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Companies like Tecno and Infinix go under the radar most of the time, but they make phones that punch way above their weight class. This year, the company released some extraordinary sub-$300 phones, and they share some similarities while sporting differences. Here’s a comparison between the Tecno Camon 20 Pro and the Infinix Note 30 Pro.
The mid-range smartphone market can be as competitive as the premium market. We all know about the war between Samsung and Apple, but a ton of people aren’t buying phones from those companies. A lot of the time, people are buying phones that are under $500. The two phones in this comparison fall well below that mark, and they have other similarities.
In this comparison, we’ll compare these phones in different essential departments like their build, cameras, display, speakers, performance, and more. Also, we reviewed both of these phones, so you can access the reviews right here. Here’s the Camon 20 Pro review and here’s the Infinix Note 30 Pro review.
Tecno Camon 20 Pro vs. Infinix Note 30 Pro: Build quality
When it comes to the build quality, both companies had to cut some corners to keep the price down, but there’s a noticeable difference between the two. The Camon 20 feels unapologetically mid-range. It’s rather light, and it has a soft-touch plastic on the back. Also, the frame is plastic, which is something that you won’t feel on a more expensive device.
Regardless, the phone still feels solidly built. It seems like it can take a tumble without taking any damage, and the side-mounted buttons are rather clicky.
On the other hand, the Infinix Note 30 Pro is playing a different game. This phone feels notably more premium than the Camon 20. For starters, there’s much more heft to the phone, giving it a more significant feeling in the hand. Aside from that, the phone’s back plate is made from glass, which also gives it a more premium feeling in the hand. Lastly, there’s a large metal camera island on the back.
All of these factors contribute to the more premium feeling of the Note 30 Pro. That’s impressive, as the Note 30 Pro also has a plastic frame.
Tecno Camon 20 Pro vs. Infinix Note 30 Pro: Display
When it comes to the display, it becomes clear that both phones are basically using the same OLED panel running at 120Hz. The thing is, in case you didn’t know, Tecno and Infinix\ are both owned by the same company, Transsion. This means that it’s possible that these phones will share some components; the display is one of them.
Both displays are absolutely gorgeous. When the color style is set to Original, the colors are dulled down to what you’d see on a mid-tier LCD display. However, if you change it to Bright, then they pop. While the colors are more saturated, they avoid getting too punchy. In fact, they strike an amazing balance between dead and too lively.
One thing I will say is that some of the warmer colors like red and orange tend to be a bit much sometimes. If the scene is of an evening, you’ll see some of the colors sizzle a bit. But, it’s not too much.
In terms of brightness, both phones have pleasantly bright screens. They’re definitely a few steps behind the brightness of the Galaxy S23 and the ASUS Zenfone 10, but they’re still plenty bright. These are 900-nit displays, so they’re more than readable in the bright sun. Watching videos or reading content in the sun isn’t an issue.
If you’re looking for a phone with an incredible display, then you won’t go wrong with any of these phones.
Tecno Camon 20 Pro vs. Infinix Note 30 Pro: Speakers
The speaker department is another one where these phones are practically identical. Both phones come with a pair of rather unimpressive speakers. Out of the box, these speakers lack a lot of depth. Also, it seems that they favor the higher tones. Depending on your listening tastes, that might not be and issue. Out of the box, they’re not great for listening to music, but they’re rather pleasant when listening to ASMR content.
However, in the software of both phones, you have the same tools to calibrate the speakers. You have your choice between Smart, Music, Video, and Game speaker modes that will adjust the sound to fit those types of content. The Smart mode will automatically adjust the sound based on what content you’re consuming.
When you choose a mode, you’ll have additional options that you can adjust. You can choose to boost the treble, voices, bass, or any combination of the three. Also, you can adjust the stereo setting of the sound. This gives you the ability to choose between a wide, traditional, or in-front sound.
Lastly, both phones have an EQ that you can use to further fine-tune the sound. It’s a 5-band EQ, and each band can adjust between -5dB and +5dB.
After adjusting the EQ settings, there was a noticeable difference in the sound. The EQ and settings were able to add some more depth to the sound to make it pop just a bit more. However, even after adjusting the settings, the speakers still fell a bit short of what you’d call great; they’re just good.
Tecno Camon 20 Pro vs. Infinix Note 30 Pro: Performance
Both phones share some similar internals. They’re both using the MediaTek Helio G99 SoC with 8GB of RAM (expandable to 16GB), and 256GB of storage. People tend to assume that the performance is going to be sub-par based on the MediaTek processor. However, that’s not the case.
Both of these phones just fly through their software. Tecno and Infinix optimized their software to work with these chips, and it shows. Both phones are fast and responsive, and they don’t have any trouble running apps. It was pretty surprising when using both phones.
When it comes to lag and stutter, the story is the same with both phones; instances of slow-down were so few and far apart that they’re negligible. You can use these phones without worrying about them getting laggy on you.
