BEST PHONES UNDER ₹15000 [APRIL 2020]

INTRODUCTION

Indian Mobile Market is dominated by budget phones under 20000. By this, the companies are in a race to launch their phones first. Today, we would see the best phones under ₹15,000. You cannot buy any of these right now due to the Lockdown. I would go in descending order.

5. Mi A3 (₹12,999)

Xiaomi Mi A3

I recommend this phone to only Android One lovers and those who want the best selfie camera. The reason this is at number 5 is its high price. This has a 6.09” HD+ sAMOLED Display. It is sAMOLED and it has great contrast and viewing angles. But HD+ is not acceptable at this price. It has a glass sandwich design with Gorilla Glass 5 on both sides and it looks overall nice. It has an In-Display Fingerprint scanner which no other phone in this list gives. There is IR Blaster which means support for Mi Remote. Also, it comes under Android One and its UI is stock. But it is still on Android Pie and the Android 10 update has been rolled back three times till now. And the biggest thing is that it's under Android One Programme. 

This has Snapdragon 665 which is not at all acceptable at 13k. But it has 4GB RAM and UFS 2.1 storage. The best thing is its camera. Is has a 48MP (f/1.8) + 8MP Ultra-Wide + 2MP Depth Sensor. It is pretty similar to Redmi Note 7 Pro and provides excellent quality and the wide-angle lens is a bonus. But the main thing is its 32MP (f/2.0) which takes excellent selfies and portraits. You can surely buy this if you love using the camera. The battery is a 4030 mAh Pack which will provide excellent battery due to the 720p display. It supports 18W charging but comes with only a 10W charger which is a bummer. This is a decent phone but with this, I think that Mi is killing its Android One Series Phones.

Best Buy Link:- Mi A3 on Amazon

4. Redmi Note 8 (₹10,999)

Redmi Note 8

I suggest two Redmi phones at 11k. One is the Redmi Note 8. This is for people who want a quad camera on a budget. This comes with a glass sandwich design with Gorilla Glass 5 and a wavy pattern. This looks premium for a phone this cheap. It comes with a 6.3” FHD+ IPS LCD Display with thin bezels and a teardrop notch. It has great contrast for an LCD and good viewing angles. This has the Snapdragon 665. It performs the same as other SD665 phones but at 11k, it is acceptable considering the other specs. It has MIUI 11 with Android Pie and it has ads that you can disable.

This has a quad camera with 48MP (f/1.8) ISOCELL GM1 + 8MP Ultra-Wide + 2MP Macro + 2MP Depth Sensor. This provides excellent image quality in both daylight and low-light. Its portraits and videos are excellent too. Its 16MP camera is excellent too. It has the fingerprint scanner which is fast but a bit small in my opinion. It also has the IR Blaster, so Mi Remote is supported. It comes with a 4000 mAh battery which will provide excellent battery life and this also has an 18W charger in the box. So this is a great phone for its price.

Best Buy Link:- Redmi Note 8 on Amazon

Redmi Note 7 Pro (₹10,999)

Redmi Note 7 Pro

This is another phone by Redmi that was very popular last summer. And unlike other phones, its price didn’t increase. This has a 6.3” FHD+ IPS Panel. This has contrast and viewing angles similar to Note 8 but this one has thicker Bezels. This comes with a similar glass sandwich design with GG5 but this has a different pattern at the back. Both look premium and it’s up to you what you prefer. This has a better gaming performance with the Snapdragon 675. This can PUBG in high settings and it would run without any hiccups. It comes with the MIUI 11 with Android Pie and Ads that you can disable. Both come with EMMC 5.1 storage which is old but I can’t complain.

It has the 48MP (f/1.79) IMX 586 camera sensor along with a 5MP depth sensor. Its quality is better than Note 8 in most situations. But this lacks the Wide Angle Lens and the Macro Lens. So it’s up to you what you like – better quality or better versatility. It also has a 13MP front camera and you get similar selfie quality in both phones. This has the IR Blaster too. Also, it has a fast fingerprint scanner but it is bigger than Note 8. It also has a 4000 mAh Battery and both the phones provide similar endurance. But this has just a 10W charger in the box but it supports 18W charging. This is a bummer.

Best Buy Link:- Redmi Note 7 Pro on Flipkart

So the question is which one you should buy. If you want thinner bezels, quad camera and a fast charger in the box, go for Note 8. And if you want better gaming and camera quality, go for Note 7 Pro.  I hope it is clear.

