Mid-range smartphones are no longer budget devices with a bunch of higher-end features. In 2019, the best mid-range devices were essentially high-end smartphones sans a couple of premium features.

If last year’s mid-rangers were all about good processors, big batteries, and dual cameras, in 2019 brands upped their game by adding high-end chipsets, flagship-grade fast charging, quad-cameras, AMOLED displays, and even in-screen fingerprint sensors. We are spoiled by the number of good mid-range choices we have this year that costs less than €299 or Rs. 20,000 or $300.

Like our Best Budget Smartphones of 2019 article, compiling this list wasn’t easy, but the following smartphones stood out for us for their excellent quality and value for money.

It wouldn’t be fair to compile the Best Mid-Range Smartphones list without a Redmi Note model, right? The Note lineup is extremely popular among mid-range buyers and the company has already sold 10 million units of the Redmi Note 8 series across the globe within three months of launch. That’s an average of over 110,000 units in a day!

The Redmi Note 8 Pro brought in the perfect blend of imaging prowess, gaming-oriented processor, and a large battery, packaged inside a beautiful body. It might be a bit heavier and bulkier than some competitors but overall, the Note 8 Pro is a well-balanced mid-range smartphone of 2019.

The Redmi Note 8 Pro comes with a MediaTek Helio G90T processor with a quad-camera setup consisting of a high-resolution 64MP primary camera, 8MP wide-angle camera, and a couple of 2MP shooters for macro and bokeh. There’s a large 4500mAh battery on board with 18W fast charging too!

All this for a competitive price tag of Rs. 14,999 in India or €259 in Europe for the 6GB + 64GB variant. Pretty solid deal indeed!

Realme has absolutely embraced the motto: If Redmi can do it, we can do it too! So if there’s a Redmi Note model in this list, there’s an equivalent (or even a better) Realme model to take it on. And Realme X2 is the mid-range phone to beat in 2019! The phone offers more value than any other smartphone in its price segment.

If you had doubts about my earlier statement of how ‘2019 mid-rangers were high-end devices sans a few premium features’, this phone should help you to cast them away.

The Realme X2 comes with Snapdragon 730G (8nm), a 6.4-inch FHD+ Super AMOLED display, up to 8GB of RAM, 64MP primary camera with three other supporting cameras including an 8MP wide-angle lens, and a 4000mAh battery with 30W fast charging. You get all this for a starting price of just Rs 16,999 (4GB + 64GB), Rs. 18,999 (6GB + 128GB) in India or up to 289 € (8GB +128GB) in Europe. That’s incredible value for money!

If there was a phone that can take on the Realme X2, it would be the Redmi K20. It comes with the non-gaming Snapdragon 730 (8nm) processor with a full-screen AMOLED display, a pop-up camera that houses a 20MP selfie camera and a capable rear camera setup featuring three useful sensors, a 48MP primary shooter, an 8MP telephoto lens, and a 13MP wide-angle camera.

In case you are wondering, the K20 has the same camera setup as the K20 Pro, which we all so loved! So despite having one camera less than the two smartphones mentioned above, the triple camera setup on the Redmi K20 is more useful than those quad-cameras (let’s not talk about the quality of those 2MP shooters) on the Realme X2 and Redmi Note 8 Pro. Also, the K20 is one of few phones in this price segment to feature a telephoto lens that offers up to 2X optical zoom!

It’s a shame that the Redmi K20 was overshadowed by its more expensive ‘Pro’ sibling this year. So, it shouldn’t be surprising to see that it makes it to our Most Underrated Smartphones of 2019 list.

The Redmi K20 is highly discounted right now. You can find the 6GB + 64GB model for under Rs. 20,000 in India or around €279.90 in Europe. 

The Lenovo Z6 is yet another underrated smartphone in this list but offers immense value for your money. The phone comes with Snapdragon 730 (8nm) like the Realme X2 with a 6.4-inch AMOLED display with in-screen fingerprint, a triple camera setup featuring a 24MP main camera (f / 1.8 large aperture) + 8MP 2x optical zoom camera (f / 2.4 aperture) + 5MP bokeh camera, and a 4000mAh battery with 18W fast charging.

These specs are pretty amazing but it looks very similar to the models mentioned above right? And Lenovo is not really known for its software support either. So why does this phone make it to our Best Mid-Range Smartphones of 2019 list?

The three smartphones mentioned above: Realme X2, Redmi Note 8 Pro, and Redmi K20 weigh over 180 grams and measure over 8.6mm in thickness. In comparison, the Lenovo Z6 weighs just 159 grams and measures 7.7mm in thickness! It might well be one of the most comfortable mid-range smartphones of 2019.

And how much does it cost? 1199 yuan in China, which comes to just $171 or €154! It’s a shame that Lenovo Z6 didn’t get a widescale release and I blame Lenovo for that. But for its price, it offers outstanding value (including 2x Optical zoom)! You can get it for around $200 or €180 via sites like Aliexpress in Europe.

2019 was all about 6-inch+ displays, large batteries, and multiple cameras. But these features come at a cost and that’s the bulky form factor. Some users don’t mind if their phones are a bit heavy or thick, but for others, it’s a definite deal-breaker. The Lenovo Z6 was a pretty lightweight phone, but if you are in the market for something smaller, lighter, and more compact, the Mi 9 SE is your best bet.

With the dimensions of just 147.5 x 70.5 x 7.5 mm, it’s smaller, thinner, and lighter than all the smartphones in this list. However, despite its compact form factor, the Mi 9 SE doesn’t sacrifice any major features. It comes with a 6-inch FHD+ Super AMOLED display, 6GB RAM, Snapdragon 712 (10nm octa-core 2.3GHz) processor, a 48MP triple cameras with ultra-wide and telephoto lens (2x optical zoom), and a 3070mAh battery with 18W fast charging. The battery is small but given its compact size and fast charging support, for those who want a capable smartphone that’s also comfortable to hold, the Mi 9 SE turns out to be a competitive option.

The Mi 9 SE wasn’t launched in India but it is available for around € 349.90 or £300 (6GB + 64GB) in Europe!

So these were our picks for the Best Mid-Range Smartphones of 2019! Do you think any other device deserves to make it to this list? Let us know!