Best Google Fi phones in 2023

Google Fi has been a reliable carrier in the U.S. for many years now, and it’s often the go-to MVNO for most people for its flexible plans. It also supports a laundry list of devices, including both budget and best phones, and you can count on Google Fi to stock up on the newest releases on the market too. There’s something for everyone to choose from, so we wanted to highlight some of the best Google Fi phones you can buy in 2023. In addition to the phones you can buy directly from Google Fi, we’re also including the unlocked ones that are compatible with this carrier. So feel free to explore all the options and pick the one you like. Let’s dive in!

Our favorite Google Fi phones in 2023

The Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra is one of the newest flagships on the market. It’s a more refined Galaxy S22 Ultra, and it’s the one we recommend to those who are looking to buy a powerful Android flagship. One of the best things about the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra is its massive 6.8-inch 120Hz QHD+ AMOLED screen. It’s one of the best displays we’ve ever seen on a smartphone, and everything looks fluid and smooth. It’s an impressive panel for media consumption, and the S Pen makes it better by adding the ability to take notes, sketch, and more.

Another highlight of the Galaxy S23 Ultra is its new 200MP camera. It’s paired with two 10MP sensors with a 10x and 3x optical zoom and a 12MP ultrawide sensor to complete the rear camera package. Samsung also swapped out the 16MP selfie shooter with a 12MP sensor with Dual Pixel technology to offer improvements for depth measurement in portrait shots and low-light performance. There’s a lot to like about the Galaxy S23 Ultra’s camera, and we won’t be surprised to see it secure a top spot in our collection of the best camera phones in 2023.

The Galaxy S23 Ultra also has upgraded internals to compete with the current crop of flagships on the market. It’s powered by Qualcomm’s new Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chip for Galaxy, and we had no issues pushing the phone to its limits during our testing. The phone is also packed with impressive fast LPDDR5X memory and UFS 4.0 storage. Google Fi is carrying the Galaxy S23 Ultra in the U.S., and you can get up to $600 off when you bring your number to Fi. It also includes the free storage upgrade, so you’re essentially saving a lot of money.

The Samsung Galaxy S23+ may not be as powerful or as feature-rich as the Galaxy S23 Ultra, but it’s still a great option to consider if you don’t want to open your wallet to Samsung’s top-tier flagship but still want a big display. It’s not as small or compact as the Galaxy S23, but you’re not also not missing out on the screen real estate or the battery life. It’s also fully compatible with Google Fi, so it definitely deserves a spot on this list.

Samsung has made a lot of improvements to the Galaxy S23+ by adding things like the new Gorilla Glass Victus 2. The contour cut design for the camera housing is gone, but the new design makes the phone look similar to the other two devices in the lineup, so it’s more cohesive. Moving over to the front, you get a 6.6-inch FHD+ 120Hz Dynamic AMOLED panel. It’s one of the best displays you can find on the market, and it looks every bit as elegant and vibrant as the one on the Galaxy S23 Ultra.

The Galaxy S23+ — just like the Galaxy S23 Ultra — is powered by the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chipset for Galaxy. It’s one of the best flagship chipsets on the market right now, and you can expect it to trade blows with other top-tier flagships on the market. As for the optics, the Galaxy S23+ sports a 50MP f/1.8 lens, a 12MP ultra-wide camera, and a 10MP f/2.4 3x zoom lens.

Some other noteworthy features of the Samsung Galaxy S23+ include a 4,700mAh unit with support for up to 45W charging. This phone is available to purchase directly from the Google Fi store, and you can get $500 off when you bring your number to Google Fi.

Google’s new Pixel 7 Pro has replaced the outgoing Pixel 6 Pro to become our pick for the best Google phone in this collection. It retains everything we like about the Pixel 6 Pro while bringing some noteworthy improvements of its own to offer a solid package overall. It’s not the best-performing smartphone out there, but it makes up for it with its smart features, an impressive set of cameras, and more.

The Pixel 7 Pro, as you can see, looks a lot like its predecessor. There are some subtle differences between the two, but the overall fit-and-finish of the phone remains largely the same. It has the same iconic camera visor on the back, an all-glass design, and rounded sides on the display. The phone is available to purchase in three fun colorways.

The Pixel 7 Pro is powered by Google’s second-generation Tensor chip called Tensor G2. It’s the successor to last year’s Tensor chipset that’s powering the Pixel 6 Pro. Our detailed post highlighting the differences between Tensor G1 and Tensor G2 has all the details for you, so be sure to check it out while you’re here. But the only thing you need to know is that Google appears to have listened to all the feedback and improved the original Tensor chip by making necessary adjustments.

The new Pixel phones also have better optics. You may not see a significant difference coming from the Pixel 6 Pro, but there’s plenty to like about the shots captured using the new Pixel 7 Pro. All things considered, the Pixel 7 Pro is a great smartphone overall. It rights pretty much all the wrongs of the Google Pixel 6 series to deliver a solid package overall. You can also save up to $200 on the Pixel 7 Pro if you bring your number to Fi.

Samsung’s new Galaxy A54 5G is currently one of the best phones you can buy on a budget. It’s also available to purchase and activate on Google Fi’s network, so it’s a solid addition to this post. Samsung has made a lot of improvements to the outgoing model to deliver a well-rounded package with the Galaxy A54 5G.

It comes with a new design that looks very similar to the Galaxy S23 flagships. Samsung has ditched the camera island at the back in favor of three individual cutouts for the lenses. It also uses more Gorilla Glass 5 panels on both the front and back to deliver a more premium and durable build. The Galaxy A54 5G is also one of the few budget phones to have a high-refresh-rate panel. This one, in particular, sports a 120Hz refresh rate panel which makes it better than the likes of the Pixel 6a.

