Samsung may not have had a stellar 2014, what with its books showing the worst financial performance in three years.
But its flagship phone - the Samsung Galaxy Note 4 - impressed on all fronts.
Be it performance, software, battery life, innovations on the S-pen, camera performance, the Note 4 came away with shining colours.
The fast charging feature which lets you charge your phone in under two hours was is a great value addition.
The only feature missing would be the water and dust resistance that was seen on the Galaxy S5, but then the advantages offered by the Note 4 far outweighed the omission of the IP67 certification.
Android Lollipop was another update one would have expected from the Note 4, but that should come out anytime next year.
Samsung Galaxy Note 4 has no equal when it comes to phones with stylus functionality.
Apple finally succumbed to the trend of large screen smartphones and launched not one but two iPhone's this year - the 4.7-inch iPhone 6 and the 5.5-inch iPhone 6 Plus.
Considering the limited storage and the fact that you couldn't expand the memory, the price seemed like it could be a deal breaker for many.
Apart from that, the iPhone 6 surpassed expectations in most areas, making it one of the best smartphones to get this year.
It has a brilliant display, one of the best cameras you'll find on a smartphone, excellent call sound quality and it's super-fast to use. It's definitely the best iPhone you can buy.
On the downside, the iPhone 6 lacks features compared to rivals.
