Verdict: The Huawei Y7a has plenty of things over its competitors, including a bigger, nicer-looking screen, better fingerprint scanner positioning, better low-light performance as well as faster charging time.
It’s also pretty competitively priced too, coming in at Php 8,999 VS the Php 9,990 for the comparable 4GB/128GB variant of the realme 6i, and while the Galaxy A21s is priced at Php 11,990.
Today we’ll be taking a look at three compelling budget smartphones under the Php 10K price bracket and see which one you should buy. Today’s comparison contenders are the Huawei Y7a, the realme 6i, and the Samsung A21s. All three phones are budget contenders in their own right, but today we’ll see which one rules the roost.
Design
All of the phones in this comparison are priced at under Php 10K, so it’s not surprising that they all use plastic backs. Each brand has its own approach to make their design stand out though – Samsung uses the tried and tested glossy approach, while Realme uses a textured finish.
Huawei’s Y7a is the most striking of the three, and its Crush Green and Blush Gold colorways reflecting and catching the light when they’re positioned just right.
The positioning of the fingerprint scanners for both the Realme 6i and the Galaxy A21s is the same, with the sensor located on the back, near the camera module. We like the Huawei Y7a’s side-mounted fingerprint scanner better since it’s easier to access when you’re unlocking the phone.
Display
Looking at the display sizes, all three phones have displays that are greater than 6 inches, though Huawei’s offering has the biggest size. The Galaxy A21s and the realme 6i have 6.5-inch panels, while the Huawei Y7a has a 6.67-inch display.
Huawei’s Y7a also wins out in display resolution too – both the realme 6i and the Galaxy A21s have HD+ resolution displays, while the Y7a has a much sharper full HD+ panel.
The Huawei Y7a has a punch-hole notch in the upper portion of the display, at the center, while the realme 6i has a water-drop notch. The Samsung Galaxy A21s meanwhile, has a punch-hole notch at the upper left side of the display.
Cameras
All three phones have quad-camera sensors: the Samsung Galaxy A21s has a 48-megapixel rear camera with an f/2.0 aperture lens, 8-megapixel wide camera with an f/2.2 aperture lens, a 2-megapixel macro, and a 2-megapixel depth camera.
The realme 6i has a similar setup: 48-megapixel main shooter with an f/1.8 aperture lens, 8-megapixel wide-angle camera with an f/2.25 lens, 2-megapixel f/2.4 macro camera, and a 2-megapixel f/2.4 portrait camera.
The Huawei Y7a also has virtually the same setup as its two other rivals: 48-megapixel f/1.8 main camera and accompanied by an 8-megapixel ultra-wide-angle camera, 2-megapixel depth sensor, and 2-megapixel macro camera.
Despite all three phones having the same resolution for their 48-megapixel shooters, they all have drastically different outputs for their cameras.
The Huawei Y7a tend to have slightly warmer tones and more realistic-looking colors, while the Realme 6i boosts dynamic range and tones more. The Galaxy A21s meanwhile, performs mid-way between the Realme 6i and the Huawei Y7a.
As far as low-light performance is concerned, the Huawei Y7a is the winner here, delivering far more usable shots compared to either the Realme 6i or the Galaxy A21s.
Performance
Three phones, three completely different chipsets. The realme 6i uses a MediaTek Helio G80 processor and is available in two RAM and storage flavors. The Samsung Galaxy A21s meanwhile, uses an Exynos 850 chipset and is only available in 6GB/64GB. Huawei’s Y7a meanwhile, uses a Kirin 710a processor and has 4GB of RAM and 128GB of storage.
Like every other phone that Huawei has released, the Y7a comes with the company’s AppGallery app store where people can find their favorite apps. If they can’t find it there, they can always use the Petal Search Widget, which gives users access to thousands of apps they can install on their phones.
Battery
All three phones feature fairly big batteries at 5000mAh, but big batteries are just part of the equation. Fast charging speeds are also extremely important as well, and of the three the Huawei Y7a is the fastest to charge overall, thanks to its 22.5w SuperCharge solution. The Realme 6i’s charging speeds top out at 18W, while the Samsung A21s only goes up to 15W.
