Phones similar to iPhone 6. The best smartphones with a camera like the iPhone. In custody …

The iPhone 7, which is so sensational on the market, is really good: it implemented a couple of bold solutions, which makes the model very different from previous Apple smartphones. However, this device is so expensive that not everyone can afford it. At the moment, the cost of the new model in Russia is approximately 60,000 rubles (this is the weakest configuration). Are there any worthy analogues that can compete with this smartphone? Of course, there are, and their price is much more customer friendly. But first...

iPhone 7 Specifications

To compare modern flagships from other manufacturers with this smartphone, you first need to know its characteristics:

1. 1 SIM card (nano-sim);
2. iOS 10;
3. 4.7-inch diagonal screen with a resolution of 1334×750;
4. New 4-core A10 Fusion processor;
5. RAM 2 GB. The iPhone Plus has increased memory capacity to 3 GB. However, in this case we are looking at the iPhone 7 model;
6. Memory 32 GB (initial configuration);
7. Main camera 12 MP.

All these are “dry” characteristics that can be supplemented with the features of the smartphone itself. Firstly, it now uses a waterproof case. This means that if you accidentally spill water on it, it will survive. However, we strongly do not recommend forcibly throwing the flagship into the water - anything can happen. Next is the stereo acoustic system, which is being used here for the first time.

The camera with f1.8 aperture deserves special attention. It is equipped with a new sensor and a 6-lens system, but this is not the main thing. To improve the images, a photo processor is used that pre-analyzes the processed images. The model without the Plus prefix uses one camera, the flagship iPhone 7 Plus has two, and they work in the same place. This allows you to get high quality photos even with strong zooming.

Well, everyone has already heard about the lack of a 3.5 mm headphone jack. Connect the headphones either via the Bluetooth interface or through a special adapter - it is included in the kit. This is nothing new or revolutionary, as Bluetooth headphones have been around for a long time. But it’s worth giving credit to the developers: the huge and slightly awkward 3.5 mm connector is obsolete, and something had to be done about it. AirPods wireless headset will work for 5 hours. The headphones will be equipped with a microphone, and charging will be carried out in a special box. Oh yeah, AirPods aren't included - you have to buy them separately for $160.

Smartphone alternatives to iPhone 7

Considering the specifications, price and some multimedia capabilities, we can offer some excellent smartphones that will outperform the famous flagship. But they won’t exactly replicate the capabilities of the iPhone 7. So...

Meizu Pro 6 as an option

The flagship Meizu Pro 6 with a memory capacity of 64 GB will cost you approximately 25,000 rubles. Instead of buying one iPhone 7, you can buy two Meizu Pro 6, and you will still have 10,000 rubles left.

This device is good, and in terms of performance it will even surpass the aforementioned Apple flagship. Characteristics:

1. Processor MediaTek Helio X25 (10 cores);
2. Video processor Mali-T880 MP4;
3. 4 GB RAM;
4. Large and scratch-resistant 5.2-inch screen with Full HD resolution (1920x1080);
5. Rear camera with a resolution of 21.16 megapixels, laser autofocus and LED flash;
6. 5 MP front camera.

This smartphone has a durable metal-plastic body, protective glass Corning Gorilla Glass 3, fingerprint reading technology and other “tricks”. It’s quite a worthy analogue of the iPhone 7, which costs more than 2 times less.

Video review:

Samsung Galaxy Note 7

An unusually expensive and cool flagship from Samsung worth 60,000 rubles, and sometimes more. It runs on Android OS and has technologies that are not even found in the iPhone 7.

Firstly, there is a powerful 8-core processor (4 cores at 2.3GHz + 4 cores at 1.6GHz), 4 GB of RAM, 64 GB of internal memory + card slot. The display is wonderful. It is a 5.7-inch capacitive curved screen with a resolution of 2560×1440. It is scratch-resistant, and the smartphone itself is protected from dust and water (IP68), which is completely on par with the notorious iPhone 7.

Among other things: 2 cool cameras with focusing and optical stabilization, flash and unique technologies: reading a fingerprint, a heart rate sensor and even an iris scanner.

By the way, we Samsung Galaxy S8 is also a competitor that even surpasses the iPhone 7. We have already compared these phones in more detail.

Video review:

Sony Xperia Z5 Premium

44-45 thousand rubles – this is the cost of the Sony Xperia Z5 Premium smartphone. This model comes with water resistance and high performance, a fingerprint scanner and Clear Audio + (digital noise reduction) features.

