The entry-level smartphone market has been growing so much in the past few years, especially with entry-level hardware options from China. Here are some of the best Chinese Android phones released so far under $100.
There are tons of Chinese Android phones that are good enough for you to be content with. You can go with any of the major Chinese brands that have come out with decent handsets in the $100 price range, and chances are you’d find a handset that’s good enough for you. Now, the budget Chinese smartphones on the market can be grouped into various categories.
The ‘budget’ category in the Android phone arena is full of attractive models, from midrange to low-end, with various specs. Some have premium builds at a low price, while others have more modest specs at a meager price.
Why is it a good idea to buy a Chinese brand Android Smartphone?
If you go through our list of best budget Chinese android phones under $100, you will see the smartphone are of decent to excellent quality compared to the cheap price option. So let’s look at some of the attributes that tell us why we should opt for a Chinese brand smartphone if we are looking for a budget-friendly option.
- Firstly, all smartphones are super affordable and come at a price point of below 100 dollars.
- The user experience tells us that some features are decent in quality while others are brilliant.
- Most smartphones are sleek in design and have a wide and quality display.
- The battery is from 4500mAH to 5000 mAH which provides long-lasting support.
- The phones we have listed have a good quality camera. Some even have a Quad rear camera system.
- The android version is also up to date.
Best Budget Chinese Android Phones Under $100
We will compare some of the best budget Chinese Android phones that offer a complete package at an affordable price below.
1. Redmi 9
First on our list of the best budget Chinese android phones under $100 are Redmi 9 by Xiaomi. The design is sleek and features some fantastic aspects.
Starting with the camera, the back camera is 13+2MP and has AI portrait, HDR, AI scene recognition, and pro mode. The front camera has 5 MP. The display is 6.53 inches with HD+ and a ‘multi-touch capacitive touchscreen.’ The display has a 1600 x 720 pixels resolution and sports a 20:9 ratio.
The phone is a good amount of storage of 64GB which can be expanded up to 512GB. The 4GB RAM offers great speed and smooth operation. It also provides slots for two sims. Again, the processor is one of the powerful: a 2.3GHz MediaTek Helio G35 octa-core processor. The device supports the android v10 operating system. With a 5000 mAH battery, it can last for long hours. The device gives a 1-year manufacturer warranty.
Product Specifications:
- Brand: Xiaomi
- Style: Redmi 9
- RAM: 4 GB
- Storage: 64 GB
- Processor: Helio G35 Octa-core
- Display: HD+
- Display size: 6.53 inches
- Resolution: 1080 x 2340 pixels
- Screen glass: Gorilla
- Weight: 194 Grams
- Battery power rating: 5000 mAh
- First came out: in 2020
- Phone talk time: 37 hours
- Front camera: 8 MP
- Back camera: 13 MP
User Experience:
- The image quality is below average.
- The back texture feels great to the touch and gives excellent grip.
- The overall weight of the phone feels pretty lightweight even though the battery is 5020 mAh.
- The phone’s resolution is average with low brightness and contrast, which is disappointing.
- The battery takes a long time to drain.
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2. Realme C11
Realme C11 is one of the market’s most budget-friendly Chinese android phones, with some incredible features. You will get entry-level excellent quality phone characteristics with an affordable price range.
The phone has a MediaTek Helio G35 processor, 2 GB of RAM, and a storage of 32GB, which is decent for the reasonable price point. The device has ports and loudspeakers that are weather-sealed. Once again, the display is 6.5 inches wide and comes with an ‘ IPS LCD capacitive touchscreen.’ The phone’s resolution is 720 x 1560 pixels, which is not quite outstanding but decent in quality.
The smartphone comes with Android 10.0 and Realme UI 1.0. It has a dual camera where the back camera has 13+2MP, and the front camera comes with 5MP broad view. The cameras take decent shots. The battery is 5000mAH, which allows long-lasting life.
