12:53] >> I'm sorry. I don't have the ability at
[12:55] the moment.
[12:56] >> I've started a timer for 5 minutes.
[12:58] >> I guess this is a good example of how
[13:00] when it comes to smartphones, buying
[13:01] from global companies is generally a
[13:04] good choice. It's these companies who
[13:06] have access to all the best components,
[13:08] and who can afford to actually create
[13:10] and integrate their own features. These
[13:12] are the ones training their own
[13:14] world-class players from scratch. These
[13:16] are the ones grabbing any available
[13:18] human off the street and sticking them
[13:20] in a football shirt. So, the US swaggers
[13:22] into the quarters as the Indonesian
[13:24] match retires.
[13:26] Maybe to a coffee shop near you.
[13:28] So, it's the quarterfinals. The losers
[13:31] are looking pretty deflated. Tough day
[13:33] for you guys. How you feeling?
[13:35] >> Well, you know, at the end of the day,
[13:36] it's a game of two halves. At the end of
[13:38] the day, you got to put in 110% at the
[13:40] end of the day.
[13:41] >> Yeah. Yeah, I'm sorry about that.
[13:46] And for the winners, the stakes are
[13:47] getting ever higher. Cuz now it's Korea
[13:50] versus India. Samsung S26 [music] Ultra
[13:52] versus Lava Agni 4. We already know that
[13:55] the Samsung is one of the best high-end
[13:57] phones on the planet. So, [music]
[13:59] really the question here is, is the Lava
[14:02] one of the best affordable phones
[14:03] [music] on the planet?
[14:04] >> I don't know, Joe.
[14:05] >> Well, its screen is amazing. Very
[14:07] punchy, 120 Hz refresh rate. It's pretty
[14:10] cool that they give you 256 gigs of fast
[14:12] storage minimum. And even the MediaTek
[14:15] chip that you get inside of here for
[14:16] $316
[14:18] is a hell yes. It's all looking up for
[14:20] Lava until you open the camera app. And
[14:23] honestly, this was always coming.
[14:25] Because here's [music] the thing, a good
[14:26] screen or a good battery, you can
[14:28] basically buy. Spec the phone with a
[14:30] decent component [music] and you're most
[14:32] of the way there. A good smartphone
[14:33] camera though is only achieved with
[14:36] immense amounts of software tuning.
[14:38] That's the bit that gets skipped over
[14:39] when you're buying off-the-shelf
[14:40] ready-made devices like this. So, the
[14:43] underdog hits the wall it was always
[14:44] going to hit and Korea is in the
[14:46] semi-finals. This one's tighter though.
[14:48] France's Crosscall, who have turned this
[14:50] notoriously ugly generic category of
[14:52] phones into something [music] that
[14:53] actually feels designed first versus
[14:55] China's Oppo. This astronomically spec'd
[14:58] [music] all-round titan of a device.
[15:01] >> Oh god.
[15:02] >> I actually think this French brand is
[15:04] incredible. This entire ecosystem
[15:06] they've created is so polished. They've
[15:08] got their own power banks, their own
[15:09] charging docks, their own
[15:10] walkie-talkies, and even this power
[15:12] station designed to charge 10 Crosscall
[15:14] phones at once. And it all takes
[15:16] advantage of this ultra-durable
[15:18] MagSafe-esque connector they've made
[15:20] that actually has the speed of a wired
[15:22] [music] connection. Just playing around
[15:24] with the 3D models they have on their
[15:26] site, too. It makes it very clear that
[15:28] this is a brand that just gets it. And
[15:31] so, it kills me to say that even with
[15:33] that,
[15:35] it still [music] doesn't beat the Oppo.
[15:37] France has built the perfect answer to a
[15:39] question that not many people asked.
[15:42] Really, this is for tradespeople, tree
[15:44] climbers, the person who will actually
[15:47] end up dropping their phone in a lake.
[15:48] Whereas, the Oppo is something that you
[15:50] could hand to almost anyone, and [music]
[15:52] they'd be pretty blown away. So, France
[15:54] heads home, but not without a standing
[15:57] ovation. But now, up against Germany and
[15:59] their Volaphone, it's time for the
[16:00] Netherlands to face the [music] music.
[16:02] Their Fairphone won the first round
[16:04] before it even tied its laces. Now is
[16:06] where it has to truly defend its name.
[16:08] And under pressure,
[16:11] I think the Fairphone shines. We already
[16:13] know the phone uses a ton of recycled
[16:15] components, and that the company seems
[16:16] to have bend over backwards to offset
[16:18] the emissions from making the thing.