Characteristics:

1. 8-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 MSM8994 processor;
2. Video processor Adreno 430;
3. 3 GB RAM;
4. 32 GB + card slot;
5. Cool and large 5.5-inch display with a resolution of 3840×2160;
6. Rear camera with a resolution of 23 megapixels, autofocus, optical Zoom 5x.

Taking into account water resistance, productive hardware and some modern technologies, one can imagine this model as an analogue of the seventh iPhone.

Video review:

The sensational flagship Xiaomi Mi5 will cost approximately 38,000 rubles. This model runs on Android OS, and its first feature is a ceramic body.

The device is equipped with a 5.15-inch screen with a resolution of 1920x1080. There is no protection against water, but Gorilla Glass 4 is used. The technical characteristics are really good: an exceptionally powerful 4-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 MSM8996 processor with a frequency of 2.15 and 1.6 GHz (2 cores with different frequencies) and 4 GB of RAM. The rear camera resolution is 16 megapixels, there is optical stabilization and cool autofocus. From the unusual: only fingerprint reading technology, and a ceramic case, although this has already been mentioned.

Video review:

Finally

All these flagships, due to their technical characteristics, performance and functionality, truly represent competitive analogues to the famous smartphone from Apple. However, it is worth noting that they all look alike. Apple offers an exceptional product that no other developer in the world can offer (which is worth only the iOS operating system), and that is why the company values ​​​​the new developed flagship so highly.

At Mobile World Congress, we were finally convinced: a cutout in the display is fashionable. Just look at the whole galaxy of models presented this year in Barcelona by Chinese (and not only Chinese) manufacturers. Many of them are ten steps away from the iPhone X and you can’t tell them apart. And they are all “the very best” - each in their own way.

However, for the sake of order, it is worth recalling that cutouts in screens were not invented by Apple. Even before the announcement of the iPhone X, similar design tricks were implemented in and, smartphones of American and Chinese-Japanese origin, respectively. However, few people remember about this and few people know at all - only Apple is “blamed” for creating this trend.

— the most unexpected smartphone of MWC 2018

Nobody expected to see the new flagship smartphone from LG at MWC, because it was known that the company. However, at MWC 2018, the LG G7 was still shown in strict secrecy. But some cunning comrade was able to photograph the G7. Therefore, we know that this is a smartphone with a huge 3K screen, Snapdragon 845 and . It could be the most powerful device with a unibrow, not counting the iPhone X itself.

- the most powerful competitor to the iPhone X on Android

ASUS became the first large company (not counting Essential and Sharp) that decided to copy Apple's idea. But Zenfone 5 has its own highlight: its “monobrow” is 26% more compact than that of the iPhone X. With the characteristics of the Zenfone 5/Zenfone 5Z, everything is in perfect order: these are quite technologically advanced glass devices, and the second one received the top-end Snapdragon 845 platform, and it can be called the most powerful iPhone X Android competitor to date.

- a smartphone with the most fashionable display

The flagship model by Doogee standards, among other things, boasts a fingerprint scanner in an AMOLED display. It is also worth noting some rudiments of artificial intelligence (we don’t know what the Chinese mean by this) and a fairly capacious battery - 4000 mAh.

iLA X is the cheapest analogue of the iPhone X

This device was shown in a lot of versions - some have a button under the screen, others don’t, some modifications are equipped with a single front camera, others have two cameras... You can buy some smartphones in this series for just over 100 dollars. Guess for yourself the level of quality.

Leagoo S9 - with the latest version of Android

The developers did not know how to distinguish this smartphone from its analogues, and therefore called it “the first smartphone with a cutout in the screen and Android 8.1 Oreo.” Like, other Chinese use older versions of Android, but we are not like that. The characteristics of the Leagoo S9 are banal: MediaTek chipset, dual rear camera, 3300 mAh battery - in general, everything is about the same as everyone else.

NOA N10 - the most inaccessible smartphone

The brainchild of the Croatian brand NOA and some nameless Chinese factory. Eyewitnesses report that they were not allowed to touch the smartphone, and the characteristics were not really revealed. But NOA representatives boasted that they had made a model with a unibrow “before many giants, including Huawei itself” and reported that the device would most likely go on sale in the summer. (Presumably, much later than the models with a cutout from Huawei.)