Overall, the performance is acceptable, not something extraordinary. However, you should not expect something with high-quality features with such an affordable range.
Product Specifications:
- Brand: OPPO
- Style: Realme C11
- RAM: 2 GB
- Storage: 32 GB expandable to 256GB
- Processor: Mediatek Helio G35
- Display: HD
- Display size: 6.5 inches
- Resolution: 1080 x 2340 pixels
- Screen glass: Screen protects the film
- Weight: 196 Grams
- Battery power rating: 5000 mAh
- First came out: in 2020
- Phone talk time: 12 hours
- Front camera: 5 MP
- Back camera: 13 MP
User experiences:
- Overall the quality of the phone is a value for money.
- The camera quality of the phone is fantastic.
- Had issues with a voice echoing during calls.
- Had issues with hanging/ freezing the phone.
- Downloading new apps made the phone stop working until restarting was done.
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We again have a pick from Xiaomi, which is the Redmi Note 8 pro. The processor is Mediatek Helio G90T, Octa-core. It supports Android 9.0, which is an old version. But for the price point, it is definitely a good quality smartphone.
The smartphone has a huge display of 6.53 inches, with an IPS LCD and a 1080 x 2340 pixels resolution. Once again, the display is protected with ‘Corning Gorilla Glass 5’.
The back camera has 64 MP +8MP +2 MP consecutively supporting wide, ultra-wide, and macro camera angles. It again has a 2MP depth of sensor lens. Moreover, the front camera is a 20 MP sensor. From the quality of MP, we can infer that the phone’s quality is quite brilliant.
It also has a fingerprint, gyro, compass, accelerometer, and gyro. Again, the battery is 4500 mAH which allows for a long-lasting lifetime.
Product Specifications:
- Brand: Xiaomi
- Style: Xiaomi Redmi Note 8
- RAM: 8 GB
- Storage: 64 GB
- Processor: Mediatek Helio G90T Octa-core
- Display: IPS LCD, HDR
- Display size: 6.53 Inches
- Resolution: 1080 x 2340 pixels
- Screen glass: Corning Gorilla Glass 5
- Weight: 200 Grams
- Battery power rating: 4500 mAh
- First came out: in 2019
- Front camera: 8 MP
- Back camera: 64 MP
User experiences:
- The phone’s overall design is excellent, with a stylish look to it.
- The backup from the battery is great. You will have charges which will last more than two days.
- It is quite a good smartphone for the gaming experience.
- The Wi-Fi on the phone works great. However, the data connection from the carrier could be a little troublesome.
- The smartphone runs pretty fast.
- The phone gets overheated within a short period.
- The charging takes a long time. However, some did not have the issue.
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This next Chinese android device, the OnePlus Nord CE, is among the best in the market. Let’s go through the details and learn why it is considered one of the great picks.
Starting with the camera, the back part has a triple camera which is 64MP, 8MP, and 2 MP. The front camera is 16MP. The camera takes some good-quality images.
The smartphone’s display is 6.43 inches with an AMOLED display and a 2400 x 1080 pixels resolution. The device has 128GB of internal storage memory. With 8GB of RAM and a Qualcomm Snapdragon 750G 5G processor, you can expect a fair amount of speed and smooth operation.
Again, the device has a slot for two 4G and 5G Sims. The Adreno 619 GPU gives a 10 percent improvement to the graphic performance. You can also download the Alexa app to use Alexa’s hands-free features.
Product Specifications:
- Brand: OnePlus
- Style: OnePlus Nord CE
- RAM: 8 GB
- Storage: 64 GB
- Processor: Octa-core Qualcomm SM7225 Snapdragon 750G 5G
- Display: Fluid AMOLED
- Display size: 6.53 Inches
- Resolution: 1080 x 2400 pixels
- Weight: 170 Grams
- Battery power rating: 4500 mAh
- First came out: in 2021
- Front camera: 8 MP
- Back camera: 64 MP
User experiences:
- The overall built with a glass cover gives it a pretty sleek look.
