This Rs 7,299 phone looks like it was designed in California

Dual camera setup at the back. (Image: Zohaib Ahmed/The Indian Express)

Things get even more deceiving when you slap on the included black case. The phone’s flashy back gets hidden for a more mature, iPhone-esque look – it even fooled one of my buds into thinking I splurged on a brand-spanking new iPhone (seriously, no kidding). Adding to the iPhone vibes is the MagSafe-style charging ring on the case, even though wireless charging is obviously not supported given the budget price point.

This is about as iOS-like I could get the software to look. (Image: Zohaib Ahmed/The Indian Express)

But flip the phone over and the similarities with the high-end iPhones end immediately like waking up from a good dream. The display is flanked by thick bezels all around, particularly on the bottom, though they aren’t bad considering the price tag. And up top there’s a waterdrop notch instead of the fancy Dynamic Island (though itel has a sneaky trick up its sleeve for this lacking – more on this later).

The notification LED is one of my favourite features of this handset. (Image: Zohaib Ahmed/The Indian Express)

Besides the iPhone copycat factor, the itel A70 is a good-looking and feeling phone with a very sturdy in-hand feel that belies its plastic build. The back is a dazzling light show of thousands of glittery lines that look like shooting stars. Weirdly though, itel seems particularly obsessed with the word “awesome” for some reason and has printed it on the back and 7 times on the case as if trying to hypnotise you.

iOS Go Edition

Hardware similarities aside, the itel A70 also packs some software tricks lifted right from iOS. The phone may have a simple teardrop notch but itel has still managed to make it behave Dynamic Island-style. A slick animation expands the notch into the display to show handy details like battery percentage when charging, face unlock info, call info, and more. You can tweak these behaviours from Settings > Special Function > Dynamic Bar or turn them off entirely if you don’t dig them. ‘Dynamic Bar’ may seem gimmicky at first, but the utility and silky smooth animation growing the hardware into the software will eventually win you over.

The ‘Dynamic Bar’ as itel likes to call it. (Image: Zohaib Ahmed/The Indian Express)

You’d expect a phone that looks so shockingly iPhone-like on the outside to feature an iOS copycat skin on the inside as well, but that’s not really the case. Besides the fact that the skin has a split Control Center and notifications panel and some of the system widgets look suspiciously iOS-inspired, there wasn’t much in the way of resemblance.

I wasn’t thrilled with what I was given and was determined to transform the phone into an iPhone clone. In my quest to do so, I came across the ‘Aestheticism’ theme on the phone’s built-in theme store. None of the themes listed gave any hint of being iOS-inspired but Aestheticism clearly took a lot of cues from it – and got surprisingly close. So you know I just had to switch to it.

A heavily customised Android 13 Go Edition. (Express image)

With the icons out of the way, there was still one glaring hole that needed to be filled to complete that iPhone look. I had totally forgotten about the wallpaper – how could I be so dense? A few taps later and I got about as close as I could to an iPhone on an Android handset without using any sketchy hacks – and I was quite proud of myself for pulling off this little project.

Other stuff

What about the other aspects of this phone? Well, the 6.6-inch 720p display is quite crisp and gets plenty bright. For photography, the itel A70 has a dual camera setup at the back with 13MP and 0.08MP sensors and an 8MP front snapper. These cameras are what you expect for the price with decent output during bright daylight but exhibit considerable noise and grain when shooting in low-light conditions.

(Image: Zohaib Ahmed/The Indian Express)

(Image: Zohaib Ahmed/The Indian Express)

(Image: Zohaib Ahmed/The Indian Express)

Meanwhile, the front camera turned out a little better than expected and can capture some decent Instagram-worthy selfies, although I’d advise turning the beautification off to use the camera to its full potential.

(Image: Zohaib Ahmed/The Indian Express)

An entry-level Unisoc T603 octa-core chip powers the A70. It handles basic tasks like web browsing, social media, and YouTube smoothly. But if you try anything more demanding like gaming, especially complex 3D games, you’ll quickly realise the processor simply isn’t built for such intensive applications. The 5,000mAh battery meanwhile easily lasts for a day and a half of moderate use before needing a recharge to keep the faux iPhone illusion alive.

A major plus is that the phone boasts 256GB storage, which is crazy for the price point. There’s also a base 128GB variant on offer, which starts at Rs 6,799.

Verdict

Considering the Rs 6,799 price tag, any complaints that you can possibly have with this device are immediately nullified – not that I had any in the first place. Sure, some might shake their heads at the blatant iPhone copycatting, but I appreciate itel’s playful take in a budget phone segment riddled with cut corners.

The itel A70 weighs 184 grams and measures 8.6mm in width. (Image: Zohaib Ahmed/The Indian Express)

If you are looking for a cheap, quirky handset that attempts to head in a different direction, the itel A70 won’t disappoint your thriftiness. However, if you feel itel went a bit overboard with the quirks, there are plenty of options you can pick up for around the same price like the Samsung Galaxy M04, Redmi A2, Poco C55, and Galaxy F04. Just don’t expect a discount iPhone experience from them.