Holiday Gift Guide 2020: Top smartphones over 45K

These are the top eight smartphones that offered the bleeding-edge specs and the best features in 2020 with pricing that goes over PHP 45,000!

Top smartphones over 45K

2020 has been an interesting year and over the past twelve months, 5G and/or foldable phones have been flooding the premium segment with the most powerful chipsets and cameras while delivering eye-catching design.

Here are our favorites from 2020 with prices going north of PHP 45K!

Top smartphones over 45K

OPPO Find X2 Pro

1. OPPO Find X2 Pro - Arguably 2020's most underrated flagship, the OPPO Find X2 Pro features a massive 6.7-inch Super AMOLED display with 120Hz refresh rate, HDR10+ support, and 3168 x 1440 resolution. Inside is the flagship 7nm Snapdragon 865 octa-core processor, Adreno 650 GPU, 12GB LPDDR5 RAM, 512GB UFS 3.0, 4,260mAh battery with 65W Super VOOC 2.0 flash charge. It features a 48MP triple-rear camera and a 32MP selfie camera. At launch, it was priced at PHP 69,990.

OnePlus 8 Pro

2. OnePlus 8 Pro - OnePlus has changed direction and is now offering value for money smartphones as well as bleeding-edge flagships. The OnePlus 8 Pro features a 120Hz 6.78-inch Fluid AMOLED display with HDR10+ and QHD+ resolution. 

Inside is the Snapdragon 865, Adreno 650 GPU, 8GB/12GB LPDDR5 RAM, 128GB/256GB UFS 3.0 and 4,510mAh with 30W Warp Charge 30T, 30W Wireless Charging and 3W reverse wireless charging.

It has a 48MP quad-rear cameras and a 16MP selfie camera. It is running on Android 11 with OxygenOS 11 and starts at PHP 45,990 for the 8GB/128GB model.

Huawei P40 Pro+

3. Huawei P40 Pro+ - Huawei continues to impress by pushing the limit of what you expect a phone with a PHP 69,990 price tag can offer. It features a 6.58-inch quad-curve overflow OLED display with a 90Hz refresh rate and 2640 x 1200 resolution. Inside is the 7nm+ Kirin 990 5G octa-core processor with Mali-G76 MP16 with GPU Turbo, 8GB RAM, 512GB of storage, and 4,200mAh battery with 40W wired SuperCharge, 40W wireless SuperCharge, and 5W reverse wireless charging.

It features a 50MP RYYB Ultra-Vision main rear camera, a 40MP SuperSensing Cine camera, an 8MP 10x optical telephoto, an 8MP 3x optical telephoto, and a ToF 3D sensor at the back, and a 32MP front-facing camera. Running the show is EMUI 11 with Huawei Mobile services and App Gallery.

Horizon screen

4. Huawei Mate 40 Pro - True to its namesake, the Mate40 Pro is the ultiMATE device from Huawei in 2020 with its 5nm+ Kirin 9000 5G octa-core processor, Mali-G78 MP24 with GPU Turbo, 8GB LPDDR5 RAM, 256GB UFS 3.1 storage, and 4,400mAh battery with 66W SuperCharge, 50W Wireless SuperCharge, and Reverse wireless charging.

At the back is a 50MP RYYB Ultra Vision Wide main rear camera, 20MP Ultra Wide Cine camera, 12MP 5x Optical Zoom with a Laser sensor and dual-tone LED flash. In front is the 13MP selfie camera and is running on EMUI 11.0.

It comes with Huawei Mobile Services and App Gallery and is priced at only PHP 55,999.

This is the speediest Android smartphone in the Philippines yet.

Samsung Galaxy Z Fold2

5. Samsung Galaxy Z Fold2 - Samsung continues to push to innovate and polish its offering of foldable phones like the new Galaxy Z Fold2 that arrived in the Philippines in November.

