MediaTek Helio X20 is a fordable mobile SoC found in many flagship phones. The Helio X20 was also the first CPU with Tri-cluster architecture and ten cores.
Good news is that the phones powered by this SoC are starting to get cheaper, so it might be a great time to grab one. Today we go over a list of what we think are the Top 7 best phones with MediaTek Helio X20!
Best Helio X20 Smartphones
#1 LeEco (Letv) Le 2 Pro X620
Let’s begin with one of the first smartphones to come out with the above-mentioned CPU is the LeEco (LeTV) Le 2 Pro X620. The phone features a 5.5 Full HD IPS display and comes with 3GB of RAM and either 32GB or 64GB of internal storage (non expandable).
The front camera has a resolution of 21MP and an aperture of f/2.0. The Le 2 Pro supports Dual SIM Standby but no Micro SD integration, as well as no 3.5mm audio jack, nonetheless you can use the CDLA transfer standard through USB Type-C for better audio reproduction. The phone is fueled by a 3100mAh battery and runs Android 6.0 Marshmallow out of the box.
#2 Vernee Apollo Lite
Next up is the Vernee Apollo Lite (review) which is proving to be a good success among Chinese smartphones lovers. Produces from the relatively new phone manufacturer Vernee, the Apollo Lite is a good compromise between performance, build quality and price.
The handset features a 5.5″ Sharp IGZO display with 2.5D Corning Gorilla Glass 3 and comes the obvious Helio X20, 4GB of RAM and 32GB of internal memory (expandable). It packs a Samsung 16MP shooter with f/2.0 aperture and LED flash, a 5MP front-facing camera and 3180mAh Li-Polymer battery with fast charging. The Vernee Apollo Lite supports 4G LTE, 802.11ac and runs Android Marshmallow.
#3 Homtom HT10
The Homtom HT10 is a kind of a mixed bag, it doesn’t feature a fingerprint scanner, but instead it uses iris recognition technology for unlocking the device; it would have been nice to have both! Other than that, the phone sports a 5.5″ Full HD IPS display, a Mediatek Helio X20 clocked at 2.3Ghz, 4GB of RAM and 32Gb of built-in memory (expandable).
The rear camera is a 21MP Sony IMX230 Exmor RS while on the front there’s an 8MP shooter. The phone supports 4G connectivity, Bluetooth 4.1, A-GPS, Beidou, GPS, comes with Android 6.0 OTB and it packs a 3300mAh capacity battery.
#4 Xiaomi Redmi Note 4
The Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 (review) is the heir to the immensely successful Redmi Note 3 & Note 3 Pro, with a slightly different design and updated CPU; this is probably why this phone didn’t thrive as much. The handset features an ordinary 5.5-inch Full HD IPS display coated in 2.5D curved glass. Within we find 3GB of RAM, 64GB of internal storage, expandable through Micro SD, a 4100mAh battery with fast charging.
Gizchina News of the week
The Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 supports 4G LTE networks, 802.11ac, Bluetooth 4.2 LE (Low Energy consumption).Camera wise, the phone equips a 13MP Samsung rear shooter with f/2.0 aperture and LED flash, on the front we find a 5MP camera with f/2.0 aperture and 85° angle lens.
#5 Meizu MX6
The Meizu MX6 is a bit of a Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 rival in terms of build quality, design and general brand recognition. On the hardware side they’re pretty similar as well, albeit the Meizu MX6 comes in more variants: 3GB RAM + 32GB ROM, 4GB RAM + 32GB ROM, and 4GB RAM +64GB ROM; none of them features a Micro SD slot, though.
The Meizu MX6 will shoot photos at a resolution of 12MP thanks to the equipped Sony IMX386 Exmor RS sensor camera, with an aperture of f/2.0 and LED flash, on the front we find a 8MP shooter. The phone works on 4G LTE and supports Bluetooth 4.1 LE, it’s powered by a 3060mAh battery and runs Android 6.0 Marshmallow.
#6 Doogee F7 Pro
Doogee’s F7 Pro is the most powerful smartphone the Chinese manufacturer has on the market. The phone features a big 5.7-inch Full HD IPS display, 4GB of RAM and 32GB of internal storage (expandable). The rear camera is a 21MP Sony IMX230, while the front-facing camera has a resolution of 8MP.
