Made in China. That phrase often gets a bad rap everywhere. However, in the world of smartphones, that’s often untrue. Chinese smartphones that have made their way into the market nowadays, are actually rather powerful, perhaps even more powerful than their Western counterparts. Here are some of the flagships we think are awesome, but you’ve probably never even heard of.
1. ZTE Axon 7 ($419)
One of the more affordable flagships in the market, the ZTE AXON 7 is a smartphone that comes armed with a 5.5-inch AMOLED display alongside a generous 64GB worth of internal storage. This smartphone is made out of metal to give it a premium luxurious feel and it is also powered by a Snapdragon 820 processor and 4GB worth of RAM to ensure seamless usage. It is also built with three capacitive buttons below the display, and gives you a decent front-facing speaker that outdoes most phones when it comes to audio capabilities.
Purchase the Axon 7 here.
2. Elephone P9000 ($179)
Forgive this phone for its strange sounding name, but the Elephone P9000 is surprisingly good for its price. The P9000 is one of Elephone’s best selling models because of its classy design, powerful specifications and extremely low price point. Sporting a really small frame with thin bezels, it’s rather sleek despite being a 5.5-inch full-HD phone. With 4GB of RAM and the MediaTek’s Helio P10 processor, in terms of speed, the P9000 does nearly as well as phones $200 above its price.
Purchase the P9000 here.
3. ZUK Z2 Pro ($359)
Zuk is one of the least well-known smartphones in the market. If you don’t know it yet, ZUK is actually supported by Lenovo and it has quite a few devices in its line of awesome phones, but the ZUK Z2 Pro, is one of the best devices out there. Armed with a flagship-level Snapdragon 82o processor, the high-performance Z2 has 2 variants, the 4GB and 6GB ones that are both built for speed, with the 6GB variant being the stronger of the two. In terms of design, the thin bezels of the Z2 Pro makes it slim and light despite packing on power and performance too.
Purchase the Z2 Pro here.
4. Meizu MX6 ($259)
An aesthetically-pleasing aluminium phone, the Meizu MX6 is a force to be reckoned with. It’s performance is good and stutter-free thanks to its Helio X10 processor, but it’s true power lies in its incredible battery life. The interface is easy to use thanks to Meizu’s user-friendly Flyme UI skin, but the only downside to this beautiful Chinese smartphone is its rather unimpressive front and rear camera that just spells average.
5. LeTV Leeco Le Pro 3 ($485)
Last, but not least. The LeTV Le Pro 3 is an incredible beast, with not a Snapdragon 820 processor, but a remarkable Snapdragon 821 chipset within its shell. For $485, it is absolutely impossible to find a smartphone better than this. Not only is it thin and stylish, it comes with 4GB worth of RAM and a generous 64GB worth of memory storage. The USB C smartphone is also backed by a powerful rear camera that seeks to shoot clear photos in both well-lit and low-light conditions. However, the Le Pro 3 doesn’t come with a headphone jack, which might be an issue for some.
Purchase the Le Pro 3 here.
