Best Chinese Android smartphones (2015 edition)

Happy lunar new year to all our readers! With the 2015 of the sheep kicking off, we are taking the time to refresh our list of the best Chinese Android smartphone money can buy. Chinese-made Android smartphones and phablets have gone a long way in the very short span of just one year. Brands like China's Xiaomi broke into the world's top 3 smartphone makers, and the world is starting to hear more and more about Mi devices with their outstanding value for the money and good design. Lenovo is also moving in leaps and bounds, quickly expanding its presence in new territories, and others like Huawei have managed to even make it into the hard and competitive U.S. market.

With a population of 1.37 billion, China is now the world's largest phone market, having surpassed the United States last year, and only furthering its growth. As we get adjusted to those new realities, we get treated to quite a few surprises in tech: brands like IUNI that most of you probably haven't heard much about, are currently offering top-notch smartphones for surprisingly low prices, even for a Chinese company.

If you're curious to learn more about the secrets of Chinese Android smartphones, we welcome you to join us below in our overview of the best devices to come out of the People's Republic. We have also given ballpark prices prices for all devices (all prices are off-contract), and a link to a store where you might find the device (often, that's quite a challenge). Take a look at them right below, and feel free to let us know your favorites in the comments section.

The Huawei Ascend G7 stands out with its premium aluminum build and gorgeous design, but it's not solely about the looks. It comes with a 64-bit Snapdragon 610 chip (it's actually one of the first devices with that chip), a large, 5.5” 720p display, and 4G LTE connectivity. It also pulls some clever tricks for excellent reception with its dual-antenna with smart switching technology. There's also a 3,000mAh battery with an exceptional stand-by time and 1.2 days of longevity, plus an extreme power saving mode. It all runs on Android KitKat with Huawei’s EMUI 3.0, but we do expect the phone to get updated to Android 5.0 Lollipop in the not too distant future.