Buying guide: Best phones you can buy under Rs 20,000
The smartphone market has been on an upswing of late, and one of the major contributors of this has been the budget segment of the market. And understandably so.
Over the past few months, we've seen a number of smartphones launched under Rs 20,000 which offer great feature sets and extreme value for money.
Let's take a look at the best that exist in the market right now.
Nokia 6.1 Plus
Arguably one of the best phones to have been announced this year has been the Nokia 6.1 Plus.
In terms of design, the Nokia 6.1 Plus is nothing like the Nokia devices from before. In many ways, it is an attempt by the Finish smartphone maker to leave behind its traditional design scheme which saw it machining phones out of metal slabs.
Instead, here we see Nokia using glass as the primary material of choice to make the Nokia 6.1. The device is made from over 90 per cent glass, with the front sporting Full HD+ panel that is covered by 2.5D curved glass that merges into the phone’s aluminium frame.
Powering the device is an octa-core Snapdragon 636 chipset paired with 4GB of RAM and 64GB of internal storage, which is expandable up to 400GB via microSD card.
The Nokia 6.1 Plus bears a dual camera setup which includes a 16-megapixel primary sensor with f/2.0 aperture and a 5-megapixel secondary sensor with similar aperture. The phone houses a 3,060mAh battery with support for fast charging via USB Type-C port.
At Rs 15,999, the 6.1 Plus is quite aggressively priced for a Nokia phone and gives good competition to the others in the market.
Realme 2 Pro
Another solid winner in this segment has been the Realme 2 Pro.
From specs to looks the phone has it all.
On the front, the phone comes with a 6.3-inch (2340 x 1080) display that brings with it a waterdrop notch. Underneath the phone is run by a Snapdragon 660 chipset paired with up to 8GB of RAM to provide great user experience. Realme has also equipped the device with 128GB of storage that can also be expanded further.
The Realme 2 Pro houses a 3,500mAh battery that should be good enough to get you through a long day. In terms of cameras, the phone brings quite capable dual 16+16 Megapixel camera set up at the back and another 16 Megapixel lens at the front.
The package is being sold by Realme for Rs 13,999 which, to be honest, is a great price considering the phone comes with pretty great cameras and a chipset to match.
Mi A2
The successor to one of the best selling devices of last year, the Mi A2 was launched in the country at a price of Rs 16,999. Though dearer than the price tag that the first Android One smartphone from Xiaomi, Mi A2 is still quite competitive when compared to the competition in the market.
Much like the Redmi Note 5 Pro, the Mi A2's front is dominated by a tall 5.99-inch FullHD+ display with an 18:9 aspect ratio. Though edge-to-edge in nature, the display is covered by a small amount of bezel and a slightly thick chin at the bottom.
The display is held together by a metal unibody which again will remind you of the Redmi Note 5 Pro. However, unlike its popular cousin, the Mi A2 brings with it a much cleaner design with far less noticable antenna bands at the back.
In terms of the internals, the device comes sporting quite powerful specs for the price. Under the hood, there's Qualcomm Snapdragon 660 SoC paired with up to 6GB RAM and 128GB storage running the show. Keeping the lights on the device is a 3000mAh battery that comes with Qualcomm Quick Charge 4.0 support, which is a welcome upgrade from last year's Mi A1.
The strongest point of the Mi A2 is its rear cameras.
The rear camera module features two lenses – 12-Megapixel Sony IMX 486 sensor plus a 20-Megapixel Sony IMX 376 sensor. The camera module has been equipped with the technology to sense ambient lighting and automatically switch between the 12-Megapixel sensor – for well-lit shots – and the 20-megapixel sensor for low light situations.
Poco F1
Though this particular segment is flush with a some really great options, there's one phone that wins the race hands down because of its stupendous price, Xiaomi Poco F1.
Coming to the phone, the Poco F1 does not revolutionise the industry in terms of hardware, but what it does is that it revolutionises the market segment with its disruptive price. Cramming within itself the best hardware that money can buy, the Poco F1 does so at a price point which until very recently was for budget phones.
The device packs a Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 processor which is paired with 6GB RAM and 64GB storage – and all and costs as low as Rs 20,999.
Now technically, this does breach the Rs 20k mark, yet, because of the multiple deals on e-commerce websites, there is little chance you will have to pay over Rs 20,000 once you eventually decide on buying this phone.
Powering the device is a massive 4000mAh battery that promises to keep the phone running for over a day.
In terms of cameras, The Poco F1 comes with a dual-camera system consisting of a 12-megapixel sensor and f/1.9 aperture lens and another 5-megapixel camera for depth sensing.
Honor Play
Another phone that barely makes it to the list because of its Rs 19,999 price tag is the Honor Play.
Designed for gaming on the go, the phone comes with is an edge-to-edge display large battery and software boosts to improve GPU performance.
The phone comes packing the powerful, Kirin 970 chipset coupled with 4GB of RAM in its base variant. The storage on the device is a respectable 64GB – expandable up to 256GB.
In terms of the display, there is a 6.3-inch FHD+ FullView display with a 19:9 aspect ratio at the front, while at the back the phone comes with a dual camera setup with a 16MP + 2MP and 16MP front-facing camera with AI portrait mode and portrait lightning features.
Running the show is a 3,750mAh battery with support for fast charging.