Top 10 most powerful Chinese phones of 2016


Are you looking for the best phone money can buy? Here we’ll show you the 10 best smartphones on the market. Remember, this is GizChina… so all of these 10 phones are from Chinese companies! 😉

Top 10 most powerful Chinese phones of 2016

This list is based on AnTuTu scores. Although we know it doesn’t represent real world scenarios, this is still the one way to quantify devices’ performance. We all know how much consumers love AnTuTu — so why not!

So let’s have it — here are the top 10 most powerful Chinese phones of 2016!

10. Huawei Honor V8 – Score 94,164

Huawei Honor V8

Powered by a Huawei HiSilicon Kirin 950/955 processor, the Huawei Honor V8 is the first on our list. It indeed scores a lower score compared to the competition, but by no means this should stop you. 94,164 points on Antutu is still a highly reputable score in 2016.

The Huawei homemade CPU equipped smartphone comes in 3 different versions and prices:

  • 1080p screen/4GB RAM/32GB/Kirin 950: 2299 Yuan ($352)
  • 1080p screen/4GB RAM/32GB/Kirin 950: 2499 Yuan ($383)
  • 1440p screen/4GB RAM/64GB/Kirin 955: 2799 Yuan ($429)

The score is based on the most powerful version, featuring a Kirin 955 CPU.

9. LeEco Le 2 Pro X625 – Score 94,345

leeco le pro 2 launch

In the same league as the Huawei Honor V8, we find the LeEco Le 2 Pro. The mid-range device, produced by the recently renamed company, boasts a Mediatek Helio X25 processor, which is the most powerful Mediatek CPU available on the market as of now.

The LeEco Le 2 Pro has been the first smartphone to abandon the 3.5mm audio jack standard, in favor of an USB Type-C connection for audio output. The smartphone also features a 5.5″ Full HD display, 4GB LPDDR3 of RAM and 32GB eMMC5.1 of internal storage.

8. Meizu Pro 6 – Score 96,756

meizu pro 6 specifications

Similarly to the LeEco Le 2 Pro X625, also the Meizu Pro 6 is powered by an MTK Helio X25. The Meizu flagship which was announced earlier in April, has brought some controversy upon itself, due to the smaller battery capacity compared to the previous Meizu Pro 5 (3050mAh vs 2650mAh) and a less efficient CPU.

Among the other specs we find a 5.2-inch 1920 x 1080px screen with 3D Press technology, 4GB of RAM and either 32GB or 64GB of internal storage.

7. ZUK Z2 – Score 129,076

zuk z2

This is the first Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 powered device on the list. The young company’s flagship smartphone features the aforementioned Snapdragon 820 chipset, combined with a 5″ Full HD display, 4GB of RAM, 64GB of internal memory, 8 mega-pixel front camera and 13 mega-pixel rear camera. More about the ZUK Z2 here.

Gizchina News of the week


6. ZTE Axon 7 – Score 132,217

The ZTE AXON 7 is now on sale in France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom via Amazon

The Axon 7 is the latest addition to the Axon flagship line of phones from ZTE. With a Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 CPU and 4GB RAM it pairs up with similar top of the range phones from other manufacturers this year. The ZTE Axon 7 also sports a 20 mega-pixel camera with PDAF, OIS and a tempting f/1.8 aperture.

5. Xiaomi Mi 5 – Score 136,497

xiaomi mi5 unboxing

The Xiaomi Mi 5 announced at the last MWC is #5 on this list, doing some poetic justice to this list. The 5.15″ screen-fitted Xiaomi flagship comes with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 820, a 16 mega-pixel Sony IMX298 camera with 4-axis OIS and sapphire lens. It also sport 4GB of RAM and 128GB of internal storage in its most expensive version.

4. ZUK Z2 Pro – Score 136,853

zuk z2 pro

The ZUK Z2 Pro is the 2nd flagship phone from the Lenovo backed smartphone maker, this year. As its cheaper brother (ZUK Z2), it sports a Qualcomm Snapdragon 820, on a bigger 5.2″ Full HD Super AMOLED display. On the back we can find a 13 mega-pixel camera with OIS and f/1.8 aperture.

