Best Camera Smartphones Under Rs 15,000: Note 7 Pro, Honor 20i, Vivo Z1 Pro, Realme 3 Pro, Galaxy M30, Honor 10 Lite

Budget smartphones can do it all now. Be it a great design technology, display, performance or even cameras. A naive feature till a few quarters back, the budget smartphones now offer some awesome camera performance without compromising on premium performance. Be it Redmi Note 7 Pro, Realme 3 Pro or Vivo Z1 Pro, all have it great.

Samsung has it’s Galaxy M30, while Asus keeps the game going with its second-generation Max Pro M2.

Honor has two great budget camera smartphones in the list, Honor 20i and Honor 10 Lite. The company recently also released the most affordable pop-up camera smartphone in the country, the Huawei Y9 Prime. The best budget camera smartphones list also features the cheapest 48MP camera smartphone in the country, Redmi Note 7S.

Here are the top camera smartphones under Rs 15,000.

Redmi Note 7 Pro

Starting with the most-popular smartphone in the list, Redmi Note 7 Pro continues to top the list of current best smartphones under 15,000 rupees. The top mid-range smartphone from Redmi comes with a premium glass design body on the out sandwiched between Corning Gorilla Glass 5 body. Redmi Note 7 Pro on top has a 6.3-inch Full HD+ dot notched display.

Rear Camera: At the back, Redmi Note 7 Pro packs in a dual camera system comprising of the 48MP Sony IMX 586 sensor as its primary lens coupled with a 5MP secondary depth sensor.

Front Camera: Upfront, Redmi Note 7 Pro packs in a 13-megapixel wide shooter.

Camera Performance: It’s the only smartphone to come with the original 48MP Sony IMX 586 sensor. All photos come out sharp and well detailed with top contrast and almost accurate colors. At times, the camera struggles to capture details, if you zoom in. The HDR mode works well, adding details in shadows and highlights. Colours are very natural compared to rivals.

Note 7 Pro runs on the 11nm Snapdragon 675 processor with on MIUI 10 top based on Android 9 Pie backed by a 4,000mAh battery supporting 18W fast charge. The smartphone is available starting at just Rs 13,999 via Flipkart and Mi.com.

Vivo Z1 Pro

The newly launched Vivo Z1 Pro is the latest to join the under 15,000 list. house a massive battery powered by fast charging capabilities. The smartphone comes with a 6.53-inch Full HD+ display offering a screen-to-body ratio of 90.77 per cent and a punch-hole inside the display. Z1 Pro is powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 712 processor with a 3 camera system at the back panel.

Rear Camera: Coming to optics, Vivo Z1 Pro uses a 16-megapixel sensor, an 8-megapixel super-wide secondary sensor and finally a 2-megapixel depth sensor.

Front Camera: Upfront, the Vivo phone packs in a 32-megapixel selfie shooter.

Camera Performance: Vivo Z1 Pro does a good job for its price in terms of overall photography. Maybe not be better than Note 7 Pro, but not bad either. The contrast is great, details are fine, colors are great and the sensors do their job well. HDR improves dynamic range and the wide-angle camera does use the lens correctly to come in handy at times.

Vivo Z1 Pro runs on Android 9 Pie with Funtouch 9.0 on top. As a plus, Vivo Z1 Pro comes with a huge 5,000mAh battery. It supports 18W fast charging technology and also packs in a fast charger inside the box. It takes around 2 hours to fully charge from 0 to 100 perfect. Charging it for around 40 minutes can ease you through the day.

Realme 3 Pro

Up next, Realme has it’s mid-range winner under 15,000, the Realme 3 Pro. The super budget smartphone from Realme scores high in almost all the departments. Realme 3 Pro comes with a high polycarbonate body on the featuring a 6.3-inch full HD+ water drop notched display on top. It has added Gorilla Glass 5 with a gradient design at the back.

Rear Camera: At the back, the smartphone has a dual camera setup featuring a 16MP Sony IMX 519 sensor. The main sensor has an f/1.7 aperture coupled with a 5MP depth sensor with an f/2.4 aperture. It’s the same camera as OnePlus 6T.

Front Camera: Up front, Realme 3 Pro uses a 25MP selfie shooter with an f/2.0 aperture.

Camera Performance: Pictures taken in normal model come out sharp. They are well detailed with great contrast, but the colors are not exactly accurate. It uses AI to boost up the colours. Orelse, it works fine. The HDR mode works well adding details in shadows and highlights. Chrome Boost helps to improve the dynamic range and dial up the colours to a huge extent.

Running on Qualcomm Snapdragon 710 processor, Realme 3 Pro available in two variants with the new ColorOS 6.0 on top based on Android 9 Pie. The whole Realme 3 Pro package is backed by a 4,045 mAh battery supporting VOOC 3.0 fast charging (20W) with a Micro USB powered brick inside the box.

Samsung Galaxy M30

Taking the list further, it’s the hit Samsung Galaxy M30 smartphone next on the list. Samsung Galaxy M30 is one of the only smartphones in list to feature a triple camera setup at under Rs 15,000. Galaxy M30 dons a 6.4-inch Super AMOLED Full HD+ display featuring a water drop notch on top called the Infinity-V display. On the outside, it’s a high-quality plastic polycarbonate body with gradient finishes.

Rear Camera: The triple camera system on Galaxy M30 features a 13-megapixel f/1.9 primary shooter coupled with a 5-megapixel ultra-wide lens and a third 5-megapixel depth lens.

Front Camera: Upfront, Samsung Galaxy M30 comes with a 16-megapixel wide sensor.

