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While performance is rarely a priority in budget phones, things have changed in the past few years. Entry-level chips have improved in performance, and even pushed some of these budget phones to handle a few demanding tasks like gaming on the side. Unlike with our list for midrange phones in the Php 20k and Php 30k segment, coming up with a list for the top performing budget phones at the Php 10k segment is challenging, as it is a tight race among the many offerings we’ve reviewed this year.
Collating all the benchmark data we have, here’s our 5 top performing budget phones for 2024:
Top Performing Php 10k Budget Phones for 2024
- Cherry Aqua S11 Pro (Helio G99)
- itel RS4 (Helio G99)
- Infinix HOT 50 Pro+ (Helio G100)
- ZTE Blade A75 5G (Unisoc T760)
- TECNO Spark 20 Pro 5G (Dimensity 6080)
5. Cherry Aqua S11 Pro (Helio G99)
Cherry still makes phones, and the Aqua S11 Pro does offer solid value with its use of a Helio G99 processor that’s paired with 256GB UFS 2.2 storage. Beyond being the only local tech brand that makes phones, the Aqua S11 Pro has a bloatware-free UI, along with decent software optimization that allowed us to push it to run demanding games like Genshin Impact even at medium graphics.
The Aqua S11 Pro is priced at Php 7,999.
4. itel RS4 (Helio G99)
We’re not kidding when we said that choosing the top 5 phones in the budget segment in terms of performance is tough, as the itel RS4 is roughly at par with the Aqua S11 Pro with its use of a Helio G99 processor. While it falls behind by going for an HD+ resolution for the display, the RS4 remains to be the only budget phone that’s offered with up to 12GB of physical RAM. That’s a lot for a budget phone, and also explains why the RS4 is smooth as butter with multitasking.
The RS4 starts at Php 6,299 for the 8GB/128GB model.
3. Infinix HOT 50 Pro+ (Helio G100)
While the Helio G100 and G99 are barely different on paper, our experience with the HOT 50 Pro+ showed thaty the G100 does offer a bump in performance when it comes to gaming. What makes this budget phone insane is that it is only 6.8mm thin–yet manages thermals efficiently when we played demanding games on it. Granted that there was a point it became warmer than usual, the HOT 50 Pro+ managed to lower temps as fast as possible despite is slender frame.
The HOT 50 Pro+ is priced at Php 8,499.
2. ZTE Blade A75 5G (Unisoc T760)
Before you steer away, this very affordable 5G phone (which is priced at under Php 5k as of writing) has a lesser-known Unisoc T760 chip that performs very good for its price point. We’re shocked to see its benchmark scores rivaling 4G-only chips like the tried-and-tested Helio G99–which is proof that Unisoc does make solid budget chips that punch above its weight. As an added bonus, the Blade A75 5G is the most affordable phone you can buy with fast UFS 3.1 storage–which translates to faster app loading times.
The ZTE Blade A75 5G is priced at Php 4,999 and is exclusive to Smart Prepaid.
1. TECNO Spark 20 Pro 5G (Dimensity 6080)
While we could have ranked the Blade A75 5G as the top performing budget phone because of its use of UFS 3.1 storage, the Spark 20 Pro 5G wins by a slim margin because of MediaTek’s broader software support. That translates to the Dimensity 6080 having better overall optimization across a number of apps. While it is thicker than the HOT 50 Pro+, the Spark 20 Pro 5G also has 8GB LPDDR4X and 256GB UFS 2.2 storage, along with 5G connectivity to boot.
The Spark 20 Pro 5G is priced at Php 9,499.
That rounds up our list of top-performing budget phones for 2024 in the Php 10k price segment. Which phone is your pick?