The Doogee F7 Pro supports 4G LTE networks, it has a type-C USB port to fast charge the big 4000mAh capacity battery and run Android Marshmallow. The fingerprint scanner is situated on the back, just below the rear camera.
#7 Xiaomi Redmi Pro
Even though the Xiaomi Redmi Pro (review coming up) is not having a huge success, we still have to mention this out of the ordinary (for the price range) handset from Xiaomi. The Redmi Pro does indeed feature a neat dual cameras setup, consisting in a Sony 13MP with a focal aperture of f/2.0 main camera and a complementary Samsung 5MP shooter for depth capture. These allow the user to increase or decrease the depth of field, or decide which part of the photo to put on focus.
Other than that, the Redmi Pro sports a 5.5-inch Full HD OLED display and the hardware inside is pretty straight forward: Mediatek Helio X20 (clocked at 2.1Ghz), 3GB of RAM and 32GB of internal storage. The phone supports 4G LTE, a fingerprint scanner is situated on the front and it runs MIUI 8 based on Android 6.0 Marshmallow.
Don’t forget to use coupon redmipro100 to get $100 off (till stocks last!).
Best Helio X20 Smartphones
This concludes our list the Top 7 smartphones with MediaTek Helio X20.
What are your thoughts? Are you going to get any of them or would you have added some more? Let us know in the comments below.
It would be nice to include a “price at time of writing” into this list, so we can do a quick comparison instead of opening 7 extra tabs. 😛
Everybody needs something to eat.
Pizza
I thought that UMi, Elephone and Ulefone, had “food” for everyone… It seems that’s not enough…
Haha
How lazy can you get!! Anyway, prices vary across retailers so there is a bit of work to do in you want to find the best price.
Just go to kimovil.com. it compares prices of many phones across many resellers.
Huh… that’s actually a very nifty site! Thanks! 😀
8th: 360 n4s… That thing is really good and has a big battery, don’t know why it’s selling so little in western markets
And they just released a version with the SD 625….can you imagine the battery life with that processor and a 5000mah battery?
Yeah, I saw… Really, moto z play with a 3500mah battery is already a beast, just imagine the soc+5000mah battery combo could do…
Yeah, if you don’t need a top end processing power, which I don’t, the SD 625 looks like a fantastic SoC. Curious on battery life of the nubia z11 mini s. It’s only 3000mah, but might be good enough with that SoC.
Hehe, I guess the battery life will be excellent on the Nubia Z11 Mini S. I mean that I hope it will be the case. I have seen a few 4K samples videos on Youtube and the quality seems outstanding. The camera is doing an amazing job. I am really excited to order the phone on Ali but for that I need to find a trusted seller. Other resellers still don’t have it. The Redmi 4 will be as well equipped with SD625, 3GB ram and 32GB storage for the premium version.
Hope Xiaomi will bring a 1080p screen resolution instead a 720p panel. I am guessing that the price will be around $180-200 after resellers. So I am hesitating, I dont know if I should wait for the Redmi 4 or get the Nubia Z11 Mini S at an affordable price. Nubia Z11 Mini S has an excellent design and build quality. It will have one of the last Sony camera 22.5MP and 13MP front camera. Moreover the 3000mah will be more than enough. I really like the Redmi Note 3 Pro Special Edition for the full LTE support for EU but the phone looks bulky and I think that I will have to use most of the time with 2 hands if I use a protective case.
Nubia Z11 Mini S is the winner for me, if I find it at a competitive price I think I will order it instantly. I don’t know when the Redmi 4 with black front will be available.
It is definitely looking like a great phone. I’m a xiaomi fan, but I don’t think the redmi 4 will be able to compete in the camera department. I think 1080p screen is likely though.
Thank you for your reply, I am a Xiaomi fan too. The major downside with Xiaomi is that they take so much time to release their devices with black front. Moreover, they only start to offer full LTE support for western countries when Huawei is already selling phones with full LET support. There is something I don’t like, they recently released a global version of the Mi Note 2 with worldwide 4G LTE support at an expensive price.
The black friday is pretty close so it might be a wise decision to wait for great offers. Some previous flagship phones will be sold at very attractive prices. That being said, it will be very challenging to pick one because resellers provide a small quantity.