OTOT V5801 is the thinnest smartphone

Little is known about this model - only the 5.85-inch screen and 3000 mAh battery are mentioned. And it is also quite thin: no more than 6.8 mm in thickness.

Wiko View 2/View 2 Pro - the most non-standard smartphone

This is no longer entirely pure China; these are smartphones of a French brand, developed, however, in the Middle Kingdom. But under the control of Europeans. The screen aspect ratio here is non-standard: not 18:9, but 19:9. The cutout is more reminiscent not of its “colleague” from the iPhone X, but of the round holes for the cameras in the Essential PH-1 and Sharp Aquos S2. In general, at least some variety. Prices for Wiko models start from 200 euros.

Ulefone T2 Pro is the very first smartphone based on MediaTek Helio P70

The developers call their creation “the world’s first smartphone based on the MediaTek Helio P70 and with an in-screen fingerprint scanner.” The operating system is Android 8.1 Oreo, so it turns out that the Leagoo S9 is not the first, but one of many. Ulefone T2 Pro also has 8 GB of RAM and a 5000 mAh battery. The screen aspect ratio is 19:9. Here we note that Ulefone brought several more smartphones with unibrows to MWC 2018, but they, unlike the T2 Pro, do not stand out from the general background.

- the rarest smartphone

The characteristics of the smartphone are as follows: 4 GB of RAM and 64 GB of internal memory, mid-range MediaTek MT6750T chipset, 4000 mAh battery, dual rear camera, face unlock system, etc. There are two features. First: 5.85-inch cinematic aspect ratio 21:9 screen. Second: Oukitel allegedly intends to produce only 999 copies of the U18. That is, we are talking about a very limited batch. The price of the Chinese exclusive will be $180.

Vernee M7 is the most unfinished smartphone

A smartphone with a 5.85-inch 19.5:9 format screen, a 4500 mAh battery and Android 8.1 Oreo. Those who have seen this device in real life claim that the software has not yet been adapted for the unibrow, and the latter obscures some indicators. “We will definitely fix everything by release!” - the Chinese from Vernee told reporters. “Unless, of course, we forget,” the Chinese added to themselves.

Never before has the iPhone design been copied as massively as it is now! When the company showed the long-awaited iPhone X, only the lazy did not criticize it for the strange cutout at the top of the screen. Later, the world, as they say, tasted all the benefits of innovation, and the enterprising Chinese decided to satisfy the popular demand for smartphones with bangs, producing devices that are very similar to the original from Apple, but at the same time are several times cheaper. It all started at the MWC 2018 exhibition, where several new products with a recognizable design were presented, and later Xiaomi presented its variation on the Apple theme. In general, there are so many iPhone-like devices that it’s time to rank iPhone X clones. So, how to be fashionable without spending a lot of money? We are looking for the best copy of the latest iPhone.

Original iPhone X. Photos for further comparisons

Let’s admit right away that this rating helped us a lot in creating the E-catalog. If you need a new mobile phone, and the amount of scattered information on the network scares you, then the E-catalogue is what will help you navigate the state of things on the market. The portal is an aggregator of offers from various sellers. Thanks to the service, you can find a store where the model you are looking for is sold cheapest. In addition, the site will help you choose a smartphone with the necessary parameters, compare models, get acquainted with all the characteristics, reviews and other useful information. The search takes into account a lot of parameters. Everything is convenient and structured. There is even an “iPhone X clones” item that we found especially valuable. Well, let's study the market for the best copy of the most popular smartphone of our time!

Hot new product! The presentation of the phone took place on May 31, and immediately after it the device was recognized best copy of iPhone X, which is not surprising - Xiaomi always keeps its brand. The new flagship is very similar to the original from Apple: the same large screen that covers almost the entire front panel, the same cutout at the top, the same location of the camera module. The company boasts that they managed to use 88.5% of the front panel area. Large screen made using technology AMOLED and received an aspect ratio of 18.7:9 - better than just widescreen.

The advantages of the model include rich and economical AMOLED display, and great pair of cameras. Without going into listing all the characteristics of cameras from Leica, we note that everything is the same DxOMark rated them at 102 points, and this is a very, very high result. The company says it used in the processor elements of artificial intelligence, so the device will adapt to the user and guess his desires. Performance is excellent, autonomy is not disappointing. The only disappointment is the lack of a memory card slot and a 3.5 mm jack.

