With summer just around the corner, it’s time to trade in that clunky, old cellular device for a shiny, new one. But, with so many phone manufacturers competing for your business with fancy commercials and clever marketing ploys, it becomes difficult to thin the herd and separate fact from fiction. That’s where I come in! Here is a countdown of the top 5 smartphones to look for the next time you step into a store.

 #5 iPhone 6

The iPhone 6 is a real step up from its previous generation. It has all of the special pieces that make an iPhone an iPhone, however it doesn’t particularly excel compared to its korean smartphone giants. Boasting only a low gHz dual-core processor paired with 1024 megabytes of ram and a low resolution screen, this phone is by no means a beast, but it doesn’t need to be. This phone is bright, colorful, simple, and overall a joy to use. Be it a little costly for the technology, it makes up for it in the user experience.

 #4 iPhone 6 Plus

Apple attempted to enter the phablet world with this larger-than-life brother of the iPhone 6. There isn’t much difference between the iPhone 6 plus and its counterpart; They both are sporting Apple’s latest chipset, both have one gigabyte of ram, and both have the same 8 megapixel camera. The only real between the two lies is in the size. The iPhone 6 plus bores a 5.5 inch display at a standard 1920×1080 resolution which is much larger than the 4.7 inch display on the traditional iPhone. This boost in screen real estate and ppi offers a much more immersive media consumption experience compared to its little brother, giving this phone a lead in our charts.

 #3 LG G4

This Korean giant made a big splash last year with the release of the highly acclaimed G3, and this year they attempted to follow that trend with the not as critically acclaimed G4. Sporting an 808 snapdragon hex-core processor, this phone does not fall short in the power department by any means, but it does fall slightly short of its more powerful octa-cousins. This lack of power in a flagship phone can be neglected by its brilliant display. LG went all out by incorporating technology usually only found in their televisions called a “Quantum” display. Basically what this means is, without going into too much detail, that the G4 has the ‘most realistic screen.’ The G4 also has a lot to offer in terms of accessories. Sporting a removable, genuine leather back, a large 3000 mAh battery, and an easy to use UI, as well as a powerful camera and a very large 5.5’’ display; this phone is sure to be a big success.

LG made a masterpiece by mixing all of the aspects that make a great phone into one marvelous package, the G4. Although it doesn’t have the same hype train as the G3, you can be sure that this phone will live up to all of its expectations, and then some.

 #2 HTC One M9

The HTC One M9’s design does not stray far from its previous generation, but when the previous model was considered by many to be perfect, there really wasn’t anywhere to improve. What HTC did change was the hardware to keep it up to date. It now boasts the latest and greatest of Qualcomm’s chipset, the Snapdragon 810, paired with the adreno 430 gpu for some of the fastest processing available on a phone. They did make some sacrifices by keeping the screen at a 1920×1080 resolution, but that can easily be forgiven considering the fantastic, front facing boom sound speakers, 2840 mAh battery, 20.7 MP camera, superior build quality, and excellent design language. HTC’s Sense UI is personally my favorite skin of any android device currently on the market, perfectly blending a plethora of features and a simplistic design language that keeps customers coming back for more. This is truly a phone that keeps on giving.

 #1 Samsung Galaxy S6/ S6 Edge

With last year’s model of the Galaxy S series falling far behind its competitors, Samsung would really need to bring out all the stops to make a splash in this years market, and so they did.

The S6 got a major design overhaul. It’s now boasting a full unibody design, made completely out of glass and aluminium. While this definitely add to its curb appeal, the S6 no longer supports a removable back or micro sd card slot, which can be a major selling point for some buyers. But do not fear, the S6 comes stock in 32, 64, and 128 GB versions so storage should not be the least of your worries. Where your worries should lie is in the battery life. The S6 has a smaller battery than its predecessor at 2550 mAh. This, however, has not been an issue in terms of longevity considering the S6’s new Exynos 7420’s cpu architecture. The S6 is the first phone to have a 14nm Silicon chipset in a smartphone, and for those of you who don’t know what that means, basically now the S6 can supply a lot bigger punch for a whole lot less juice. And that extra power is greatly appreciated when you are powering the best screen of any smartphone ever created. The S6 is rocking a 1440×2560 (~577ppi) super AMOLED display, giving it theoretically infinite contrast, vivid colors, and the highest resolution of any phone on the market. The camera on this phone is also the best of any camera seen on an android device, and in my opinion, even the iPhone. With a 16 MP rear facing camera with all the bells and whistles and a 5 MP front facing shooter, all of your pictures and selfies should be on point.

What keeps most buyers away from Samsung’s devices is the slow and overly complex UI known as TouchWiz. However, Samsung has redesigned TouchWiz, removing all of the clutter and only keeping what was needed. The result is a perfectly polished android skin that runs smoother than Kevin Spacey in the Usual Suspects.

 All joking aside, this is the best rendition of the S series ever created. It perfectly blends superior design aspects with the most up to date hardware available and tops it off with an excellent user experience. The next big thing is truly here.