10K BELOW SMARTPHONE TIER LIST – WEEK 1 DECEMBER UPDATE

With Christmas right on our doorstep, we think it’s time to give you a much needed update about the current tier list of numerous smartphones released in 2022 under 10K!

Which phones are the new Super Sulit, the new meta? Which ones fell from grace after staying for on a category? Which device climbed right up? Read on to find out more.

Check out the smartphone tier list for yourself to assess: unboxdiaries.com/smartphone-tier-list

Stagnant waters ahead

First stop is our SAKTO LANG or in common terms, “decent”. There’s not much action happening in the category other the newest in the bunch, the TCL 30 SE is a good start.

With a Helio G25 processor, that’s actually fine at least, it’s nothing groundbreaking; but if you look at TCL’s asking price which is ₱4,990. It’s perfectly understandable since there are far more worst phones here waiting to be revealed as you read on.

The Infinix Hot 11 2022 however, is a bit of an enigma. This is a rehash of past year’s Infinix Hot 11, but there’s no significant changes here, the Lite version of XOS inside this phone signifies that this is a lower end modification compared to the OG release, but in the same time–the processor is pretty serviceable which is a UNISOC one.

Priced at ₱5,799, hey, we can’t complain (except for the 5,000mAh battery that charges for a whopping 3 hours from 0% to 100% because of its mediocre 10W Charger.)

Ah yes, the plain ol’ humble TECNO POP 6. This became as a running joke for us here at Unbox Diaries as a reward for our ‘great performance’, we will be gifted with the ‘highly coveted’ TECNO POP 6. But don’t get us wrong here, we think for its price of ₱3,999 — you have yourself a good secondary phone for yourself, for your child or older siblings, or maybe you want to lessen your smartphone usage.

Who would’ve thought you’ll need a 2016-looking phone to achieve that? (We promise, this’ll be the last time we are making fun of this phone, but this is a good boi.)

The redmi 10c is kinda like the TECNO POP 6 but is actually a fully-pledged smartphone experience. Starting at ₱6,299 for its base version, you can have a speedy smooth experience thanks to its Snapdragon 680 processor paired with a 50MP camera, and you are set, but of course, there are better offerings there.

narzo’s answer to the budget market, the 50A Prime is marketed as a gaming phone, but how good was it? Well, let’s say it’s on the middle of the road. It gets the job done at a peso short of ₱8,000. But once you get passed the Unisoc stigma, then you’re good.

Infinix Hot 20i might have a subpar specs list to some, but at only ₱5,490, most people sit comfortably with that. Come on, not everyone are power users and enthusiasts. Many just want a phone that works.

Yeah man, needs more improvement…

We’ve got our freshest entry here which is the Huawei nova Y61. You’ll only get 64GB of storage with a less than stellar processor in the form of Kirin 710 which turns four years old this year.

Yes, it has no Google services but you can install GBox but c’mon, most people are unwilling to do that extra step to enable something that’s very common in most phones nowadays. And they are charging ₱7,999 for that. Not exactly the best thing…

redmi 10A however is the prime definition of a barebones smartphone device. For a peso shy of ₱6,000, you’ll get well, the basics.

The vivo T1x 4G is a mediocre phone trying to charge a price that’s not that reasonable for the specs it’s selling to you. This is a pretty phone, and nothing else that groundbreaking…

Moving on, another entry from vivo enters the Needs Improvement category with the vivo Y01. For the price of ₱5,299 — this might seem reasonable, but when you look closely, it’s a smartphone from 2017 that’s encased in modern casing.

Now it’s better

Now we enter the realm of truly good phones, starting with ₱6,999 charmer, the Tecno Pova Neo 2 is a phone that will appeal to the modern consumers need for decent speed, processing power, display, cameras, and especially the battery which sits at a whopping 7,000mAh!

But why this isn’t a Super Sulit phone? Because for a thousand pesos more, you can get the latest POVA 4, also from Tecno.

The TECNO POVA 3 is a thousand pesos more expensive than the recent POVA 4 for good reasons: larger battery, faster charging speed and it even came with a special Electric Blue colorway that emits blue light on its back to give it a more of a gamer feel.

