Smartphones have greatly advanced in terms of features and design. The following are the ten best phones in Kenya that give the best value regardless of their price tag. Some are or have been flagship phones while the rest are in mid range category. Most of them excelled in 2021 and has carried their glory into the year 2022.
Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra
Samsung galaxy S22 is one of the latest and best phones in Kenya in 2022. It has a huge best in the class display. The display is 6.8 inches 1440P AMOLED. It has an awesomely fast refresh rate of 120 Hz and a touch sample rate of 240Hz. It has a new record maximum brightness of 1750 nits which means that the readability in bright daylight is excellent. The great ultrasonic fingerprint reader is located at the lower middle part of the screen. It has a hole punch camera at the top middle part of the screen.
Samsung has adopted LTPO technology in this phone which enables reduction in the display refresh rate to as low as 1HZ when there is no motion on the screen. This feature ensures better battery performance.
Samsung Galaxy S22 has one of the best speakers. The sound is excellent, loud and crystal clear
The former version of Samsung Galaxy S22 had 12 GB of RAM. Samsung reduced the RAM in the base model to 8 GB although Samsung’s latest software version, the One UI has a new virtual RAM feature that takes some of the internal storage and adapts it into RAM when needed. There are plenty of internal storage capacities to choose from including 128GB or 256GB or 512GB or 1TB
The phone is powered by the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 or Samsung Exynos 2200 with AMD RDNA 2 architecture. The phone loads faster, games with high fidelity and performs multiple tasks simultaneously more seamlessly. This phone’s interface is One UI 4.1 based on Android 12 OS. Samsung assures 4 OS upgrades and 5 years of security patches.
This smartphone has a massive 5000mAh battery that lasts long giving a better experience. Fast charging capability has been improved from 25W to 45W peak of charging. The optional 45W fast charger is bought separately.
The phone comes with an integrated S pen stylus which was exclusively found on Samsung Galaxy Note series. The S pen is convenient especially when drawing, sketching, writing or signing documents. Searching what is written can also be done and it is enabled by the Samsung handwriting recognition feature found in the notes app
Samsung Galaxy S22 has one of the best styluses you can get on a phone. It has impressive features such as:
Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra camera features:
This smartphone has a fast and polished camera system. There are 4 rear cameras and one front selfie camera. The features are outlined below:
PRICE : KES 148,999
Google pixel 6
Google Pixel 6 is the best phone in Kenya in 2021 and 2022 in terms of software capability. It equally excels in hardware.
The front of Google pixel 6 has a flat 6.4 inches AMOLED 1080p display with a hole punch selfie camera. The screen is protected by gorilla glass victus protection. It has a refresh rate of 90 Hz. The display is smooth, sharp and the pictures have a good contrast. The screen’s auto mode brightness measures up to about 860 nits in bright light. Under the display biometric fingerprint scanner is fast and reliable.
Google pixel 6 stands out with its unique camera bump extending as a bar across the width of the rear panel. The panel is made of gorilla glass 6 and has a well rounded aluminum frame instead of plastic found in the previous models. It is water and dust resistant with an IP68 rating.
A pair of stereo speakers found in this phone provide premium sound quality. It lacks the audio jack slot for the traditional headphones.
This phone is very fast and responsive. It has a custom tensor chip built by google. This chip is optimized for machine learning computations.
Google pixel 6 has an unrivalled speech to text capability which provides a very nice experience. It is always grammatically correct and accurately adds punctuations to text. With this feature, it would really assist in doing transcriptions or taking notes in a class. It makes real time translation of actual conversations a reality. In addition it accurately captions phone calls, videos, photos and movies.
The phone runs on android 12. It is able to understand language, context, accent and syntax while it is offline. It is also able to distinguish the background noise and tune it down. It can learn new words including spelling the moment you make a correction and accurately types the word the next time you utter the word.
This phone has the ability to do Call screening with the help of Google Assistant. It can also detect and keep a log list of the music playing in the background of your environment to remind you later.
The magic eraser tool found in the photo app, is able to do content aware removal of unneeded objects in a photo by letting the phone choose automatically or by drawing an outline around the object.
The 4614mAh battery found in this phone can last a full day of average use. It has support for both wireless and cable battery charging. Fast charging can be done by cable up to 30 watts and by wireless up to 21 watts. Wireless charging requires Pixel Stand 2.
Google pixel 6, has a base RAM of 8GB and a choice of either 128GB or 256 GB internal storage that is not extendable.
