GSMArena smartphone buyer's guide:January 2018 edition

01 January 2018
'Tis the season! Or rather, 'Twas the season, because the end of 2017 flew by us while we were putting the final touches on this buyer's guide. So, we are clearly a bit tardy for a holiday shopping guide but that was more or less intentional on our part. What better time for an overview of what are the best phones to get than the start of the year where all major announcements are well behind us and prices have settled after the holiday shopping frenzy.

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As this year follows,many phones are left out on the list:

600$+
-HTC U11+ is an amazing phone and it should be put in this list in the 600$+ list.It's fluent UI,great chipset,great screen and has an option of SD card +128 internal storage combined with 6 gb ram.They fixed everything wrong on the U11 and it has 18:9 ratio phone.It has great camera too.I'd buy this phone anyday over the Mate 10 and it's on par with S8+,V30 and HTC mate 10 pro.

500-600$
-Sony Xperia XZ1 is great as well.It's a small phone with great specs and it's really fast.It's also for 500$.The Xz1 premium is garbage considering the chipset needs to struggle for the great quality screen and the camera recording is great but limited and not for everyday practice.That's why i pick the XZ1 since it's a balance between XZ1 compact and XZ1 Premium.

-Razor phone missing ? Really ? You left out a powerful phone with great phone screen refreshing at 120 and powerful chipset ? Disappointed in you GSM arena.Great phone for 550$.

400-500$
-Honor 9/Xiaomi mi 6.You can see these phones going bellow 400$ even but i will put them on the 400-500 list since they are country dependent and not every online seller is trustworthy plus with taxes combined and shipment cost they can go up to 499$.
Great phones for their value.Mi 6 has imporoved it's built quality a lot and offers fluent experience for any gamer out there and the camera is great too.Honor 9 hasn't changed much on the camera but the chipset is great and build quality same as Mi6.

-Xiaomi mi note 2.Amazing phone for 400$.It has SD 821 and it gives you a similar feeling to Samsung S7 edge.You even wrote a whole guide comparing Note 2 to S7 edge and the results were satisfying.And honestly,this phone is great for it's price.6 gb ram,128 memory,great camera,strong battery.What do you need more for 400$ ?

-LG G6 is currently 499$ in many country tech stores and even online for less.The last years chipset is powerful enough and it has a heat pipe.Back camera decent,fluent UI,nice ram,nice storage,has all flagship specs for 2016 and 2017 phones.Definetly worth the price.Might even go down for 410$ in some places.

300-400$
-Huawei Honor Note 8 is a giant phone and costs only 400$.It offers a high end chipset,has decent ram and nice internal storage.It's underrated for tall people with large hands and offers great experience if your kids want a Tablet but also a phone without carrying those heavy ipads or cheap tablets that offer poor chipsets but high price.

-ZTE nubia Z17 lite
You left out a phone with 6 gb ram,SD card storage with 64 gb and SD 653 for only 300$ ? Seriosly ? The ZTE Nubia is a great phone and offers flagship experience,the feel is great too and camera is great for daily usage for the price.
Fun fact.Oneplus5 doesn't offer sd card option for 64 gb version but this 300$ phone does.

-Xiaomi mi 5S/5S PLus.5S is 300$ and 5S plus is 340$.Phones that don't need much to say but great last year flagship phones that have many satisfying customers.The specs on paper are great and the UI is smooth.For 300$ i doubt you will find better from Xiaomi unless you find Mi 6 on large discount.

Think more GSM.
I think this buyers guide is ok but it's missing many key phones.

    • D
    • AnonD-598916
    • UTi
    • 02 Jan 2018

    Anonymous, 02 Jan 2018No Essential Phone? Sorry but its omission is pretty glarin... moreNot everyone's living in the US though

      • m
      • mir
      • 7Xe
      • 02 Jan 2018

      Calling 16:9 less trendy and old is true. But that does not take away the fact that it still has the most content and is also the most practical aspect ratio out right now.

        • S
        • Sakhi
        • t@G
        • 02 Jan 2018

        How in the world is ZTE Axon 7 in the range of 200-300 ? i asked the price from China via a Friend and the price is in 400 plus range ! Plz guide from where can i Buy it in less than 400 ?

          • ?
          • Anonymous
          • Im5
          • 02 Jan 2018

          No Essential Phone? Sorry but its omission is pretty glaring. At $500 it is a LOT of phone for the money (and I got mine from Amazon for $400 WITH the 360 camera). Yes it has its flaws, but unless you are super picky about camera quality it is one of the best flagship-quality phones for the money. People who spend $800 on a phone are nuts.