Huawei P20 is part of the company's new trio. Is there some more Huawei P20 Pro, it received a 6.1-inch screen and three main cameras 40 + 20 + 8 megapixels (the camera received 107 points), moisture protection and 6 GB of RAM. Power is available for 53,000 rubles. Budget version Huawei P20 Lite It has a 5.8-inch screen, a dual 16 + 2 MP camera module and a memory capacity of 4/64 GB. Not bad for a price of 18,000 rubles. The design of all three devices is very similar.

ASUS Zenfone 5

One of the most interesting clones of the iPhone X. The device is equipped with a good processor, excellent cameras and a gorgeous screen, boasts a fashionable design and is quite reasonably priced. AMOLED screen covered with protective glass from Corning, the cameras have optical stabilization and allow save photos inRAW, and the fast processor copes well with any application. The back panel is made of glass. We praise the device for its autonomy and high-quality sound, and the animated ZeniMoji emoticons will allow you to laugh and have fun.

Zenfone 5 is the base model of the new line of smartphones from ASUS. If its capabilities seem insufficient, take a closer look at ZenFone 5Z: it has a more powerful processor and 8 GB of RAM. The Zenfone 5 Lite smartphone was also released with very interesting characteristics, but it does not have a signature “bang”.

OnePlus 6

Another large, powerful and productive smartphone, equipped with the latest technology. The device received a glass body, excellent filling, protective glass Gorilla Glass 5 and facial recognition technology. The latter works very quickly. The smartphone is equipped with a dual camera, one of the modules has a telephoto lens. The screen is made using Super AMOLED technology, and it is perfect! The autonomy is decent, there is fast charging. The smartphone fits perfectly in the hand and is worth every ruble spent on it.

OPPO F7

Chinese manufacturers are not asleep and seem to be fighting with each other to see who can copy the iPhone X better. As a result of this arms race, the OPPO F7 smartphone appeared, inexpensive analogueiPhoneX. The manufacturer used a plastic case and an IPS matrix to reduce the cost of the model, but did not deprive the device of its zest, and we are not talking about a “bang” or a widescreen screen. It's all about the front camera, which has a resolution of 25 megapixels and support for artificial intelligence. An excellent device for those who love to take selfies!

Leagoo S9 Pro turned out to be more powerful and productive. The 6.2-inch screen has a resolution of 2246*1080 pixels and is made using AMOLED technology. The company used a more powerful Helio P40 processor, equipped the device with cameras with more modern characteristics and did not skimp on the 5000 mAh battery. The device is sold in Chinese online stores at prices starting from $270 (17,000 rubles).

Oukitel U19

The company has already released the second iPhone X clone. A real Stakhanovite! The manufacturer priced the previous Oukitel U18 smartphone at $180, and now it is releasing an even more affordable analogue of the Apple device. To provide such a tasty price, we had to sacrifice screen resolution, memory and performance. It turned out to be a very decent budget phone, especially the design, good cameras and enviable battery life. The back panel, however, does not really resemble the iPhone X.

It seems that the army of iPhone-like smartphones will soon be replenished with new devices, as rumors about new prototypes and upcoming new products are constantly circulating on the Internet. This is, for example, Ulephone T2 Pro and Doogee V

Moto X 2014

If you're looking for a unique phone, Motorola has what you need. The Moto X (2014) comes with 25 exterior options to choose from, including 8 different premium wood or leather back panels. The phone is equipped with a 5.2-inch screen with a resolution of 1080p - this is one of the largest screens among phones, followed by tablets (I remember the Samsung Galaxy Note 4). Add to this Android 4.4 OS, 16 or 32 GB of internal memory and a 13-megapixel rear camera - and we get a very good phone. The price for Moto X (2014) in the US starts at $99 (with a two-year contract, without it - $499), and by the end of the month the device will appear in North and Latin America, Europe and Asia.

Lumia 730

Like it or not, we're in the year of the selfie, and Nokia is right there with the Lumia 730. The phone runs Windows 8.1 and comes with all the selfie essentials: a 5-megapixel front-facing camera with a wide-angle lens and a pre-installed editing app. selfie (on most smartphones, the resolution of the front camera is, at best, 2 megapixels, for the iPhone 5s - 1.2). Yes, of course, the target audience of the “selfie” phone is teenage girls, but the characteristics still inspire respect: a quad-core processor with a frequency of 1.2 GHz, 1 GB of RAM, a 4.7-inch screen with a resolution of 720p and a 6.7-megapixel rear camera. The cost of the Nokia Lumia 730 Dual SIM smartphone is 12,990 rubles - and you can already pre-order.