Google pixel 6 camera features:
Google pixel 6 boasts of a new dual camera system; a 50MP main camera and a 12 MP ultra wide camera with 1140 field of view. These cameras give sharp photos and a nice colour balance. They have a wide dynamic range. They also take impressive night mode photos.
These cameras lack a zoom lens but their digital zoom does an excellent job.
The front selfie camera is 8MP and has 840 field of view with fixed focus.
The main camera can take 4k videos up to 60 fps. The output video footage is sharp, detailed, and usually has a good exposure, lively colours and wide dynamic range. The ultra wide camera also gives a sharp and detailed 4K footage.
The cameras produce an extra stable 4K video footage thanks to its electronic video stabilization.
Extra camera features;
Google pixel 6 combines great hardware and software to give you value. The price is fairly competitive when compared to the Pro Model, Google Pixel 6 Pro
PRICE : KES 113,000
Apple IPhone 13 Pro Max
This phone stands out and is among the best phones in Kenya in 2021 through 2022. It has a massive 6.7 inches 1284 X 2778 retina OLED display with pixel density of 458 PPI and a refresh rate of 120 Hz. It has a super responsive auto brightness which can go to 1000nits or or even 1200 nits in HDR.
It has a variable and adaptive refresh rate. Refresh rate can drop to as low as 10Hz and then ramp up to 120Hz almost immediately depending on the screen activity. It can cycle through 12 different refresh rates. This improves on battery performance while at the same time giving a fast display experience.
The body of the iPhone 13 Pro max is made of Stainless steel frame and glass in the front and back. It is waterproof and can survive 30 minutes in water at a depth of 6 meters.
The iPhone 13 Pro Max has a bottom speaker and earpiece as a second channel. The audio quality is impressive and its speakers are one of the best found in a phone.
It has a 4352mAh battery that can last a whole day of normal use in addition to its 27 watts fast charging capability.
This phone is powered by the Apple A15 Bionic chipset. It comes with 6GB of RAM, 128GB or 256 GB or 512Gb or 1TB internal storage.
iPhone 13 Pro Max Camera features;
It has three cameras on the back:
The smartphone can records excellent 4K videos at 60 fps
Extra camera features;
PRICE : KES 151,100
Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra
Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra front display is quad curved A+ 6.8 inch AMOLED 1440P QuadHD+, 120Hz gorilla glass victus and HDR10+ panels. It has a maximum brightness of 1700 nits and a sample rate of 480 Hz . It has a 10 bit colour display that can show 1.07 billion colours. The usual 8 bit colour display found in other phones shows only 16 million colours. It also supports HDR10+ and Dolby vision.
The back of Xiaomi Mi 11 ultra is made of a glossy ceramic. The frame of the phone is made of aluminum. It has a huge island on the back housing 3 cameras and the secondary 1.1 inch AMOLED display. This display can be used with the rear cameras to take selfie photos. It has no support for selfie videos yet. This screen is also used to display time, battery charge level and notifications. This phone comes in cosmic white or cosmic black colours.
The phone bezels are slim and the display is slightly curving. The display is protected by gorilla glass victus. The phone is water and dust proof and has IP68 rating.
Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra has comfortable, well placed, quick and reliable optical under the display fingerprint reader for biometrics.
The battery capacity is 5000mAh and can last a full day of average use. It supports 67 watts fast charging both wired and wireless charging.
The audio quality of this phone is excellent and loud enough
It supports NFC which can be used to make wireless payments or easily connect headphones to the phone. Moreover, it has an infrared sensor at the top of the phone that can be used with the Mi Remote App.
The phones chipset is the powerful Snapdragon 888 5G. It comes with 8GB or 12GB RAM and 256GB internal storage. The software interface is Mi UI based on android 11.
Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra Camera features;
Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra has the 3 cameras at the back and one front camera;
The three rear cameras can take high quality 8K videos at 24fps and 4K videos at 60fps and supports stabilization for all the frame rates and resolution.
PRICE : KES 143,999
Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra
Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra is was one of the best phones in Kenya in 2021. It is still among the top in 2022 even after the release of its successor. It has a 6.8 inches dynamic AMOLED 1440P Quad HD+ 120Hz flat display with a brightness of up to 1500 nits. Its refresh rate varies from 10Hz to 120Hz depending on screen activity to conserve the battery charge. The gorilla glass victus protection on the front and back of the phone is resistant to scratches. It has a new generation 1.77 times larger under the display fingerprint reader.
