One of the trends we’re excited for phones this year is midrange phones ditching filler cameras and swapping them for telephoto shooters. Once a feature that’s elusive to flagship phones, we’re happy to see midrange phones under Php 30k (and even under Php 20k) to have a very useful telephoto camera in 2025.
We round up all the 2025 midrange phones (those officially available in the Philippines) that have telephoto cameras at under Php 30,000, and here are your options:
Midrange Phones with Telephoto Cameras (2025)
- Infinix NOTE 50 Pro+ – Php 17,999
- Nothing Phone 3(a) – Php 19,990
- TECNO CAMON 40 Premier – Php 21,999
- Nothing Phone 3(a) Pro – Php 27,990
- realme 14 Pro+ – Php 27,999
- BONUS: CMF Phone 2 Pro – Php 16,490
Infinix NOTE 50 Pro+ – Php 17,999
Infinix pushed the limits on what features you can pack for under Php 20k with the NOTE 50 Pro+. It’s their first time in a while to add a telephoto camera to their phones, and the NOTE 50 Pro+ impresses with its 50-megapixel periscope shooter with 3x optical zoom and OIS. It may sound too good to be true–you even get UFS 4.0 storage and a powerful Dimensity 8350 chip, but the camera performance of the NOTE 50 Pro+ is decent for its asking price.
Nothing Phone 3(a) – Php 19,990
After sticking to two cameras for a while, Nothing finally added a telephoto camera to its 3(a) series. The standard 3(a) has a 50-megapixel 2x telephoto camera that’s useful for taking portraits and closeup shots. It may not be a periscope camera like the rest of the phones in this list, but we’d take a 2x telephoto over a filler camera any day. Â It’s nice that Nothing managed to include a telephoto camera in the Phone 3(a) for under Php 20k, but we recommend spending a bit more for the 256GB version.
TECNO CAMON 40 Premier – Php 21,999
The top-end variant of the CAMON 40 series continues tradition with four 50-megapixel cameras on board, with one of them being a 3x periscope shooter. It may be more expensive than Infinix’s NOTE 50 Pro+ despite using the same periscope camera and same set of internals, but you get better ultrawide and selfie cameras with the CAMON 40 Premier to make it more versatile for content creation–especially if you’re the type that wants to shoot 4K video across all four cameras.
Nothing Phone 3(a) Pro – Php 27,990
Nothing’s Phone (a) series is getting a Pro version this time, and the markup gets you a 50-megapixel selfie camera and a 50-megapixel 3x periscope camera that looks to be the same one used by the majority of phones in this list. Paired with Nothing’s clean UI and camera features like applying film-like color presets, the Phone 3(a) Pro is a more capable shooter that’s deserving of its asking price.
realme 14 Pro+ – Php 27,999
Being their third attempt in making periscope cameras accessible in the midrange segment, realme refined its formula on the 14 Pro+, focusing more on the camera software experience to maximize the capabilities of its 50-megapixel 3x periscope camera that we first saw on its predecessor. There may be more options in 2025, but the realme 14 Pro+ is still one of the top picks in mind if you’re after a midange phone with a telephoto shooter.
BONUS: CMF Phone 2 Pro – Php 16,490
Fresh from its global launch, we confirmed that the CMF Phone 2 Pro will start at Php 16,490 in the Philippines, making it the most affordable midrange phone to have a telephoto camera. Like the Phone 3(a), the CMF Phone 2 Pro uses a 50-megapixel 2x telephoto camera, giving you that extra reach through optical zoom. Like its predecessor, the CMF Phone 2 Pro has a modular back panel–and adds attachable lenses to the mix as well.
