Best Phones for Productivity

We do everything on our phones these days, including working remotely.

But as we all spend more time away from the office, and as phones grow inexorably larger and more powerful, it’s worth asking the question – which phone is the best for actually getting stuff done?

It's not just a big screen that qualifies a phone as being great for productivity – you’ll need a powerful processor, all-day battery, and the latest, fastest 5G connectivity. In this guide, we’ll be taking a look at the phones that fit the bill, and can help you be the most productive even when you’re not at a computer.

In This Guide:

• Microsoft Surface Duo
• Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 2 5G
• Samsung Galaxy Note 20 Ultra
• iPhone 12 Pro Max
• Motorola Moto G Stylus
• LG Wing

Microsoft Surface Duo

Perhaps the biggest hindrance to mobile productivity is not having two screens. The Surface Duo swoops in to solve this problem by giving you two 5.6-inch screens, which stand at a whopping 8.1 inches when folded out.

Beyond that, you also get the full complement of Windows apps pre-installed and fully optimized for the Surface Duo’s unique screen layout, meaning you have no excuses for slacking off outside the office. It’s even compatible with the Surface Pen, which can make note-taking and annotating documents easier than ever.

It might be powered by last year’s Snapdragon 855 processor and 6GB of RAM, but the Surface Duo should still be able to power through everything you can reasonably expect of a mobile phone. You should also be heartened to hear that Microsoft has committed to ensuring the Surface Duo gets the next three versions of Android, starting with Android 11.

However, it isn’t all good news. The Surface Duo is perilously expensive, starting at $1,399 for the base 128GB storage version. We also don’t know quite how durable the Surface Duo will be, either, though it should avoid most of the issues that have befallen other phones with folding screens.

All told, if you’re after a device that will let you easily work from home (or even just away from the office), the Surface Duo is probably your best option. With that being said, though, the cameras lack the refinement of phones that cost less than half the price – and it doesn’t support 5G, either.

Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 2 5G

Samsung’s big folding phone has entered its second generation, and looks significantly better than the original Galaxy Fold. The tiny front screen has been enlarged, and Samsung is promising that the hinge is significantly more durable.

The large fold-out screen stands at 7.6-inches across the diagonal, making it perfect for working on documents. Multitasking should be a breeze – simply swipe from the right-hand side, and a tray of suggested apps will appear. You can then use the two apps side-by-side, or you can even stack two apps on one side of the screen, with a third on the opposing side.

You can even stand the phone up like a laptop, allowing you to use the bottom half of the folding display as a keyboard and the top half as a regular window. It’s a neat trick, but at the moment, there aren’t that many apps optimized to take advantage of the setup.

As ever with Samsung’s flagships, the Z Fold 2 5G has power in abundance. It uses the Snapdragon 865+ processor with 12GB of RAM, and a choice of either 256GB or 512GB of storage.

The foldable design wants to combine the best of a phone with the best of a tablet. However, it manages to maintain the worst of both, and lacks the purity of vision that the Surface Duo benefits from. However, the Z Fold 2 5G is inarguably the better cell phone – it has better cameras, it’s faster, and it has a larger battery. It also seems more future-proofed, and crucially, it's no longer first-generation tech.

Samsung Galaxy Note 20 Ultra

Samsung’s Note series has always been aimed at business people looking to get stuff done while on the move. With the Note 20 Ultra, Samsung has taken everything one step further. Compared to the Note 10 Plus that it replaces, the Note 20 Ultra’s screen has grown another 0.1 inches – making it a whopping 6.9 inches in total.

The screen size lends itself brilliantly to use with the S Pen stylus, which is included in the phone’s now $999 price tag. The S Pen is smarter than ever, with new gesture controls that allow you to go back, go to the home screen, and more. You can also start taking notes, even if the phone is locked – handy if you’re caught in a pinch during a meeting or video call.