But it comes with a so-so processor, and with the POVA 4’s faster SoC and better design, this is still a pretty good phone, but not enough to secure a spot to the top. It is priced at also ₱7,999 today from its original price of ₱8,999 and that OG price is now the price for the Electric Blue variant.

One peso more and you’ve reached the ₱10,000 mark, even with its price, the narzo 50 is still a great buy with a Dimensity 810 processor, features Android 12 OS, realme UI 3.0 software, up to 5GB of dynamic RAM expansion, and 6GB of RAM.

Additionally, there is a fingerprint scanner positioned on the side, dual-band Wi-Fi, 5G connection, dual speakers, and 128GB of expandable storage. It has a 48MP + 2MP dual rear camera, an 8MP selfie camera, and a 6.6-inch FHD+ screen with a 90Hz refresh rate.

The device is powered by a sizable 5000mAh battery and supports 33W Dart Charge quick charging. So yeah, a pretty good buy.

The Xiaomi Redmi Note 11 is a smartphone with a 6.43-inch FHD+ AMOLED display, quad rear cameras of 50MP + 8MP + 2MP + 2MP, a single 13MP selfie camera, and a refresh rate of 90Hz.

It is powered by an Android 11 OS, MIUI 13, and a Qualcomm Snapdragon 680 CPU with either 4GB or 6GB of RAM. Additionally, there is a fingerprint scanner positioned on the side, 4G LTE connectivity, Hi-Res audio, and 64GB or 128GB of expandable storage.

The smartphone is powered by a sizable 5000mAh battery that supports 33W Pro rapid charging. It is priced at ₱8,999 and ₱9,999 for the 64GB, and 128GB respectively.

Main event

Now we’ll get down to the best of the best, starting with the oldest addition, the Infinix Note 12 G96.

This affordable gaming smartphone runs Android 12.0 OS with XOS 10.6 software and is powered by a MediaTek Helio G96 CPU with 8GB of RAM. It has a 16MP selfie camera, 50MP + 2MP + QVGA triple rear cameras, and a 6.7-inch FHD+ AMOLED display.

Additionally, there are dual speakers, a side-mounted fingerprint scanner, dual-band Wi-Fi, 4G LTE connection, and either 128GB or 256GB of expandable storage.

The Infinix Note 12’s official price in the Philippines is P8,999.00 for the 128GB variant (promo price of ₱8,999.00 on August 18, 2022) and ₱9,999.00 for the 256GB variant (promo price of ₱9,499.00 on August 18, 2022). The device is powered by a sizable 5,000mAh battery and supports 33W fast charging via USB Type-C.

A powerful 6,000mAh battery, a sizable 6.82-inch HD+ display with a 90Hz refresh rate, and up to 7GB of combined actual RAM and extended RAM are all included in the entry-level Infinix Hot 12 Play smartphone. It boasts twin back cameras of 13MP + 2MP, an 8MP front-facing camera, and 64GB of expandable storage.

Additionally, there is a 3.5mm audio connector, Unisoc Tiger T610 processor, 4G LTE connectivity, Bluetooth, and Wi-Fi. The USB Type-C port of the smartphone enables an 18W charging rate. The Infinix Hot 12 Play smartphone’s official price in the Philippines is ₱5,999.00; on August 17, 2022, the price now reduced to ₱5,699.00.

Now, it’s time for the TECNO POVA 4 to shine! It has a 6.82-inch HD+ display with a 90Hz refresh rate, twin rear cameras of 50MP + 2MP, and an 8MP front-facing camera with LED light. It has an 8GB RAM, up to 5GB virtual RAM, Android 12 OS, and HiOS 8.6 UI running on a MediaTek Helio G99 CPU.

Along with the 128GB of expandable storage, there is a side-mounted fingerprint scanner, 4G LTE connection, dual-band Wi-Fi, NFC, and Bluetooth. The smartphone has a sizable 6,000mAh battery and a USB type-C connection that supports 18W rapid charging.

It is available in two colors: Fluorite Blue and Uranolith Grey. The TECNO POVA 4 smartphone has an official price of ₱7,999.00.

