Top 20 phones of H1 of 2019

14 July 2019
The first six months of the year are done - here are the most popular phones.

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  • AnonD-731363
  • Lfw
  • 19 Jul 2019

Kangal, 17 Jul 2019Sorry dude, but no. The Redmi K20 Pro (aka Xiaomi Mi 9t) i... moreSorry dude, but no.
The Redmi K20 Pro (aka Xiaomi Mi 9t) is essentially the Redmi PocoPhone F2. And it is not a flagship/luxury phone. It has many drawbacks that prevent it from being one. It is an Upper-Midrange device, the segment that we tend to label things like "flagship killer" etc etc.

Second of all, it's not even the best phone in its Upper-Midrange category.
Man as long as it have latest and best SD855 along with 8GB its a flagship also the GPU is flagship one.
CPU and GPU is what makes flagship features are just features but dont make any difference on a benchmark score.
Asus Zenfone Samsung Note, Fold or S10+ 5G, Sony 1, XS max by apple all are top on benchmarks score like Pocophone 2. There is no difference thus is a flagship device.
Add-ons are just extras which not everybody needs or use and wont make a difference on a benchmark score thus redmi K20 is best phone to buy.

    AnonD-731363, 15 Jul 2019Redmi K20 pro missing on the list best and cheapest flagshi... moreSorry dude, but no.
    The Redmi K20 Pro (aka Xiaomi Mi 9t) is essentially the Redmi PocoPhone F2. And it is not a flagship/luxury phone. It has many drawbacks that prevent it from being one. It is an Upper-Midrange device, the segment that we tend to label things like "flagship killer" etc etc.

    Second of all, it's not even the best phone in its Upper-Midrange category.
    It's not as "unique" as the ASUS Zenfone 6. It's much larger than the Huawei P30. And compared to both the Nubia RedMagic 3 and the Lenovo Z6 Pro, it is not as good.
    https://www.gsmarena.com/compare.php3?idPhone1=9692&idPhone2=9671&idPhone3=9708

    Don't get me wrong, it's a good device. And it's priced very competitively. But there's no excuse to fanboy over brands or certain devices. Judge the device based on its merit, and if its good praise it, if its bad disprove it, if its the best then buy it.

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      • AnonD-731363
      • SH3
      • 16 Jul 2019

      Anonymous, 16 Jul 2019So what if a lot of phones are manufactured in China, you a... moreMan so does have apple samsung etc.
      Back in 80s-90s Apple paid the man and emplyed him which litterary create the pepsi cola to the world John Sculley.
      Man which has been most known for creating and develop advertising which even the low end projects ended as succesfully thrilling earning billions.
      Person which were the leader and Ceo and becomes Ceo of Apple as well.
      In other words without John Sculley Apple would never went from a few million dollar company to a hundreds trillion dollar company.

      Its not all about the R&D but its about the knowing people their capabilities and influence on the world which can change single penny into highest bank notes available.
      by the way everybody is copying.
      In past 5 years practicaly no brand new technology come to the mobile world.
      And i dont mean improoving old one like making SD855 instead of SD845 but something completely new.
      Like USB-C but lets say the Micro USB were good enough, Face Unlock, now folding phones, and underdisplay camera and dual triple even penta camera but that just a few examples.
      But developing something completely unique to the mobile world is not that easy.

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        • AnonD-832645
        • Khs
        • 16 Jul 2019

        aaa, 15 Jul 2019someone pls explain to me how the hell u made this list? by... moreGsmarena made this list using phone daily interest data. They said 'really got your attention" its obvious

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          • Anonymous
          • Y7u
          • 16 Jul 2019

          AnonD-731363, 15 Jul 2019Man it does or it will be. Like F1 Poco it will be availa... moreSo what if a lot of phones are manufactured in China, you act like a Chinese phone company was also involved in the researching and designing process as well. All China does is build other companies phones for them because of low labor costs and all Chinese phone companies do is copy and steal from others to save money by skimping on R&D and compensate by packing their best phones with cheap specs while introducing tacky, gimmicky features like damage prone pop-up/flip-up/sliding/rotating cameras in a desperate attempt to show how innovative they are. Don't even get me started on their software and fugly skins like MIUI, not to mention their cringy ad campaigns.

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            • Anonymous
            • Y7u
            • 16 Jul 2019

            salarx, 14 Jul 2019Being smart or rich doesn't translate to technologically aw... moreThis is one of the best comments that I've read on this site, kudos to you sir.

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              • aaa
              • a3x
              • 15 Jul 2019

              someone pls explain to me how the hell u made this list? by quality or price.. for the love of god how redmi note 7 is a best phone?

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                • AnonD-731363
                • SH3
                • 15 Jul 2019

                viano, 15 Jul 2019A fanboy/seller hyping about a useless, China-only phone ... moreMan it does or it will be.
                Like F1 Poco it will be available everywhere.
                By the way every phone is made in china.
                Samsung, apple LG etc.
                Fanboy.
                Please show me which phone ioffers SD855 with 8GB ram and other simmilar specs for same price???
                Noone the most ccheapest flagships from other brands like Samsung, Sony, Apple LG cost more than 600 bucks.
                Your comment had zero value.

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                  • viano
                  • 80$
                  • 15 Jul 2019

                  AnonD-731363, 15 Jul 2019Redmi K20 pro missing on the list best and cheapest flagshi... moreA fanboy/seller hyping about a useless, China-only phone lol

                  Where is the global version please?!

