Truly compact smartphones are a dying breed, with screen sizes seemingly growing with every passing year.
As such, there are aren’t as many small smartphones as there once were, but there are still some and there is still a market for them.
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 affordable phones, the second mid-rangers, and the third high-end 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 8, to the flagship Pixel 4, iPhone 11 Pro and Samsung Galaxy S10e, 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.
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.
5.8-inch display and 142.2 x 69.9 x 7.9mm
The Samsung Galaxy S10e is one of the very newest decent ‘compact’ phones you can buy. It’s right at the top end of that category, being 5.8 inches, but with minimal bezels it’s 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 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.
5.8-inch display and 144 x 71.4 x 8.1mm
The iPhone 11 Pro is – with the possible exception of the iPhone 11 Pro Max – the best iPhone you can buy, and it’s also the best compact phone – though with a 5.8-inch display it only just fits into that category.
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 make one of the best phones on the planet even better.
5.6-inch display and 151.3 x 70.1 x 8.2mm
The Google Pixel 3a is a mid-range alternative to Google’s flagship range, and at 5.6 inches it also has a fairly compact screen.
It’s a 1080 x 2220 OLED screen, so it’s fairly sharp and it’s also fairly high quality. And while it only has a 12.2MP single-lens rear camera, this is a lens of the quality you’d find on a flagship, so it can take great photos.
With respectable power too, and even Google’s handy Active Edge feature (which lets you squeeze the sides to launch Google Assistant), plus a pure, bloat-free take on Android, this is a prime mid-range choice if you want a compact smartphone.
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 and S20 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 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 8 isn’t Apple’s best phone, but the better phones are also bigger, and the iPhone 8 is both tiny and great.
There are a lot of reasons for that, from its stylish metal and glass build (that’s also water resistant) to its super-powered A11 Bionic processor, great quality 12MP camera, and masses of storage.
The iPhone 8 also has a high-quality screen. It’s just 4.7 inches, but it’s sharp at 750 x 1334 and sports all sorts of high-end tech, like 3D Touch, which lets it detect different levels of pressure, and True Tone, which automatically adjusts the white balance to best suit the environment.
There’s also wireless charging for the first time on an iPhone, and of course the iPhone 8 has Apple’s fast and reliable Touch ID fingerprint scanner and access to arguably the best app store there is.
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 are strong choices.
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.
5.7-inch display and 147.3 x 71.5 x 8mm
Motorola is known for making great budget phones, and the Moto G7 Play is no exception, but unlike most recent Moto handsets, this one is also compact.
It has a 5.7-inch 720 x 1512 screen, a low to mid-range Snapdragon 632 chipset, 2GB of RAM, a 13MP rear camera, an 8MP front-facing one, and a 3,000mAh battery.
Like the Nokia 2.2 this is a basic handset, but we’d give the Moto G7 Play the edge overall. That said, it’s also slightly more expensive.
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 ascending order of overall size, followed by a rundown from worst to best.
|
Phone |
Dimensions (mm) |
Screen size (inches) |
|
Apple iPhone 8 |
138.4 x 67.3 x 7.3 |
4.7 |
|
Samsung Galaxy S10e |
142.2 x 69.9 x 7.9 |
5.8 |
|
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 |
|
Nokia 2.2 |
146 x 70.6 x 9.3 | 5.71 |
|
Moto G7 Play |
147.3 x 71.5 x 8 | 5.7 |
|
Google Pixel 3a |
151.3 x 70.1 x 8.2 | 5.6 |
In terms of how good they are, the Nokia 2.2 is the worst, closely followed by the Moto G7 Play. These are both very cheap phones and perform accordingly.
Then comes the Google Pixel 3a, which is a solid mid-ranger, and the Samsung Galaxy S9, which is an aging flagship, now just about packing a mid-range price, with the iPhone 8 being our top mid-range pick.
Then for the overall top three it’s the Samsung Galaxy S10e in third, the Google Pixel 4 in second, and the iPhone 11 Pro in first.
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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