The metal smartphone has been widely trivialized over the years. Today, there are phones, and full metal phones. The latter is the ones that we’re going for today. These are phones that really feel metallic and premium. They don’t try to push a metal frame as “metallic” and the use of plastic is kept to a minimum.
The OnePlus 3 has a lot of things going for it, and the metallic body is one of them. For a company that excels in low cost devices, the OnePlus 3 is very well built and is as premium as they come. Yes, we do see the HTC connection, but that's not really a hitch when done right, is it?
HTC has always been the king of the metal body, and that continues with the HTC 10. Personally, we think the HTC 10 doesn't look as good as the HTC One M8, but it really is the only truly metallic smartphone amongst the flagships this year. The LG G5 would have been part of this list, but its metal design doesn't really feel metallic.
It's metallic, it's compact and it's powerful. Yes, the iPhone 6S has been surpassed by some Android flagships today, but it's still one of the best built smartphones around. If you have the budget, you could still consider this, or the iPhone 6S Plus, for a vastly better camera.
Note: The iPhone SE is also made of metal. Noted.
LeEco is perhaps the first company to have brought the truly metal design to the budget range, and the Le Max 2 leads that charge. It runs on a Snapdragon 820 SoC, has 6GB of RAM and is one of the best phones in the market. It also has a unibody metal design, which can go toe to toe with the most premium phones out there.
It costs Rs. 11,999 and is the most premiumly built smartphone in this price range. Coincidentally, we found this to be the best performing phone in this segment as well.
Huawei's can take the credit for the best looking, and more premiumly built Nexus ever. The Nexus 6P is one of the most unique looking smartphones in the market today, and made completely out of premium metal. It's a tad old, though, and this year's Nexus should be out soon, so we'd recommend it only if you're getting a very good deal.
Like the Nexus, this phone is also old, when compared to its competition. That said, Samsung did a fine job with this one. It feels premium and the performance is satisfactory. There's a good camera to boot. Of course, the OnePlus 3 and LeEco Le Max 2 outperform is by miles, but Samsung's brand value is hard to ignore.