Best 5G phones in Australia

The best 5G phones ranked

1. Samsung Galaxy Note 20 Ultra
2. Oppo Find X2 Pro
3. Samsung Galaxy Note 20
4. Oppo Find X2 Neo
5. Vivo X50 Pro 5G
6. Oppo Find X2 Lite
7. LG Velvet

1. Samsung Galaxy Note 20 Ultra 5G

A great 5G phone with an awesome camera

6.9-inch display | 256GB, 512GB storage options | 12MP + 108MP + 12MP rear camera

• Amazing camera
• S-Pen adds a lot of functionality
• Excellent high refresh rate display

• Battery life could be better
• Big and bulky
• Space Zoom feature doesn't work all that well

RRP $1,999 for 5G model with 256GB | $2,199 for 5G model with 512GB

Why we chose it

Samsung was first to market in Australia with a 5G phone, and if you're going to pay a premium for one, the phone to buy right now is the Galaxy Note 20 Ultra. Not only do you get 5G compatibility, but you also get one of the best camera phones on the market, along with an expansive 6.9-inch 120Hz display, Samsung's unique S-Pen for both creative and productive purposes and a whole lot of processing power too.

The flip side to that is that battery life isn't immense, and that's something that 5G isn't likely to help much with either, especially if you want to leave it in 120Hz mode most of the time – which, trust us, you really do. Like Samsung's earlier S20 Ultra, the much-hyped "Space Zoom" digital zoom feature isn't worth using unless you like washed out, pixelated photos too.

You can read our full review of the Samsung Galaxy Note 20 Ultra here.

2. Oppo Find X2 Pro

Oppo's 5G flagship is a stylish and fun phone

6.7-inch display | 512GB storage options | 48MP + 48MP + 13MP rear camera

• Great camera performance
• Option of vegan-leather back in orange
• Cheaper than many other 5G flagships

• 60x zoom doesn't work all that well
• Only 4K video shooting
• Fixed storage

RRP $1,599

Why we chose it

Samsung's been busy in 5G, but Chinese maker Oppo is rapidly approaching it in terms of the sheer number of 5G-capable handsets it has in the market right now. Its flagship is the highly appealing Oppo Find X2 Pro 5G, a fast and very capable phone that combines excellent telephoto and low-light shooting with 5G, very fast wired charging and a high refresh rate display. While it does come in a more sedate black finish, there's also an option for a very ostentatious orange vegan-leather finish if you prefer.

Like the Note 20 Ultra, battery life is going to be impacted by 5G data rates, and while that superfast wired charging can help, its lack of wireless charging isn't all that welcome. Video shooting is limited to 4K only, and it's a fixed storage phone with no microSD expansion possibilities too.

Read our full Oppo Find X2 Pro review here.

3. Samsung Galaxy Note 20

A more affordable Note option with 5G on board

6.7-inch display | 256GB, 128MB storage options | 64MP + 12MP + 12MP rear camera

• Good camera
• Smaller in-hand size
• Telephoto lens

• Note 20 Ultra shoots just a little better
• Space Zoom isn't great
• No laser autofocus

RRP From $1,499

Why we chose it

The Galaxy Note 20 is the more affordable of Samsung's Note line, but it's a good 5G option in its own right if you want to save a few hundred dollars while still getting 5G access and a nice array of camera modes to boot. You don't get the high refresh rate screen, and the camera optics aren't quite as shiny as on the Note 20 Ultra, but you get a phone that's easier in the pocket – both physically and on your wallet – in return.

Read our full review of the Samsung Galaxy Note 20 here

4. Oppo Find X2 Neo

A great mid-range 5G phone

6.5-inch display | 256GB storage options | 48MP + 13MP + 8MP rear camera

• Good battery life
• Good camera quality
• 90Hz display

• No wireless charging
• Poor fingerprint reader
• ColorOS isn't for everyone

RRP $999

Why we chose it

The new trend in 5G phones is for mid-range priced devices built on the Snapdragon 765G platform. With a common CPU architecture, there's not a lot in performance terms between most of the Snapdragon 765G phones for apps or 5G performance, but Oppo's Find X2 Neo stands out for having some really fun cameras and very good battery life, which is a vital component of any 5G handset.

Like other Oppo phones, you're stuck with its ColorOS launcher on top of Android, which is a bit of an acquired taste with some unusual application permission issues to deal with. Oppo doesn't tend to push wireless charging much, and it's missed here as is the inclusion of a good quality in-display fingerprint reader.

Read our full review of the Oppo Find X2 Neo here.

5. Vivo X50 Pro 5G

A great 5G phone for videographers

6.56-inch display | 256GB storage options | 48MP + 13MP + 8MP rear camera

• Gimbal is great for video
• 90Hz display is nice
• Quad camera array

• No water resistance
• No headphone jack
• Camera can be inconsistent

RRP $999

Why we chose it

Vivo is yet another brand from the same Chinese megacorp that owns Oppo, but where the Find X2 Neo impresses on general camera quality, the Vivo X50 Pro brings a different game to town. It features a primary sensor sitting on a camera stabilisation gimbal built into the phone itself, which is quite a different take on what you could do with mobile photography.

