OnePlus may have retired from making cheap flagship killers in 2019, but a lot of other brands have risen up to the occasion to take its place. The flagship killer segment, also known as the affordable flagship segment, got pretty crowded this year.
In 2019, you are spoiled by the amazing choices available under Rs. 40,000 in India or €600 in Europe. Brands like Xiaomi (Redmi), Realme, Asus, and OnePlus have extremely value for money smartphones that’s almost as good as the devices that cost up to Rs. 60,000 or €900. Personally, we found it very hard to narrow down 5-6 smartphones that stood out from the rest but after hours of discussions and elimination rounds, we have managed to pick 5 top affordable flagships for 2019.
So here are our picks for the Best Flagship Killers of 2019.
The Redmi K20 Pro is one of the best flagship killers of 2019. While it wasn’t meant to be the successor to the POCO F1 for 2019, the phone offered exceptional features and premium design at an affordable price tag, much like the former series. It features the high-end Snapdragon 855 processor with up to 8GB RAM and 256GB storage and a beautiful 6.39-inch Super AMOLED display. Recently Redmi also announced the Redmi K20 Pro Premium edition with the new Snapdragon 855+ processor in China.
The Redmi K20 Pro came with a capable camera setup, a 48MP primary shooter paired with an 8MP telephoto lens and a 13MP wide-angle lens. Moreover, there’s a 20MP pop-up shooter onboard that ensures good quality selfies and a full-screen experience. Under display fingerprint and a 4000mAh battery with 27W completes the setup. Plus, the phone is already running Android 10!
Clearly, the Redmi K20 Pro is one of the best affordable flagship smartphones in the market today! Even with the K30 5G being announced, the K20 Pro would make for an excellent purchase right now.
The K20 Pro is available at a discounted price of Rs. 24,999 for the 6GB+128GB variant in India. The Mi 9T Pro (Redmi K20 Pro in Europe) retails for an aggressive price tag of €379.90 in Europe.
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Realme’s new X2 series exists to take on Redmi’s K20 lineup. And so it’s no surprise that there’s an equivalent Realme model for the K20 Pro in this list. In fact, the X2 Pro is better than the Redmi model in several aspects. For example, the Realme X2 Pro comes with a 6.5-inch Super AMOLED display with a 90Hz screen refresh rate. It also has a faster Snapdragon 855+ processor and up to 12GB of RAM onboard. The camera setup is more feature-rich featuring a 64MP primary shooter with a 13MP telephoto lens, an 8MP wide-angle lens, and a 2MP bokeh lens. Plus, there’s a 4000mAh battery with a super-fast 50W fast charging, making for an excellent overall package!
The Realme X2 Pro starts at Rs 29,999 (6GB + 128GB) in India or €399 (6GB +64GB) in Europe.
OnePlus smartphones are super fast and refined. The same applies to the OnePlus 7T. The phone offers a refined experience with Snapdragon 855+, UFS 3.0 256GB storage, 8GB RAM, and a 90Hz Fluid AMOLED display. Note that the Realme X2 Pro and Redmi K20 Pro feature the slightly slower UFS 2.1 storage. OnePlus cameras have come a long way since its inception and the 48MP + 13MP (telephoto) + 16MP (wide-angle) cameras are capable enough to come close to the premium camera experience.
The 7T was one of the first smartphones to get Android 10 update and with OxygenOS on board, you are bound to like almost everything about the device. The round camera housing might stand out a bit more than you would have imagined, but trust me, it grows on you in time. For a starting price of Rs. 34,999 (8GB + 128GB) in India and €559 in Europe for the same variant, the OnePlus 7T is one phone you can buy with your eyes closed.
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Nobody would have ever thought that one of the fanciest and the craziest smartphone of 2019, the ASUS ROG Phone 2 would be a flagship killer. But when we saw the pricing for its 8GB + 128GB variant in India, we were shocked! It was clear at launch that this variant will take on the OnePlus 7T in India.
The ASUS ROG Phone 2 comes with insane hardware targeted at gamers featuring Snapdragon 855+, 8GB RAM, a humongous 6000mAh battery with 30W fast charging and 10W reverse charging, a solid 120Hz refresh rate with 240Hz touch sampling rate, and a dual-camera setup that consists of a 48MP primary shooter and a 13MP wide-angle shooter.
You also get an in-screen fingerprint sensor, a dedicated 3.5mm headphone jack, an extra USB-C port on the side for accessories (so 2 ports in total) and special Air Trigger ultrasonic shoulder triggers to use during gameplay. The only real issue with the ROG Phone 2 is its size and weight, but if you can look past that, it is the ultimate gaming phone to buy in 2019.
The ROG Phone 2 starts at Rs. 37,999 (8GB+128GB) in India and €699.99 in Europe for the 8GB+128GB Strix Edition.
If we had to pick one underrated smartphone in this list, it would be none other than the Zenfone 6 or Zenfone 6Z (India). The phone offers incredible value for money but didn’t get the attention it deserved. One of its biggest highlights is the motorized flip camera featuring a dual-camera setup of a 48MP primary sensor and a 13MP wide-angle sensor. Because the rear camera is also the front camera, the Zenfone 6 is one of the best selfie shooters of 2019!
Other features include Snapdragon 855, up to 8GB of RAM, a large 5000mAh battery with 18W fast charging and 10W reverse charging, stereo speakers, a dedicated MicroSD slot, and a 3.5mm headphone jack. It’s the only phone in this list to come with an IPS LCD screen and a physical fingerprint sensor at the back, but with HDR10 support, you will get rich colors and won’t really miss an AMOLED panel. And guess what, Zenfone 6 is already running stable Android 10!
Starting at just Rs. 27,999 for its 6GB + 64GB variant in India and €469 in Europe for the same variant, the Zenfone 6 kills most other premium flagships of 2019.
So these were our picks for the Best Flagship Killers of 2019. Do you think any other phone deserves a place on this list? Let us know!
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