We are in the last month of the year 2021. Time for rewind and celebrate the very best of the year. As we look back, the year saw Samsung, Xiaomi, Vivo, OnePlus, Apple, Vivo and Realme launched smartphones that stand out. While some boast of premium features, others offer best value for money and more. Here’s a look at the smartphones that deserve special mention.
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Apple iPhone 13 Pro Max: Starting at Rs 1,29,900
What makes it special: Best iPhone of 2021
The most-expensive iPhone from Apple is powered by the company’s own A15 Bionic chipset. The smartphone comes with an all-new Super Retina XDR display with ProMotion featuring an adaptive refresh rate up to 120Hz, making the touch experience faster and more responsive. The camera system on the iPhone 13 Pro Max includes an all-new Ultra Wide, Wide, and Telephoto cameras.
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Apple iPhone 13: Starting at Rs 1,19,900
What makes it special: Likely to be the most popular iPhone 13 series phone
This is the iPhone that is likely to be the highest-selling phone of the series, similar to its predecessors iPhone 11 and iPhone 12. Apple iPhone 13 comes in five colour options and sports a 6.1-inch display featuring Ceramic shield on the front. The smartphone runs iOS 15 and is powered by the company’s own A15 Bionic chipset. The handset also promises to offer improved battery life as compared to iPhone 12. Apple says that it will offer 1.5 hours more of battery life compared to iPhone 12.
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Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra: Starting at Rs 96,999
What makes it special: Best Galaxy S series phone of 2021
Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra is top-end model in the S21 series and it comes with stylus support. The smartphone is powered by 5nm-based Exynos 2100 5G SoC and runs Android 12 operating system.
The high-end smartphone has a quad camera setup and is backed by a 5000mAh battery with 25W fast charging, 15W Qi wireless charging.
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OnePlus 9 Pro: Starting at Rs 64,999
What makes it special: First-ever OnePlus smartphone to have a Rs 70,000-plus price tag
OnePlus 9 Pro is the most-expensive smartphone of the company and is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 processor. The smartphone comes with a Hasselblad camera and packs a 4,500 mAh battery with 65W Warp Charge support. The smartphone runs Android 11 and sports a 6.7-inch curved Quad HD+ display.
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OnePlus 9R: Starting at Rs 37,999
What makes it special: New affordable option for OnePlus fans with several flagship features
The most-affordable OnePlus 9 series smartphone is powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 870 processor and features a 6.55-inch full HD+ display. The smartphone comes in two variants — 8GB+128GB and 12GB+256GB and runs Android 11 operating system. THe device features a 48MP quad-rear camera setup and is backed by a 4,500 mAh battery with 65W fast charging support.
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OnePlus Nord 2: Starting at Rs 27,999
What makes it special: Successor OnePlus’ most popular phone of 2020
OnePlus Nord 2 5G comes with a 6.43-inch full HD+ display and is powered by an octa-core MediaTek Dimensity 1200 chipset. The smartphone runs Android 11 and sports a triple rear camera with 50MP main sensor, 8MP ultra-wide angle lens and 2MP mono camera. The mid-range smartphone houses a 4500mAh battery with 65W fast charging support.
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Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra: Available at Rs 69,999
What makes it special: Xiaomi’s ‘Superphone’ of 2021
The most-expensive smartphone from Xiaomi comes with a dual display. Mi 11 Ultra houses a 6.81-inch main display and a 1.1-inch secondary display placed on the rear panel. Powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 processor, the smartphone sports a triple rear camera setup with 50MP main sensor. The Mi 11 Ultra is backed by a 5000 mAh battery with 67W fast charging support. The smartphone also offers reverse wireless charging functionality.
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Mi 11X Pro: Starting at Rs 36,999
What makes it special: Value for money premium phone from Xiaomi
Mi 11X Pro sports a 6.67-inch FHD+ display and packs a Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 processor.
The smartphone runs Android 11 and houses a 4,250 mAh battery with 33W fast charging support. The smartphone houses a triple rear camera and dual speakers tuned by Dolby Atmos
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Nokia XR20: Available at Rs 46,999
What makes it special: First truly-rugged 5G smartphone
Nokia XR20 is the first smartphone of the company to come with a military-grade design. The smartphone is claimed to survive extreme temperatures ranging from 55-degrees to 20-degrees Celsius, 1.8-metre drops and can stay under water for one hour. Powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 480 SoC, the smartphone packs 4,630mAh battery with 18W wired and 15W wireless charging options. It runs Android 11 and sports a 48MP dual rear camera setup.
