If you’re planning to gift someone their first-ever smartphone, then you can have a look at our guide for entry-level Android phones. The following list includes devices that can be used as your secondary phone or a phone for that teenager at home or the grandma or grandpa who may not have tried touch phones to date.
The market for the affordable phones in India is growing aggressively and almost every brand is launching value-for-money devices below Rs.10,000 in India. Most importantly, these phone makers are aware of their budget-conscious consumers.
Hence, these new-age affordable phones are quite capable and come with exciting features - including an HD Plus display, multiple cameras, and robust battery capacity.
You can also expect a good build, fingerprint sensor, and even fast charging in this price segment. While these can’t compete with the biggies in the market, they can still offer reasonably good performance for regular usage. The chipsets used are effective enough to let the user multitask and take good pictures.
This price segment includes all the 4G capable low-cost phones. Note that the 5G hasn’t gone fully commercial and it will take longer for the services to penetrate tier-3 cities and rural areas of the country where the sale of entry-level phones is considerably high.
There is no dearth of choices when it comes to buying an affordable smartphone in this price segment. However, finding the best ones could become a tad overwhelming. That’s why we have compiled a list containing the best options that you can decide to buy. The list includes phones from Samsung, Moto, Realme and Poco.
- Best smartphones under Rs 12,000
- Best smartphones under Rs 7,000
- Best cheap phones 2021: top budget mobiles in India
The Galaxy M12 is one of the only few phones in this lineup to sport a 90Hz refresh rate. This budget Android phone comes with a large 6.5-inches display with a high refresh rate and a massive 6000 maH battery to power the unit.
Though the large battery only supports 15W charging over the Type C port, however, against the modern trend, Samsung is shipping a charger in the box.
The phone comes with an Exynos 850 SoC which can be seen in various new mid-range phones from the company. It is available in a 4GB/64GB variant and has a 6GB/128GB variant. Though the top-end variant is priced slightly higher than Rs. 10,000, however, if you apply card discounts, you might get it under Rs. 10,000.
The phone comes with a quad-camera setup with a primary 48MP camera coupled with a 5MP and a couple of 2MP snappers to go along with.
The phone ships with Android 11 out of the box and you can expect at least three years of software updates from Samsung.
The Poco M2 Reloaded is basically the Poco M2 but with 4GB of RAM and a lower price tag. It is powered by MediaTek Helio G80 chipset, an eight-core chipset built on the 12nm process.
In terms of display, you are looking at a 6.53-inch IPS LCD display with Full HD+ resolution. The Poco M2 runs off a 5,000mah battery which supports 18W fast charging.
On the back, there is a quad-camera setup on the Poco M2 consisting of a 13MP primary camera, an 8MP ultra-wide lens, a 5MP macro shooter, and a 2MP depth sensor. Selfies are handled by an 8MP front camera. As for security, the device comes with a fingerprint scanner on the rear, located under the cameras.
The Samsung Galaxy F12 is primarily the Galaxy M12, but this one is only available on Flipkart and only comes in a 4GB/64GB option.
Rest everything seems to be the same - including the same Octa-core Exynos 850 SoC, 6000 mAh battery with 15W charging, Quad camera setup with a primary 48MP sensor.
In case you're loyal to Flipkart and want to purchase a phone below Rs. 10,000, then the Galaxy F12 could be an ideal device for you.
Motorola managed to contribute in the below Rs. 10,000 phone category this year with its E-series phone. The phone dubbed Moto E40 includes some interesting specifications for the price. It has an HD display with a 90Hz refresh. It is IP52 rated and has a dedicated Google Assistant button as well for quick assistance.
Under the hood, the phone is powered by an octa-core Unisoc T700 clocked at 1.8GHz, paired with 4GB RAM. The phone includes 64GB of onboard storage that can be expanded further using a microSD card.
It is fueled by a 5,000mAH battery, which is considerably large to run for longer usage. However, it doesn't include fast charging. The phone has received an overall good reception from those who bought it.
The Realme C31 is an affordable Android phone that is aimed at users looking to upgrade from a feature phone to a smartphone.
The phone comes with a large touch screen display, a triple camera setup at the back and a 5000 mAh battery that should ideally last for a day.
Powering the phone is a UniSoc T612 SoC that is coupled with up to 4GB of RAM and 64GB of storage
