When premium phones are out of financial reach and entry-level handsets just don’t make your cut, something in between is the next best thing. This is our updated list of the best midrange smartphones retailing from PhP 10,000 to PhP 20,000.

Formulating this category was tricky, since you can’t set an exact price and some of these devices are, in fact, the flagship phones of their respective brands. To simplify things, we chose a price range that simply sits between our other lists for best budget, upper-midrange, and premium smartphones.

Here they are in no particular order:

Samsung Galaxy A42 5G (PhP 19,990)

Starting this category with what will be the theme for most of this list — 5G-capable phones for less. That’s exactly what the Galaxy A42 5G is. It misses the upper midrange category by a hair but what you’re getting here is everything you’ve come to expect from the Samsung A-Series at this price point but with the benefit of the next gen mobile connectivity.

HANDS-ON: Samsung Galaxy A42 5G

OPPO Reno4Z 5G (PhP 20,990)

Cheating a little bit with the pricing here but it’s only outside the indicated price range here by a hair so can we let it pass? We sure can. The OPPO Reno 4Z 5G performs similarly to the OPPO Reno4 despite having plenty of differences in specs. The one thing that the Reno4Z edges the Reno4 on is  5G. It’s a solid midranger with 5G connectivity. 5G Phones might be the norm in less than a year but for now, it holds a bit of an edge in this price range.

HANDS-ON: OPPO Reno4Z 5G

Moto 5 5G (PhP 16,990)

Motorola is back in the Philippines and while the razr is their top-of-the-line offering, they kept in mind the midrange market by offering what might be the most affordable 5G-ready smartphone right now. That’s great value right there on top of its Snapdragon 750G SoC and a vanilla Android experience.

FIRST LOOK: Moto G 5G

POCO X3 NFC (PhP 12,990)

The POCO X3 NFC might represent the ultimate value-for-money phone. It’s what the brand had been known for and they are doubling down on that mantra. The combination of  a smooth 120Hz display, newer Snapdragon 732G chipset paired with Adreno 618 GPU, massive battery, and fast charging out of the box with that price is too hard to pass on.

HANDS-ON: POCO X3 NFC

Samsung Galaxy M31 (PhP 13,990)

This is a battery beast. Sometimes in this segment, you just need to have one standout thing going for you, and for the Galaxy M31, it is the 6,000mAh battery that works just as advertised. You’ll probably run out of juice first before this phone does.

HANDS-ON: Samsung Galaxy M31

Samsung Galaxy M51 (PhP 19,990)

Samsung appears to have a monopoly of battery beasts in this category with both the Galaxy M31 and now the Galaxy M51 making the list. Both will last you longer than you realize with the Galaxy M51 having better overall performance. Cameras are pretty much on the same level but you’re buying this for the massive 7,000mAh more than anything else.

REVIEW: Samsung Galaxy M51

realme 7 (PhP 14,990)

The Pro version is reserved for the Snapdragon chips while the non Pro is equipped with MediaTek. It’s like clockwork now for realme, and this value for money smartphones are what we should expect from them from here on out.

REVIEW: realme 7

Huawei Nova 7 SE (PhP 19,990)

Barely making the price point, Huawei phones are facing a unique problem with the lack of Google Mobile Services. That said, Huawei Mobile Services is making a headway. But the reason the phone lands on this list is because of its 5G capabilities. This is the first smartphone in this category to offer 5G — that has to count for something.

HANDS-ON: Huawei Nova 7 SE