It features a 6.2-inch Super AMOLED outer screen and a massive 7.6-inch Dynamic AMOLED display with a 120Hz refresh rate and 2208 x 1768 resolution. Inside is the 7nm Snapdragon 865 Plus octa-core processor, Adreno 650 GPU, 12GB LPDDR5 RAM, 256GB UFS 3.1, 4500mAh battery with 25W Adaptive fast charging, 11W wireless charging, and reverse wireless charging.

Running the show is Android 10-based One UI 2.5 and it features a 12MP triple-rear cameras and two 10MP selfie cameras.

It is priced at only PHP 109,990. A small price to pay for a piece of the future.

Samsung Galaxy Z Flip

6. Samsung Galaxy Z Flip - Back in February 2020, Samsung introduced the Galaxy Z Flip and its new ultra-thin glass that allowed it to fold into a clamshell form factor. 

It features a large 6.7-inch Dynamic AMOLED Infinity Flex display with 2636 x 1080 resolution and a secondary 1.1-inch Super AMOLED display with 300 x 112 resolution. Under the hood is the 7nm Snapdragon 855 Plus, Adreno 640 GPU, 8GB RAM, 256GB of storage, 3300mAh battery with 15W Adaptive Fast Charging.

At launch, it was priced at PHP 79,990 but has now dropped to only PHP 55,990.

Samsung Galaxy Note20 Ultra 5G with S-Pen

7. Samsung Galaxy Note20 Ultra 5G - In our review, we said that Samsung stunned us with the build materials and design of the Note20 Ultra 5G. It is near perfect. 

In front of the Note20 Ultra 5G is the 6.9-inch Gorilla Glass Victus protected Dynamic AMOLED display with a 120Hz refresh rate and 3088 x 1440 resolution. Inside is the 7nm Exynos 990 octa-core processor, Mali-G77 MP11 GPU, 12GB LPDDR5 RAM, 256GB UFS 3.1, 4,500mAh battery with 45W Adaptive fast charging, 15W wireless charging, and reverse wireless charging.

Running the show is Android 10-based One UI 2.5 and it features the 108MP triple rear camera with Laser AF and a 10MP selfie camera.

At launch, the 5G version is priced at PHP 72,990. If you want the non-5G version, it will cost you 67,990.

Apple iPhone 12 Pro Max and 12 mini

8. Apple iPhone 12, 12 Pro, 12 Pro Max - Announced globally in October, the Apple iPhone 12 series arrived in the Philippines just last December 18 but it quickly became the best selling 5G phone in the world. All four models feature the new 5nm A13 Bionic, the Qualcomm 5G modem, XDR OLED display and the new MagSafe 15W snap-on wireless charging solution.

Apple iPhone 12 - Image courtesy of Technobaboy.com

The Pro models add the new LiDAR sensor at the back for improved AF and Augmented reality applications.

Apple iPhone 12 mini starts at PHP 43,990

Apple iPhone 12 starts at 49,990

Apple iPhone 12 Pro starts at PHP 62,990

Apple iPhone 12 Pro Max starts at PHP 68,990

ROG Phone 3

9. ROG Phone 3 - Starting at PHP 49,995, the ASUS ROG Phone 3 is one of the top gaming-focused smartphones this year. It boasts a 6.59-inch 144Hz AMOLED screen, Snapdragon 865 Plus processor, up to 16GB LPDDR5 RAM, 512GB UFS 3.1 storage, 6,000mAh battery with USB-C 30W fast charging, 64MP triple-cam, stereo speakers, and plenty of other mobile gaming-related features.

Mi 10 (Same front with Mi 10 Pro)

10. Xiaomi Mi 10 Pro - At PHP 45,990, the Mi 10 Pro is one of the speediest for the price. It features a 6.67-inch 90Hz FHD+ AMOLED screen, Snapdragon 865 SoC, 8GB LPDRR5 RAM, 256GB UFS 3.0 storage, 4,500mAh battery, advanced-cooling system, 108MP quad-cam, up to 8K video recording, and 20MP selfie cam. Of course, it has 5G as well.

Those are our top picks for 2020's best smartphones priced over PHP 45,000. 

Do you agree with us?