Best Smartphones Under 15,000 (September): Vivo Z1 Pro, Realme 5 Pro, Mi A3, Note 7 Pro, Galaxy M30, Honor 10 Lite

Realme 5 series is here and we have two good smartphones in the list this month, followed by the launch of the third generation Mi A3 smartphone. The fight at under Rs 15,000 range continues to get hard, and we have more new smartphones on the way.

Vivo will soon unveil another budget smartphone in the country, Vivo Z1X and Redmi Note 8 series is also in it’s way.

Honor is also planning to launch its recently released 9X smartphones in the country, probably by late September.

The September edition of the top smartphones under 15,000 rupees list remains mostly the same except for a few new additions: Mi A3, Realme 5 and Realme 5 Pro. Redmi Note 8 series will launch in eight weeks. Here goes our latest September list of the top 10 smartphones under Rs 15,000.

Only the best value-for-money under 15000 smartphones are chosen based on camera performance, gaming experience, multitasking optimisation, display quality and battery performance.

Realme 5 Pro

On top we have the newly launched Realme 5 Pro. With a high quality polycarbonate body on the out, the smartphone comes with a 6.3-inch Full HD+ display with Corning Gorilla Glass 3+ for protection offering a screen resolution of 1080 x 2340 pixels. Realme 5 Pro is powered by Qualcomm’s new Snapdragon 712 SoC, the same chip which powers Vivo Z1 Pro with 4GB, 6GB or 8GB of RAM and 128GB storage.

Realme 5 Pro is the only quad rear camera smartphone under Rs 15,000 with a primary 48-megapixel Sony IMX586 primary sensor. The f/1.8 sensor couples with an 8-megapixel ultra wide-angle with an f/2.25 aperture and a 119-degree wide-angle lens.

The last two lenses are a 2-megapixel macro lens and a 2-megapixel portrait lens with f/2.4 aperture. Both the cameras upfront and back offer electronic image stabilisation (EIS). Realme 5 Pro runs on a sizable 4,035mAh battery supporting VOOC 3.0 fast charging along with the compatible 20W fast charger in the box.

Redmi Note 7 Pro

Coming to the second most-popular smartphone in the list, Redmi Note 7 Pro continues to be in the top 3 in the list of 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.

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.

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. 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. It houses a massive battery, features a triple camera system along with a dot-hole display without any notch. 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. Vivo Z1 Pro is powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 712 processor as Realme 5 Pro with a three camera system at the back panel.

Starting with optics, Vivo Z1 Pro uses a 16-megapixel sensor, an 8-megapixel super-wide secondary sensor and finally a 2-megapixel depth sensor. Upfront, the Vivo phone packs in a 32-megapixel selfie shooter.

Vivo Z1 Pro runs on Android 9 Pie with Funtouch 9.0 on top. As a big 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.

Mi A3

The third generation Mi A3 has been unveiled recently, and the smartphone will sell starting at Rs 12,999 in the country. With a very good 3D curved glass design on the out, Mi A3 feels very premium and compact. It features a 6.08-inch HD+ AMOLED display with a circular drop styled notch and 19.5:9 aspect ratio. The handset comes with an in-display fingerprint sensor, full-glass body with gradient finish and a triple camera system.

Xiaomi Mi A3 is powered by Snapdragon 665 SoC coupled with up to 6GB of RAM and 128GB storage. Both the variants of the Mi A smartphone supports UFS 2.1 storage capabilities.

At the back Mi A3 has a triple camera setup featuring the 48-megapixel primary Sony IMX 586 sensor, an 8-megapixel secondary sensor with a 118-degree and a wide-angle 2-megapixel tertiary sensor. Upfront, Mi A3 features a 32-megapixel selfie camera. The device is backed by a 4,000+mAh battery with support for 18W fast charging (ships with standard 10W charger in the box).

Realme 3 Pro

Up next, Realme has it’s mid-range winner under 15,000, the Realme 5 Pro predecessor. Still a good option at under 15,000 rupees, the smartphone is now available at a Rs 1,000 flat discount. Realme 3 Pro 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, 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. Up front, Realme 3 Pro uses a 25MP selfie shooter with an f/2.0 aperture.

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. The base variant of Realme 3 Pro now at starts at Rs 12,999, available via Flipkart and Realme official site.

Samsung Galaxy M30

Taking the list further, it’s the hit Samsung Galaxy M30 smartphone next on the list. Samsung Galaxy M30 used to be one of the only smartphones in list to feature a triple camera setup at under Rs 15,000 before Vivo Z1 Pro and Realme 5 Pro. 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.

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

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. 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).

Redmi Note 7S

Redmi Note 7S takes the next spot replacing the regular Redmi Note 7 (now unavailable). The Note 7S from Xiaomi is currently the most affordable 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 featuring a glass sandwich body with Gorilla Glass 5 protection and the same level protection on the other side of the device.

Redmi Note 7S is powered by Snapdragon 660 processor coupled with 3GB/4GB of RAM and 32GB/64GB of built-in storage, expandable upto 256GB via a microSD card.

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. Up front, Note 7S sports a 13MP sensor with an f/2.0 aperture. Note 7S is backed by a 4,000mAh battery running on the latest Android 9.0 Pie based MIUI 10.

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 is currently available in two options in the country: base model with 3GB RAM and 32GB internal storage starts at Rs 11,999. 

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.

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. Upfront, Honor 10 Lite comes with a 24-megapixel sensor, backed by a 3,400mAh battery.

Realme 5

Realme 5 series became the first budget series in India to come with quad camera smartphones. The device sports a 6.5-inch HD+ display protected by Corning Gorilla Glass 3. Under the hood Realme 5 runs on Qualcomm Snapdragon 665 chipset, built on the 11nm process. The memory can further be expanded via microSD card with a dedicated slot.

Coming to the USP of the device, Realms 5 packs in a quad camera system at the back featuring a 12-megapixel f/1.8 primary camera, an 8-megapixel ultra-wide lens, and two 2-megapixel 4CM macro and depth sensors.

Up front, Realme 5 features an AI-backed 13-megapixel sensor. The whole package is backed by a massive 5,000mAh battery. The device will run on Android 9 Pie with ColorOS 6 skin. It has a 3D-cut polycarbonate body on the out and a fingerprint sensor. You can get all the models of the Realme 5 smartphone under Rs 15,000 starting with 3GB RAM and 32GB storage.

Honor 8X

The Honor 7X successor was unveiled back in October last year, and still continues to be a good purchase at under 15,000 rupees. The smartphone comes with a 6.5-inch Full HD+ with a notch on top running on an octa-core Kirin 710 12 nm processor. Honor 8X has Android 8.1 Oreo as its UI with EMUI 8.2 on top featuring a 20-megapixel primary rear camera coupled with a secondary 2-megapixel camera and a 16-megapixel selfie camera.

Honor 8X offers a massive display with amazing viewing experience, sizeable 3,750 mAh battery and great camera performance, starting at Rs 10,999 for the base model with 4GB RAM and 64GB storage.

Starting with the design, it’s one of the most sturdy devices you can use, even till today. Honor 8X is still available, and at Rs 10,999, it does make perfect sense to buy it. The company is planning to launch Honor 9X series soon  which will replace the current 8X. It has a clear design on the outside without much clutter and hues, offering apt day to day performance, the cameras do a fair job, while the gaming performance is standard.