[16:20] Plus, the phone's insane repairability
[16:22] is kind of a double benefit, because it
[16:24] also opens the gates for custom
[16:26] accessories like the finger loop and
[16:28] [music] the card holder. And compared to
[16:30] earlier generations of the Fairphone,
[16:32] with this one, when you use it, it's
[16:34] pretty clear that you're not getting
[16:36] completely shafted on specs for going
[16:38] with the eco choice anymore. This is
[16:40] actually a very decent 120 hertz OLED
[16:42] display. And what I think makes this
[16:44] [music] just outright surpass Germany is
[16:47] the Fairphone also has a minimalist UI
[16:50] option. [music] You activate it with
[16:51] this really cool little slider on the
[16:53] side. And ironically, I would say this
[16:56] mode actually feels more polished than
[16:58] the phone whose entire personality is
[17:00] based on this concept. I do really like
[17:02] the idea of this German stealth machine,
[17:04] of being completely off the grid,
[17:06] especially cuz I've got Surfshark VPN,
[17:08] our sponsor, running on it, which
[17:09] [music] means even if I do decide to
[17:11] springboard onto the internet, my
[17:13] identity stays masked. The issue is,
[17:15] while this was definitely more polished
[17:17] than the Grandpa phone. It does have
[17:19] some rougher edges. Like the camera app
[17:21] looks like it was built by a vibe coder
[17:23] in one prompt. And [music] I think it's
[17:24] pretty ironic for a phone claiming to
[17:26] have removed Google that they couldn't
[17:29] even manage to remove this butterfly
[17:31] wallpaper every time you swipe to go
[17:33] home. So, the Fairphone's going to take
[17:34] the W cuz I could also just get
[17:37] Surfshark on this, too. And it'll build
[17:38] me an entirely anonymous online
[17:40] identity, name, email, phone number, and
[17:43] more. And if you go to surfshark.com
[17:45] /boss and use the code boss, you'll get
[17:46] a massive four additional months on top
[17:49] of a 2-year subscription [music] to
[17:51] cover your whole family and maybe your
[17:53] country, too. In the match of England's
[17:55] Nothing Phone 4a Pro against the US's
[17:57] Google Pixel, though, you might think,
[18:00] "Well, obviously, the Google Pixel's
[18:01] going to take this. Pixel gets the
[18:03] latest software updates day one. It's
[18:05] got zero bloatware. It's got so many
[18:07] cutting-edge Gemini features, like how
[18:09] it just knows what music is playing
[18:11] around you [music] and will show you
[18:13] without you needing to go into an app to
[18:15] listen for it." Or how with Add Me, you
[18:16] take the group photo, swap places with
[18:18] the photographer for a second one, and
[18:20] your phone fuses them so that nobody
[18:22] gets left on the bench. But here's what
[18:24] I would say. [music] I think the Nothing
[18:25] Phone 4a Pro punches above its weight.
[18:28] It's got a good enough display, battery,
[18:30] design that [music] I would actually
[18:32] recommend it as one of the go-to
[18:34] mid-rangers right now, even if the
[18:35] normal non-Pro 4a is its even better
[18:38] value cousin.
[18:40] Pixel though
[18:41] doesn't punch above its weight. In fact,
[18:43] anytime I want to recommend this to
[18:44] someone, unlike the Nothing Phone 4a, I
[18:47] always have to caveat the Pixel a
[18:49] little. I have to tell people, "Yes, the
[18:51] software experience is world-class, but
[18:54] it's dramatically less powerful and less
[18:56] suited for gaming than its peers, and
[18:58] its battery doesn't last as long." So,
[19:00] when you're factoring in value, I think
[19:02] Nothing knocks out the US, booking
[19:04] England's place in the semis. I'm not
[19:06] biased.
[19:08] I swear.
[19:09] But it's time for those semis. I've been
[19:12] dreading this one. Korea versus China.
[19:15] Galaxy S26 Ultra versus Oppo Find X9
[19:18] Ultra. Two heavyweights that you'd
[19:20] expect to go all the way. Because in
[19:22] Korea's corner, you've got Samsung's
[19:24] amazing One UI software, which I would
[19:27] actually rank higher than Oppo's Color
[19:28] OS. Not to mention how valuable it is to
[19:30] have a phone mainstream enough that
[19:33] accessories are actually made for it.
[19:35] And one with a robust ecosystem of
[19:37] watches and earbuds surrounding it. And
[19:40] of course, the S Pen. [music] No other
[19:42] company supplies a stylus of this
[19:44] quality that just works in the most
[19:46] mindless way possible. It's just how
[19:49] does that weigh up against Oppo, who I'd
[19:51] say has fewer of Samsung's comforts, but
[19:54] then two absolutely staggering
[19:56] standouts. A battery that lasts like 4
[19:59] hours longer, and a camera that's just
[20:01] zero contest better. It's good enough
[20:03] that we're shooting this shot with the
[20:05] phone. And you know, if used right, it
[20:08] could very easily replace our mirrorless
[20:11] camera here. How does one decide this?
[20:14] Okay.
