Our Mid-2019 Buyer's guide video shortlists the best phones so far

20 June 2019
Half a year has almost passed, so here's our round-up of the most exciting handsets released until this point.

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  • M
  • Madhan
  • xf5
  • 24 Jun 2019

Why have you ignored Meizu 16s which has the Snapdragon 855 chipset?

    Unintelligent..., 22 Jun 2019You are not very intelligent if you discredit a phone that ... moreYes, I'm simple, straight and dull, no doubts :). 0% intelligence, -99 IQ :). If I buy a brand new smartphone for a high price, I want it 100% new new, not with last year main hardware component inside. It's a simple as that. No excuses and exceptions here.

      • U
      • Unintelligent...
      • 0Rg
      • 22 Jun 2019

      VectorR, 21 Jun 2019Worth to mention that the latest and greatest Huawei P30 se... moreYou are not very intelligent if you discredit a phone that is very fast only because their processor is from 2018. You are the perfect consumer for corporations wanting to sell stuff beause "hey, it's new you should get one!"

        [deleted post]I mean, if you can't refute the argument I put forward, what's the point of responding?

        I mean, the QSD 665 is a processor released in 2019 and the QSD 675 is a processor was released in 2018. Does that make the QSD 665 the better?

        If you cannot say No, then you cannot be objective in your reasoning. And the name of the processor has very little effect in the discussion as well, otherwise you would be trying to falsibly argue that the QSD 653 is a better processor than the QSD 636 which simply isn't true. Heck, it's better than the QSD 810 as well, if you're so focused on naming and dates, and can't look past that and focus on the attributes of the SoC itself.

          Kangal, 21 Jun 2019The Kirin 980 is using a new 7nm-level lithography. The Ex... moreYou just repeat yourself and don't listen at all. I don't care about technical data and other things. The year of release matters. Kirin 980 was released in 2018, Huawei P30 - 2019. It is cheating to my point of view. No one does that with high-end expensive smartphones. Full stop. End of story.

            griffin, 21 Jun 2019galaxy note 10 will come with old chipset tooNot true. Galaxy Note 10 will be released this year (2019) with SD855 or Exynos 9820 (chipsets of 2019 as well) so all good here, no cheating.

              • g
              • griffin
              • aub
              • 21 Jun 2019

              VectorR, 21 Jun 2019Regardless that you sad, chipset is from 2018, smartphone i... moregalaxy note 10 will come with old chipset too

                VectorR, 21 Jun 2019Regardless that you sad, chipset is from 2018, smartphone i... moreThe Kirin 980 is using a new 7nm-level lithography.
                The Exynos 9820 is using a refined 10nm lithography (dubbed "8nm").
                The Kirin 980 is using the latest Cortex A76 CPU core.
                The Exynos 9820 is using an older Cortex A75 CPU core, plus Custom M4 core.
                The Kirin 980 is using the latest Mali G76 GPU.
                The Exynos 9820 is also using the same latest Mali G76 GPU.
                ...so you see the Kirin 980 is actually the latest and greatest, it was only surpassed slightly by the QSD 855 which simply was released at a later date.

                The Exynos 9820 was released in 2019, and is in 2019 flagship phones.
                If the Exynos 9820 is deemed a Flagship SoC, by default the Kirin 980 should be too.

                PS: If anyone wants to compare the different category phones by size, here:
                Large:
                https://www.gsmarena.com/compare.php3?&idPhone3=9535&idPhone2=9692&idPhone1=9717

                Medium:
                https://www.gsmarena.com/compare.php3?&idPhone1=9720&idPhone2=9671&idPhone3=9540

                Small:
                https://www.gsmarena.com/compare.php3?&idPhone3=9537&idPhone2=9530&idPhone1=9724

                  Kangal, 21 Jun 2019I disagree. The Kirin 980 may have debuted at the end of 2... moreRegardless that you sad, chipset is from 2018, smartphone is from 2019. This is very wrong by default. Again, I don't care how good Kirin 980 it is. It is not the latest and greatest, shiny new anymore. Only Huawei does this dirty trick.

                    • S
                    • Sony
                    • Fvc
                    • 21 Jun 2019

                    Finally..i see Sony together with the big boys

                      VectorR, 21 Jun 2019Worth to mention that the latest and greatest Huawei P30 se... moreI disagree.
                      The Kirin 980 may have debuted at the end of 2018, but its definitely a 2019 Flagship SoC. It's slightly better than the Exynos 9820, and slightly worse than the Snapdragon 855. It's the same case with the Apple A12-Bionic chip, yes it was released in 2018 but most of the units were sold in 2019 and it was competing in 2019.

                      As for my list of phones above, you can search for them yourself here on GSMArena!
                      Flagships:
                      https://www.gsmarena.com/compare.php3?&idPhone1=9535&idPhone2=9540&idPhone3=9537
                      https://www.gsmarena.com/results.php3?nYearMin=2019&sIPCerts=6&sChipset=31,30

                      Upper-Midrange:
                      https://www.gsmarena.com/compare.php3?&idPhone1=9692&idPhone2=9671&idPhone3=9530
                      https://www.gsmarena.com/results.php3?nYearMin=2019&sChipset=31,30

                      Midrange:
                      https://www.gsmarena.com/compare.php3?idPhone1=9717&idPhone2=9720&idPhone3=9724
                      https://www.gsmarena.com/results.php3?nYearMin=2019&sChipset=36,29,35,33,4,28,24

                      Honorable Mentions:
                      https://www.gsmarena.com/compare.php3?&idPhone1=9689&idPhone2=9698&idPhone3=9652

                      ...I'm holding out to see the new ASUS RoG Phone 2, hopefully its awesome.

                        Top 2019 flagship/luxury phones to consider:
                        Large: Samsung S10+
                        Medium: LG G8
                        Small: Samsung S10e
                        Honorable mention: OnePlus 7 Pro

                        Top 2019 Upper-Midrange phones to consider:
                        Large: Nubia RedMagic 3
                        Medium: Lenovo Z6 Pro
                        Small: Huawei P30
                        Honorable mention: ASUS ZenFone 6

                        Top 2019 Midrange phones to consider:
                        Large: Vivo Z5x
                        Medium: Redmi K20
                        Small: Meizu 16xs
                        Honorable mention: Nokia X71

                        Top 2019 Low-end phones to consider:
                        ...simply too many for me to go through, sorry : (

                        Top 2019 Entry grade phones:
                        ...landfill !!

                        Luxury/Flagship = Best processor + waterproofing/removable battery
                        Upper Midrange/High end = Best processor + good specs all-round
                        Midrange phones = QSD 636 upto QSD 730 + decent specs all-round
                        Low-end = Obscure MediaTek processor upto Snapdragon 632 + cheap specs all-round
                        Entry-grade = has to be so cheap

                          • J
                          • Juan Martin
                          • 0Rg
                          • 21 Jun 2019

                          Good list to be honest. From low range to flagships. Different price bands so pick one according to your budget/limitations of each phone

                            Worth to mention that the latest and greatest Huawei P30 series utilize the last year chipset - Kirin 980. I don't care how fast it is etc but I'd consider it as a drawback keeping in mind that this fact doesn't make these phones any cheaper.
                            Fall 2019 looks more interesting and promising (Pixel 4, iPhone XI...).

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