Honor’s Budget X-Series Gets Expensive: X5c and X5c Plus Now Costs Rs. 4,500 more

Honor’s X-series phones have built a reputation for offering excellent battery life, and now three of the X-sereies phone thats available in Nepal have received a price hike. Leading the list is the Honor X7d, followed by the Honor X5c and Honor X5c Plus.

As the more affordable alternatives to the hugely popular X9 series, the X5c lineup needs to bring at least some of that same appeal to the table, whether that’s solid build quality, dependable battery life, or a well-rounded user experience. But do these phones actually deliver on those expectations? And more importantly, does the latest price hike make them harder to recommend? Let’s find out.

What is the Price of Honor X5c Series in Nepal?

The Honor X5c launched at Rs. 15,999 for the 4/64GB variant, and the Plus model went for Rs. 17,999 for the 4/128GB. Since then, both phones have received a Rs. 4,500 price hike.

As a result, the Honor X5c series price in Nepal now starts at Rs. 20,499 for the X5c (4/64GB), and Rs. 22,499 for the X5c Plus (4/128GB).

Surprisingly, that’s actually a smaller increase than what we saw on the Honor Play10. The difference is only Rs. 500, but in the current market, every rupee counts.

If you’re looking to purchase either phone, both are available through authorized Honor stores and retailers across Nepal.

As I said, the Honor X5 series sits at the bottom of the barrel within the Honor X lineup. And despite being the most affordable X-series phone, it is still an Honor X-series device, which is meant to survive extreme conditions and offer an insane amount of battery life for the price.

But with the previous Honor X5 and X6 series, Honor seems to have forgotten that identity.

The entry-level phones in this lineup don’t offer any drop protection, rarely come with an ingress rating, and the battery capacities are nothing out of the ordinary.

So, can the Honor X5c and the X5c Plus redeem the budget lineup of the Honor X series? Or does it end up as just another entry-level phone with low-tier specs? Let’s dive into a detailed overview and find out.

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Honor X5c Series Overview

The first major change you’ll notice right away when you compare it with the Honor X5b series is the camera module. This time, Honor has gone with a triple-camera cutout instead of the square camera module, making the design resemble previous-generation iPhones.

Flip the phone over, and you’re greeted with a 6.74-inch display. Compared to the X5b’s 6.56-inch panel, this is an improvement. However, with the same HD+ resolution, the pixel density drops from 269 PPI to 260 PPI.

Visually, you may not notice a difference right away, but a lower PPI can result in slightly stretched icons, and some users may even notice pixelation. Unfortunately, that’s quite common for most entry-level smartphones.

Moving on to raw performance, both X5c and X5c Plus get a massive upgrade with MediaTek Helio G81 over their predecessors. User reviews have even mentioned an average performance gain of up to 82%, which is huge. From the numbers alone, it sounds impressive, but that’s largely because the X5b Series ran on the Helio G36, which performs poorly even by entry-level standards.

So, the X5c series with its Helio G81 does feel like a big jump. However, compared to rivals, it’s still an average SoC, especially when you consider entry-level bangers like the Honor Play10, Moto G06 Power, Infinix Hot 60i, and Redmi 15C, all of which run on the same G81 chipset.

Paired with it is 4GB RAM, with 64GB storage for X5c and 128GB for X5c Plus. And for users wanting more storage, Honor has also included a dedicated microSD card slot with up to 1TB of storage.

Sadly, things start to get stale in the camera department, as expected from a phone in the budget or entry-level segment.

Despite having a triple-camera setup, the X5c and X5c Plus only feature 13MP and 50MP main cameras, respectively. Both phones are also limited to recording Full HD videos at 30FPS. The second is an auxiliary lens, while the third cutout is actually just the flash. For selfies, you’re looking at a 5MP front camera with a teardrop notch.

To power everything, both the phones in the X5c series pack a 5,260mAh battery. Technically, this is slightly larger than the 5,000mAh batteries found in most rivals at this price point, but it’s not a night-and-day difference.

A more respectable upgrade is the charging speed, which has been bumped up to 15W from 10W. Considering that 10W charging usually takes more than two hours to fully charge a 5,000mAh battery, the 15W charging, while still not impressive, should at least shave off some charging time, even if only slightly.

Finally, both the X5c and X5c Plus boots last year’s Android 15 with Honor’s usual MagicOS 9.0 skin on top.

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So, the Honor X5c series does improve on the previous X5b in raw performance. It has moved from the Helio G36 to the Helio G81, a significant upgrade.

That said, phones in this price range started using the Helio G81 about a year ago. Moreover, Samsung’s Galaxy A07 even has a MediaTek Helio G99. So, the value proposition is pretty terrible here.

Sadly, the X5c, both base and Plus models, lacks many of the qualities that define the X series. It doesn’t offer any drop or ingress protection, and the battery is also nothing impressive by X-series standards. And if you’re looking for a phone that can survive the harshest conditions, the X5c series surely isn’t the one.

Even as an entry-level phone, it fails to compete with phones in a similar price range. And the Rs. 4,500 price jump does not help it.

What are your thoughts on the Honor X5c Series? Let us know in the comments below!