Plus, you can even use the Note 20 Ultra like a mini PC. Samsung’s Dex feature allows you to plug your phone into a monitor and start working on a bigger screen. Admittedly, the Note 20 Ultra can’t replicate full PC levels of performance (not even the fastest gaming phones can manage that), but it will easily let remote workers run Google Docs or uncomplicated Microsoft Office files.

The Note 20 Ultra is a big, expensive phone with compromises that might put off the average user. But, as you’re here, you aren’t the average user – and for most people looking to work on-the-go, you’ll find fewer phones better equipped than the Note 20 Ultra.

iPhone 12 Pro Max

Of course, while two screens are great for getting stuff done, having one big screen can also be pretty helpful. The iPhone 12 Pro Max’s 6.7-inch display is the largest screen fitted to an iPhone thus far. It helps make writing emails, reading and editing documents, or even video calling a piece of cake.

However, there’s currently no way to split-screen multitask with any iPhone – Apple saves that luxury for the latest iPads. It’s a shame, especially considering Android phones have had such capability since 2016.

Still, the fast switch feature in iOS does make swapping between apps quicker, meaning that you can juggle jobs simultaneously – you’ll just need to remember what was on the previous app. Plus, the iPhone’s blazingly fast A14 Bionic chip means that slowdowns are incredibly unlikely.

If you’re committed to iPhones, and need to get stuff done on-the-go, the iPhone 12 Pro Max is undoubtedly your best bet. However, considering they start at $1,099, we’d be tempted to grab a new cellular iPad Air and an iPhone SE.

While you can buy the iPhone 12 and iPhone 12 Pro from October 23, you'll need to wait until Novemeber 13 to buy the iPhone 12 Pro Max.

Motorola Moto G Stylus

Say you want a phone with a stylus, but can’t stretch to a Samsung Note 20 Ultra? Then the Moto G Stylus might just be the phone for you.

Costing $299, the G Stylus offers a built-in stylus (surprise) with the ability to take notes and draw simple sketches. It’s not as smart as the Samsung offering, but considering the Motorola phone costs almost one-fifth of the Note 20 Ultra, that’s not really surprising.

It uses the Snapdragon 665 processor, so performance won’t be staggering, but will be quick enough for most jobs. The 6.4-inch display isn’t the largest for split-screen multitasking, but should still be big enough to work on most documents or emails.

If you’re looking for a cheap phone to help get stuff done, the G Stylus is a pretty good option. However, if working remotely is really that important to you, you’d ideally need to spend a bit more money.

LG Wing

This one is still a bit speculative, as LG hasn’t revealed the Wing’s official price tag or release date in the US.

However, as the most unique phone to arrive on the scene in some time, the LG Wing represents a slightly different take on phone productivity. The sliding and pivoting screen can be a great tool for productivity, allowing you a large keyboard on the bottom display, with an email chain being displayed on the smaller top screen, for example.

With a Snapdragon 765G processor and 8GB of RAM, the Wing won’t whizz through tasks with the same ferocity as an iPhone 11 Pro Max or Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 2 5G, but it should be more than enough to get most things done.

The Wing’s unique approach is interesting, and it’s certainly a phone to keep an eye on if you’re looking for a mobile working companion.

What to Look for in a Business or Productivity Phone

The most obvious thing you need in a productivity phone is a big screen. Simply put, the more real estate you have, the more you’re able to get done – peering into a 5-inch screen isn’t going to help you replace a laptop, or even a tablet.

However, it also pays to grab a phone with a powerful processor. The more power you have on-hand, the more effectively you’ll be able to multitask. If your phone is sluggishly swapping between apps or juddering in split-screen, the likelihood of making mistakes – or even losing work – goes up considerably.

Most of the phones on this list are incredibly expensive, with many costing more than $1,000. As a result, we’d definitely recommend choosing a phone with 5G connectivity. The tech isn’t completely mainstream yet, but if we were spending that much on a phone, we’d want to have it for a few years, at least.

Finally, you need to look at battery life. There’s little point in having a phone that dies halfway through a working day because it simply doesn’t have enough juice. If we’re honest, we’d be looking for a phone with at least a 4,000 mAh battery in most cases.