3. Galaxy M21 (₹14,222 ≈ ₹14,300)

Samsung Galaxy M21

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Since 2019, I have been seeing that tech experts are not recommending Samsung Phones just because of the brand name. I recommend this to people who want a phone with a gigantic battery and the best display. This has a Plastic Back with a Plain Look. I didn’t like the looks much but I am surprised to see that Samsung fitted a 6000 mAh battery in just 188 grams and 8.9 mm thickness. This comes with a 6.4” FHD+ sAMOLED Display and I can say that this display is magnificent. It is large and has a small teardrop notch. Also, it has excellent contrast and viewing angles. This comes with Exynos 9611 which is of Snapdragon 675 level. And it is fine for the price, especially considering the chipset Samsung used to give before. It has UFS 2.1 and 4GB RAM which is not uncommon in this price but a good thing. It also It has One UI 2.0 with Android 10.

Another great thing is its camera. It has 48MP (f/2.0) ISOCELL GM2 + 8MP Ultra-Wide Lens + 5MP Depth sensor. And Samsung has always provided excellent cameras and it’s the case with this too. It captures detailed and eye-catchy images. But it hunts for focus in low-light which is bad thing. Its 20MP selfie camera takes sharp and well-exposed selfies. It has a 6000 mAh battery which can easily last for two days. But the charging is just 15W and it easily takes about 2 hours 30 minutes to charge it. I at least expected 25W charging. Still you can make a whole day out of 60% battery. So this is a great and competitive Samsung Phone.

Best Buy Link:- Samsung Galaxy M21 on Amazon

2. Redmi Note 9 Pro (₹13,999)

Redmi Note 9 Pro

It is true Redmi Note 9 Pro is not the number one. This has a 6.67” FHD+ IPS Display with a Punch-Hole in the middle. It looks quite similar to Galaxy S20 when it comes to the notch style and placement. But its predecessors were much brighter. It has a glass sandwich design with Gorilla Glass 5 and this looks good and premium. But the phone is not at all durable. It can easily break with a drop from a low height. So a good back cover is recommended.  It has a side-mounted fingerprint scanner which some people like and some don’t. But it’s fast and accurate. It also has the IR Blaster which is not yet ditched by Xiaomi. There is a Snapdragon 720G which is an excellent processor. It has Cortex A76 cores and a powerful Adreno 618. Plus it is based on the latest 8mm architecture too. It also has UFs 2.1 and 4GB RAM too. It runs MIUI 11 with Android 10. This again has ads which you can disable.

This comes with a 48MP (f/1.8) ISOCELL GM2 + 8MP Ultra-Wide Lens + 5MP Depth Sensor + 2MP Macro Lens. It is similar to M21 and offers similar daylight performance but this has the edge in low-light performance due to its night mode. But I don’t understand why they downgraded the 64MP camera on Redmi Note 8 Pro. The front 16MP camera is good but Note 8 Pro had a better front camera. This has a 5020 mAh battery which lasts very long but it just gets an 18W charger in the box. That’s not at all okay in 2020. I expected a 27W charger. So this is for those who want the best performance and a huge display along with a good camera.

Best Buy Link:- Redmi Note 9 Pro on Amazon

1. Realme 6 (₹13,999)

Realme 6

So the best phone under 15000 is from Realme again and this is the Realme 6. This is a phone which ticks all the boxes with just one major con. Let’s see. This has a 6.5” FHD+ IPS Display with a punch-hole on left. This is smaller than Note 9 Pro but this has a 90 Hz refresh rate which is the latest trend. This has a plastic back which is a downside. It looks good but plastic at 14k is not at all good. This runs the Mediatek Helio G90T that was used in Redmi Note 8 Pro. It is a nice chip for the price and it has excellent gaming performance. This also has 4GB RAM and UFS 2.1. It ships with Realme UI 1.0 with Android 10.

This has a 64MP (f/1.8) + 8MP Ultra-Wide Lens + 2MP Macro Lens + 2MP Monochrome Depth Sensor. This has excellent camera performance in both daylight and low-light. It has a great Portrait Mode and a Nightscape Mode too. Both, the Note 9 Pro and this have excellent cameras. But this has a 16MP (f/2.0) front camera which I found to be better than Note 9 Pro. This also has a side-mounted fingerprint scanner. This has a 4300 mAh Battery which lasts long, though not as much as Note 9 Pro. But this has a 30W VOOC 4.0 charging which charges the phone in 1 hour at max. So this is an overall package and I suggest this to you if you don’t mind the Plastic Back. Else go for Note 9 Pro.

Best Buy Link:- Realme 6 on Flipkart

CONCLUSION

I know that once the lockdown opens, the companies would like to launch new phones and for that, they would clear the old stock by giving discounts and then big sales would also come on Amazon and Flipkart. I have given the links along if you want to buy it later. So that’s it for today.