The smartphone space has been quite busy in October, popularly referred to as Techtober by the industry folks. The month saw the launch of the Google Pixel 8 series, Vivo V29 lineup, the Xiaomi 14 and Xiaomi 14 Pro and many other high-end and mid-range options. In this article, we take a look at the best smartphones that debuted worldwide in October. Let’s begin.
Xiaomi 14 series
Xiaomi 14 and Xiaomi 14 Pro
Xiaomi 14 and Xiaomi 14 Pro are the brand’s latest flagship offerings and these are powered by the latest Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 SoC. The base variant sports a 6.36-inch 1.5K C8 LTPO OLED display with 3000 nits max brightness, a 120Hz refresh rate, and Gorilla Glass Victus protection on top. The Pro version gets a larger 6.73-inch 2K LTPO C8 AMOLED display with a 120Hz refresh rate, and 3000 nits peak brightness.
Xiaomi 14 Pro comes with Leica cameras, comprising a 50MP primary sensor, a 50MP ultra wide-angle lens, and a 50MP telephoto lens. There is a 50MP front-facing camera for selfies. The base model has a 50MP primary camera, a 50MP ultra-wide sensor and a 50MP telephoto sensor. There is a 32MP front camera.
The Xiaomi 14 Pro packs a 4,880mAh battery with 120W fast charging support and 50W wireless charging support. The Pro features a 4,610mAh battery with 90W fast charging support and 50W wireless charging support.
- Launch date: October 26th
Prices: Xiaomi 14 price starts at CNY 3,999 (Rs 45,500 approx) for the 8GB/256GB, CNY 4,299 (Rs 48,900 approx) for 12GB/ 256GB model, CNY 4,599 (Rs 52,300 approx) 16GB/ 512GB, and CNY 4,999 (Rs 56,900 approx) for the 16GB/ 1TB. Xiaomi 14 Pro price starts at CNY 4,999 (Rs 56,900 approx) for the 12GB/ 256GB storage, CNY 5,499 (Rs 62,600 approx) for the 16GB/ 512GB model and CNY 5,999 (Rs 68,300 approx) for the 16GB/ 1TB variant.
OnePlus Open
OnePlus Open is the company’s first foldable phone offering and a strong and durable design, as per the brand. There is a new ‘Flexion’ hinge with a single-spine architecture, which reduces the number of components to just 69 parts. OnePlus Open also uses titanium alloy and carbon fibre for durability.
The foldable comes with the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 SoC, 67W SUPERVOOC Charging, and Android 13 OS out of the box. There is a 7.82-inch 2K AMOLED primary display with a 120Hz refresh rate. There is a 6.31-inch 2K AMOLED display with a 120Hz refresh rate and Ceramic Guard layered on top.
The foldable has a 48MP Sony LYT-T808 primary camera, a 64MP OmniVision OV64B telephoto camera with 3X optical zoom, and a 48MP Sony IMX581 ultra-wide angle lens. There is a 20MP primary front camera and a 32MP secondary front camera.
- Launch date: October 19th
- Price: OnePlus Open is priced at Rs 1,39,999 for the single 16GB + 512GB variant. The phone is available on Amazon, the OnePlus India website, Reliance Digital and leading retail stores.
OPPO Find N3 Flip
The OPPO Find N3 Flip has been launched in India officially. This is the successor to the Find N2 and brings a larger cover screen, which supports 40+ apps, including Swiggy, Zomato, BookMyShow and more. There is an alert slider, which can be used to put the phone to ring, vibrate, and silent.
The OPPO Find N3 Flip sports a 6.8-inch AMOLED main display with a 120Hz refresh rate, HDR10+ and a 240Hz touch sampling rate. There is a 3.26-inch AMOLED cover display. The foldable is powered by the MediaTek Dimensity 9200 processor coupled with the ARM Immortalis-G715 MC11 GPU.
There is a 50MP Sony IMX890 primary sensor, a 48MP Sony IMX581 ultra-wide angle lens, and a 32MP Sony IMX709 telephoto camera. For selfies, there’s a 32MP Sony IMX709 RGBW front camera. The OPPO Find N3 Flip packs a 4,300mAh battery with 44W SUPERVOOC fast charging support.
- Launch date: October 12th.
- Price: The OPPO Find N3 Flip is priced at Rs 94,999 for the single 12GB RAM and 256GB model.
Pixel 8/Pixel 8 Pro
The month of October also witnessed the launch of Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro flagships. These come as successors to the Pixel 7 and ship with the latest Tensor G3 chipset on board. The Pixel 8 Pro features a 6.7-inch OLED display with a 120Hz refresh rate, while the Pixel 8 comes with a smaller 6.2-inch FHD+ OLED display with a 120Hz refresh rate.
The Pixel 8 comes with a 50MP wide camera with EIS and OIS and a 12MP ultra-wide camera. There’s a 10.5MP selfie camera on the front. The Pro version gets a 50MP wide-angle lens, a 48MP ultra-wide-angle lens, and a 48MP telephoto lens. There is a 10.5MP front camera for selfies.
- Launch date: October 4th
- Price: Google Pixel 8 price in India is Rs 75,999, while the Pro version costs Rs 1,06,999.
Samsung Galaxy S23 FE
Samsung’s FE series made a comeback this year with the Samsung Galaxy S23 FE. The handset features a familiar design, with a punch-hole cutout at the centre, triple camera slots, and an in-display fingerprint sensor for security. As for the specifications, there is a 6.4-inch FHD+ Dynamic AMOLED display, Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 SoC or Samsung Exynos 2200 chipset based on region.
There is a 50MP primary camera sensor, a 12MP ultra-wide-angle sensor, and an 8MP telephoto camera. The phone comes with an IP68 rating, Dolby Atmos, and stereo speakers. You get a 4500mAh battery with 25W wired fast charging, wireless charging, and wireless power share support.
- Launch date: October 4th
- Price: Rs 59,999 for the 8GB/128GB version and Rs 64,999 for the 12GB/256GB model.