Sharp AQUOS Crystal

Despite all the innovations in the iPhone, it is not the only phone that attracts admiration and surprise from the public. Sharp's AQUOS Crystal looks stunning with virtually no bezel around the screen, and sounds just as impressive with Harman/Kardon's "Crystal Sound" technology. This Android phone features a 5-inch 720p screen that as if hanging in the air and looking amazing. The specs are also impressive: a 1.2GHz quad-core processor, 1.5GB of RAM and an 8-megapixel rear camera. It's hard to say when this device will appear in a store in your area. At the moment, AQUOS Crystal is only available in Japan, but will soon go on sale in the American retail chain Sprint at a very affordable price - $240 without a contract.

Samsung Galaxy S5

If you're not an iPhone lover, then you've probably already bought yourself a Samsung Galaxy S5. And if you haven’t yet, think about it. The Galaxy S5 runs Android 4.4, and the specs are simply amazing: a 2.5GHz quad-core processor, 2GB of RAM, a 16-megapixel rear camera, and a 5.1-inch 1080p screen. And it costs only $200 (with a 2-year contract, without a contract - $599). There are two options: with 16 and 32 gigabytes of internal memory, there is also a slot for microSD cards up to 128 gigabytes - this is twice as much as any iPhone up to the sixth model. The price of this device is also impressive - 29,990 rubles. But it is already available in all major retail chains.

iPhone 5S

Now that the sixth iPhone has already been announced, the fifth seems old - but it is not at all. This is a great phone, it comes with a 1.3GHz dual-core A7 processor, 1GB of RAM, a 4-inch Retina display and an 8MP rear camera. If you're determined to only use iOS devices, the 5s is a great budget-friendly phone option that won't become obsolete for another year or two, and its price will decrease every month.

iPhones, of course, are not the “god-like” technology that Apple fans imagine them to be, but there are features that can be found only in iPhone. For example, it is basically impossible to find something on Android with a good camera and a 4-inch display. And even for the 4.7-inch iPhone, truly compact replacements have not been produced for a long time.

You can, of course, get out and say that there are rare Japanese smartphones like Sharp in nature, but let’s be realistic - almost no one needs adventures and attempts to order a Japanese mobile phone “untied” from an operator, only to then have problems with reflashing it and not finding covers and throw away your smartphone after the first breakdown. Because they don’t sell batteries or screens for it in the Russian Federation.

Taking into account all of the above, today we are “dancing” with all the diversity that official retail + Chinese stores, led by Aliexpress, offer us.

iPhone 5s - when you're old and frail, but still a rock star

The cure for love at first sight is to take a second look. And most often, the objects of your adoration will disappoint you. Films that were masterpieces, as they seemed in childhood, seem naive and idiotic, the fashionable clothes of old years are embarrassing to look at, and the “pop” music of yesteryear makes you sick even before you hear the chorus. What then can we say about old mobile phones?

And with them everything is not as bad as one might assume from the heights of 2018. For example, the last viable iPhone that lives out its life in the hands of thrifty Russians, the iPhone 5s, is now being sold for 10-12 thousand. And, you'll laugh, Apple's five-year-old flagship still takes better photos than most smartphones for the same money.

Firstly, because in 2013 it was a “cooler” camera phone, just like the Samsung Galaxy S4. Secondly, manufacturers of cheap mobile phones do not care about the quality of cameras and are busy converting smartphones to 18:9 screens or glass cases instead of useful activities. And “anti-crisis Chinese” like Xiaomi and Meizu have always installed “bargain” cameras from powerful processors in cheap smartphones.

So it turns out that the iPhone 5s is not outdated either in appearance (the most beautiful compact smartphone and the “gold standard” of iPhone appearance, which the iPhone 6 and subsequent ones can only be considered “creaky”), nor in the quality of the camera for 10-12 thousand.

But it is completely outdated in terms of autonomy, speed and quality of the selfie camera. Therefore, even though the iPhone 5s takes better photographs than Xiaomi Redmi 4X/5A, Meizu M6, Samsung Galaxy A5 2017 and Sony Xperia L2, for 10 thousand on Aliexpress or 15-17 thousand in Russia you can buy smartphones that will be better in everything.

