The Best Octa-Core Smartphones Money Can Buy For Under $200

With affordable smartphones becoming the buzzword over the past couple of years, more and more companies are vying for the consumers’ mind space and purse strings with ever better specs at super affordable prices. This can at times make it somewhat difficult to weed out the really good deals from the lemons. This is where one needs to get well-acquainted with devices and weigh the pros and cons of each, before putting down the cash.

Today, we’ll look at some of the best octa-core smartphones money can buy below $200. We’ve identified MediaTek’s MT6753 as the best value-for-money SoC at this price range, and will take a look at what we believe are the best devices with the chipset, which comes within our stated budget. As for the chipset itself, the MT6753 comes with an embedded octa-core CPU with eight Cortex-A53 cores clocked at a maximum of 1.5 GHz, and a Mali T-760 GPU. So without any further delay, let’s jump right in.

To start off with, we have the Elephone P8000, which comes with a 5.5-inch full HD display, along with 3 GB RAM and 16 GB internal storage. The device comes with a 13 megapixel primary camera and a 5 megapixel selfie-cam. The smartphone comes with Android 5.1 Lollipop and a large 4,165 mAh battery. It also comes with support for FDD LTE bands 800 / 1800 / 2600 MHz alongside GSM and WCDMA connectivity. The P8000 also features a fingerprint scanner and supports Quick Charge. All this, for a princely sum of 9.99.

Buy the Elephone P 8000 from GearBest

Next up, we got the UMI Iron. The device also comes with similar hardware as the Elephone P8000, but comes with a smaller 3,350 mAh battery and costs a tad higher, at $179.99. It is still a solid device, and can also be had from GeekBuying, where it is listed at the aforementioned price.

Buy the UMI Iron from GeekBuying

The curiously named Doogee F3 Pro comes next, and costs the least among all the three aforementioned smartphones, at $159.99. The F3 Pro also boasts of an impressive spec-sheet, which is nearly identical to the two smartphones already laid out above, apart from the battery, which stands at 2,200 mAh.

Buy the Doogee F3 Pro from Gearbest

Next, we have a hard hitter from Meizu. The Meilan M2 Note also sports with very similar hardware, but comes with 2 GB of RAM instead of 3 GB on the other phones. The handset comes with Flyme 4.5A OS, which is based on Android 5.0 Lollipop, and comes with a 3,100 mAh battery. The phone costs 159.89 on Gearbest.

Buy the Meizu Note 2 from GearBest

Finally, we come to the most well-known brand of the lot – Lenovo. The company has a large phablet in the category called the K3 Note, which comes with a 1080p Full HD screen and and is powered by MediaTek’s MT6752 chipset. It also comes with 2 GB RAM and 16 GB ROM, and comes with FDD-LTE connectivity, along with 13MP front and 5MP rear cameras. The device costs only $152.89 on GearBest and is undoubtedly the best that money can buy in the ~$150 price range.

Buy the Lenovo K3 Note on GearBest

Finally, we come to the cheapest of the lot. The Coolpad Dazen costs only 899 Yuan in China, which translates to around $144, but the device does come with slightly reduced specifications. The Full HD panel gives way to a 720p panel although the size remains at 5.5-inch, and the fingerprint scanner seen on other devices is absent. The battery is rated at 3,000 mAh, meaning it may last around a day with average usage.

Of course, if you have no real fascination for octa-core chips, you could also look at a few other equally adept devices, like the jiyayu S3, Iocean Rock and the Kingzone N5, all of which are powered by quad-core chipsets embedded within the MT6752 SoC from MediaTek, and are also significantly below the $200 mark. You can click on the links below to check out the hardware specs and prices of the devices mentioned above.

Buy the Kingzone N5 from GearBest

Some of the other devices also worth mentioning as part of our “Best Under $200” lineup are the Jiayu S3 and Iocean Rock M6752 smartphones. With high price-performance ratios, these are also cheap and cheery smartphones once should consider if you’re in the market for high bang-for-your-buck smartphones for around the $100 mark.

Buy the Jiayu S3 from GearBest

Buy the Iocean Rock from GeekBuying

All in all, a great lineup of affordable smartphones under $200. What do you guys think? Did we miss any that should have been included? Leave your thoughts in the comments section below and we will try to incorporate your ideas the next time around.