[20:15] >> [music]
[20:16] >> I'm going to say the Oppo takes it. It
[20:17] feels like the more ambitious phone.
[20:18] Samsung started to feel very iterative
[20:21] over the last few years. Almost like
[20:22] they're coasting on reputation instead
[20:24] of pushing for the win. So,
[20:26] China's through to the final. But
[20:28] there's a very different kind of war
[20:30] being fought in our other semi-final.
[20:32] Between the Netherlands' Fairphone Gen
[20:34] 6, which I'll be honest, I didn't expect
[20:36] to make it this far. And then in
[20:37] England's Nothing Phone. It's the
[20:39] match-up that we didn't know we needed.
[20:41] Because these are both industry
[20:43] outsiders. Two underdogs who completely
[20:45] agree on the idea of standing out, but
[20:47] just completely disagree on how. While
[20:50] Nothing's game plan is very much about
[20:52] making phones fun again, Fairphone leans
[20:54] into sustainability. And even though
[20:56] they've already made any of this phone's
[20:58] 12 major components replaceable with
[21:00] just one screwdriver bit, they still
[21:02] haven't stopped driving to achieve their
[21:04] goal. How how give you 5 years of
[21:06] warranty compared to one on the Nothing
[21:08] phone, at least 7 years of Android OS
[21:11] upgrades compared to Nothing phone's
[21:13] three, plus the option right there on
[21:15] the main webpage to buy refurbished,
[21:18] which is easily the most eco-friendly
[21:20] choice.
[21:21] Here's where I'm at though.
[21:23] I respect the Fairphone's mission a lot,
[21:25] but
[21:26] they're not a charity, they're a
[21:28] business, and while clearly still this
[21:30] is the more sustainable option,
[21:33] we should be very honest when we say
[21:34] that the production of neither of these
[21:36] phones is good for the planet. That's
[21:39] just not possible yet. And what's also
[21:40] very clear when you look at these two
[21:41] phones that the Nothing phone feels a
[21:44] lot closer to a flagship, whether it's
[21:46] the metal body, the pretty much category
[21:48] leading display, the cameras [music]
[21:50] which are not amazing but still miles
[21:52] better than the Fairphone's, or the
[21:53] chipset which is about 40% faster
[21:55] overall. Plus the speakers on the
[21:57] Fairphone and the haptics are pretty
[21:59] harsh and
[22:01] >> [music]
[22:01] >> jarring. I guess you're only doing the
[22:03] planet a solid if you actually keep this
[22:05] phone for many years to come, and
[22:08] I just think that a lot of people would
[22:09] struggle to do [music] that given that
[22:11] it already feels, while better than
[22:13] previous Fairphones, still somewhat
[22:15] dated. Me personally, I would rather buy
[22:17] something like this, use it for 3 to 4
[22:19] years, and really enjoy that time, and
[22:21] then hand it down to a cousin who's not
[22:23] as fussy as I am.
[22:25] Which makes the Nothing phone our second
[22:27] finalist. So, after all the trials and
[22:30] tribulations, just two countries remain.
[22:33] How on earth do we make this decision?
[22:36] The uber flagship phone from our giant
[22:37] [music] Chinese conglomerate versus the
[22:39] surprising mid-ranger from our plucky
[22:41] London startup. And what makes this
[22:43] final so brutal is these are not just
[22:46] both fantastic phones, but they're also
[22:48] both companies that are improving the
[22:51] entire smartphone industry in their own
[22:53] ways. I feel like Oppo are quietly
[22:55] becoming the most viable alternative to
[22:57] a Samsung or a Google Pixel. They're
[22:59] making themselves more available around
[23:01] the world and just trying harder to cram
[23:04] as much bleeding edge tech in as
[23:05] possible. It's phones like this that are
[23:07] holding other flagships accountable.
[23:09] [music]
[23:09] And for nothing, they don't have the
[23:11] scale to undertake R&D on the level that
[23:13] Oppo does. But just through having this
[23:15] clear, unique vision, they still found
[23:17] ways to bring value. This company's
[23:19] championed the idea of being able to
[23:21] disconnect from your tech. They've
[23:22] created a whole lot of competitive
[23:24] pressure that's forced others to keep
[23:26] their prices down. And if nothing
[23:28] [music]
[23:28] else, they've just created a fun, edgy
[23:31] alternative for people who want
[23:33] something a bit different.
[23:34] So, here's what I think clinches this.
[23:36] Nothing's superpower is taking great
[23:38] tech and making it affordable and
[23:40] stylish. But Oppo is pushing the entire
[23:43] frontier forward. They're one of the few
[23:45] who are actually taking the big swings,
[23:47] and [music] by doing so, shaping the
[23:50] future of smartphone tech, which I think
[23:53] gives Oppo the edge, and makes China our
[23:57] champions of 2026.