Newsletter
Our first ‘Best Chinese Smartphones’ list in this year is here, and not much has changed compared to the end of last year. Huawei did introduce the Mate 10 and Mate 10 Pro flagships, but we’ve decided not to list them here due to their still limited availability, the same goes for the Honor View 10 aka Honor V10. Having said that, the Huawei P9, P9 Plus and Honor 9 are here instead, as they were until now, while the OnePlus 5T is still leading the pack. If you’re interested in checking out the list, read on.
5. Honor 9
The Honor 9 is the most powerful, compact flagship Honor has to offer. This smartphone sports a 5.15-inch Full HD (1920 x 1080) display, while it comes with 4GB / 6GB of RAM and 64GB / 128GB of native storage. This handset is fueled by the Kirin 960 SoC, which is no longer the company’s flagship processor, but it is still plenty powerful. The Honor 9 is made out of metal and glass, and it both looks and feels premium, while this phone also comes with a set of really capable cameras on its back. You will find 20-megapixel and 12-megapixel cameras on the back of the Honor 9, while the phone ships with Android 7.0 Nougat out of the box, with Huawei’s Emotion UI (EMUI) skin on top of it. The Honor 9 can be purchased from Amazon for $469, while it is priced at $339.99 on GearBest.
4. Xiaomi Mi 6
The Xiaomi Mi 6 is one of the company’s flagships for 2017. This is the company’s compact flagship, which sports a 5.15-inch Full HD display, compared to the Mi MIX 2’s 5.99-inch panel. The Mi 6 comes with considerably thicker bezels than the Mi MIX 2, but it’s quite compact despite that. This handset is fueled by the Snapdragon 835 64-bit octa-core processor, and it actually comes in two different RAM models, the more affordable model sports 4GB of RAM, while the more expensive variant comes with 6GB of RAM. This phone’s pricing starts at $409.99, all the links have been included down below.
Buy the Xiaomi Mi 6 (4GB RAM variant)
Buy the Xiaomi Mi 6 (International Variant)
Buy the Xiaomi Mi 6 (Ceramic Variant)
Buy the Xiaomi Mi 6 (128GB Storage Variant, Global)
Read more: hands-on with the Xiaomi Mi 6
3. Huawei P10 & P10 Plus
The Huawei P10 and P10 Plus had been announced back in February last year, and even though the Huawei P11 / P20 is right around the corner, these two phones are still very compelling. The Huawei P10 and P10 Plus are basically identical in terms of the design, though the P10 is much more compact than its ‘Plus’ sibling. Specifications of these two phones do differ a bit, but they’re both made out of metal, and they both ship with Leica’s lenses. The Huawei P10 comes with a 5.1-inch Full HD display and 4GB of RAM, while the P10 Plus features a 5.5-inch QHD display and 4GB / 6GB of RAM. Pricing for these two phones starts at $499, and they’re both available from Amazon and GearBest.
Buy the Huawei P10 Plus (GearBest)
2. Xiaomi Mi MIX 2
The Xiaomi Mi MIX 2 is the most powerful smartphone Xiaomi had released to date. This phone was announced last year, and it sports really thin bezels, while its main model is made out of metal and ceramic. It’s worth noting that a ceramic unibody variant of the phone is also available, and the device sports a 5.99-inch fullHD+ (2160 x 1080) display. The Xiaomi Mi MIX 2 is fueled by the Snapdragon 835 64-bit octa-core processor, while the device comes with a 3,400mAh non-removable battery. A 12-megapixel camera is placed on the back of the Mi MIX 2, while the phone comes with Android 7.1 Nougat, and Xiaomi’s MIUI 9 OS. The Xiaomi Mi MIX 2 pricing starts at $607.76.
Buy the Xiaomi Mi MIX 2 (128GB storage)
Buy the Xiaomi Mi MIX 2 (256GB storage)
Read more: Xiaomi Mi MIX 2 review
1. OnePlus 5T
The OnePlus 5T is OnePlus’ current flagship. This handset, unlike its OnePlus 5 sibling, sports very thin bezels, and a dedicated camera for low light on its back. The device features a 6.01-inch Full HD+ Optic AMOLED display, while you can grab either 6GB or 8GB RAM variant of this handset. The OnePlus 5T is fueled by the Snapdragon 835, while it sports a 3,300mAh non-removable battery on the inside, which you can recharge using OnePlus’ proprietary Dash Charge fast charging technology. The 6GB RAM variant of the device can be grabbed for $499.99 from GearBest, while you’ll need to splash out $569.99 for the 8GB RAM variant.