Truly compact smartphones are a dying breed, with screen sizes seemingly growing with every passing year.
As such, there aren’t as many small smartphones as there once were, but there are still some and there is still a market for them – though what we’re considering small has also changed over the years.
With that in mind we’ve created this guide, highlighting the best compact options available at a range of budgets. We’ve split it into sections, the first covers high-end phones, the second mid-rangers, and the third affordable phones, so if you’re after a compact phone just jump to the section that best suits your budget.
Our list includes everything from the truly tiny iPhone SE (2020), to the high-end Pixel 5 and iPhone 12 Mini, among many other phones.
And if you simply want the smallest smartphone possible we’ve got you covered there too, as we’ve also dug up the smallest one we can find that’s currently available.
For the purposes of this list we’re loosely counting anything with a screen size of 6 inches or under as small. That said, some phones pack big screens into small bodies, so at times larger screen sizes might squeeze in if the overall handset is still small.
5.4-inch display and 131.5 x 64.2 x 7.4mm
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Apple looks to be bringing back compact phones, as it launched both the iPhone SE (2020) and the iPhone 12 Mini in the same year, and they both have very small screens by modern smartphone standards.
The iPhone 12 Mini has just a 5.4-inch screen, and it’s coupled with a premium design with very little bezel, so it really is very small in the hand.
Its specs are anything but mini though, as the iPhone 12 Mini has an enormously powerful A14 Bionic chipset, a flagship quality dual-lens camera, a durable, highly water resistant build, and a sharp 1080 x 2340 OLED display. At the time of writing it’s Apple’s best compact phone.
6.0-inch display and 144.7 x 70.4 x 8mm
The Google Pixel 5 is Google’s 2020 flagship phone. So it’s not specifically a ‘compact’ model, and unlike previous years there’s no larger ‘XL’ version available either, there’s just this, which at 6 inches just barely fits into our list.
That said, its overall dimensions are actually smaller than some entries on this list, thanks to smaller bezels.
In any case, size aside the Google Pixel 5 is an excellent phone. Like all Pixel handsets it has a ‘stock’ version of Android, which for our money is the best and most intuitive way to experience the OS.
It also has a high-quality (albeit only dual-lens) camera with top imaging software, 5G support, and a metal shell that’s both premium and unusual for a modern phone (as most opt for glass or plastic).
Despite being the top 2020 Pixel model this also actually has a less-than-flagship price – though it achieved that in part by packing an upper mid-range rather than high-end chipset.
5.8-inch display and 144 x 71.4 x 8.1mm
The iPhone 11 Pro is no longer the best iPhone, but unlike its successor – the iPhone 12 Pro – this one with its 5.8-inch display is just about small enough to be considered a compact handset.
It’s in many ways a lot like the iPhone XS, but there have been some key improvements.
Chief among them is perhaps the camera, which now has an extra lens, giving you a 12MP main, a 12MP ultra-wide, and a 12MP telephoto lens to play with.
The iPhone 11 Pro also has a much longer-lasting battery, and has had a significant power boost, thanks to Apple’s newer A13 Bionic chipset.
It’s not the biggest of upgrades but these along with a few other tweaks are enough to ensure it’s a top phone – though camera aside the iPhone 12 Mini is arguably the better compact iPhone.
5.9-inch display and 148 x 68.5 x 8.9mm
The Asus Zenfone 8 straddles the line between mid-range and flagship, as it pairs high-end specs with a slightly more affordable price than most rivals, and with its 5.9-inch screen it’s also compact.
That’s a 1080 x 2400 Super AMOLED display with 120Hz refresh rate and HDR10+ support, so it’s a high-end screen. It’s not quite as high resolution as some flagships, but being compact the pixels go further.
There’s no compromise on the power front though, with a top-end Snapdragon 888 chipset and up to 16GB of RAM powering the phone, and you also get up to 256GB of storage, an in-screen fingerprint scanner, and a 4,000mAh battery.