While using both phones, neither of them became particularly hot. The Infinix Note 30 Pro uses a liquid cooling system and the Camon 20 Pro’s is a bit different. However, both phones remain cool while under a heavy load.
Tecno Camon 20 Pro vs. Infinix Note 30 Pro: Gaming
The story with gaming is the same with both phones, and it’s not the happiest story. Both phones are decent when it comes to gaming. They tackle basic 2D games with no issue whatsoever. Games like Fishing Paradiso, Sweet Sins 2, Dream Hopper, Survivor.io, and others like them run perfectly smoothly.
Moving onto lower-end 3D gaming, it’s pretty much the same. Games like Dragon Ball Legends and Sky: Children of The Light don’t slow the phones down at all. They’re perfectly playable.
Moving on to more intense gaming, we see where these phones struggle. We’re talking about games like Genshin Impact and Honkai Star Rail. These games are some of the prettiest games that you can get on a mobile phone. Thus, they bog down both of these phones to the point where you might not want to use them.
At its highest graphical setting, Genshin Impact knocks the frame rate down to the single digits at times. The rest of the time, it’s still extremely choppy. If you want to smooth out the gameplay, you’ll need to knock the graphical settings down to at most Low (one level above the lowest). Even then, it’s not particularly smooth; this just makes it playable.
Basically, if you’re looking for a gaming beast, you won’t find it in any of these phones.
Tecno Camon 20 Pro vs. Infinix Note 30 Pro: Camera
With all of these similarities, the camera department is where we see the biggest difference between these phones. The camera on the Infinix Note 30 Pro is miles ahead of the camera on the Camon 20 Pro. The Camon’s camera produces pictures that lack in the brightness, color, and contrast departments. Pictures taken in the bright sun look like they were taken in overcast weather. The images just look like someone tossed them into an image editor and turned down the contrast and saturation.
The story is the same when it comes to videos taken with this phone. Also, videos lacked sharpness. In our review of the Camon 20 Pro, the camera was noted to be the worst aspect of the phone, and it’s true.
The Infinix Note 30 Pro, on the other hand, produced images that were much more pleasing to the eyes. They picked up where the Camon 20 slacked on the brightness, color, and contrast. One thing that seemed to bring the images down was the camera’s tendency to make the images unnaturally warm compared to the scene. Also, and this is an issue with most digital sensors, red tones tend to sizzle. Lastly, when it comes to exposure, the camera tends to lean on the brighter side, which overexposes the images just a bit.
Overall, the clear winner in the camera department is the Infinix Note 30 Pro.
Tecno Camon 20 Pro vs. Infinix Note 30 Pro: Battery
When it comes to the battery life, both phones perform admirably. With light to moderate usage, you’re able to easily get a day and a half of life on a single charge. On a heavier day with a bunch of gameplay, video-watching, etc, you might have to grab a charger at the end of the day.
The battery life is comparable between both of the phones, but when it comes to charging, the Note 30 Pro steals a slight victory. The Camon 20 Pro has 33W charging, which is pretty fast. However, the Note 30 Pro comes with much faster 68W charging.
While the wattage is more than double that of the Camon’s the charging time doesn’t see a significant boost. The higher wattage helps it charge a bit faster at the higher capacity. So, while the Infinix Note 30 Pro has faster charging, the difference isn’t huge.
Tecno Camon 20 Pro vs. Infinix Note 30 Pro: Software
Back to the similarities, the software on these phones is as similar as the displays. Again, Tecno and Infinix are both owned by the same company; thus, the software on both of these phones is identical. The only differences are some of the aesthetics and some of the terminology. The Camon 20 Pro is running HIOS 13and the Infinix Note 30 Pro uses XOS 13. Both of them are based on Android 13.
The infrastructure of the software is the same for both, so buttons, menus, settings, and other components are all in the same spots across both phones.
The software is very different from what you get with stock Android. UI components are less rounded with more subtle curves. Also, the icons are large and square. It’s very different from most phones you get in the States, and it’s definitely angled toward the Chinese market.
One of the more notable details about the interface is the notification shade. Unlike most Android skins, the notification shade is split. When you swipe down from the top left of the screen, you’ll see your notifications; however, you won’t see your quick settings. You’ll have to swipe down from the top right.
You can also swipe left or right on the notification shade to switch between the pages. That’ll take some getting used to.
Another nice software feature is the ability to enlarge folders. This isn’t new, but it’s still nice to have. Also, if you swipe to the left or right when a folder is open, you’ll swipe to another folder you have on your home screen.
All in all, the software on these phones is the same, and it’s a very strong software experience.
Final verdict: Which one should you buy?
When it comes to the price, both of these phones orbit around the $250-$270 price range. The price is MUCH MORE mid-range than the actual phones are. But, the question is, which one should you buy?
In terms of software, display, speaker quality, performance, and battery life, both of these phones are pretty much identical. However, the Infinix pulls ahead with its much more premium feel and exponentially better camera.
Since the overall experience is so similar on both of these phones, these victories won by the Infinix Note 30 Pro do well to crown it the winner of this comparison.