Reviewer's choice - Motorola Z for 14 thousand on Aliexpress. Autonomy is a problem, but the camera and speed are amazing

Focus on the modern inexpensive premium “Chinese” camera represented by the Xiaomi Redmi 5/Redmi 5 Plus if you want to get approximately the same (sometimes a little better, sometimes a little worse) camera at a minimal price.

iPhone 6/6 Plus - very bad iPhones, but quite good cameras

I feel very uncomfortable when I have to pass a verdict on the iPhone 6. On the one hand, this is, damn it, a mobile phone from the 2014 model year! Where are its peers now - LG G3, Sony Xperia Z3, Xiaomi Mi4i, ASUS ZenFone 5, Honor 6, Meizu MX4 Pro, HTC One M8 and Huawei Mate 7? In a coffin!

Among the smartphones of those years, there are a small number of shabby Samsung Galaxy S5, Samsung Galaxy Note 3, which, after replacing the battery and flashing the firmware, can still be used with the same convenience as an old iPhone 6 without flashing it.

And it’s even more fun to select a replacement for iPhone 6 among mobile phones in official retail. Because finding an alternative that would take good photographs at night for 22 thousand, cheaper than 28-30 thousand in cellular stores is almost impossible. Moreover, in terms of video quality, the iPhone 6 is also better than almost all alternatives comparable in price in official retail, while it “leaks” in shooting quality to its competitors except in selfies.

Just don't think that the iPhone 6's camera is all-conquering. On a sunny day, you can take more colorful and clear pictures with Honor 9/ASUS ZenFone 4. But in terms of its ability to “pull out” colors to a believable level and the refinement of its automation, the old iPhone is better than most mid-range smartphones.

But do not forget that the iPhone 6 is a very slow and very “dead” smartphone in terms of operating time. And for the slightly more durable iPhone 6 Plus they are asking an inadequate 28-32 thousand rubles. Inadequate because the trio of Samsung Galaxy S7/LG G6/HTC U Ultra in the same budget are better on all fronts. And even mid-range smartphones from the 2018 model year, such as ASUS ZenFone 5 and Nokia 7 Plus, almost always take better photos and videos, have longer battery life, and are much faster on their own.

Reviewer's choice - Samsung Galaxy S7. Battery life is just as bad, but it’s waterproof and much better than the camera

Conclusion? If you are looking for a smartphone at the price of an iPhone 6 (20-24 thousand rubles) with a cooler camera in the Russian Federation, you are wasting your time. Because the “next level” today starts from 27-28 thousand rubles and above.

If you are looking for a replacement for iPhone 6 with approximately the same camera, but normal battery life and operating speed - prepare at least 20 thousand, for example, for ASUS ZenFone 4 ZE554KL, while they are still on sale. Or on a Samsung Galaxy S7 to get an analogue of the iPhone 6s in terms of performance / an analogue of the iPhone 7 in terms of camera quality.

It’s not even worth talking about “gray” retail and these “aliexpress” of yours - Xiaomi Mi Note 3 for 19-20 thousand rubles, of course, is sometimes disgraced in night photography due to the idiocy of Chinese camera shooting algorithms, but after the shortcomings of the elderly iPhone it will seem cosmically cool model.

iPhone SE is unrivaled wherever you look

The only iPhone that even the most ardent Android fanatics respect is the iPhone SE. Because no one else re-released the old flagship with new, improved hardware.

And iPhone SE is a miraculous monument to all compact mobile phones and, suddenly, one of the best “budget” (more precisely, at the junction of budget models and middle class) camera phones!

Such luck did not come to the SE immediately, but a year and a half after its debut, when stocks of the iPhone 5s sharply decreased, and Apple “demoted” the SE from an expensive toy for retro fans to “just a budget iPhone.” And this is where the giblets from the iPhone 6s with its best (one of) camera of 2015 came in very handy! In case you forgot, the camera and processor in the iPhone SE, for a moment, are close in level to the Samsung Galaxy S6, Huawei Nexus 6P, LG G4, HTC One M9 and other “grands”! And, no matter how annoying it is for us, the best budget smartphones (the notorious Redmi Note 5) only began to approach such shooting quality in mid-2018.

And all other inexpensive alternatives are divided into “try and find it on sale” Huawei P9 and “our cameras are the coolest, but our hands are growing a little from the wrong place” ASUS ZenFone 3 and ZenFone 4.