How knows maybe I will get the Redmi Note 4 if I see it at 130€ or the Note 3 Pro SE if I see a very good offer. I just hope that more resellers will slowly get the Nubia Z11 Mini S so we can see some reviews. I am just curious about the software optimization, Nubia phones are well known for their camera quality but when it comes to the software it is a bit different.
I agree 100%. I am certain the camera will be very capable, but would like to see reviews before consider buying one. Still concerned about battery life, especially since the z11 mini with SD 616 had only average battery life. I agree about xiaomi too…would ild love to see them offer US LTE bands on more phones. I’m ok with hspa speeds, but as 3g coverage gets phased out it could become a concern. I use a meizu m2 note myself, but have purchased 4 xiaomi mi4, and a mi4c for family members, and am very impressed by them (especially for the $110 price of the mi4c). I like my m2 note, but none of the recent meizu offerings have impressed me in the slightest. I’m confused about their business plan. Most of the phones on my replacement list are from xiaomi (RN4, RN3 pro SE, redmi pro, and maybe the mi5/mi5c or redmi 4). Besides that, the only phones I’m considering are the cool1 dual and the z11 mini s. No rush to purchase at the moment. Definitely will be waiting for reviews and sales.
I feel you, Meizu has released many phones recently and I haven’t been impressed at all. I am not saying their phones are crap, it is just that they release many phones at the same time. That’s also the case for Xiaomi who released many variants in the Redmi line. Cool1 seems to be a great phone, it has the SD652 which is a very powerful CPU. On the camera side, it is another story. Maybe with regular updates the camera will be better and better.
I think that Xiaomi is producing really great devices with very good specs for the price asked. Even if on the camera side the results are not equal with flagship phones, you could still produce very good pictures and videos. My nephew has a Redmi 2 Pro equipped with SD410 and a 8MP camera. I am amazed by the quality of the pictures it produces, it has nothing to envy to a flagship phone.
The base model of the Xiaomi MI5 is sold around 230€ which is the price asked for the Nubia Z11 Mini S. The MI5 with 64GB storage and higher clocked CPU is now available around 260€. If I see the 64GB storage version around 220€ anytime soon I will definitely get it. I am not a power user, I am not a gamer at all. Like most user, I want a phone with great battery life with optimized interface and pretty decent camera.
Do you own one?
It would be nice to tell us about it’s camera and the rest……
Sorry if I gave that impression, but I don’t have the phone, I’m just interested (so I made many researches on the matter).
YES! Exactly.
In fact, it should be higher up on this list.
More like “it *should* be on this list” ?
The interesting thing for me is there are no phablets on the market sporting this chipset, very strange.
And also no <=5" models. Why are all the manufacturers releasing the same products? I do believe they would make more money releasing a 4.7" or 6" model because they would be alone int that category and won't have to compete with another 10 phones.
Most of the phones in those categories are running snapdragon.
Leeco links to a Le 2 16Gb and not a Leeco Le 2 Pro. Too bad about not having an SD card slot though.
It would be nice to include a “price at time of writing” into this list, so we can do a quick comparison instead of opening 7 extra tabs. 😛
Everybody needs something to eat.
Pizza
I thought that UMi, Elephone and Ulefone, had “food” for everyone… It seems that’s not enough…
How lazy can you get!! Anyway, prices vary across retailers so there is a bit of work to do in you want to find the best price.
Haha
Just go to kimovil.com. it compares prices of many phones across many resellers.
Huh… that’s actually a very nifty site! Thanks! 😀
8th: 360 n4s… That thing is really good and has a big battery, don’t know why it’s selling so little in western markets
And they just released a version with the SD 625….can you imagine the battery life with that processor and a 5000mah battery?
Do you own one?
It would be nice to tell us about it’s camera and the rest……
YES! Exactly.
In fact, it should be higher up on this list.
Yeah, I saw… Really, moto z play with a 3500mah battery is already a beast, just imagine the soc+5000mah battery combo could do…
Sorry if I gave that impression, but I don’t have the phone, I’m just interested (so I made many researches on the matter).
More like “it *should* be on this list” 😁
Yeah, if you don’t need a top end processing power, which I don’t, the SD 625 looks like a fantastic SoC. Curious on battery life of the nubia z11 mini s. It’s only 3000mah, but might be good enough with that SoC.
