Infinix made quite a splash when they announced their new NOTE 50 Series in the Philippines. Fans have been waiting for this update since it was first launched in Indonesia a month before. Now that we’ve spent some time with the device, how does it stack up in our smartphone tier list?
Overhaul is quite an understatement when you compare this year’s NOTE 50 Pro to the last year’s NOTE 40 Pro. There’s a new design, new camera system, new AI features, a bigger battery, faster charging, and a lot more.
Matured, elegant, and quite surprising
We’ll start with the design. Perhaps one of the more noticeable upgrades over last year’s NOTE 40 Pro is in the design. The new NOTE 50 Pro rocks a new design using Aerospace-grade aluminum as well as a new manufacturing process that makes it more durable and feel better in the hand.
While it does gain a few grams because of the new material, it’s a few mm thinner than its predecessor. The camera island also saw a redesign, with a move to a more coherent design that utilizes rounded squares instead of the circular camera lenses within a square-shaped camera housing that the previous model used.
Another one bites the dust
And, speaking of the camera, Infinix decided to drop the triple-camera design, instead opting for a dual-camera system (we know it can be quite confusing, especially with how the camera island looks). Gone is the 108 MP + 2 MP + 2 MP rear camera combination, and in its place is a 50 MP wide and an 8 MP ultrawide lens. However, the selfie camera remains the same.
Same, same but different…
On paper, the NOTE 50 Pro’s display seems similar, having the same resolution and display type, but it looks a bit bigger because of the increase in screen-to-body ratio. And, while it loses the Corning Gorilla Glass protection, it adds an Always-on display feature to make up for it.
Bigger, better, but not faster?
Now, let’s talk performance. Some parts see a huge improvement while some only see a minor bump. Let’s start with the positive. Out of the box, the NOTE 50 Pro comes with XOS 15 (based on Android 15) with support for up to 2 major Android updates (quite dismal if you ask us… but we’ll take it…).
The battery also saw a big spec bump that includes an additional 200 mAh in capacity, 90W wired charging plus 30W wireless MagCharge. It also boasts 10W reverse wired, reverse wireless capabilities, and bypass charging.
Moving to the processor, we only get a marginal spec bump, with the NOTE 50 Pro using the MediaTek Helio G100 Ultimate compared to last year’s Helio G99. RAM and storage configurations remain the same.
For a more in-depth look at the Infinix NOTE 50 Pro, check out our full review which you can find here.
The final judgement
Now, the question that you’ve been waiting for: Where does the Infinix NOTE 50 Pro find itself in Unbox Diaries’ Smartphone Tier List?
The answer is Maganda na. While we do appreciate the more mature and elegant design, useful AI features, and its budget pricing, we’re still a bit sore about the minimal performance gain this phone offers. We’re not saying that it’s slow – it’s still a capable device – we just wish that it came with a better chip than last year’s model. Nevertheless, for ₱10,997, the Infinix NOTE 50 Pro is still quite a steal.