Reviewer's choice - Xiaomi Mi Note 3. For the best combination of design, camera quality and speed up to 20 thousand rubles

With all its shortcomings, the SE is not a “museum goner”, but a quite combative smartphone with a still good processor and a camera that will “give a light” to almost all competitors cheaper than 20 thousand rubles. There are no contraindications to buying an iPhone SE, other than terrible selfies, so you can safely buy it if you want an iPhone. And if you don’t want to, Xiaomi Mi Note 3 or ASUS ZenFone 4 ZE554KL will easily replace the coolest cheap iPhone for you.

iPhone 6s/6s Plus - too good to sell; too bad to buy

	ASUS ZenFone 5 ZE620KL, Honor View 10, LG G6, Moto Z, Nokia 7 Plus, OnePlus 3/3T, Xiaomi Mi6, Xiaomi Mi Note 3
The camera is a little worse	ASUS ZenFone 4 ZE554KL, Honor 10, Meizu 15 Plus, Moto Z Play, Nokia 8, Xiaomi Mi5s
	HTC U11, Huawei P10, Huawei P20, Huawei Mate 10, LG V30, OnePlus 5/5T, Samsung Galaxy S7/S7 edge, Samsung Galaxy S8, Xiaomi Mi Mix 2S, Xiaomi Mi 8
How much do iPhone 6s/6s Plus cost today?	32-42 thousand rubles
iPhone 6s/6s Plus or Android competitors?	If you already have an iPhone 6s/6s Plus, it’s worth selling them just to upgrade to cooler mobile phones costing 40 thousand rubles or more. If you are buying a smartphone from scratch, an Android smartphone with approximately the same camera and faster operating speed/autonomy will cost 20-25 thousand rubles.

If you don’t keep track of what has changed in mobile phones since you bought your previous smartphone, just remember that the camera in the iPhone 6s is about the same as in smartphones that are now asking for 27-30 thousand rubles in official retail. But, if you have any guidelines for the “coolness” of smartphone cameras, remember that the iPhone 6s/6s Plus cameras are “like the Samsung Galaxy S7/S7 edge, only always a little worse.”

It is with this definition that it is most convenient to select a smartphone with the same or higher shooting quality.

The crowd of competitors in the table above will confuse many, but the point is that each of the competitors turns out to be better in some shooting scenarios, and worse in others. For example, almost all models are “about the same” in terms of shooting quality, except for the LG G6 and OnePlus 3/3T, they shoot better during the day than the iPhone 6s, at night they take pictures the same or a little worse, and they shoot video Always less quality. And nothing can be done about it, because Mi6/Mi Note 3 and ZenFone 5 are smartphones with good cameras and idiotic shooting algorithms, Moto Z has good optics and more or less reasonable “brains”, but a cheap sensor, and Honor View 10 sometimes “lames” because it did not receive optical stabilization.

Smartphones with a “better” camera also crowd into one cell of the table, although they differ noticeably from each other. The competitors closest to the iPhone 6s/6s Plus in terms of photo quality are the Samsung Galaxy S7, LG V30 and OnePlus 5. All of them take slightly better photographs in any shooting conditions. Samsung S7 and S8 also have the coolest selfie camera among all iPhone 6s competitors.

HTC U11 is even half a level cooler, and Huawei P10 is sometimes equal to the iPhone in terms of shooting quality, but in rare cases it jumps above its head and competes on equal terms with the Galaxy S7.

Reviewer's choice - Xiaomi Mi8. The coolest “Chinese” in terms of camera quality, processor power and price

What follows from all this? The iPhone 6s is not so outdated that we should rush to sell it headlong.

Cheaper than 40 thousand rubles in retail stores in the summer of 2018, you either get a mobile phone that takes noticeably better photographs, but takes worse video. Or a model that takes slightly better photographs and also shoots video, but also slows down about the same as your old iPhone. Still, it’s worth splurging on one of the four Chinese “kings” of high-quality photography (Xiaomi Mi8, Mi Mix 2s, Huawei P20, Mate 10) instead of buying a brand new iPhone 6s/6s Plus.

iPhone 7/7 Plus is an honorary laureate of the “neither fish nor fowl 2018” award

Best the enemy of the good. I still don’t quite understand why Apple fans greeted the otherwise good iPhone 7/iPhone 7 Plus with such hatred at the end of 2016. Dual camera (albeit only for the older “shovel”, but history has shown that Samsung pulled the same trick with the Galaxy S9/S9 Plus), water resistance, stereo speakers, a cool processor, a black, damn, matte body - or do you think that the Galaxy Has the S7 been updated more thoroughly than the Galaxy S6? Or, perhaps, the “flagship from HTC production waste” Google Pixel differed at least in some way, except for the camera, for the better? Yes, the iPhone 7 removed a separate headphone jack, but Apple made cool AirPods. At the same time, the iPhone 7 after amputation did not become fat in comparison with the iPhone 6 for no apparent reason, like the Xperia XZ2 in comparison with the XZ1.