The main way in which this doesn’t quite feel like a flagship is its dual-lens camera, but its 64MP main sensor and 12MP ultra-wide both perform well, so it’s an acceptable compromise for the price.
5.81-inch display and 144 x 69.4 x 8.2mm
In terms of screen size, the Google Pixel 4a is towards the upper end of what can be considered compact – though it’s still smaller than most smartphone displays. But the overall dimensions are actually more compact than a lot of phones with smaller screens. As such, it’s a worthy inclusion in this list, not least because it’s also an excellent handset.
The Google Pixel 4a is one of Google’s latest mid-range Pixels, delivering many of the things we like about the company’s flagship phones at a lower price.
It has a sharp 1080 x 2340 5.81-inch OLED display, a flagship quality (albeit single lens) 12.2MP rear camera, mid-range power (from a Snapdragon 730G chipset and 6GB of RAM), and a crisp, clean take on Android 11 – with the likelihood of a day one software update to Android 12 when that lands in late 2021.
Note that there’s also a Pixel 4a 5G, but this is actually quite a different phone, with a bigger screen, so if you want a compact, opt for the 4G model.
5.8-inch display and 142.2 x 69.9 x 7.9mm
The Samsung Galaxy S10e is getting on a bit but it’s still a mid-range handset. It’s compact too with its 5.8-inch screen, which thanks to minimal bezels is physically smaller than you might expect.
It’s the baby of the S10 range, but it still has an awful lot going for it, including a brilliant 1080 x 2280 Dynamic AMOLED screen with support for HDR10+, water resistance, a high-end Exynos 9820 chipset and upwards of 6GB of RAM.
The Samsung Galaxy S10e also has a dual-lens camera, and with one of those lenses being variable aperture it’s very versatile.
You also get fast charging, wireless charging, and even the ability to wirelessly charge other devices with it.
5.7-inch display and 147.1 x 68.8 x 8.2mm
The Google Pixel 4 has a bigger screen than the Pixel 3 at 5.7 inches, but the overall dimensions are only negligibly larger, and this is a better phone in most ways.
Perhaps most significantly it adds a second rear camera, with a 16MP telephoto lens joining the 12.2MP main one. It’s a combination that allows for superb shots, even if you just point and shoot, showing that lots of lenses isn’t necessary for great smartphone photography.
The Google Pixel 4 also packs in a fairly high-end Snapdragon 855 chipset, while its 1080 x 2280 screen has a 90Hz refresh rate, making interactions smoother than on many handsets. And as with other Pixels it packs pure Android and will be first in line for updates.
It’s no longer the newest Pixel model, but it display is slightly smaller than the one on the Pixel 5 found elsewhere on this list.
5.8-inch display and 147.7 x 68.7 x 8.5mm
The Galaxy S9 launched as a true flagship in 2018, and while the Galaxy S10, S20 and S21 have it beat, the S9 is still an impressive phone, but now it’s cheaper than ever, and at 5.8 inches it can just about be considered compact – especially as the bezels are quite small.
This has a 5.8-inch 1440 x 2960 screen and as well as being sharp it’s just all-round one of the best you’ll find on a phone, even in 2020.
The Galaxy S9 also has a reasonably powerful Exynos 9810 chipset, 4GB of RAM, water resistance, and a 12MP variable aperture camera, giving you far more versatility than you’d expect from a single lens.
You also get stereo speakers, a premium build, lots of storage (plus a microSD card slot), and both a fingerprint scanner and an iris scanner.
4.7-inch display and 138.4 x 67.3 x 7.3mm
The iPhone SE (2020) has the smallest screen Apple has put on a phone in years.
Specifically, it’s a phone with a 4.7-inch screen and a design that’s near-identical to the iPhone 8 – a phone which used to sit in this list until the new iPhone SE replaced it.
Indeed, they’re very similar phones, but the iPhone SE (2020) is both cheaper (making it also the cheapest iPhone in years) and more powerful, thanks to a high-end A13 chipset (the same as you’ll find in the iPhone 11 range).
