Home Features Top smartphones launched in India in September 2017

Top smartphones launched in India in September 2017

Published On: October 7, 2017

“September witnessed the launch of first four camera phone in India, Apple iPhone 8 Duo and a Mosquito away phone, among others”

The month of September has been pretty hectic with a number of brands coming out with their premium launches ahead of the festive season in the country. From Apple to Samsung, all top-league brands came out with their flagships for the Indian market. Moreover, it was not just the premium high-end phone makers, but also value-for-money brands like Xiaomi and new entrants like 10.or who had their launches lined up. Now we do understand that it’s that time of the year when most of us do our shopping and the growing list of smartphones only add to the confusion. Therefore, we have done the hard work for you and compiled a list of top launches in September.

Table of Contents

Sony Xperia XZ1

After having launched the flagship XZ1 and its compact variant at IFA 2017 in Berlin, Sony finally brought the Xperia XZ1 to the Indian market. Notably, the handset is also the first to ship with Android Oreo out of the box with Sony interface on top. The Xperia XZ1 comes flaunting the signature OmniBalance design of the brand with a plastic / metal build. The front panel of the device is home to a 5.2-inch Triluminous full HD display with support for HDR and a layer of Corning Gorilla Glass 5. The Snapdragon 835 SoC ticking at the core of this handset has been mated to 4GB RAM and 64GB expandable storage. In terms of cameras, the XZ1 gets a 19-megapixel rear camera with EIS and a 13-megapixel selfie camera. The USP of the device happens to be the capability to record super slow motion videos at 960fps and 3D creator app which allows you to create 3D scans of faces and objects. The IP65/68-certified handset features a 2,700mAh battery, which comes with proprietary features such as Smart Stamina 3.0, Qnovo Adaptive Charging as well as Qualcomm Quick Charge 3.0.

Samsung Galaxy Note8

After a forgettable 2016, the South Korean Giant, Samsung was in search of a solid footing in the smartphone market. While the Galaxy S8 and S8+ have been adored by all, the Galaxy Note8 was being looked upon with scepticism, given the unfortunate incident with the Note 7. However, as Julius Caesar once said, “Veni, Vidi, Vici.” The Galaxy Note8 arrived and how. It is being touted as the best smartphone of the year 2017 as it ties the top spot in DxOMark list with iPhone 8 Plus, offers a fully-loaded spec sheet and flaunts a beautiful design, same as the Galaxy S8 Duo (review). The Galaxy Note8 has successfully managed to erase the blunder that was Note 7 from our memory. To recall, the Galaxy Note8 comes with the first ever dual camera module for Samsung boasting a pair of 12MP lenses, 8MP selfie shooter with autofocus, IP68 certification, 6.3-inch super AMOLED display, Samsung Exynos 8895 processor, 6GB RAM and Android Nougat.

Related read: Samsung Galaxy Note8 review

Apple iPhone 8 / Apple iPhone 8 Plus

September is that time of the year when Apple puts millions of fans at ease by revealing its flagship smartphones. This year being the 10th anniversary of the brand, Apple launched a special device in the form of the iPhone X. While the X was the showstopper for the brand, it is yet to go on sale. The iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus on the other hand, have been launched and already gone on sale in India. This year, the Cupertino giant is bringing back the glass sandwich design, which helped it in incorporating wireless charging. Both handsets feature Apple’s A11 Bionic processor, 2GB RAM, 7MP front camera and iOS 11. Coming to differences, iPhone 8 has 4.7-inch display compared to 5.5 inches on 8 Plus and a single 12MP rear camera, in contrast to a 12MP + 12MP setup on the 8 Plus. Also, the bigger chassis of iPhone 8 Plus accommodates a 2,675mAh battery while iPhone 8 has a 1,821mAh unit.

Xiaomi Mi A1

Back in 2014, Internet behemoth, Google came up with Android One program that was intended to bring stock android and pure Google experience to the entry-level segment. Back then, the Android One program didn’t quite take off for various reasons, most prominent being the underwhelming spec sheet of supported devices. However, Google is now trying to revive the Android One project and for that intent and purpose, it has brought Xiaomi onboard. The Mi A1 happens to be the outcome of this collaboration and is first-ever Xiaomi device to come with stock Android Nougat out of the box. The hardware and build quality of Xiaomi along with the stock Android make for a quite compelling smartphone, which has managed to impress one and all. For those not in the know, the budget smartphone comes with 5.5-inch full HD display, Snapdragon 625 SoC with 4GB RAM, 12MP + 12MP dual primary cameras, 5-megapixel selfie shooter and 3,080mAh battery.