Hehe, I guess the battery life will be excellent on the Nubia Z11 Mini S. I mean that I hope it will be the case. I have seen a few 4K samples videos on Youtube and the quality seems outstanding. The camera is doing an amazing job. I am really excited to order the phone on Ali but for that I need to find a trusted seller. Other resellers still don’t have it. The Redmi 4 will be as well equipped with SD625, 3GB ram and 32GB storage for the premium version.
Hope Xiaomi will bring a 1080p screen resolution instead a 720p panel. I am guessing that the price will be around $180-200 after resellers. So I am hesitating, I dont know if I should wait for the Redmi 4 or get the Nubia Z11 Mini S at an affordable price. Nubia Z11 Mini S has an excellent design and build quality. It will have one of the last Sony camera 22.5MP and 13MP front camera. Moreover the 3000mah will be more than enough. I really like the Redmi Note 3 Pro Special Edition for the full LTE support for EU but the phone looks bulky and I think that I will have to use most of the time with 2 hands if I use a protective case.
Nubia Z11 Mini S is the winner for me, if I find it at a competitive price I think I will order it instantly. I don’t know when the Redmi 4 with black front will be available.
It (z11 mini s) is definitely looking like a great phone. I’m a xiaomi fan, but I don’t think the redmi 4 will be able to compete in the camera department. I think 1080p screen is likely though.
Thank you for your reply, I am a Xiaomi fan too. The major downside with Xiaomi is that they take so much time to release their devices with black front. Moreover, they only start to offer full LTE support for western countries when Huawei is already selling phones with full LET support. There is something I don’t like, they recently released a global version of the Mi Note 2 with worldwide 4G LTE support at an expensive price.
The black friday is pretty close so it might be a wise decision to wait for great offers. Some previous flagship phones will be sold at very attractive prices. That being said, it will be very challenging to pick one because resellers provide a small quantity.
How knows maybe I will get the Redmi Note 4 if I see it at 130€ or the Note 3 Pro SE if I see a very good offer. I just hope that more resellers will slowly get the Nubia Z11 Mini S so we can see some reviews. I am just curious about the software optimization, Nubia phones are well known for their camera quality but when it comes to the software it is a bit different.
I agree 100%. I am certain the camera will be very capable, but would like to see reviews before consider buying one. Still concerned about battery life, especially since the z11 mini with SD 616 had only average battery life. I agree about xiaomi too…would ild love to see them offer US LTE bands on more phones. I’m ok with hspa speeds, but as 3g coverage gets phased out it could become a concern. I use a meizu m2 note myself, but have purchased 4 xiaomi mi4, and a mi4c for family members, and am very impressed by them (especially for the $110 price of the mi4c). I like my m2 note, but none of the recent meizu offerings have impressed me in the slightest. I’m confused about their business plan. Most of the phones on my replacement list are from xiaomi (RN4, RN3 pro SE, redmi pro, and maybe the mi5/mi5c or redmi 4). Besides that, the only phones I’m considering are the cool1 dual and the z11 mini s. No rush to purchase at the moment. Definitely will be waiting for reviews and sales.
I feel you, Meizu has released many phones recently and I haven’t been impressed at all. I am not saying their phones are crap, it is just that they release many phones at the same time. That’s also the case for Xiaomi who released many variants in the Redmi line. Cool1 seems to be a great phone, it has the SD652 which is a very powerful CPU. On the camera side, it is another story. Maybe with regular updates the camera will be better and better.
I think that Xiaomi is producing really great devices with very good specs for the price asked. Even if on the camera side the results are not equal with flagship phones, you could still produce very good pictures and videos. My nephew has a Redmi 2 Pro equipped with SD410 and a 8MP camera. I am amazed by the quality of the pictures it produces, it has nothing to envy to a flagship phone.
The base model of the Xiaomi MI5 is sold around 230€ which is the price asked for the Nubia Z11 Mini S. The MI5 with 64GB storage and higher clocked CPU is now available around 260€. If I see the 64GB storage version around 220€ anytime soon I will definitely get it. I am not a power user, I am not a gamer at all. Like most user, I want a phone with great battery life with optimized interface and pretty decent camera.