It's exceptional for video shooting, making the Vivo X50 Pro 5G a good choice for social media types who need 5G to upload their latest short clips, although we did hit some inconsistencies when shooting stills with it. It's also lacking water resistance as well as a headphone jack, which is problematic.

Read our full Vivo X50 Pro 5G review here.

6. Oppo Find X2 Lite

A more affordable 5G phone

6.4-inch display | 128GB storage options | 48MP + 8MP + 2MP rear camera

• Cheaper than 5G alternatives for now
• Good performance from Snapdragon 765G
• Includes headphone jack

• Ordinary camera
• Ordinary battery life
• ColorOS on board

RRP $749

Why we chose it

Oppo has not only been pushing a lot of 5G phones, but it's also been pushing the idea that 5G handsets don't have to be super-expensive. For some time now, the Oppo Find X2 Lite has been the cheapest 5G phone you can directly buy in Australia, even though it's running on the same Snapdragon 765G as the other mid-range 5G competitors that cost $200 or more than it does.
That means it mostly runs apps at the same kind of pace, which is great, but the trade-off is in the quality of the onboard camera and overall battery life.

Like all of Oppo's phone ranges, you've also got to like its ColorOS overlay on top of Android too.

Read our full Oppo Find X2 Lite review here.

7. LG Velvet

LG leaves the premium market aside for a high-value mid-range phone

6.8-inch display | 128GB storage options | 48MP + 8MP + 5MP rear camera

• Water resistant
• Headphone jack
• Good battery life

• No dual screen for Australia
• Ordinary cameras
• No quad DAC

RRP $749

Why we chose it

LG's flagship 5G phone for 2020 in Australia isn't priced like a flagship phone at all. Instead, the South Korean phone maker has delivered the LG Velvet as part of the pack of phones using the Snapdragon 765G at a sub-$1,000 price point. That means it has the same 5G chops as other Snapdragon 765G phones, and LG's pick of premium features as well. This includes water resistance not found on other 765G phones as well as a real headphone jack, although that's somewhat mitigated by the lack of a Quad DAC on board, something that used to be standard for LG's phones and beloved by audiophiles.

The LG Velvet has dual-screen capability, but one of the ways LG's kept the cost down locally is by not offering that accessory. It does feature a triple-camera array, but one that's not quite as nice as its competitors.

Read our full LG Velvet review.

Methodology

150+
Phones reviewed

10,000+
Hours spent testing

7
Best 5G phones ranked

• We've spent thousands of hours testing mobile phones.
• Our editorial team has a combined 60+ years of experience writing about tech and reviewing the latest devices.
• The phones on this list are chosen by our editorial team and are not based on commercial relationships.

• Why you can trust our picks

  5G as a network technology is one that we've covered and written about for many years, but the reality is that it's still a technology in its infancy in terms of network rollouts and device availability.

  The reality for 5G right now is that the big three networks – Telstra, Optus and Vodafone – are still building out their 5G networks using sub-6Ghz frequencies because that's all they have access to. We'll see those networks expand over time both in terms of wider coverage and much better speeds. However, the phones you can buy right now are typically not capable of the faster 5G we should see out of mmWave 5G. Still, there's some logic in picking up a 5G phone now because it'll keep you up to date with networks over the next 5-10 years at the very least.

  It's also really important to note that 5G isn't and shouldn't be the defining factor that decides the "value" of a phone, especially right now as 5G networks are still coming on line. So far, we've seen 5G handsets built on only three different internal architectures – two from Qualcomm and one in much smaller quantities from Huawei – so the points of differentiation in terms of network pick-up are likely to be minimal.

  As such, we've chosen our list based not only on the inclusion of 5G in a phone but also on what other features it brings to market to justify its existence. When the first 5G phones launched, they were premium-priced models only, but we're now seeing an expanding number of mid-range 5G capable options.

  If you're wondering why our top list doesn't include Apple iPhones, it's because Apple bet heavily on Intel being able to build 5G chips at a price more agreeable to it than Qualcomm, but that bet didn't pay off. Rumours suggest that we'll see the first 5G-ready iPhones in 2020 quite soon – but we'll have to wait and see.

  Over time, Qualcomm has delivered more affordable 5G platforms to phone makers, so we've seen the prices for phones that include 5G drop markedly. Where once you had to spend $1,500 or more on a 5G handset, they're now in the sub-$1000 space, and should soon shift into around the $500 price point or lower.

  However, like early 4G phones, there's a lot more to the value of a 5G handset than just its 5G capability. That's especially true because Australian 5G networks right now operate on so-called sub-6 frequencies – basically the same ones used for existing 4G networks, essentially speaking – and we're not going to see even faster mmWave networks until at least late 2021, if then. That almost certainly means we'll see something of a split market when it comes to more affordable 5G phones, with the premium space getting phones that will be capable of even faster speeds, while the budget lines stick to sub-6 to keep costs low. Again, we've seen this with the way cheaper 4G phones run at lower category speeds than pricier units.

  We value our editorial independence, basing our comparison results, content and reviews on objective analysis without bias. But Finder may receive compensation when you click links on our site. Learn more about how we make money from our partners and why you can trust our guides.