How we research

Every page on this site is a comparison of published, checkable information. This page explains where that information comes from and how we use it.

Sources, in order of trust

1. The manufacturer. Official specification pages, press releases and the manufacturer's own online store for launch prices.
2. Official support policies. How many years of Android or iOS updates and security patches a phone gets comes from the maker's published commitment, not from reviews or forums.
3. Carriers. Which carriers sell a phone, and whether an unlocked phone works on a carrier, come from the carriers' own device pages and the maker's own compatibility statements.

When two sources disagree, we use the manufacturer's figure and say that the other source differs.

How we pick phones for a list

A shortlist starts with every current phone sold in the US that meets its condition, such as a price ceiling. We remove phones that are no longer sold new, phones that won't work on at least two of the three national carriers, and Android phones whose maker promises fewer than three years of security updates. What remains is compared on the numbers the list is about, and the page explains what decided each pick.

Apple is the exception to the update rule, and every page that includes an iPhone says so. Apple doesn't publish a fixed number of years of updates, but its own list of devices supported by the current iOS release, on apple.com, still includes iPhones released in 2019 and 2020. We treat that record as meeting the three-year bar, and we never turn it into a promise Apple hasn't made.

Prices

We give two prices: the launch price with the month it was set, and the maker's regular price on its US store on the date we checked it. Temporary sales are labelled as sales. Store prices move often, so check the maker's page before you buy. Amazon links are plain links without an affiliate tag.

What we don't do

We don't claim to have tested a phone we haven't used, we don't invent ratings, and we don't let a manufacturer, carrier or retailer review or pay for a page.

When something changes

Phones get software updates, price cuts and extended support. When a change affects what a page says, we update the page and show the date of the update at the top.