iPhones have no headphone jack and Samsung phones explode – what smartphone should you buy?

2016 has been a strange year for smartphones. Most devices have seen minor iterative updates, but both Apple and Samsung have made major missteps by removing the headphone jack and producing dangerous exploding batteries – sp what smartphone should you buy right now?

Apple lost its edge a couple of years ago, but for many the removal of the headphone jack is the last straw – Bluetooth headphones all have issues with bandwidth and battery life, and the removal of the headphone jack in the iPhone 7 is a depressing money grab by one of the richest companies in the world.

Apple’s problems are self inflicted, but Samsung’s are more serious, with the South Korean firm first replacing all Galaxy Note 7s, and now shutting down production of the device completely and telling users not to turn them on for fear of explosion. Samsung has not seen the same exploding battery problems with its other phones, like its flagship Galaxy S7, but buyers should seriously consider other options until Samsung can identify the problem. No-one wants a fiery explosion in their pocket.

So, with the two market leading phones off the table – what options should you be looking at?

The big one: Google Pixel XL (£719)

If you are looking for a premium phone with huge screen and PDA-like abilities to replace the Note 7 then Google release of the Pixel XL has come at the right time.

It features a stunning 5.5″ AMOLED display, offering a ridiculously high 534ppi along with a sizeable fast-charging 3,450 mAh battery, and the best phone camera on the market. Being designed and built directly from Google, Pixel owners are also treated to the latest Android 7.0 Nougat, which offers split screen capabilities amongst a host of new features, and users can backup all their photos and videos in the Google cloud for free in full quality. And then there’s the Google Assistant, which makes Siri look like it has the brains of a vacuum cleaner.

The Pixel only really has two faults – its lack of waterproof protection, and its high price tag – it costs as much as the top iPhone.

The pocket-sized one: Sony Xperia X Compact (£360)

The trend for the last couple of years has been for premium smartphones to have ever bigger displays, and while these huge screens have benefits – the phones barely fit in your pocket. Sony’s Compact series continues to be the go-to option for smaller-sized smartphone users still wanting premium performance – and the Xperia X Compact is the latest option.

Featuring a 4.6″ 319ppi display, the X Compact is a much smaller device than beasts like the Pixel XL, but Sony has not skimped on the internals. It features a 23MP camera, one of the few that comes close to the Pixel’s record-breaker, room for a 256GB SD card, a 2700mAh quick-charge battery. It runs Android 6 Marshmallow (Nougat update to come) and behind the scenes is a Hexa-core CPU with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 650 chipset and 3GB of RAM – all in a package the measures just 129 x 65 x 9.5mm and weighing 135g.

The budget one: Motorola Moto G4 2016 (£159)

Motorola changed the game for budget smartphones with its G series, and its latest 2016 edition G4 continues that trend with impressive specs for a budget price.