Related read: Xiaomi Mi A1 review

Lenovo K8 Plus

Blazing on the trail set forth by Xiaomi, Lenovo has been extensively focussing on bringing premium features to the VFM segment. The Lenovo K8 Note was the perfect candidate for this as it comes loaded with great specs and for the price, is one of the best smartphones around. Buoyed by the success of the device, the Chinese brand has expanded the K8 series with K8 Plus, which happens to be the compact variant of K8 Note. The K8 Plus is equipped with a MediaTek Helio P25 octa-core processor clocked at 2.6GHz which works with either 3GB or 4GB of RAM, depending on the variant. The smartphone also comes with stock Android Nougat and will also receive a promised upgrade to Android Oreo. On the front panel is a 5.2-inch display with full HD resolution and 8MP selfie shooter, whereas, the rear panel boasts 13MP + 5MP dual cameras and fingerprint scanner.

Related read: Lenovo K8 Plus review

ASUS Zenfone 4 Selfie / ASUS Zenfone 4 Selfie Pro

After launching the ZenFone 4 series comprising of six handsets at an event in Taiwan earlier, ASUS brought the ZenFone 4 Selfie and ZenFone 4 Selfie Pro to India last month. These are mid-range offerings, which as the names would suggest, are selfie-centric devices. Both smartphones are equipped with several identical specs including a dual camera on the front, octa-core Snapdragon processors, Android Nougat, LED flash units on both the front and rear, and fingerprint sensors embedded into their home buttons on the front. Speaking of ZenFone 4 Selfie first, it features 20MP + 8MP selfie shooters, 5.5-inch HD IPS display, Snapdragon 430 with 4GB RAM and 3,000mAh battery. Moving on the Pro variant, the handset sports a 12MP +5MP front shooter, 16MP primary shooter, 5.5-inch full HD AMOLED display, Snapdragon 625 processor and 3,000mAh battery. Along with the duo, the brand also released a budget variant of ZenFone 4 Selfie as well, which comes with a single 13MP snapper on the front and 3GB RAM with rest of the spec sheet remaining the same.

Vivo V7+

The Chinese handset maker, Vivo recently launched V7+, which happens to be first from the brand to come with a nearly bezel-less display with an 18:9 aspect ratio in India. Moreover, it’s also the first handset ever to be powered by Qualcomm’s mid-range SoC, the Snapdragon 450. On the fascia of this handset is a 5.99-inch FullView display featuring a resolution of 1,440 x 720 pixels. The USP of the device is the 24-megapixel camera on the front with Moonlight selfie flash. Other salient features of the handset include a 16MP rear camera with PDAF, 4GB RAM, fingerprint scanner, Android Nougat with FunTouch OS and 3,225mAh battery. The device has already gone on sale in India on Amazon and Flipkart.

Related read: Vivo V7+ unboxing and first impressions

Worthy Mentions

While the above-mentioned smartphones are the top launches in the month of September, there were few more launches that deserve a mention on this list owing to their unique proposition. The first among those is the LG K7i, which comes with a unique Mosquito Away feature. Launched under Rs 8,000, the phone comes with a unique hardware placed on the rear panel, which produces ultrasonic sound waves, that drives away mosquitoes.

The fairly new entrant in the Indian handset market, 10.or (pronounced as tenor), launched its second handset in the Indian market. Dubbed as 10.or G, the new smartphone flaunts a loaded-to-the-brim spec sheet for a starting price of Rs 10.999, with a 5.5-inch FHD display, Snapdragon 626 Booting, dual 13-megapixel rear shooters, a 16MP selfie camera and a 4,000mAh battery.

The American handset maker, InFocus became the first brand in India to offer a smartphone with dual cameras at the front as well as the back. The InFocus Snap 4 sports 13MP + 8MP sensors at the back and on the front is an 8MP + 8MP selfie shooter. Other specs of the device include 5.2-inch HD display, MediaTek MT6750 processor, 4GB RAM, 64GB storage and a 3,000mAh battery.

This concludes our list of top smartphones that were launched in the month of September. Are you picking one of these up this Diwali or have already bought one? Let us know about your choice in the comment box below.