Best smartphones in Malaysia for camera, gaming, battery and performance

Infinix or Tecno

Infinix gt30 pro. Just buy it. Trust.

I've been using OnePlus 13 for like half a year now. It checks all the boxes you mentioned, really.

https://www.oppo.com/my/product/coming-soon-oneplus-13.P.P1100019

poco f7, xiaomi 14,iqoo13, oneplus 13,vivo 200, honor magic 7

Pixel 9a, around 1.7k. With 10a coming, should be a bit cheaper. 10a is also good but will be 2.4k and there is not much different.

Just if you're willing to jump your budget a bit... Here are two recommendations.

Google Pixel 9a - RM2300 (RM1850 on sales by TMT)

Great camera, nice performance, clean design. Bang for your buck phone and borderline flagship level.

Sony Xperia 10 VII - RM1899 (Probably cheaper on sale)

Pretty good camera for photography but meh for video. But he biggest selling point is... 2 DAY BATTERY LIFE PER CHARGE!

I say these phones will last you longer for the long run.

If you prefer Honor,

Honor X9C (2024) best rugged curved screen phone. Still quite big battery and decent performance. Security updates is slower now proabably 1 or 2 more major updates left. New one can find around 1k+-, used market 600-800 can try find 512GB d :)

Honor X9D (2025) Probably this year hottest rugged phone series under 1.5k. Sometimes can find 1k for those who wants let go just make sure its not Telco set if you plan to get these on second hand market.

Another my personal best recommendation is probably CMF Nothing Phone 2. Likely the best overall experience for a phone under RM1k. Decent Chipset, Proper and actually nice camera, insanely good optimization, the first time you use it will be like wow. Try it at a shop that has demo if possible. The design is not everyone taste but it does comes with 3 major updates and it gets pretty frequent updates compared to other phone in the market at this range.

Last choice would be Samsung A26 5G. Only 1 single reason. Samsung promised 6 years of security updates and 6 major OS upgrade. The one and only phone that has this long support in this price range. Decent screen, camera with OIS. Okay-ish chipset for normal day to day. Samsung ecosystem.

It depends on what feature you want best. For the past 6-7 years, my wife and I had been solely on Realme (XT, 8 Pro, 10 Pro Plus, 11 Pro Plus). Their cameras are really good (10 Pro Plus got a shoutout in MKBHD's blind camera test for value-for-money not too long ago). But their screens durability suck (our fault for not getting screen protectors I guess). Both my wife's 10PP and my 11PP screens cracked badly, and we decided to switch this year. My wife went for an Honor X9C, and I went for a Nothing Phone 3a. X9C's supposed strength is durability, and while she has that now, the photos are less than that of her old Realme's. My Nothing's worse; screen's durability not that great (already got scratches now), and the camera aren't great either (probably worse than X9C).

Since I value photos, I wished I had gotten a Realme (+ a good screen protector/case) instead lol.

Trust the comments and choose iPhone 15 Pro then take the photo of your idol with the 1/3.5" sensor lol
In all seriousness, Vivo X200 Pro CN version would be great. I recently upgraded from Vivo X100 Pro to Oppo Find X9 Pro and X100 Pro still crushes Find X9 Pro in 100x zoom.

Go with vivo x200 pro...

I'm using it now as main device

Got it at Fastech Lim CN set of course

Very worth it for money your pay

You can check the s25 or s25 fe.

i bought my s23+ 256gb for about 1.8k earlier last year. perhaps you can find a 24+ 256gb for about there or even s25 256gb. i prefer samsung but others are fine but they just have the best value imo secondhand. lookout for these and only pick 256gb/512gb models 128 doesn't cut it.

s24, s24+, s24 ultra, s25, s25 edge, s25+.

Redmi note 15

you may look for redmi note 15 lauching 7 days later

just buy some old flagship. i recently got an s23+ for 1600 refurbished on shoppee looks like a s25+ I'm not even joking haha. and yea this is how i go about buying phones anyways when my old one inevitably breaks rip my s20.

Primary: Samsung Galaxy S23 (2 years)

Secondary: Samsung Galaxy Note 10 Lite (6½ years)

Try xiaomi 15T, it cost around rm1.9k, if you have more budget pick the pro version, ive been using it for four months and i like it.

Also i heard samsung a56 is also good, depend on you though what you prefer, in terms of the system i think samsung is good compared to xiaomi.

Xiaomi Note series is mid range, not recommended.. better to buy Xiaomi 15t series.. Honor X9D is not bad, big battery.. a better spec is Honor 400 Pro..

My mother's Xiaomi 14T camera is better than my S24FE.

My household currently using Xiaomi 12T, Xiaomi 14T, Poco X6 Pro and Poco X7 Pro...

Recommendation is to get Xiaomi branded phones with 120w charging power. Avoid Poco or Redmi due to software stability issues.

Poco F7 is a good spec phone with good price

Look at Poco f7 spec thats my next phone under rm2k but the specs feels like a great mid ranger

Anything Xiaomi should be a good bet, follow by Realme.

IMO Redmi note series are best bang-for-buck, and has been around in the market longer so their reliability is better. My Redmi note 8 pro still works after 5-6 years. But got lots of annoying ads

Currently my new Realme is less annoying in terms of ads, but when I compare with the latest Redmi note 14, the Redmi got better specs.

Staying on the Poco lineup might be good. I just upgraded from redmi 8 to Poco F6 last year and so far it's been amazing. I got the 500+GB storage option one and you can even get extra virtual ram so I have 24gb ram now.

if you can try using shopee,try poco f6 (during sale),definitely a "gamers" type phone

If you prefer Honor,

Honor X9C (2024) best rugged curved screen phone. Still quite big battery and decent performance. Security updates is slower now proabably 1 or 2 more major updates left. New one can find around 1k+-, used market 600-800 can try find 512GB d :)

Honor X9D (2025) Probably this year hottest rugged phone series under 1.5k. Sometimes can find 1k for those who wants let go just make sure its not Telco set if you plan to get these on second hand market.

Another my personal best recommendation is probably CMF Nothing Phone 2. Likely the best overall experience for a phone under RM1k. Decent Chipset, Proper and actually nice camera, insanely good optimization, the first time you use it will be like wow. Try it at a shop that has demo if possible. The design is not everyone taste but it does comes with 3 major updates and it gets pretty frequent updates compared to other phone in the market at this range.

Last choice would be Samsung A26 5G. Only 1 single reason. Samsung promised 6 years of security updates and 6 major OS upgrade. The one and only phone that has this long support in this price range. Decent screen, camera with OIS. Okay-ish chipset for normal day to day. Samsung ecosystem.

CMF nothing phone 2 seems good too,quite basic with almost no bloatware,5000mah battery with sony sensor camera if not mistaken

you can wait for pixel 10 if u prefer android with iphone level cameras, i've heard that nothing phone 3 would be a good option too

It depends on what feature you want best. For the past 6-7 years, my wife and I had been solely on Realme (XT, 8 Pro, 10 Pro Plus, 11 Pro Plus). Their cameras are really good (10 Pro Plus got a shoutout in MKBHD's blind camera test for value-for-money not too long ago). But their screens durability suck (our fault for not getting screen protectors I guess). Both my wife's 10PP and my 11PP screens cracked badly, and we decided to switch this year. My wife went for an Honor X9C, and I went for a Nothing Phone 3a. X9C's supposed strength is durability, and while she has that now, the photos are less than that of her old Realme's. My Nothing's worse; screen's durability not that great (already got scratches now), and the camera aren't great either (probably worse than X9C).

Since I value photos, I wished I had gotten a Realme (+ a good screen protector/case) instead lol.