The mid-range segment is the most popular in Nepal’s smartphone market. Since most people don’t want to live with the compromises made on cheap budget phones and not everyone can afford premium flagship handsets, the mid-range segment has always been a sweet spot for Nepali consumers. Here is a list of the best mid-range smartphones to buy in Nepal. These smartphones do not just come with amazing specs, but also go easy on the wallet.

Pocophone F1

When the Pocophone F1 was launched, it took the tech world by storm. The phone was equipped with a flagship chipset and yet, had been tagged with a midrange price. So it became one of the most sought-after phones not just in the international market but also in Nepal.

Going by its specs, the major highlight of the phone is its processor. The handset comes with a Snapdragon 845 chipset backed by 6GB of RAM and 64GB of onboard memory. With this flagship processor and substantial RAM at its disposal, the Pocophone can handle any graphics-intensive app and game. Multitasking and switching between apps is also very fluid. So the smartphone seems specifically targeted at budget-conscious gamers.

Another prime focus of the Pocophone is its battery. The smartphone is fueled by a humongous 4000mAh battery. So even while gaming heavily, the handset easily lasts for a prolonged period.

When it comes to the display, the Pocophone has a 6.18-inch Full-HD IPS display. With the IPS panel, one cannot get the deep blacks and bright whites like on an AMOLED panel. Nonetheless, it looks good for its price. This display also comes with a notch on the top, which houses an infrared sensor, which conducts 3D mapping and unlocks the device via Face Unlock. This last feature too is fast and accurate.

On the camera front, the Pocophone F1 flaunts a dual camera setup on its rear panel, consisting of a 13MP main camera accompanied by a 5MP depth sensor. Normal images from the camera pack in substantial details with accurate colour and a decent dynamic range. With a couple of cameras at its disposal, the Pocophone F1 is capable of capturing decent portrait images as well. A 20MP camera resides on the front, which also produces praiseworthy selfies.

Huawei Nova 3i

Camera-centric smartphones are quite in demand on the smartphone market, and Huawei has booked its seat at this bazaar with the Nova 3i. The smartphone comes with four cameras altogether: two at the back and two in front.

The cameras on the back consist of a 16MP primary shooter with a 2MP depth sensor. On the front are a 24MP main camera backed by another 2MP depth sensor. Both camera pairs are capable of capturing portrait images. Huawei also claims that both front and rear cameras are AI-powered. With this feature, users can get natural beautification on the face, auto scene detection and various enhancements.

Display-wise, the Nova 3i comes with a tall 6.3-inch display in a 19.5:9 aspect ratio with Full-HD resolution. So, the contents of the display look sharp and vibrant. However, it comes with a notch at the top, which can be obtrusive at times.

On the performance side of things, the phone has got a Kirin 710 chipset paired with 4GB of RAM. As far as storage is concerned, the phone is quite rich with 128GB of onboard memory. And there is a micro SD card slot as well to expand the storage further. The phone is powered by 3340mAh battery, which is nothing extravagant but still provides decent backup.

Xiaomi MI A2

The Xiaomi MI A2 comes with a stock version of Android out of the box and will regularly receive software updates and security patches from Google for two years. This is one of the most enticing features of the phone, since custom skins often come with tons of bloatware that consume RAM and storage and also bottleneck performance.

Along with the sweetness of the stock Android, the smartphone also comes with capable hardware on the optics front. It comes with a 12MP primary camera, which is accompanied by a 20MP secondary shooter to enhance the image quality, especially on low-light settings. The rear camera does 4-in-1 pixel binning in low-light scenarios due to which the images contain decent sharpness with minimal noise and grains.

On the front, a 20MP selfie shooter resides on the forehead. The selfie snapper is not just great in terms of megapixel count but also in terms of image quality. The selfies from this device gather a substantial amount of details into the images with accurate colouring.

Even on the performance side, the handset is quite a performer. It comes with a Snapdragon 660 chipset with 4GB RAM and 64GB of non-expandable storage. With this combination, it can run everything thrown at it quite well. Even triple-A games like PUBG and Asphalt 9 run smoothly on this device.

However, the battery is the biggest downside of the phone. The battery on the MI A2 has a 3000 mAh capacity, which struggles to provide backup for even a day on normal use. Also, the phone lacks a 3.5mm headphone jack. So, the user has to use either a USB Type-C headphone or a 3.5mm to Type-C dongle to connect their wired headphones to the phone. Similarly, the six-inch Full-HD display on the device looks good on paper but is not as bright when compared to its competitors.

Realme 2 Pro

Realme smartphones have only recently landed in the Nepali market, and the Realme 2 Pro has already started creating buzz.

Realme, being the sub-brand of Oppo, has also provided major focus to its cameras. The phone has embraced a dual camera setup at the back, which is a combination of 16MP and 2MP sensors. The images captured by the rear camera are absolutely impressive. The 16MP front shooter also does a good job in capturing selfies. Since the selfie shooter on this device is AI-powered, users can expect natural beautification in real-time and some AR stickers as a bonus.

On the performance side, the phone boasts a Snapdragon 660 chipset. Memory-wise, the phone is packed with 4GB of RAM and 64GB of onboard storage. With this hardware configuration, the phone can handle even graphics-intensive games and apps without breaking a sweat. The phone also does well while multitasking and switching between a number of apps and games.

On the display, the phone flaunts a tall 6.3-inch display, which is enriched with Full-HD resolution. There is also a tiny waterdrop notch on the top, which is less obtrusive when viewing contents on the phone.

Talking about the battery, the phone is equipped with a 3500mAh non-removable battery, providing users with slightly more than a day of backup on normal use. However, charging the device requires a micro USB cable, which is quite antiquated these days.