This phone has a phantom black or phantom silver colour. The back has a matte finish while the top, bottom and sides are glossy.
This phone is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 or Exynos 2100 chipset in some regions. It has 12GB or 16GB RAM and fast UFS 3.1 storage. It runs on Samsung One UI 3 based on android 11.
Samsung has also included the S pen functionality in this phone, a feature that was exclusive to the Samsung Galaxy Notes
The battery is huge, 5000mAh in size and supports 25W of optimized charging.
Samsung Galaxy S21 camera features;
Samsung Galaxy S21 has four cameras at the back (Quad camera setup) and one selfie camera . Features include;
PRICE : KES 134,999
Samsung Z Flip 3
Samsung Z Flip 3 is a normal size smartphone phone that can be folded into two to reduce its form factor. It has a tall 6.7 inches foldable 1080 X 2640P 426 PPI dynamic AMOLED display and a fast 120Hz refresh rate. The refresh rate is adaptive based on what is happening on the screen to save energy. The phone has a good display that produces accurate colours. It also supports HDR10+. The display brightness can go up to 930 nits in auto mode. The selfie camera is in a punch hole cut out.
This smartphone has a secondary 1.9 inches 260 X 512P customizable cover display. The cover display can be used to view time, show notifications, add widgets such as weather widget to it and record voice. It can also be used as a viewfinder to take selfies with the main rear cameras.
It has loud stereo speakers, one at the bottom that produces high quality sound.
It has a quick, reliable and reliable fingerprint scanner located at the side of the phone.
The smartphone comes in a variety of colours namely phantom black, cream, lavender, green, pink, grey and white
The inner glass is covered with plastic and a scratch resistant film while the back of the phone has a sturdy gorilla glass victus protection. The frame and hinge are reinforced by strong and light weight armor aluminum. The phone is IPX8 certified which means that it is water resistant and you can wet it for 30 minutes although submerging it is not recommended.
In flex mode you can have a split view feature when using certain apps like YouTube where you can view the video with the top part of the display and interact with the bottom part. You can also eliminate shaking when taking photos or videos in this mode by placing the phone on the table or any stable platform. This also enables you to view the photo or footage at the top screen while having access to the media controls at the bottom screen. Other apps can be forced to use this feature when possible in the settings.
Samsung Z flip 3 runs on the Snapdragon 888 5G chipset. It comes with 8GB RAM and 128GB or 256 GB internal storage and the interface is Samsung One UI based on android 11.
The phone is powered by a 3300mAh battery which supports both wired and wireless charging.
Samsung Z Flip 3 camera features:
This phone has Dual 12 MP rear cameras and 10MP front camera.
The cameras take high quality detailed photos with natural colours, nice contrast, exposure and dynamic range. There is support for night mode which produces nice photos in low light.
The main camera can shoot high quality 4K videos at 60fps. These videos are detailed and have a wide dynamic range. The Ultra Wide camera can record decent quality 4K videos at 30fps. Electronic image stabilization works for both primary and Ultra Wide cameras.
PRICE : KES 104,999
OnePlus Nord 2
The OnePlus Nord 2 smartphone has a flat 6.43 inches Fluid AMOLED 1080P HDR10+ display and 90Hz refresh rate. The display is protected by gorilla glass 5. On the top, there is a single punch hole selfie camera. Its auto mode brightness can reach 630 nits in bright light. The display is colour accurate and its contrast is nice.
OnePlus Nord 2 has a pair of stereo speakers, one at the bottom and the other one is the earpiece. It has a good sound quality on average. It does not have provision for the traditional headphone jack.
The back panel is made of gorilla glass 5 and its glossy frame is made of plastic. This phone has no water resistant rating but it is splash proof which means that it is protected from drops of water or rain.
It has a reliable, fast, responsive and accurate under the display biometrics fingerprint reader.
The OnePlus Nord 2 runs on MediaTek Dimensity 12005G, which is comparable to the Snapdragon 780 and 870 chipset in terms of performance. It has 128GB or 256GB inbuilt non expandable storage. The software interface is Oxygen OS 11.3 based on android 11
This smartphone is powered by a 4500mAh battery. The battery has a long lifetime. The charging speed is very fast, due to the adoption of the OnePlus warp charging technology which combines a fast 65 watt charging and a battery split into two cells that charge concurrently. The charging is ultra fast and it is able to charge the battery to almost 100% in 30 minutes.
