Transsion has stepped up their offerings this year with the Infinix NOTE 50 Pro+ and the TECNO CAMON 40 Premier. Both are touted as the most premium offerings, boasting flagship-grade features with their internals and cameras. They may have an identical set of features, but the CAMON 40 Premier is more expensive. Does that mean TECNO’s premium offering is better than what Infinix has to offer?

Design

The CAMON 40 Premier has a plastic frame, which feels like a downgrade over its predecessor that uses an aluminum frame. To make up for it, TECNO added a IP68 rating to the CAMON 40 Premier to make it safe to use in the pool or to withstand accidental water splashes. The NOTE 50 Pro+ gets an aluminum frame and has a boxier design with its flat frame sides. You get an IP64 rating to make it safe against accidental water splashes.

Both phones have the same button and port layout that includes a USB-C port, an IR blaster, and a dual SIM slot.

Display and Speakers

While both phones have a 144hz flat AMOLED display, the NOTE 50 Pro+ has a slightly larger panel at 6.78 inches. The CAMON 40 Premier, on the other hand, has a higher resolution at 1260×2800, higher peak brightness at 1600nits, and uses Gorilla Glass 7i protection to make its display more durable against scratches.

Moving to the speakers, both have a stereo setup but the NOTE 50 Pro+ benefits from JBL’s tuning to make them sound better.

Cameras

The NOTE 50 Pro+ and CAMON 40 Premier use same 50-megapixel sensor for the 3.5x periscope camera but differ slightly with their main camera: IMX896 for the NOTE 50 Pro+, and LYT701 for the CAMON 40 Premier. The CAMON 40 Premier does go all in with two more 50-megapixel cameras: one for the selfie shooter and one for the ultrawide, both having autofocus. With the NOTE 50 Pro+, you have a basic 8-megapixel ultrawide and 32-megapixel selfie camera, both only having fixed focus.

The NOTE 50 Pro+ has less capable cameras in the ultrawide department, but its selfie camera can shoot 4K video just like the CAMON 40 Pro’s selfie shooter, the only difference being the autofocus you get with TECNO’s premium offering. Those differences aside, the main and periscope cameras of both phones can shoot 4K video at up to 60FPS, which is a rare feature to have on a midrange device.

Those who need a great ultrawide might prefer the CAMON 40 Premier, as its more capable ultrawide camera can also shoot 4K video at up to 60FPS.

Internals

Both phones have the same set of internals that consist of a Dimensity 8350 procvessor, 12GB LPDDR5X RAM, and 256GB UFS 4.0 storage. Both phones don’t have a MicroSD card slot, but 256GB should be enough for the average user. There’s no need for comparison in this part, as we expect the same level of performance–with the differences being due to software optimization.

Battery

The NOTE 50 Pro+ has a slightly bigger battery at 5200mAh and offers 100w wired and 50w wireless charging. The CAMON 40 Premier isn’t far behind with its 5100mAh battery and support for 70w wired charging. There’s no wired charging with the CAMON 40 Premier, but the fast wired charging should be enough for most users.

Software

While both phones have Android 15 out of the box, TECNO has a longer update commitment as it promises 3 Android updates to the CAMON 40 Premier compared to 2 Android update on the NOTE 50 Pro+. Outside of software support, we appreciate the tweaks both Infinix and TECNO made to their Android UI to be sleeker, more intuitive and have less bloatware preinstalled.

Price

The NOTE 50 Pro+ is priced at Php 17,999 while the CAMON 40 Premier is priced at Php 21,999. The NOTE 50 Pro+ may have an advantage with its aluminum frame, battery, and charging speeds, but the CAMON 40 Premier’s justifies its higher price tag with better ultrawide and selfie camera, a better display, and longer software updates.

You can’t go wrong with either phone, as they are among the most affordable offerings to give you a periscope camera and the fastest RAM and Storage currently available.