The Galaxy A54 also comes with the new in-house Exynos 1380 chip, which delivers a boost in performance compared to the Exynos 1280 on the Galaxy A53. You can buy the phone with 6GB of RAM and 128GB of internal storage, and you can also expand the storage up to 1TB via a microSD card. Other important things to note about the Galaxy A54 5G is that it comes with a 5,000mAh battery and a triple camera setup at the back.

The Galaxy A54 5G is easily one of the best affordable phones you can buy in the U.S. right now, and Google Fi makes it even easier on the wallet with a $300 discount when you pay 24 monthly bill credits. You can hit the button below to check out the best price for it at Google Fi.

One of the best things about the Pixel 6a is the fact that it brings a lot of the great features of the more expensive Pixel 6 and the Pixel 6 Pro at a relatively affordable price. This phone, for instance, is powered by the same Google Tensor chip, meaning you get the same level of impressive performance and AI smarts. Google’s Tensor chip is also proven to be intelligent enough to handle Google’s image processing, and it shows in the images produced by the Pixel 6a.

The Google Pixel 6a, in case you’re wondering, uses a relatively old camera sensor that didn’t sit well with a lot of enthusiasts until they saw the results. But it uses Google’s computational photography smarts to churn out some of the most impressive photos you’ll get from a phone in this price range. Additionally, the phone also benefits from Google’s impressive software and machine learning to gain some useful features like Magic Eraser, which can intelligently remove objects and people from photos.

The Pixel 6a also looks a lot like the other two Pixel phones in the series. You get a unique design featuring a large visor-like camera strip and a two-tone colorway. The Pixel 6a also has a smaller 6.1-inch display on the front, meaning it’s much easier to hold and use with one hand. It’s not the most compact phone on the market, but it’s certainly a lot better than your typical Galaxies and iPhones. Some other noteworthy features of the phone include an IP68 rating for dust and water resistance, stereo speakers, and more.

While Google’s Pixel 6a and Samsung’s Galaxy A54 5G are incredibly good mid-rangers in this list, we wanted to add something that goes a little easy on the wallet. The Moto G Power (2022) is one that fits the bill for those who are looking for a relatively lower asking price. You can get the Moto G Power (2022) for free after 24 monthly bill credits at Google Fi, which is an unmissable deal if you don’t mind bringing your number to Google Fi.

The Moto G Power has a 6.5-inch LCD on the front with a refresh rate of up to 90Hz. The 720p resolution of the panel may be a letdown, but it makes for it with a higher refresh rate. We’ve started seeing a lot of phones with high refresh rate displays in the mid-range segment, but the Moto G Power brings it to the budget/affordable category, which is great.

You get a Mediatek Helio G37 inside this phone, along with 4GB of RAM and 64GB of storage. These components may not be enough to score big numbers on benchmarking applications, but they’re plenty to keep the phone running. The software on the Moto G Power also compliments the hardware nicely. You get a clean Android experience with some neat enhancements to improve your overall experience.

Moving over to the optics, the Moto G Power comes with a 50MP main sensor with two additional 2MP macro and depth sensors. Selfies, on the other hand, are handled by an 8MP selfie shooter. The highlight of the Moto G Power, however, is the 5,000mAh battery. The phone doesn’t even have a super high-resolution display or powerful internals to drive, meaning the 5,000mAh unit will last you for days between each charge.

The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4 is a solid upgrade over the last year’s Galaxy Z Fold 3 with improvements across the board. A lot of these improvements are small enough to slide under your radar, but they all come together to deliver a great experience overall. It’s also the only foldable that’s officially compatible with Google Fi’s network in the US, so it definitely deserves a spot in this collection.

The Galaxy Z Fold 4 looks identical to the last year’s Z Fold 3. That’s because the overall changes made to the body of the phone are minuscule. Samsung has narrowed the bezels around both displays, so they’re both slightly wider than the ones we saw last year. The result is a Galaxy Z Fold 4 that’s far more comfortable to use. The cover screen is ideal for single-handed usage, while the main screen is more immersive than ever.

Samsung also has trimmed the hinge on the Galaxy Z Fold 4, making it ever-so-slightly lighter than the last year’s Galaxy Z Fold 3. The cameras also got a much-needed improvement this year as the company upgraded the Galaxy Z Fold 4’s main sensor to a 50MP shooter. Also new to the Galaxy Z Fold 4 is the new telephoto lens with 3X optical zoom, similar to the ones you get on the standard Galaxy S23 models.

Lastly, it’s worth highlighting the fact that Samsung has also put more effort this year to elevate the software experience on the Galaxy Z Fold 4. For instance, it’s way easier to get into the multi-tasking mode now compared to the last year’s model. There’s a persistent taskbar at the bottom of the screen that lets you jump between different applications with just a simple tap.

Best Google Fi phones in 2023: Final say

Samsung’s Galaxy S23 Ultra is currently the best Google Fi phone you can buy on the market right now. Samsung left no stone unturned to make it one of the most powerful and feature-packed phones in 2023. It also comes with some notable improvements compared to the outgoing model. There are plenty of things to like about the Galaxy S23 Ultra, including its 200MP camera, the included S Pen, a beautiful high-refresh-rate panel, and more. Not a lot of phones out there deliver a similar package with powerful internals like the Galaxy S23 Ultra, so be sure to put it on top of your list of phones to check out.

Google’s Pixel 7 Pro is also a solid option to consider, and so are the affordable mid-rangers like the Galaxy A54 5G and the Pixel 6a. We’ve also added some other options to the mix, including the Galaxy Z Fold 4, to offer a good mix of options.