Samsung Galaxy S7

TechRadar | Gareth Beavis

Five stars to Samsung, as the brand iterates perfectly on an already award-winning smartphone, adding a brilliant camera and gorgeous design.

Alphr | Thomas McMullan and Jonathan Bray

An outstanding all-round smartphone. Just like its stablemate, the Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge is simply superb. The best recommendation I can think of, however, is that this is the smartphone I would buy if money was no object; I can think of no stronger endorsement than that.

Know Your Mobile | Paul Briden

Fantastic bit of kit, stuffed to the gills with well-implemented features that'll have you grinning ear-to-ear... It looks sharp, feels reassuringly expensive and robust in the hand, the camera experience is an absolute joy. Performance is what you hope for from a flagship; it's fast, smooth and responsive, while the battery life is amongst the best available.

Expert Reviews | Nathan Spendelow

There's no denying that the Galaxy S7 is yet another outstanding effort from Samsung, and its improved battery life, speed and performance, not to mention the addition of a microSD slot, make it more than a worthy successor.

Trusted Reviews | Max Parker

For the majority of people, I'd say the Galaxy S7 is the phone to pick. It looks great, feels a lot better than the Galaxy S6 due to the curved back, and it performs like a champ. It also has the best all-round camera on any phone, thanks to crisp images and a fuss-free app that's fast to open, focus and shoot.

IT PRO | Alan Lu, Aaron Lee

The Samsung Galaxy S7 may be 'just' an evolution and a refinement of the Galaxy S6, but it has almost everything you could want in a smartphone.

T3 | Spencer Hart

Just like the Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge, we really love the S7. Whether you should get the S7 or S7 Edge is a different question altogether. This is the more sensible option, but the S7 Edge is sexier... tough choice, but you can't really go wrong with either.

Mobile Choice | Sunetra Chakravarti

Exynos or Snapdragon, the Samsung Galaxy S7 is a solid handset. 5-star looks, processor, camera and in a size that is best for one-handed use during your commute.... If there was something that I didn't like, it is how bad the fingerprint sensor is and how often it misfires. The oblong shape might have something to do with that!

Digital Spy | Luke Johnson

The Samsung Galaxy S7 has more power than you'll need. Like, ever.

What Hi-Fi?

After such a big jump in design last year, we're not surprised to see Samsung stick to its guns and make a series of refinements to the S7's look and feel rather than go for headline-grabbing changes. The fact is, those small tweaks all come together to make a pretty impressive package indeed.

V3 | Matt Farrington-Smith

If the S7 Edge was big, brash and bold, the S7 is the sensible, quieter sibling. We love the small design details like the slight tapering of the screen and gentle sloping edges that make it a joy to hold. So if you liked the sound of the Edge, but perhaps prefer your handset more understated and less like a piece of jewellery, the S7 is the perfect choice.

Ubergizmo | Hubert Nguyen

Being a waterproof phone, the Galaxy S7 is much less likely to die in one's kitchen, pool or bathtub, and could even be used in the shower (a popular usage in some parts of Asia). All in all, the Galaxy S7 sets the bar for all 2016 smartphones.

Stuff | Robert Leedham

Our favourite phone from last year, but even better. The Galaxy S7 is straight up brilliant.

ZDNet | Matthew Miller

The Samsung Galaxy S7 has the same cool metal frame, glass front, and glass back seen on the Galaxy S6. It is a bit thicker due to the increased battery capacity, but still feels great in your hand and is quite pocketable.

NotebookCheck | Andreas Osthoff

While the Samsung Galaxy S6 with its new metal chassis was a revolution for Samsung's flagship device, the new Galaxy S7 is more of an evolution. Samsung respects the customer's wishes and brings back some features like the memory expansion as well as the IP68 certification for the case against water and dust.

Toronto Sun | Anick Jesdanun

It's difficult to justify paying for a high-priced, top-end smartphone these days - unless, that is, you want to take good pictures.

Eurogamer | Damien McFerran

Overall, the Galaxy S7 iterates rather than reinvents. Samsung has subtly but significantly refined what was considered in 2015 to be one of the best phones money can buy, and has created arguably the best Android handset on the market right now.

OtherGadgette | Holly Brockwell

It has to be said that the base S7 is a superb piece of kit... It's had all the right upgrades, but they don't feel substantial enough to declare this a new generation of Galaxy.... Overall, though, S7 is – as we suspected – the best Android phone on the market right now.

Android Headlines | Nick Sutrich

The Galaxy S7 is easily among the best phones Samsung has ever made, and absolutely among the top tier of what you should consider buying on the high-end market right now, the Galaxy S7 is nothing but a great choice all around.