3. LeEco Le Max 2 – Score 138,026

leeco le pro 2 launch

Packing a whopping 6GB RAM, 64GB internal memory and a Snapdragon 820, the latest smartphone from LeEco is one of the best devices on the market. Paired up with a 2K 515ppi display and 21 mega-pixel rear camera (F2.0 IMX230), with OIS, it also supports Qualcomm fast charge 3.0.

2. Vivo Xplay5 – Score 138,706

vivo xplay 5 captain america

The Vivo Xplay5 is obviously one of the most powerful Chinese-manufactured smartphones as it shows its massive score. Similarly to the LeEco Le Max 2 mentioned before it sports 6GB of RAM and a Qualcomm Snapdragon 820.

Among the other specs, it’s worth mentioning the 128GB of internal storage and an innovative liquid cooling system, designed to reduce the core temperature of the phone by up to 10 degrees.

1. OnePlus 3 – Score 140,288

OnePlus3

On the top of the list we have the most powerful smartphone available on the market, the OnePlus 3. Rocking a Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 and 6GB of RAM it scores the extraordinary 140,288.

The OnePlus flagship which is priced $399 also features a 5.5″ Optic AMOLED display with a resolution of 1920 x 1080 pixels covered by Gorilla Glass 4. The camera is a 16 mega-pixel Sony IMX298 with an f/2.0 aperture, OIS, PDAF, 4K video, RAW support. Making the OnePlus 3 an all-around best buy, both for the price and the performance it provides.

So, what are your thoughts? Which smartphone tempts you the most?

Disclaimer: We may be compensated by some of the companies whose products we talk about, but our articles and reviews are always our honest opinions. For more details, you can check out our editorial guidelines and learn about how we use affiliate links.

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68 Comments

  1. SnowyCat
    August 2, 2016

    the normal zuk z2 has 5″ and not 5,5″

    may i leave a link? there the honor 8 won in a speedtest vs the z2 pro

    so i guess antutu scores are not everything

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TBjbivBEEb0

    my le max 2 4/32 scores btween 142-145k like every single time i run the test but yeah i wouldnt give tooo much on antutu

    • Pierre
      August 3, 2016

      Thanks for reporting, it’s been corrected!

    • Pulkit Jain
      August 3, 2016

      Do you face network speed issues as I am facing issues on my max 2

  2. ohad
    August 3, 2016

    So, whuch one is realy the best in general (camera and performance)?

    • balcobomber25
      August 3, 2016

      Mi5, Axon 7 and OP3 IMO. Still need to see the Honor V8 reviewed though.

      • Nam Dang
        August 3, 2016

        Mi5: decent low light performance, great audio recording, good stabilization, front camera is nicely saturated
        Axon 7: weak low light performance, great audio recording, decent stabilization
        OP3: decent low light performance, audio recording very good (if using latest OOS 3.2.2), stabilization is good (front camera is a huge plus)

        Overall, I would say 1. Xiaomi Mi5, 2. OnePlus 3 and 3. ZTE Axon 7 for auto mode camera.

        • ohad
          August 4, 2016

          So, which one would you take?

          • Nam Dang
            August 4, 2016

            Basically I would choose Xiaomi Mi5 if it would have LTE band 20.
            OnePlus 3 seems more to be the better overall package.
            Don’t forget it has international support and warranty.
            ZTE is an alternative if you don’t mind weak low light performance: higher display resolution, better speakers and good audio chip are the pros.

            • ohad
              August 4, 2016

              And what about the old good galaxy note 4? Do you think its on the same level of the mi5/op3/le max 2?

            • Nam Dang
              August 4, 2016

              I would say it’s pretty similar since the big flagships tend to have an excellent camera.
              Since it’s an 2014 phone, I wouldn’t recommend since software updates could get limited.

            • ohad
              August 5, 2016

              My friend, the note 4 has already got an android 6.0 update. my main doubts are about the camera and preformans which i know that in the note for were among the best.

  3. SnowyCat
    August 3, 2016

    the normal zuk z2 has 5″ and not 5,5″

    may i leave a link? there the honor 8 won in a speedtest vs the z2 pro

    so i guess antutu scores are not everything

  4. SnowyCat
    August 3, 2016

    my le max 2 4/32 scores btween 142-145k like every single time i run the test but yeah i wouldnt give tooo much on antutu

    • Pierre
      August 3, 2016

      Thanks for reporting, it’s been corrected!

