Jump straight to our full best Chinese phones chart
Chinese phones offer excellent value for money, with specs to rival flagship phones such as the Samsung Galaxy S7 and iPhone 7 and often at less than half the price. So if you want a great deal on a smartphone, look no further than our round-up of the best Chinese phones 2017.
Also see: Best Phone Deals
You’ve probably heard of brands such as Huawei/Honor, ZTE and Lenovo, although you might not be aware that the latter makes phones as well as laptops. Xiaomi, too, is becoming increasingly popular worldwide, and is known as China’s Apple. Also see: Best kids’ phones 2017
But the problem with many Chinese phones is that they can be difficult to get hold of in the UK. To buy a Chinese phone in the UK you’ll either need to look on a site such as eBay or Amazon , or go through a grey-market importer such as Geekbuying , GearBest or Coolicool. Be sure to read up on our grey-market tech buying advice before you do so.
Pros:
• Excellent value for money
• Competitive specification
• Usually dual-SIM
• None of your friends will have the same phone
Cons:
• Without an official channel through which to purchase you may unintentionally buy a counterfeit product
• Faulty devices may be difficult to return
• You may incur import duty (charged at 20 percent of the value on the shipping paperwork plus an admin fee)
• The phone may not work with your network ( be sure to check before you buy )
• Google Play may not be preinstalled (as is the case with some Xiaomi and Meizu phones)
The majority of Chinese phones we’ve reviewed have been dual-SIM dual-standby. We’ve found this to be a standard feature of Chinese phones at any price point. However, in the case of Huawei/Honor phones, which are among those that are officially sold in the UK, the UK variant is often not dual-SIM. You should also check whether the second SIM slot is in addition to or replacing the phone’s microSD slot. Also see: Best dual-SIM phones 2017 and dual-SIM buying advice.
4G is a common feature even at the lower price points. An increasing number of phones will support 4G on both SIM slots, but dual-standby phones will ask you to select one or the other for data. And while we’re used to seeing phones that standardise on nano- or Micro-SIM, Chinese phones can occasionally still feature full-size SIM slots (though this is now becoming much less common).