                  Your favorite does not even have the most important feature,
                  LTE Band 20 (and other global bands) support.
                  The "best ... flagship of the year"
                  without proper mobile connectivity ... ?! lol

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                    • Adul Al Salami Kebab
                    • nrX
                    • 15 Jul 2019

                    Realme 3 Pro?! D:

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                      • AnonD-731363
                      • SH3
                      • 15 Jul 2019

                      AnonD-558092, 14 Jul 2019It is just the most popular ones. They used to clearly say ... moreSince when a 250 euros phone is entry level???
                      In Bangladesh for example people cant even afford redmi go for 50 euros.
                      And many countries are like this???
                      Dont smoke live real life in real world.

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                        • AnonD-731363
                        • SH3
                        • 15 Jul 2019

                        Amirboli, 14 Jul 2019A50 must be the first one ..........Why even for 100 more bucks compared to redmi note 7 offers much worse specs.
                        KLike always samsung is very greedy.
                        Here in my country in Slovakia in central europe Redmi note 7 cost 149 euros but A50 cost 249 euros.
                        If i look at specs. Xiaomi is a lot cheaper and offers much better specs.
                        Samsung A50 with Redmi niote 7 specs would cost 349 euros and Redmi note 7 with Samsung A50 specs woud cost up to 129.

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                          • AnonD-731363
                          • SH3
                          • 15 Jul 2019

                          Anonymous, 14 Jul 2019Completely true, A50 is in my opinion the best!Redmi note 7 is true winner.
                          Best specs for best price.

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                            • AnonD-731363
                            • SH3
                            • 15 Jul 2019

                            Lavialegon , 14 Jul 2019Sadly there are only Samsung and china brands, Maybe because others have nothing to offer.

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                              • AnonD-731363
                              • SH3
                              • 15 Jul 2019

                              Kangal, 14 Jul 2019I guess this post is based on "Top 20 phones searched on GS... moreRedmi K20 pro missing on the list best and cheapest flagship of the year.
                              Offers best of all for lowest the budget which makes it the best fllagship of the year.
                              Other companies offers tons of mess and fuss for extra price but 95% of consumers use the phone for a basic stuff like dialing messaging internet games facebook, messenger, viber whatsapp, skype, instagram, twitter thats it maybe.
                              Basic stuff for this K20 pro is great enough. Rest have tons of add-ons and features which customers dont know and dont know how to use.

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                                • blue.sun
                                • Mx6
                                • 15 Jul 2019

                                Akashraj, 15 Jul 2019This is what happens when you comment while smoking weed.No, this happens when someone is fanatically addicted to iPhone and does not see anything else. Such person twists the world to make himself/herself look better because of the iPhone.

                                  AnonD-816568, 14 Jul 2019No those the so called youngsters and wannabes can't buy th... moreThis is what happens when you comment while smoking weed.

                                    AnonD-816568, 14 Jul 2019No those the so called youngsters and wannabes can't buy th... moreIf you're an iPhone user then you're a perfect example of some people who think that a "brand" connotes a person's success and character.
                                    FYI, I bought my daughter's iPhone X but I'm using a Mi9T and it's not a part of any stats but a fact.

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                                      • Awsome name
                                      • XMh
                                      • 15 Jul 2019

                                      AnonD-816568, 14 Jul 2019No those the so called youngsters and wannabes can't buy th... morehahaha this comment make me laugh so hard... You must be believing in the story you just created for yourself... keep dreaming man.

                                        Anonymous, 14 Jul 2019You missed samsung's newest chips exynos 7904 7884 and 9610... moreThanks for the suggestions. I'll try to loan or buy the new Samsung phones, and run the benches myself. I have many phones, but majority of them are just on loan. Otherwise, will look to get an aggregate scores on the new Exynos chipsets.

                                        I will attempt to rerun the Midrange Snapdragon chipsets a dozen times again. There's discrepancies because some phones get updated, especially if there's a driver update as well. I'll get back to you with the scores, to see if there's any/much differences.

                                        The QSD 450 and QSD 625 are basically the same chipset, and you can tell by the scores since they're very close. The discrepancy in the scores come from the difference in hardware, most QSD 625 chipsets were thrown in decent Midrange devices and got decent scores for the chipset, but the QSD 450 was mostly sold cheaper from Qualcomm and found on more cheaper devices. The voltage regulation and heat dissipation do make an impact, but its clearly more visible on the high-end (eg QSD 821).

                                        The Helio P35, yeah that's a typo good catch. It's not supposed to be a 7, but the button above it a 4, hence 14,000 score. I can't edit the comment now, it has "Timed Out".

                                        The Benchmarks to use is the most important question. I wanted something that's both Light for the Older Chipsets and Low-end Phones, and something that's also Heavy for the Newer and Flagship Chipsets. I also wanted something that was cross-compatible between the 32bit devices and 64bit devices, and something that will run on multiple operating systems (eg iOS, Android, Linux, Windows 10). And I wanted a benchmark that would give a good representation of the overall performance of the chipset.

                                        The GPU benchmark was the easiest one to decide, it's without a doubt the 3D Mark IceStorm Unlimited from Futuremark. This stresses out Mobile GPU's well, but isn't a good representative for Desktop Graphics Cards. And it runs on older iPhones/Androids and new ones alike.

                                        For the CPU side, I wanted to use the accompanying PC Mark Work 2.0 as its pretty reliable and even has a Battery Life test suite. The reason this wasn't adopted was because Apple has rejected PC Mark 10/iOS for the AppStore, but if it changes, I'm likely to take the plunge as well. AnTuTu scores were the least reliable benchmark I found, not sure why they are still championed these days. But I ended up sticking with Geekbench 4 for Single-core and Multi-core benchmarks. It's reliable enough to know how the chipsets behave, but not to the decimal point. And they do spit out some strange results/suffer in thermal throttling (see Exynos 9810).

                                        Thanks for all the support, peers!