    • Pulkit Jain
      August 3, 2016

      Do you face network speed issues as I am facing issues on my max 2

  5. August 3, 2016

    Could you please do a round up of Chinese phones with front facing camera flash light? Thanks

    • August 4, 2016

      That’s a nice one, expect to have it out soon 🙂

  6. E8hffff
    August 3, 2016

    Agree the LeEco Le Max 2 is a stand out.

  7. ZGlory
    August 3, 2016

    Snapdragon all the way! 😀

  8. Ondra Cutak
    August 3, 2016

    I got 144,8K on my OP3 😀 Lucky draw I guess

    • Adam Irvine
      August 3, 2016

      I got a 144k too

      • xi7
        August 4, 2016

        🙂

  9. Adam Irvine
    August 3, 2016

    Ye! OnePlus 3 For the WIN!

  10. ohad
    August 3, 2016

    So, whuch one is realy the best in general (camera and performance)?

    • balcobomber25
      August 3, 2016

      Mi5, Axon 7 and OP3 IMO. Still need to see the Honor V8 reviewed though.

    • Nam Dang
      August 3, 2016

      Mi5: decent low light performance, great audio recording, good stabilization, front camera is nicely saturated
      Axon 7: weak low light performance, great audio recording, decent stabilization
      OP3: decent low light performance, audio recording very good (if using latest OOS 3.2.2), stabilization is good (front camera is a huge plus)

      Overall, I would say 1. Xiaomi Mi5, 2. OnePlus 3 and 3. ZTE Axon 7 for auto mode camera.

    • ohad
      August 4, 2016

      So, which one would you take?

    • Nam Dang
      August 4, 2016

      Basically I would choose Xiaomi Mi5 if it would have LTE band 20.
      OnePlus 3 seems more to be the better overall package.
      Don’t forget it has international support and warranty.
      ZTE is an alternative if you don’t mind weak low light performance: higher display resolution, better speakers and good audio chip are the pros.

    • ohad
      August 4, 2016

      And what about the old good galaxy note 4? Do you think its on the same level of the mi5/op3/le max 2?

    • Nam Dang
      August 5, 2016

      I would say it’s pretty similar since the big flagships tend to have an excellent camera.
      Since it’s an 2014 phone, I wouldn’t recommend since software updates could get limited.

    • ohad
      August 5, 2016

      My friend, the note 4 has already got an android 6.0 update. my main doubts are about the camera and preformans which i know that in the note for were among the best.

  11. Udegbunam Chukwudi
    August 3, 2016

    Could you please do a round up of Chinese phones with front facing camera flash light? Thanks

    • Yash Garg
      August 4, 2016

      That’s a nice one, expect to have it out soon 🙂

  12. E8hffff
    August 3, 2016

    Agree the LeEco Le Max 2 is a stand out.

  13. realjjj
    August 3, 2016

    lol Antutu, just go do something else.

  14. Guest
    August 3, 2016

    Snapdragon all the way! 😀

  15. Allanitomwesh
    August 3, 2016

    If you want a fast phone
    Helio X25, Kirin 955 , Snapdragon 820. Can’t go wrong.

  16. August 3, 2016

    I love the Xiaomi Mi 5. I believe it has the best battery life of the phones on this list, certainly way better than the One Plus 3 – more important to me than sheer power.

  17. Ondra Cutak
    August 3, 2016

    I got 144,8K on my OP3 😀 Lucky draw I guess

    • Adam Irvine
      August 3, 2016

      I got a 144k too

    • xi7
      August 4, 2016

      🙂

  18. Adam Irvine
    August 3, 2016

    Ye! OnePlus 3 For the WIN!

  19. realjjj
    August 3, 2016

    lol Antutu, just go do something else.

  20. NextHype
    August 3, 2016

    Maybe you could have delivered a table comparing CPU/GPU/RAM speed/etc… scores and not only the composite score which doesn’t mean anything, and cannot help us to compare phones performances.

    Most ppl here tend to be critic with antutu composite scores and won’t be satisfied with this kind of article. I think that’s what realjjj was trying to express, with the social and linguistic skills we know him for.

  21. Allanitomwesh
    August 3, 2016

    If you want a fast phone
    Helio X25, Kirin 955 , Snapdragon 820. Can’t go wrong.

  22. Moose
    August 3, 2016

    I love the Xiaomi Mi 5. I believe it has the best battery life of the phones on this list, certainly way better than the One Plus 3 – more important to me than sheer power.