Tom's Guide | Sam Rutherford

If the S6 brought premium design to Samsung's flagship phones, the Galaxy S7 refines and combines those trend-setting good looks with all the features you really wanted from the phones that came before it. The S7's camera is faster and better in low light, its battery life is better, its body is more seductive and water-resistant, and as a whole, this phone pushes the smartphone bar higher than it's been before.

The Inquirer | Matt Farrington-Smith

We love the small design details like the slight tapering of the screen and gentle sloping edges that make it a joy to hold.

The Journal

Improving in all the right ways, the S7 has its flaws, but the design choices and features make it a joy to use.

Recombu | Chris Barraclough

The result is a very good flagship phone, although not quite perfect. The S7 will swiftly be beaten when it comes to quick charging, for instance, while many of Samsung's bolt-on features such as Upday and the Always On Display are badly implemented. Still, if you can afford that hefty asking price, there's plenty to love here.

Brighthand | Grant Hatchimonji

The Samsung Galaxy S7 is a beautiful, high quality device that performs well and brings back some attractive aspects from previous iterations. Call it "more of a good thing," rather than "groundbreaking."

Mashable | Lance Ulanoff

It is, without a doubt, the most able iPhone competitor I have ever seen and used, and one of the best Android devices overall. Samsung returns to form with a smart, solid, fun and fast Galaxy S7 that points the way for other Android devices.

SlashGear | Chris Davies

Certainly, it will face stiff competition from LG's G5 when that arrives later in the year, while the specter of the iPhone 7 looms large already, but there's a reason Samsung holds the top spot in Android devices and the Galaxy S7 will only strengthen that grip.

Neowin | Rich Woods

It's clear that the Samsung Galaxy S7 is the best device that Samsung has ever made. Of course, that's not so much of an accomplishment as much as there would be something significantly wrong if that wasn't the case. If you were considering a Samsung for your next device, I say that the Galaxy S7 is a buy.

phoneArena | John V.

Samsung has yet another formidable offering that sets the benchmark high for all other phones coming out this year. The specs might not be a tremendous upgrade, but at the end of the day, when you want a phone that just works, the Galaxy S7 fits the bill.

Mobile Syrup | Patrick O'Rourke

If you're looking to pick up a new Android phone, or are currently holding onto an aging S4 or S5, Samsung's latest flagship effort amounts to one of the sleekest looking high-end Android smartphones on the market.

pocketnow | Juan Carlos Bagnell

Of course no phone is perfect, and at this price, it would be completely understandable if one minor issue might turn into a complete deal breaker for some customers, like the headphone playback. Plus the Galaxy S7 doesn't exist in a vacuum, and it faces intense competition from other manufacturers this year. Even so, this will be a tough act to top.

What Mobile | Manny Pham

An iteration that is the definition of refinement, Samsung has released what is definitely the best smartphone at the moment. If you want a class leading phone with an eye-catching looks, by all means go for the S7 Edge, it's worthy of that whole number upgrade.

NDTV Gadgets | Jamshed Avari

You lose nothing in terms of features by sticking with the more conservative Galaxy S7... You'll be certain to dazzle your friends by taking incredible pictures at night and in dark places. You also get health monitoring and the Concierge services to show off - things that don't come with just any old phone, at least not yet.

CNET UK | Jessica Dolcourt

The fast, powerful, beautiful Galaxy S7 phone is 2016's all-around phone to beat.

Engadget | Chris Velcazo

While the new Galaxy S7 isn't as dramatic a shift as the S6 was, it benefits immensely from a year's worth of refinement.

The Verge | Dan Seifert

The S7 and S7 Edge aren't perfect - the software still lags behind the hardware - but they get the basics right: great screens, great cameras, great performance, and reliable battery life. They also have eye-catching designs and premium materials - the level of polish on these devices is unmatched in the rest of the Android world.

Android Central | Phil Nickinson

Samsung has improved on most of our complaints from the previous era. Battery life is improved. Not great, but adequate. The overall design is better and less slippery, and it takes a case well without becoming too large. The display size hits that 5.1-inch sweet spot. The fingerprint feature is excellent.

AnandTech | Joshua Ho

The Galaxy S7 is clearly packed with features and ticks all the right boxes, but as soon as I start looking closer at everything I start to see cases where Samsung just doesn't seem to care enough.

Pocket-lint | Chris Hall

"When you've got power, design, a great camera experience and a battery that gets you through the day, it's difficult not to like the SGS7. It fixes much of what was generally disliked about the SGS6 and, for those who don't want to grapple with the larger edge version, is the more apparent choice"

AndroidPit | Eric Ferrari-Herrmann

Above all, the Galaxy S7 has, thanks to its traditional but polished design, gilded itself with a certain prestige that you only otherwise see with the iPhone - but you get it for much less money.