- Since the back camera is protruded, you need to take extra care of it.
- The case of the phone is of average quality.
- Overall performance of some users was not satisfactory.
- However, it is a mid-range good quality phone for the price, not extraordinary.
- Degraded quality from the previous smartphone by OnePlus.
- It is really easy to operate with a user-friendly interface.
- The camera quality and the quality of the photos are of decent quality.
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Next, we have Oppo A54 in our list of best budget Chinese android phones under $100. You can expect good speed and smooth operation with MediaTek Helio P35 GPU IMG GE8320 and a Powerful 2.3 GHz Octa-core processor. The speed increases with the smartphone’s introduction of 4GB of RAM.
It has 6.51 inches of screen about the display, which is pretty comprehensive and large. Once again, the pixel is 1600×720 which gives the image a decent quality. The screen-to-body ratio is 89.2 percent. The phone also has a fingerprint sensor.
The phone has a 5000 mAH lithium polymer battery which offers long-lasting life. The rear has a quad camera with a 13MP main, 2MP macro, and 2MP bokeh lens. The front camera is again 16MP.
Again this smart device has 64GB of internal memory, which can be expanded to 256GB. The smartphone also supports dual SIM. It has a 10.0 android operating system.
Product Specifications:
- Brand: OPPO
- Style: Oppo A54
- RAM: 4 GB
- Storage: 64 GB
- Processor: Octa-core MediaTek Helio G35
- Display: IPS LCD
- Display size: 6.51 inches
- Resolution: 720 x 1600 pixels
- Weight: 192 Grams
- Battery power rating: 5000 mAh
- First came out: in 2021
- Back camera: 13 MP
User Experience:
- A good quality phone for an affordable price range.
- The quality of the camera is quite average.
- Some reported it as one of the worst performed phones with a low-quality camera.
- The overall speed of the phone is below average.
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Finally, we have picked TCL 10L as one of our best picks. The smartphone runs in the 10.0 android operating system; with an Octa-core processor and 6GB of RAM, you can expect speedy and smooth performance.
The screen is 6.53 inches with an ‘IPS LCD capacitive touchscreen.’ Again, the resolution is 1080 x 2340 pixels with HDR, giving an excellent image. Moreover, the smartphone has 64GB of internal storage with an expandable option of 128GB.
The sensors include Fingerprint (rear-mounted), accelerometer, gyro, proximity, and compass.
Again, it comes in two colors: Arctic White and Mariana Blue.
About the camera in detail, the back camera includes 48MP wide, 8MP ultrawide, 2MP macro, and 2MP depth lenses. Also, it features dual-LED flash, panorama, and HDR.
Product Specifications
- Brand: TCL
- Style: TCL 10L
- RAM: 8 GB
- Storage: 64 GB
- Processor: Octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 665
- Display: LCD
- Display size: 6.5 Inches
- Resolution: 1080 x 2340 pixels
- Weight: 180 Grams
- Battery power rating: 4000 mAh
- First came out: in 2020
- Front camera: 8 MP
- Back camera: 48 MP
User experience:
- The size of the screen is quite large and has clear image quality.
- The sound quality of the loudspeaker is also fantastic.
- The face detection and fingerprint options work perfectly fine.
- Overall amazing in quality and is a value for the price.
- The battery lasts for a long time.
- The phone has a good amount of speed for different operations.
- Some said the speaker on the phone is below average in quality.
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Conclusion:
Finally, buying the best budget Chinese android phones under $100 does not necessarily mean we must compromise quality. These smartphones have some amazing features compared to the affordable price range. They are stylish looking, comfortable to use, have many valuable features, sound quality images and cameras, and many more.
Hopefully, you are still not hesitant. If you have a low budget, consider the smartphones we have listed for you. Remember, Chinese products do not mean they ought to be bad in quality. The Chinese market is introducing some excellent quality products in the recent market.
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