  23. Alex
    August 3, 2016

    When I bought Mi5 my friend was like so what’s your antutu score. And i’m like, I don’t give a f***.

  24. NextHype
    August 3, 2016

    Maybe you could have delivered a table comparing CPU/GPU/RAM speed/etc… scores and not only the composite score which doesn’t mean anything, and cannot help us to compare phones performances.

    Most ppl here tend to be critic with antutu composite scores and won’t be satisfied with this kind of article. I think that’s what realjjj was trying to express, with the social and linguistic skills we know him for.

  25. balcobomber25
    August 3, 2016

    The title of this article should be changed to:

    Top 10 Chinese phones with the highest random number that doesn’t mean anything.

    • xi7
      August 4, 2016

      after 5 test antutu op3 keeps its value 140k , since the others lost about 50k.
      ( Doesn’t mean anything. ? )

      • balcobomber25
        August 4, 2016

        You’re test further proves how little the above scores mean. The above scores are a random number that tells you nothing about the performance. Running those tests multiple times like in the video you posted gives you dramatically different numbers for phones with the same specs meaning those first set of numbers have no meaning. Also with each version of Antutu the numbers are drastically different than the previous version making any numbers obtained from the previous version even more worthless. For instance the iPhone 6 scores 60,000 in Antutu 5 but 123000 in Antutu 6. Antutu is nothing but big numbers for which to compare to other big numbers.

        • xi7
          August 4, 2016

          video = thermal test vs performance, same version antutu.
          could be with other benchmark, the result would be the same. (geekbech , 3dmark…) after thermal all device lost performance. But oneplus have better performance even at high temperature.
          https://youtu.be/XMxn6Q8DT-g

  26. Alex
    August 3, 2016

    When I bought Mi5 my friend was like so what’s your antutu score. And i’m like, I don’t give a f***.

  27. August 3, 2016

    There’s zero choice in the market currently. Every phone on this list is a phablet. Same goes for all popular brands in North America.

  28. balcobomber25
    August 3, 2016

    The title of this article should be changed to:

    Top 10 Chinese phones with the highest random number that doesn’t mean anything.

    • xi7
      August 4, 2016

      after 5 test antutu op3 keeps its value 140k , since the others lost about 50k.

    • xi7
      August 4, 2016

      ( Doesn’t mean anything. ? )

    • balcobomber25
      August 4, 2016

      You’re test further proves how little the above scores mean. The above scores are a random number that tells you nothing about the performance. Running those tests multiple times like in the video you posted gives you dramatically different numbers for phones with the same specs meaning those first set of numbers have no meaning. Also with each version of Antutu the numbers are drastically different than the previous version making any numbers obtained from the previous version even more worthless. For instance the iPhone 6 scores 60,000 in Antutu 5 but 123000 in Antutu 6. Antutu is nothing but big numbers for which to compare to other big numbers.

    • xi7
      August 4, 2016

      video = thermal test vs performance, same version antutu.
      could be with other benchmark, the result would be the same. (geekbech , 3dmark…) after thermal all device lost performance. But oneplus have better performance even at high temperature.

  29. boo Jay
    August 3, 2016

    There’s zero choice in the market currently. Every phone on this list is a phablet. Same goes for all popular brands in North America.

  30. Wolvie
    August 4, 2016

    Hey how come there is no Elephoney smartphones in your list ?

    Oh wait a minute, they are on different list “Top 10 most Worst Chinese phones of 2016”

  31. Guest
    August 4, 2016

    Hey how come there is no Elephoney smartphones in your list ?

    Oh wait a minute, they are on different list “Top 10 most Worst Chinese phones of 2016”

  32. Z-PH
    August 8, 2016

    hi, what about NX531J (ZTE Nubia Z11) ??? with 137.355 ?

  33. Z-PH
    August 8, 2016

    hi, what about NX531J (ZTE Nubia Z11) ??? with 137.355 ?

  34. Sunil Adoor
    September 28, 2016

    Meizu mx6 not in the list!!!!!!why???

  35. Sunil Adoor
    September 28, 2016

    Meizu mx6 not in the list!!!!!!why???

  36. Souvik
    November 21, 2016

    Elephone and vernee should be in the list

  37. Guest
    November 21, 2016

    Elephone and vernee should be in the list