OnePlus Nord 2 Camera features:
It has three rear cameras and one selfie camera:
Electronic image stabilization is always turned on regardless of the resolution or the camera.
PRICE : KES 57,000
Poco F3
Poco F3 is made of gorilla glass 5 and an aluminium frame. It has 6.67 inches AMOLED 1080P HDR10+ certified display with 120Hz refresh rate. The refresh rate is adaptive and can go to as low as 30Hz to save battery charge. In addition, it has a very fast sampling rate of 360Hz giving an exceptional screen responsiveness. The pixel density of 395 PPI makes the content appear very sharp. It has a tiny less distracting punch hole camera located at the top of the display. The screen brightness is also plenty and can reach 700 nits in auto brightness mode on a bright day.
Poco F3 has a well balanced pair of stereo speakers, one that fires at the bottom and the second one acts as the ear piece. The speakers produce sufficiently loud and high quality sound. Instead of a 3.5mm Jack slot to plug in the traditional headphones, this phone comes with a dongle provided for this task.
This phone has a reliable, fast and accurate fingerprint reader that also acts as a power and wake button.
The phone is powered by the Snapdragon 870 5G chipset. It comes equipped with 6GB or 8GB RAM. The software interface is Poco’s version of Xiaomi MIUI 12 based on android 11.
Poco F3 battery 4520mAh battery has an impressive life. Its 33 watts charger has a recognizable fast charging speeds.
Poco F3 Camera features;
Poco F3 has 3 back cameras and one selfie camera:
The Main and Ultra Wide Camera support electronic stabilization in all resolution and frame rates. This enables production of smooth hand held videos
PRICE : KES 42,499
Xiaomi-Redmi-11T
This smartphone has a 6.67 inches 1080P AMOLED display with gorilla glass victus protection. A fast refresh rate of 120Hz and a super fast touch sampling rate of 480Hz gives a very nice and responsive screen experience. It has support for 10 bit colours and HDR10+. Brightness in auto mode can go up to 800 nights in bright sun.
Xiaomi Redmi 11T body has a reflective and curved rear panel with a two step camera bump. It has a curved aluminum frame covered in matte finish just like the back panel. It has an IP53 rating.
Its stereo speakers give high quality loud and clear sound.
A fast and reliable fingerprint reader is located on the side of the phone and it also acts as the power button.
The battery is huge having 5000mAh capacity and it supports a very fast 67 watts charging.
The smartphone comes with the MediaTek Dimensity 1200 chipset, 8GB RAM and 128GB or 256 GB non extendable internal storage. Its interface is MIUI 12.5 based on android 11.
Xiaomi Redmi 11T Camera Features:
Xiaomi Redmi 11T has 3 back cameras and 1 front camera:
The cameras have an excellent electronic stabilization even at 4K resolution.
PRICE : KES 67,199
Realme GT Master Edition
The front of Realme GT Master Edition has a 6.43 inches 1080P resolution AMOLED display with a punch hole selfie camera. It has a fast refresh rate of 120Hz which gives a smooth screen scrolling and swiping experience. It automatically changes the refresh rate based on the screen content and activity in order to save stored battery energy. When there is no activity on the screen, the refresh rate goes down to 60Hz. The screen has 409 PPI that makes pictures appear quite sharp. In auto mode, brightness can go to as high as 640 nits in bright light conditions.
This phone has two variants in terms of design;
It has a fast and reliable optical under the display biometric fingerprint scanner located at the bottom of the screen.
A single speaker at the bottom has a good sound quality but the loudness score is average. They have also included a traditional jack slot to connect headphones.
It comes equipped with the powerful Snapdragon 778G 5G chipset, 8 GB RAM and 128GB or 256GB onboard storage that is not expandable. It has a smooth Realme UI 2.0 interface based on android 11.
The smartphone comes with the MediaTek Dimensity 1200 chipset, 8GB RAM and 128GB or 256 GB non extendable internal storage. Its interface is MIUI 12.5 based on android 11.
The smartphone comes with a MediaTek Dimensity 1200 chipset, 8GB RAM and 128GB or 256 GB non extendable internal storage. Its interface is MIUI 12.5 based on android 11.
Realme GT Master Edition camera features;
Realme GT Master Edition has triple camera at the back and a single selfie camera;
Electronic image stabilization smoothes out hand shakes when taking video footage while the ultra steady mode further smoothes out the walking movements but it only works at 1080P resolution.
PRICE : KES 37,599