The main reason for the hatred was not the “bells and whistles”, but the fact that “they greet you by their clothes,” and the clothes remained the same - a repeatedly tuned body of the old iPhone 6 from 2014, but with a new sauce.

And the increase in camera quality was also symbolic. Remember when we labeled the iPhone 6s camera as “slightly worse than the Galaxy S7”? So, the iPhone 7 camera is “slightly better than the Galaxy S7”... That’s all!

What’s much worse is that it is “slightly better than the previous iPhone,” and such impudence is only permissible for the “S-version” when moving from iPhone 5 to 5s or from 6 to 6s. But not for a “numbered” iPhone.

As a result, we get a smartphone that is close in price to the iPhone 8, and in terms of camera quality is not so far from the iPhone 6s. And now it’s difficult to find at least one good reason to buy an iPhone Seven, and not something radically cooler delivered from abroad or a good Chinese flagship at Russian official prices.

Reviewer's choice - Huawei Mate 10. Chinese reliable “armored train” with a powerful processor, ultra-clear screen and excellent cameras

iPhone 7 turned out to be a “under-flagship”, which was bought by inertia. And even now there is no particular point in spending money on the “seventh iPhone”, because the much cooler iPhone 8 will cost only a little more. Unless you are a principled fan of maximum savings (“to hell with you, sir, skidded? Is Android really too much for you?”), or you really hate smartphones with a glass case.

iPhone 8/8 Plus - the best new iPhones... for which you don’t want to overpay

Camera of approximately the same quality	Huawei P20, Huawei Mate 10, LG G7, OnePlus 6, Sony Xperia XZ2, Xiaomi Mi Mix 2S, Xiaomi Mi 8
The camera is a little worse	HTC U11, LG V30, OnePlus 5/5T, Samsung Galaxy S7/S7 edge, Samsung Galaxy S8
Better camera for the same money	Google Pixel 2, HTC U12+, Huawei P20 Pro, Samsung Galaxy S9/S9 Plus
How much do iPhone 8/8 Plus cost today?	46-60 thousand rubles
iPhone 7/7 Plus or Android competitors?	If you need a cool iPhone here and now - iPhone 8 64 GB for 46 thousand + Power Bank for a small surcharge. And we sit and wait for the second generation iPhone X. If you have an iPhone 7 in your hands, keep calm and wait for the new model. iPhone 6s - change to “eight” only if the smartphone is already in a “half-dead” state. If Android doesn’t bother you, for 45 thousand rubles you can get the best cameras made by Samsung. Or even beyond 38, if lossless zoom and background blur are not needed.

Apple iPhone 8 Plus

iPhone 8 was destined to become a “second-class” iPhone - mobile phones that came out simultaneously with the revolutionary iPhone X, which were released only as a consolation prize. Like, if you don’t have enough money, then at least fork out for such half measures.

Marketers calculated everything correctly - the audience of buyers was divided into those who are willing to pay extra for framelessness and prestige (laugh, laugh, but Vertu has long been in the grave, and there are no other options left to show off a cool smartphone except the iPhone X), and those who “ and I have a new processor and almost the same cameras, but 24 thousand rubles cheaper!”

If you really want to get the “all the stuff” of the iPhone at the lowest price, take the iPhone 8 for 46 thousand and be happy. No sarcasm - a very fast smartphone with power reserves, battery life for a day and cameras in the top four best smartphones in the world. Yes, yes, in the top three - after the universally good Samsung Galaxy S9/S9 Plus, Huawei P20 Pro, HTC U12+ and iPhone X. Not a very romantic title? But 24 thousand rubles in savings!

And against the background of these 24 thousand, everything in “white” retail pales. Why do you need a Huawei P20 for 40 thousand if the iPhone 8 is superior to the “Chinese” in terms of screen quality, video detail and, what’s more, speed too?