Camera Performance: The Galaxy M30 offers some great camera performance on a budget. One of the only smartphones to come with a three camera setup, the price justifies for the performance it offers. It matches the likes of Note 7 Pro and Realme 3 Pro, and at times better. The contrast is great, details are good, colors are accurate and natural. The wide-angle lens come in handy at times.

The smartphone runs on Samsung’s own in-house Exynos 7904 SoC octa-core chip coupled with 4GB or 6GB of RAM.

Galaxy M30 runs on Android 8.1 Oreo with One UI on top backed by a massive 5,000mAh battery with support for 15W fast charging (ships with the fast charging supported adapter in the box). The base model of Galaxy M30 starts at Rs 14,990.

Honor 20i

The newly launched Honor 20 series has a perfect camera smartphone at under 15,000 bucks. A toned-down model of the original Honor 20, the new Honor 20i comes with a three camera setup at the back along with a super 32MP camera sensor upfront. On top Honor 20i has an edge to edge water drop notched display measuring 6.21-inches.

It’s a Full HD+ display offering an immersive experience with a thin chin down under. Honor 20i is powered by a Kirin 710 chipset running on Android 9.0 Pie with EMUI 9 skin on top.

Rear Camera: Honor 20i sports a triple rear camera setup consisting of a 24MP primary lens, an 8MP wide angle lens and a 2MP depth sensor.

Front Camera: Up front, the Honor phone has a 32MP camera.

Camera Performance: In broad daylight the shots come out well offering a lot of details and good contrast. The colors are a bit artificial at times and are almost without any noise. AI plays a big role. Overall, it’s good even it artificial and low light. There’s also a special dedicated night mode for long-exposed shots.

The Honor 20i comes with 4GB RAM and 128GB memory, backed a considerable 3,400mAh battery. Currently, after the price cut, Honor 20i is available at under 15,000 rupees starting at Rs 14,999, making it a perfect option for an all-round performance along with some great camera performance.

Redmi Note 7S

The recently-launched Redmi Note 7S takes the next spot replacing the regular Redmi Note 7. The new Redmi Note 7S from Xiaomi is currently the cheapest 48MP camera smartphone in India. Under 15,000 rupees, Note 7S packs in the same 6.3-inch Full HD+ notched display in an 19.5:9 aspect ratio.

The device features a glass sandwich body with Gorilla Glass 5 protection and the same level of protection on the other side of the device. Redmi Note 7S is powered by the same Snapdragon 660 processor as the regular Note 7.

Rear Camera: At the back, Redmi Note 7S comes with a dual camera setup featuring a 48MP main sensor coupled with a 5MP secondary depth sensor. Do note, it’s the Samsung ISOCELL GM1 48MP sensor, and not the Sony 48MP sensor.

Front Camera: Up front, Note 7S sports a 13MP sensor with an f/2.0 aperture.

Camera Performance: The cheapest 48MP camera smartphone in India lives up to its expectations. Maybe not as good as the original 48MP sensor, and there’s an obvious loss of details and dynamic range. Low-light performance is very average. Redmi Note 7S uses pixel binning technology to produce 48MP equivalent images. Images are sharp, well detailed with almost accurate colors. The HDR mode works well adding details in shadows and highlights.

Note 7S is backed by a 4,000mAh battery running on the latest Android 9.0 Pie based MIUI 10. The device is available in two variants with 3GB/4GB of RAM and 32GB/64GB of built-in storage, expandable upto 256GB via a microSD card. Redmi Note 7 in India starts at Rs 10,999.

Asus Zenfone Max Pro M2

Available now at under 10,000 rupees, Max Pro M2 sports a 6.26-inch Full HD+ notched display with Corning Gorilla Glass 6 protection on top. Asus Max Pro M2 also runs on Qualcomm Snapdragon 660 SoC with stock Android UI with Oreo 8.1 OS with Android Pie update on the way.

Rear Camera: Max Pro M2 dons a 12MP + 5MP dual camera system at the back featuring a Sony IMX 486 sensor as the primary shooter.

Front Camera: Upfront, Max Pro M2 features a 13MP front camera.

Camera Performance: Max Pro M2 does a great job in broad daylight. It has an average performance in low light, but you can use the professional mode to improve the details. HDR helps to improve the dynamic range. The Sony IMX 486 sensor helps to add a lot of details without compromising on colours.

Asus Zenfone Max Pro M2 packs up a mammoth 5,000 mAh battery. Available at Rs 9,999, you get 3GB RAM and 32GB storage with support for expandable memory.

Honor 10 Lite

Huawei and Honor phones can continue using US-made products and services, so Qualcomm chips, Corning glasses and Google services will stay on Huawei phones. Honor 10 Lite packs in a 6.21-inch Full HD+ notched display running on HiSilicon Kirin 710 SoC coupled with up to 6GB of RAM and up to 64GB internal storage.

Rear Camera: At the back, the Honor device sports a dual camera system featuring a 13-megapixel primary sensor on the back and a 2-megapixel secondary depth sensor.

Front Camera: Upfront, Honor 10 Lite comes with a 24-megapixel sensor.

Camera Performance: Honor 10 Lite at under Rs 15,000 rupees offers above average camera performance. Images are sharp, quite detailed with some added AI-coded contrast. It struggles a bit in low-light, capture. HDR works well adding details in shadows and highlights.

The whole system is backed by a 3,400mAh battery. Honor 10 Lite is currently available in two options in the country: base model with 3GB RAM and 32GB internal storage starts at Rs 11,999.