You also get a capable 12MP camera complete with Apple’s famed Portrait mode, up to 256GB of storage, a Touch ID fingerprint scanner, and wireless charging.
Of course, no iPhone is complete without iOS, and on the iPhone SE (2020) you get the latest version, so this phone is completely up to date.
It’s worth noting that despite its tiny screen, this is actually a slightly bigger phone overall than the iPhone 12 Mini, but they’re both very small.
You might expect compact phones to be cheap, but in fact most of the cheapest phones actually have quite big screens these days. As such your options in this category are limited, but the following is a strong choice.
5.71-inch display and 146 x 70.6 x 9.3mm
The Nokia 2.2 isn’t an overly exciting smartphone, but it’s certainly a very cheap one, and with a 5.71-inch screen it’s also a fairly compact one.
Its specs include a 720 x 1520 display, a basic quad-core Helio P22 chipset, 2GB or 3GB of RAM, a 13MP main camera, a 5MP front-facing one, and a 3,000mAh battery.
A powerhouse this is not, but then at under £100 it doesn’t need to be. And that also makes its plastic body very forgivable.
The Nokia 2.2 is a great option then if you want something palm and pocket-friendly that does the basics but not much more. This also makes it a good choice as a secondary or festival phone.
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The Unihertz Jelly Pro is probably the smallest smartphone that’s easy to get hold of in the UK at the time of writing. It’s available from Amazon and other sites, and with a 2.45-inch screen its display is little more than half the size of the smallest other phone on this list.
And as the Unihertz Jelly Pro runs Android it’s undeniably a smartphone. Though unless you simply want the smallest phone possible it’s probably not the one to buy, as the specs aren’t up to much.
It has a 1.1GHz quad-core processor, 2GB of RAM, 16GB of storage, an 8MP rear camera, a 2MP front-facing one, and a 950mAh battery. That’s probably about all you can expect in a phone of this size, but for a more capable smartphone, consider one of the following options.
As you can see, there’s a wide range of compact smartphones available, sporting different prices, strengths and operating systems. While above they’re listed in terms of price bracket and quality, below you’ll find them in approximate ascending order of overall size, followed by a rundown from worst to best.
|
Phone |
Dimensions (mm) |
Screen size (inches) |
|
Apple iPhone 12 Mini |
131.5 x 64.2 x 7.4 | 5.4 |
|
Apple iPhone SE (2020) |
138.4 x 67.3 x 7.3 |
4.7 |
|
Samsung Galaxy S10e |
142.2 x 69.9 x 7.9 |
5.8 |
|
Google Pixel 4a |
144 x 69.4 x 8.2 | 5.81 |
|
Google Pixel 5 |
144.7 x 70.4 x 8 | 6.0 |
|
Apple iPhone 11 Pro |
144 x 71.4 x 8.1 | 5.8 |
|
Google Pixel 4 |
147.1 x 68.8 x 8.2 | 5.7 |
|
Samsung Galaxy S9 |
147.7 x 68.7 x 8.5 |
5.8 |
|
Asus Zenfone 8 |
148 x 68.5 x 8.9 | 5.9 |
|
Nokia 2.2 |
146 x 70.6 x 9.3 | 5.71 |
In terms of how good they are, the Nokia 2.2 is the worst (not including the Unihertz), but it’s very cheap and performs accordingly.
Then comes the Google Pixel 4a, which is a solid mid-ranger, and the Samsung Galaxy S9, which is an aging flagship, now just about packing a mid-range price. They’re followed by the Samsung Galaxy S10e and the Google Pixel 4, with the iPhone SE (2020) being our top mid-range pick.
Then for the overall top four it’s the Asus Zenfone 8 in fourth, the iPhone 11 Pro in third, the Google Pixel 5 in second and the iPhone 12 Mini in first – as it’s both high-end and tiny.
Any of these phones would serve you well if you’re after a small screen though, it all just depends on how much you want to spend and whether you want Android or iOS.
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