Here are the top 5 smartphones of 2016

From Google Pixel to the Apple iPhone 7 and 7 Plus --- 2016 has seen some great smartphones. 

With India becoming the second largest smartphone market in the world in 2016, every company was keen to launch their smartphones in the country this year.

So much so, smartphone shipments in India grew by 17.5% to 32.3 million units in Q3 2016. This was a 11% year-on-year growth from the same quarter last year.

The year also saw some of the best smartphones to come out. We take a look at five top smartphones of 2016:

1. Xiaomi Redmi Note 3: Launched in April this year, it became the top selling smartphones in India. The company sold over 2.3 million of Redmi Note 3 till September to become the best selling phone online in India and overtaking Moto G when it had launched initially. It was launched at an affordable price of Rs 9,999 in India. The company has dependent on pure online channels for the sale and has been successful.

Some of the specifications include 4000 mAh battery, 5.5 inch full HD screen, 64- bit octa-core MediaTek Helio X10 processor, 16GB internal storage and 2GB RAM.

Also read: Xiaomi’s Redmi Note 3 becomes No.1 selling smartphone online in India

2. Google Pixel: Though Google has earlier a smartphone Nexus, it decided finally to give competition to the big wigs of the industry such as Apple and Samsung with the launch of high-end smartphone Pixel. Priced at Rs 57,000 it was just a little cheaper than the Apple iPhone 7 launched this year.

Google's timing of Pixel however could not have been any better, as Samsung faced issues with the battery of newly launched Galaxy Note 7 and many not find the iPhone 7 innovative enough. Within a month it ended up capturing 10% market share of the premium smartphone segment in India.

In terms of specifications, it has a 5.5 inch display, Quad-core processor, 32GB internal memory and 4GB RAM, 12.3 mega pixel camera and 8MP selfie camera and came with the latest Android OS Nougat.

However, what was most innovative was that Google made it easy for iPhone users to transfer their contacts and other information to Pixel phones easily.

Also read: Distribution will be key in Google Pixel's challenge to the iPhone

3. Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge: While Samsung suffered a huge blow with the battery issue of the Galaxy Note 7, the S7 Edge was definitely a hit. The company had launched it at the start of the year and quickly grew in popularity. Retail chains had sold over 60,000 units of the S7 Edge model within a month of the launch, according to an Economic Times report. This was twice the number of sales of the S6 in the same period.

The company had a 25.1% share of the Indian market in Q2 2016 and had seen a 15% growth over the corresponding quarter last year, an IDC report said.

The smartphone was launched at a price of Rs 55,000 and came with specifications such as a 5.1 inch Super AMOLED display, Octo-core Snapdragon 820 processor, 4GB RAM, 32GB internal memory, 12 mega pixel primary camera, 5 mega pixel front camera, 3000 mAh battery and retina scanner.

Also read: Will Samsung Galaxy Note 7's impact be a drag on S7, S7 Edge sales?

4. Apple iPhone 7 Plus: Apple launched its flagship smartphone this year the iPhone 7 Plus had been one of the most anticipated phone launches of the year. After the poor performance of the cheaper iPhone SE, Apple was seeking a come back in sales with the help of iPhone 7 Plus.

While some iPhone enthusiasts were disappointed by the lack of inattentiveness from Apple, the smartphone has managed to get decent sales. Apple had sold around 100,000 units of the new phones in the opening weekend itself, double of what was sold last year in the opening weekend, according to Business Standard report. The company had shipped 100,000-150,000 units of the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus to India in the opening weekend itself.

Priced at Rs 72,000 it was the one of most highly priced phones to be launched this year. The key specifications of the phone include a 5.5 inch display, Quad-core processor, 3GB RAM, 32GB internal storage, 12 mega pixel primary camera, 7 mega pixel front camera and 2,900 mAh battery.

Also read: iPhone 7 and 7 Plus could mean an early Christmas for Apple

5. Moto Z Play: It was one of the most innovative smartphones to be launched this year in terms of its design and features. The unique feature about the smartphone is the attachable mods such as the a camera, speaker, power bank and projector which act as add-ons.

Priced at Rs 24,999 it comes with features such as 5.5 inch display, 2GHz Octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon processor and it comes with a 3GB RAM. It also has a 32GB internal storage that can be expanded up to 2000GB. It also comes with 16 megapixel primary camera and 5 megapixel front camera. In is packed with 3510 mAh non-removable battery.

While it is packed with as good specification in some of the high-end phones mentioned above, the mods give users added benefits. However, the drawback is the cost of the mods which start from Rs 5,999 for the attachable battery bank to Rs 19,999 for the InstaShare projector mod. This take the price of the smartphone to nearly Rs 31,000 to Rs 45,000.

Also read: Moto Zs start getting Android Nougat 7.0 update in India