The interesting thing for me is there are no phablets on the market sporting this chipset, very strange.
And also no <=5" models. Why are all the manufacturers releasing the same products? I do believe they would make more money releasing a 4.7" or 6" model because they would be alone int that category and won't have to compete with another 10 phones.
Most of the phones in those categories are running snapdragon.
Leeco links to a Le 2 16Gb and not a Leeco Le 2 Pro. Too bad about not having an SD card slot though.
did you created this post without prices on purpose to make everyone clicks on the links? maybe you get money from them?
Not really, those aren’t my affiliate links so I don’t get anything from them anyway!
Pierre don’t need that on this article, the whole site now has in the bottom right corner not one but 2 ads.
The HT10 has no link? xD
do you know that MX6’s picture does not correspond with Mx6?
So much for trusting Google images search! Thanks for the call, it’s been fixed. 🙂
did you created this post without prices on purpose to make everyone clicks on the links? maybe you get money from them?
Not really, those aren’t my affiliate links so I don’t get anything from them anyway!
Pierre don’t need that on this article, the whole site now has in the bottom right corner not one but 2 ads.
The HT10 has no link? xD
do you know that MX6’s picture does not correspond with Mx6?
So much for trusting Google images search! Thanks for the call, it’s been fixed. 🙂
Any chance of a top SD 650/652 next?
Never. This is an extremely MediaTek biased site.
The best one is the xiaomi redmi note 3 pro or the xiaomi max. All others fall below because of higher price points. That’s all you really need to know.
Leeco le2 pro has 4GB RAM
I got the Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 in the 16 GB RAM and 2 GB flash version ( because I don’t really need more ) and it came sealed from fastcardtech for $155.
I’d say it’s a really good phone, I was particularly impressed with the display on it and the big battery is good enough for one day whatever you do with it.
The software is the MIUI 8 and that could be a bit better optimized/polished maybe but it has some cool features.
The camera is decent but I don’t care too much about that.
I bought it for the conventional look and feel which I really like as it has backlit capacitive buttons, a fingerprint scanner in the back, and the 4000 mAh battery. The price was good too.
By the way I did some tests and in Geekbench the X20 was slightly better performing than a Snapdragon 820 ( in the Zuk Z2 ) in both single core and multi-core scores. In 3D performance though the X20 is really week ( about 3 times slower than the SD820 according to Antutu ).
In conclusion if you want good CPU performance at a very good price get a X20 powered phone. If you’re looking for some good 3D performance and some extra bling go for a SD820 powered one. I just wanted a good CPU as I don’t care about 3D stuff.
I need LTE 800MHz and an SD slot. This disqualifies all Xiaomi and LeTV phones. From the rest if anyone shows some signs of SW support (this means they will release an update to Android 7) I might get the phone. If not, I’m not interested.
Any chance of a top SD 650/652 next?
Never. This is an extremely MediaTek biased site.
The best one is the xiaomi redmi note 3 pro or the xiaomi max. All others fall below because of higher price points. That’s all you really need to know.
Leeco le2 pro has 4GB RAM
I got the Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 in the 16 GB RAM and 2 GB flash version ( because I don’t really need more ) and it came sealed from fastcardtech for $155.
I’d say it’s a really good phone, I was particularly impressed with the display on it and the big battery is good enough for one day whatever you do with it.
The software is the MIUI 8 and that could be a bit better optimized/polished maybe but it has some cool features.
The camera is decent but I don’t care too much about that.
I bought it for the conventional look and feel which I really like as it has backlit capacitive buttons, a fingerprint scanner in the back, and the 4000 mAh battery. The price was good too.
By the way I did some tests and in Geekbench the X20 was slightly better performing than a Snapdragon 820 ( in the Zuk Z2 ) in both single core and multi-core scores. In 3D performance though the X20 is really week ( about 3 times slower than the SD820 according to Antutu ).
In conclusion if you want good CPU performance at a very good price get a X20 powered phone. If you’re looking for some good 3D performance and some extra bling go for a SD820 powered one. I just wanted a good CPU as I don’t care about 3D stuff.
I need LTE 800MHz and an SD slot. This disqualifies all Xiaomi and LeTV phones. From the rest if anyone shows some signs of SW support (this means they will release an update to Android 7) I might get the phone. If not, I’m not interested.