          Conversely, I continue to be saddened by mid-range phones selling for $300+ with nothing better than octa-core A53 chipsets. I came from an Xperia X which had a Snapdragon 650. I would take a 2+4 config with two actual high-performance cores than this eight-core A53 garbage being passed off as mid- and upper-mid-range. It is a crying shame and quite frankly mid-range customers are getting shafted with sub-par chipsets being foisted on them. Sites like GSMArena should be calling out manufacturers for this practice.

            • ?
            • Anonymous
            • S6$
            • 02 Jan 2018

            Looks like Samsung will dominate 200-300 Euros bracket.

              • ?
              • Anonymous
              • LQv
              • 01 Jan 2018

              vrvly, 01 Jan 2018Sony actually fail few times, 1.processing 2."man... moreDid you ever realize that phones with 1/2.3" all have f2.0 ( included pixel 2016) while phones with 1/2.5 or less have bigger f value?

              Cant you see relationship?

              Try to find any pocket camera with f1.7 of 1.8..
              It is f2.8 or smaller.

                ithehappy, 01 Jan 2018You Sony trolls never fail to seem to amaze us ROFL. That's... moreSony actually fail few times, 1.processing
                2."manual settings" with poor manual ui
                3.no raws(for better quality than bad stock processing)
                4. f2.0 while first f1.8 came 2.5years before, and it wasn't camera giant Sony.

                  AnonD-481725, 01 Jan 2018Nope, reliability and great performance are my priorities, ... moreWould be interesting to see poll of looks vs. specs. Mainly if overal phones endurance went down and screen/body ratio up, same as sales...

                    • ?
                    • Anonymous
                    • PEW
                    • 01 Jan 2018

                    Where is the Pixel 2 "Medium" ?

                      Sonyuser85, 01 Jan 2018That I was saying: about its category and its price with al... moreYou Sony trolls never fail to seem to amaze us ROFL. That's a 1s photo, even one of the low to midrange phone will output near same result with that prolonged exposure.

                        • D
                        • AnonD-481725
                        • StN
                        • 01 Jan 2018

                        vrvly, 01 Jan 2018I havent got U11. Also wouldn't instead of +, even with bat... moreNope, reliability and great performance are my priorities, bezels are good to be small "for sake of compactness and not for bigger screens like the crazy trend" but still not my concern anyway.

                          AnonD-481725, 01 Jan 2018Yes, it must be, because both have exactly the same camera ... moreI havent got U11. Also wouldn't instead of +, even with battery&availability problems. Those bezels are overkill. You know, once you see bezelless....

                            nahid070, 01 Jan 2018Your words are not reliable dude.. xz premium is one the be... moreThat I was saying: about its category and its price with all it does... Read twice before making someone a liar.

                            XA1 is still among best bargains at least regarding its camera:
                            https://www.esato.com/phonephotos/viewphotos.php?pid=89259&uid=224273

                              • ?
                              • Anonymous
                              • LQv
                              • 01 Jan 2018

                              AnonD-481725, 01 Jan 2018Yes, it must be, because both have exactly the same camera ... moreYes.. Sensor is used inside Zenfone 3 Zoom, Zenfone 4 and Moto G5+ too...

                                • D
                                • AnonD-481725
                                • StN
                                • 01 Jan 2018

                                vrvly, 01 Jan 2018would be great to hear that from htc.Yes, it must be, because both have exactly the same camera hardware components, btw, i see the U11 already received update to the same version of the U11+ didn't you notice any changes in the camera?
                                For your information, the camera sensor in the U11/U11+ is the same in the Google pixel 2.

                                  iPhone 7 plus is still great.

                                    • ?
                                    • Anonymous
                                    • pWQ
                                    • 01 Jan 2018

                                    Glad to see Mate 9 still recommended, it's a great all-rounder. The only "issue" I noticed was that you didn't mention the phone running Oreo now and it even got Treble-support, which is still a rare treat for an old flagship.

                                      • ?
                                      • Anonymous
                                      • 8Kf
                                      • 01 Jan 2018

                                      Anonymous, 01 Jan 2018I agree with most of it except for the HD resolution on 4.6... morePpi would be too high for a tiny screen.
                                      Battery life would drop at least 25%

                                        AnonD-481725, 01 Jan 2018U11 will have the same camera performance the next software... morewould be great to hear that from htc.

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