Here are the winners of the Digit Zero1 and Best Buy Awards for the Best Performing Mid-Range Smartphone of 2022
The Realme GT2 bagged the Digit Zero1 Award 2022 in this category amidst fierce competition
The OnePlus 10R 5G clinched the Digit Best Buy Award 2022 for offering the best price-to-performance ratio
Mid-range smartphones are, in many ways, some of the most complete devices out there, offering a good mix of premium features and performance, but at a non-premium price. While it is true that what we pay for mid-range smartphones has gone up in recent years, the level of performance we get has also increased, and at a much faster rate. Under Rs 35,000, there are a bunch of great smartphones that offer everything a smartphone user would require. Be it gaming, content, cameras, or just basic usage, there is nothing a mid-range smartphone of 2022 can’t do. Given that today’s mid-range smartphones are offering more performance than ever, the fight for the best mid-range smartphone was probably the closest in this year’s Zero1 Awards. After a nail-biting encounter among eight nominees from brands like Samsung, OnePlus, Xiaomi, Realme, and more, only one mid-ranger was able emerge the winner, barely beating out the runner-up and the second runner-up.
Winner: Realme GT2 (Buy link)
Price: ₹34,999
Realme premium mid-ranger Realme GT2 was launched as the smaller sibling of the company’s Realme GT2 Pro flagship smartphone earlier this year. The Realme GT2 comes with a flagship-level Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 chipset, with a max clocking speed of 2.82GHz. The octa-core Snapdragon 888 on the Realme GT2 is paired with up to 12GB of RAM, making the Realme GT2 a beast of a performer in the mid-range category. Despite its flagship-level specs, the Realme GT2 marginally beat our runner-up for the mid-range category this year. Apart from the 5nm Snapdragon 888 chipset, the Realme GT2 also comes with a nice 6.62-inch AMOLED display with support for HDR10+ and a 120Hz refresh rate. The Realme GT2 also has a nice design with the brand’s new ‘paper’ design that we also see on the Realme GT2 Pro. The Realme GT2 outperformed all other nominees in the category like the OnePlus 10R, the Redmi K50i, iQoo Neo 6, and more such devices that are known for the power-packed experience that each of them offer.
Runner-up: OnePlus 10R 5G (Buy link)
Price: ₹34,999
The OnePlus 10R came second in our mid-range test, losing out to the Realme GT2 by the slimmest-possible margin. The OnePlus 10R outperformed every other contender for the mid-range category, only to see the Realme GT2 edge it out to become the winner. The OnePlus 10R, powered by MediaTek’s Dimensity 8100 Max showed a good mix of performance, the specs and features it offers, build, and more. There is a 6.7-inch Fluid OLED display on the OnePlus 10R with a 120Hz refresh rate and HDR10+ support. In our tests, the OnePlus 10R aced all the CPU and GPU tests, and the smartphone also tested well in the battery and design department. The 5nm MediaTek Dimensity 8100-Max chipset that powers the OnePlus 10R has a maximum clocking speed of 2.85GHz, which gave the OnePlus 10R enough power to emerge as the runner-up, falling just short as compared to the winner.
2nd Runner-up: iQoo 9 SE (Buy link)
Price: ₹30,990
Like the winner and runner-up, the difference between the runner-up and second runner-up is also very marginal this year. The iQoo 9 SE, which also comes with a flagship-level Snapdragon 888 chipset was marginally beaten out by the OnePlus 10R, our runner-up for this year’s Zero1 award. The iQoo 9SE put up numbers that were too close to winning, and the second runner-up gave us probably the most exciting competition of this year’s Zero1 Awards. The iQoo 9 SE, apart from the 5nm Snapdragon 888 chipset, also comes with a 6.62-inch super AMOLED display with a 120Hz refresh rate along with support for HDR10+. The smartphone also comes with a 4,500mAh battery with support for 66W fast charging. Overall, after a promising test result and a nail-biting competition, the iQoo 9 SE managed to bag the second runner-up in this year’s awards.
Best Buy: OnePlus 10R 5G (Buy Link)
Price: ₹34,999
Like the budget category, the best buy award in the mid-range category also goes to the runner-up, the OnePlus 10R. As mentioned, the mid-range smartphones treated us with the closest competition. The OnePlus 10R, powered by MediaTek’s Dimensity 8100 Max showed a good mix of performance, specs and features, build and design, and more. There is a 6.7-inch Fluid OLED display on the OnePlus 10R with a 120Hz refresh rate and HDR10+ support. The OnePlus 10R impressed us with its performance chops and also gave us a fair idea as to how close Qualcomm’s 5nm Snapdragon 888 and MediaTek’s 5nm Dimensity 8100 chipset are in terms of their capability. The 5nm MediaTek Dimensity 8100-Max chipset that powers the OnePlus 10R has a maximum clocking speed of 2.85GHz, giving the OnePlus 10R enough push to become the best-buy smartphone for this year.
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