Cheap new Android phone beats Samsung on battery, | Tech News

Smartphones can finish up costing an absolute fortune in case you store on the high finish of the market. Phones such because the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra and iPhone 16 Pro Max might be marketed as the final word pocket companions, however at £1,249 and £999 respectively, you would possibly understandably suppose that’s far an excessive amount of to ship on a phone.

Thankfully, many Android phone producers perceive this, which means the finances telephones on offer to UK consumers is best than ever. While you is likely to be tempted to stay to the bestselling Samsung Galaxy vary of gadgets, it’s properly value buying round – you’ll discover a stunning degree of specs stuffed into even the most affordable smartphones in 2025.

That’s the case with the new Redmi 15C, a £149 Android phone simply introduced by Xiaomi. Redmi is Xiaomi’s sub-brand, offering beefed up specs in gadgets that don’t break the bank. When in comparison with the Samsung phone nearest in price, the £169 Galaxy A16, you’ll discover a worthy competitor within the Redmi 15C that would tempt you to plump for the lesser-known model.

The Redmi boasts a 6.9-inch LCD screen with 120Hz refresh fee, which makes it bigger and smoother-scrolling than the Samsung’s 6.7-inch 90Hz panel. So in case you spend a lot of time on social media or watching videos, the Redmi would possibly serve you higher, plus video games, apps and textual content will scroll slicker because of the upper refresh fee.

However the A16’s screen is an OLED, which suggests colors will likely be a smidge higher, particularly black tones, and it might be more power environment friendly.

If battery is your fear although, then the Redmi outguns the Galaxy with a whopping 6,000mAh cell. That’s a lot bigger than the already-big 5,000mAh one you’ll discover within the A16, and is bigger than the 5,000mAh pack within the S25 Ultra – a phone that prices more than £1,000 more than the 15C. The Redmi phone additionally prices sooner than the A16 with 33W wired speeds in comparison with 25W.

Both telephones have dual-SIM slots so you possibly can have two numbers in order for you, plus each additionally offer microSD card help if you wish to enhance your inner storage. But the 15C already presents double the storage of the A16 with 256GB in comparison with 128GB, a massive win for Redmi when it prices £20 much less. That makes it even more galling that the new £999 Google Pixel 10 Pro solely has 128GB.

Budget telephones should not normally absolutely water and mud resistant, however the scores of the 2 telephones reveals Redmi wins again. Its IP64 ranking means it’s absolutely mud resistant and might survive water splashes, whereas the Galaxy’s IP54 ranking means splashes are wonderful nevertheless it isn’t fairly absolutely dustproof, which is one other factor to contemplate.

Samsung can declare a small win within the digital camera specs with a 50MP foremost lens flanked by a 5MP ultrawide and 2MP macro. We’ve not examined this phone, however typically talking the additional digital camera with low megapixel counts on finances telephones aren’t up to a lot, so are unlikely to be of great high quality.

The Redmi 15C has a 50MP foremost digital camera, matching Samsung, and leaves it at that. The phone appears prefer it has two lenses, nevertheless it’s simply the one.

A ultimate factor to notice is each of these telephones are solely 4G suitable, and don’t help 5G networks. But they’ll each nonetheless work simply wonderful on all UK networks.

Xiaomi says the Redmi 15C will likely be accessible quickly in 4 colors, Midnight Black, Mint Green, Moonlight Blue, and Twilight Orange, with 4 GB and 256 GB storage, priced at £149.