5 cheaper Chinese alternatives to the iPhone 6S

Is all the iPhone 6S hype making you interested in upgrading your smartphone? If you’re like me, you see the appeal of the 6S, but would prefer something that takes a less sizeable bite out of your wallet.

Thankfully there are a bunch of Chinese smartphones that have hit the market this year that offer similar (if not superior) stats to the iPhone 6S at significantly lower price points. Of course, none of them run iOS, but if you like the flavor of Android, here are five of the best picks.

Letv Le Max

The Letv Le Max is the epitome of bigger and better, at least on paper. It sports more RAM, a bigger and higher-resolution screen, a more powerful primary camera, and a bigger battery. Plus it sports a sexy-looking edge-to-edge screen. In all honesty, the biggest issue with the Le Max might well be that with such a gigantic screen, you might have trouble fitting it in your pocket. Especially with all that money you saved still taking up space in your wallet.

• Processor: Snapdragon 810
• RAM: 4GB
• Main camera: 21 MP
• Screen res: 2560X1440
• Screen size: 6.3 inches
• Battery: 3600 mAh
• Price: US$472-$582 (32GB-128GB)

Xiaomi Note Pro

The Note Pro is a little older than some of the other options on this list, but it’s no slouch either. It sports a 5.7-inch 2K screen, a bigger battery than the iPhone 6S, and out-beefs the Apple machine in a number of other on-paper metrics. It also comes standard with Xiaomi’s MIUI Android ROM, which many would agree is one of the better options if you’re not going with stock Android.

• Processor: Snapdragon 810
• RAM: 4GB
• Main camera: 13 MP
• Screen res: 2560 x 1440
• Screen size: 5.7 inches
• Battery: 3090 mAh
• Price: US$472 (64GB)

ZTE Axon Pro

ZTE’s crowd-sourced smartphone won’t – as it was designed to – please everyone, but it’s another decent alternative if you want a high-performance phone for less green. The Axon Pro’s main differentiator is its dual camera, with two lenses on the back aimed at producing quicker photos by speeding up the autofocus process. That may not make a big difference for most users, but at US$450 it sports comparable specs to the other phones on this list, making it one of the cheaper choices for this level of performance.

Huawei Honor 7

Meizu PRO 5