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Xiaomi Mi 10i: Starting at Rs 20,999
What makes it special: First to bring 108MP camera to sub-Rs 20,000 phones
Xiaomi Mi 10i is the most-affordable smartphone to come with a 108MP camera. The smartphone sports a 6.67-inch FHD+ display with 120Hz refresh rate and is powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 750G processor. It runs Android 11 and is backed by a 4,320mAh battery with 33W fast charging support.
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Vivo X70 Pro+:Available at Rs 79,999
What makes it special: Brings the Gimbal camera back to smartphones
The most-expensive Vivo smartphone is powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 888+ processor and sports a quad-rear gimbal camera. Vivo X70 Pro+ comes with IP58 rating and runs Android 11 operating system. It features a Quad HD+ display and houses a 4500mAh battery with 55W fast charging, 50W wireless fast charging, 10W wireless reverse charging support.
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Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 3: Available at Rs 1,57,999
What makes it special: Claimed to be ‘most-durable’ folding smartphone
Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 3 comes with a 6.2-inch HD+ Dynamic AMOLED cover display with 120Hz refresh rate. When you unfold the device, you will get a 7.6-inch QXGA+ Dynamic AMOLED main display. The water-resistant smartphone comes with a total of five cameras and is powered by a 5nm 64-bit octa-core chipset along with 12GB of RAM and internal storage options of 128GB or 256GB. It runs Android 11 operating system and is powered by a 4,400mAh battery.
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Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 3: Available at Rs 88,999
What makes it special: Makes foldable smartphones affordable
The cover screen on the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 3 measures 1.9-inch and it’s a Super AMOLED panel. The device unfolds to showcase a 6.7-inch FHD+ Dynamic AMOLED main display with 120Hz refresh rate. The device is powered by a 5nm 64-bit octa-core chipset with 8GB of RAM and internal storage options of 128GB or 256GB. It runs Android 11 operating system and is powered by a 3,300mAh battery.
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Realme GT: Available at Rs 37,999
What makes it special: Cheapest flagship smartphone to be powered by Snapdragon 888
Realme GT comes powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 5G SoC and packs a 4,500 mAh battery with 65W SuperDart Charge support. Offering a 6.43-inch 120Hz Super AMOLED display, the Realme GT boasts of a triple rear camera setup where the primary camera is a 64MP sensor, which is paired with an 8MP ultra wide-angle camera and a 2MP macro lens.
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Asus ROG Phone 5: Starting at Rs 49,999
What makes it special: First phone in India to launch with 16GB RAM
Asus ROG Phone 5 is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon processor paired with 16GB of RAM. This is the first gaming smartphone to launch in India with 16GB RAM. The smartphone offers 144Hz display. It is equipped with a 6.78-inch Samsung AMOLED panel. ROG Phone 5 is equipped with two symmetrical 7-magnet 12×16 Super Linear speakers tuned by Dirac Audio. It houses a 6000mAh battery and supports 65W fast charging.
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iQoo 7 Legend: Available at Rs 39,990
What makes it special: The power-packed gaming phone
Powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 processor, iQoo Legend 7 comes in two variants — 8GB+128GB and 12GB+256GB. Running Android 11, the smartphone sports a 48MP triple rear camera. It features a full HD+ AMOLED display and is backed by a 4,000 mAh battery with 66W fast charging support.
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JioPhone Next: Available at Rs 1,999
What makes it special: First smartphone co-developed by Google and Reliance Jio
The JioPhone Next is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 215 processor. It is the company’s first phone to be launched jointly with Google. The smartphone runs on PragatiOS based on Google’s Android operating system. The smartphone sports a 5.5-inch HD+ screen and is backed by a 3500mAh battery.
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Oppo Reno 6 Pro: Available at Rs 38,393
What makes it special: The affordable camera phone
Oppo Reno 6 Pro offers a 6.5-inch AMOLED curved FHD+ display and is powered by MediaTek Dimensity 1200 SoC. The camera phone has a quad-camera setup. This includes a 64MP main sensor, an 8MP wide-angle sensor, a 2MP macro sensor and a 2MP mono sensor. On the front, there is a 32MP sensor. It is backed by a 4500mAh battery with 65W SuperVOOC 2.0 fast charging support.