And now, our latest addition to the list, the SUPERRRRR SULIT INFINIX HOT 20S! A “budget-friendly gaming smartphone,” the Infinix Hot 20S has an 8GB RAM MediaTek Helio G96 CPU, Android 12 OS, and XOS 12 user interface. It has a 6.78-inch FHD+ display with a 120Hz refresh rate, triple rear cameras of 50MP + 2MP + 2MP, an 8MP front camera, and a 50MP + 2MP + 2MP sensor.

Additionally, there is a side-mounted fingerprint scanner, dual-band Wi-Fi, 4G LTE connectivity, dual speakers, and 128GB of expandable storage. The smartphone is powered by a sizable 5,000mAh battery that supports 18W rapid charging. The Infinix Hot 20S smartphone has an official price of ₱8,499.00.

You may want to reconsider this phones before buying them…

Now for the real main event; the black sheep of the bunch. So far, the Nokia G21 and Samsung Galaxy A03 are overpriced units with crappy specs that aren’t worth your time for the most part, while WIKO T10‘s revamped design and improved storage cannot save itself from landing on this spot.

An entry-level smartphone, the WIKO T10 has a 6.5-inch HD+ display, 13MP in the back, and 5MP in the front. It has an Android 11 Go Edition operating system and a MediaTek Helio A22 quad-core CPU with 4GB of RAM. Wi-Fi, 4G LTE connectivity, and 128GB of extendable storage are also included.

The smartphone has a sizable 5000mAh battery and a USB Type-C connection that supports 10W charging. The WIKO T10 smartphone has a ₱6,499.00 official price that’s pretty much a crime of itself.

The Nokia G21 is a smartphone with a 6.5-inch HD+ display, triple rear cameras of 50MP + 2MP + 2MP, a single 8MP selfie camera, and a 90Hz screen refresh rate. It is powered by an octa-core CPU, 6GB of RAM, and Android 11 OS on a Unisoc T606 chipset.

Additionally, there is a fingerprint scanner positioned on the side, a button specifically for the Google Assistant, 4G LTE connectivity, dual-band Wi-Fi, OZO spatial audio recording, and 128GB of expandable storage.

The smartphone is powered by a sizable 5,050mAh battery and supports up to 18W rapid charging (although the bundled charger is only rated at 10W). The Nokia G21 smartphone has a ₱9,990.00 price tag, which is pretty bad for what this phone is offering.

A budget-friendly smartphone with a 6.5-inch HD display, the Samsung Galaxy A03 has a 48MP + 2MP dual rear cameras, and a single 5MP selfie camera is the Samsung Galaxy A03. It utilizes an octa-core processor, Android 11 OS, and either 3GB or 4GB of RAM. Additionally, there is dual-SIM 4G LTE connectivity and expandable storage of up to 128GB.

The device is powered by a sizable 5,000mAh battery and charges at a 10W pace using micro-USB 2.0. The Samsung Galaxy A03’s official retail price in the Philippines is ₱5,490.00 for the 3+32GB model, ₱6,490.00 for the 3+64GB model, and ₱7,490.00 for the 4+128GB model.

The whole Shebang in screenshot:

Tune in next week for new smartphone additions and more!

LATEST NEWS

img_v3_029c_5543840f-8c1e-4bd1-baa7-4b4bdb6541hu
vivo Pad3 Pro launches with MediaTek Dimensity 9300, 13” display, 144Hz refresh rate, stylus, and keyboard
First tablet powered by MediaTek Dimensity 9300 is launched in China! vivo is on the roll! The brand...
Read More
img_v3_029c_62a72657-8ea6-4722-bddb-54f36d6277hu
Samsung may exclusively use Exynos processors for the Galaxy S25 series
Smartphones are inching closer to luxury territory, with top-of-the-line models routinely exceeding $800(~₱45,026.00)....
Read More
img_v3_029c_97b71168-4e64-4d8f-a8cc-85ffd5f3cfhu
Sony Xperia 1 VI 3mm shorter, 3mm wider than Xperia 1 V
Sony adjusted the overall body of Xperia 1 VI. Viewing experience may be better with its wider screen....
Read More

Your compare list

Compare
REMOVE ALL
COMPARE
0