GSMArena smartphone buyer's guide:January 2018 edition

Phones for €300-€400

Things are getting pretty heated as we up the pricing a bit more. In the previous category, we saw our first glimpse of flagship devices on a pretty tight budget. There are even more such goodies waiting in the sub-€400 niche. Breaking away from our gradual price increase narrative, we will start things off with the Xiaomi Mi 6.

Despite its specs, which are up there with the best, the Xiaomi Mi 6 also keeps the pricing in check. Sure, the 1080p screen resolution is an easy target for ridicule for some, but others still value it for its battery efficiency alone. Plus, at 5.15 inches in diagonal, the screen certainly looks sharp.

The compact form factor might just be a huge draw for many. Xiaomi has manged to work around it masterfully, still fitting a strong dual 12MP camera setup, a respectable 3,230 mAh battery and stereo speakers in the chassis. Not to mention a no-compromises top-of-the-line Snapdragon 835 chipset and a few little bonuses, like NFC and an IR blaster.

The Mi 6 could be the cheapest, or at least nearly so, way to get your hands on a Snapdragon 835 and true 2017 flagship internals. Still, just like the HTC U Ultra, we can mostly write this off as a pricing anomaly. A pretty beneficial one, if the Mi 6 fits your needs. But, you can expect more flagships in the next price bracket. In the meantime, there are some excellent mid-ranger's to consider.

Huawei has you covered in almost every size category. The Honor 9, for instance, is a great compact option, with its 5.15-inch panel. It also packs in a Kirin 960 chipset and a good dual 12MP main camera setup.

If you find that a bit too small, the new Mate 10 Lite will set you back just around €320. One of its defining aspects is the trendy ultra-wide 18:9 panel. Just don't get fooled by the official 5.9-inch designation, the Mate 10 Lite's screen is effectively as wide as that of any 5.5-inch device just slightly taller.

The more hawk-eyed among you might have already noticed the many similarities between the Mate 10 Lite and the Honor 7x - a notable cheaper device which we featured in a previous category. If you can get the latter, you really should, since the only extras the Mate 10 Lite seems to bring are a better selfie setup and arguably better international availability.

Finishing off the form-factor option within Huawei's lineup, there is also the Honor 8 Pro - a 5.7-inch, 16:9 phablet, with pretty similar internals to the Honor 9. However, that one will set you back nearly €400. Shopping around, we think we've found a potentially better alternative. The Meizu Pro 6 Plus, might be a 2016 release, even if a late November one, and it has only a single camera, but it still has a lot of other stuff going for it.

Meizu did most of its parts shopping at Samsung and the list includes a crisp 5.7-inch QHD Super AMOLED panel, Exynos 8890 Octa chipset and a 12MP, f/2.0, OIS-enabled camera, lifted straight from the Samsung Galaxy S7. All this can be yours for under €350.

Sony have a pair of interesting options here, namely the Xperia XA1 Plus and the XA1 Ultra. Both seem to currently go for about €330 and share their chipset, memory and camera setup. However, they will arguably appeal to vastly different consumers.

The Ultra has a deserved reputation for being a selfie expert, thanks to its 16MP, OIS and autofocus selfie camera. It also sports a trendier and much more bezel-free design than its sibling. The sizeable 6-inch panel can potentially be thrown on the list of positives as well. On the flip side, the XA1 Ultra has a pretty small 2,700 mAh battery, which provides for a rather mediocre 68-hour endurance.

As for the smaller and more bezel-laden Xperia XA1 Plus, it has an objectively inferior, yet still autofocus-enabled 8MP selfie shooter. However, it counters that with a 3,430 mAh battery and a great 102-hour endurance rating.

Last, but not least, the Motorola Moto X4 is proving to be a great proposition, especially recently, since it has been dropping in price. We've already seen it discounted down to less than €300 for limited periods of time. If you can get it for this price, it is nothing short of a steal.

Just some of the things to love about the Moto X4 include a pretty respectable Snapdragon 630 chipset, IP68 certification and a quite satisfactory dual 12MP + 8MP main camera setup. Also, a pure Android version of the Moto X4 is available in certain markets (though even the other version has quite a clean look). On the flip side, though, battery management could use some improvement, and we can't help but feel that the otherwise nicely spec'd 16MP, f/2.0 selfie camera, could have featured autofocus. That would have entailed some self-portrait bragging rights for the X4, alongside the likes of the Sony Xperia XA1 Ultra.

Just in case you are wondering, some notable omissions in this price bracket that didn't make the final cut on the competitive scale (for one reason or another) include the Motorola Moto Z2 Play, Xiaomi Mi Note 3 and the iPhone 6.