The smartphone market is going through a bit of churn right now, with all major smartphone makers actively looking to establish control over the important segments of the market. One of these segments is the sub Rs 20,000 one of the market which currently plays host to popular devices from Xiaomi, Samsung and Realme.
Unlike a few years ago, within this price bracket users can now get smartphones that not only impress with their price tags but also hardware. Be it impressive cameras, almost flagship-like core hardware, oodles of RAM and abundant storage, this segment has it all.
But amongst all the options that are available in the segment, which smartphone is the best for you? We help answer that by bringing to you the best options within the price bracket.
Redmi K20 (Price Rs 19,999)
Xiaomi’s sub-brand Redmi launched the K20 and K20 Pro as its flagships for 2019. Of the two, the K20 came with more modest specs, that despite not being flagship worthy, were upper mid-range at the worst.
But still, because of the fact that it sports almost the same specs as the K20 Pro and still manages to come under the Rs 20,000 mark, it makes it a great value for money device. In terms of specs, the Redmi K20 is 80 per cent similar to the Redmi K20 Pro as it swaps out the Snapdragon 855 for the Snapdragon 730 chipset and additionally, the phone uses a Sony IMX582 48MP sensor instead of a Sony IMX586 sensor for the main camera. Apart from this, the phone gets 6 GB RAM, 64GB of storage and a 6.39-inch Full HD+ display among other features.
Realme X2 (Price Rs 16,999)
The Realme X2 is another phone that offers almost flagship-like specs for a fraction of what you’d typically expected to pay for one. The phone brings impressive cameras, super-fast charging and a gorgeous display to help you watch movies and play games for hours and hours at a stretch.
In terms of the specifications, there’s a 6.4-inch Full HD+ AMOLED display with an in-display fingerprint sensor. The chipset underneath is a Snapdragon 730G Soc for gaming. The phone is available in either 4GB, 6GB and 8GB RAM.
There’s a 64-megapixel main camera with the Samsung GW1 sensor paired with an 8-megapixel wide-angle camera, a 2-megapixel macro camera and a 2-megapixel portrait camera. And all of this is available at an aggressive price of Rs 16,999.
Samsung’s bet for this segment is the Galaxy A50s which is available at Rs 19,999. For the price, the smartphone brings with it a big display, beautiful design and Samsung’s One UI operating system.
The Galaxy A50s brings a 6.4-inch FHD+ (1080×2340) Super AMOLED Infinity-U display and supports an in-display fingerprint sensor. It is powered by an Exynos 9610 chipset paired with up to 6GB of RAM and 128GB of internal storage with microSD card support.
The Galaxy A50s also gets an upgraded triple camera setup on the back that now includes a 48-megapixel primary camera, an 8-megapixel ultra-wide-angle camera, and 5-megapixel depth sensor. The A50s houses a 4,000mAh battery and supports 15W fast charging over Type-C.
Redmi 8 Pro (Price Rs 14,999)
Redmi Note 8 Pro’s biggest highlight is the phone’s 64-megapixel based quad-camera set-up. But while cameras are a big highlight, the Redmi Note 8 Pro also offers a premium glass design and a large 4,500mAh battery.
The Redmi phone comes powered by a Helio G90T processor, one that allows it to offer smooth mobile gaming when paired with the phone’s 8GB of RAM and 128GB internal storage.
Vivo S1 Pro (Price Rs 19,999)
The Vivo S1 Pro is definitely amongst the better-looking phones in the segment. And this is because the phone comes with a diamond-shaped camera set-up at the back that features quad cameras with a primary 48-megapixel lens at the heart of the camera array.
At the front of the phone, there’s a 32-megapixel camera for clicking selfies. The S1 Pro features a 6.38-inch Super AMOLED display with a 90 per cent screen-to-body ratio and FHD+ resolution. Keeping the lights on the device is a 4500mAh battery that has been paired with Vivo’s 18W Dual-Engine Fast Charging technology to help the device charge in a jiffy.
