Best Smartphones Under Rs 20,000 (September): Realme X, Poco F1, Realme 5 Pro, Huawei Y9 Prime, Galaxy M40, Moto One Vision, Vivo V15

The under 20,000 segment remains largely the same from the last month with a new addition, the just-launched Realme 5 Pro. Realme X and Poco F1 are the toppers with the newer additions as Huawei Y9 Prime, Vivo Z1 Pro, Samsung Galaxy M40 and Moto One Vision. Realme will soon be unveiling Realme XT in the same price segment.

Realme X continue to the biggest attraction in list with the new Huawei Y9 Prime pacing high, the cheapest pop-up camera smartphone available in India.

There are three punch-hole display smartphones featuring in the list: Galaxy M40, Moto One Vision and Vivo Z1 Pro, a trend taken over from water drop notches. The new trend, pop-up selfie sensors and full-screen displays also take up some space with Y9 Prime and Realme X, and more new smartphones on the way.

Here goes our list of the top 10 smartphones under Rs 20,000 for September with the best-sellers from Xiaomi, Realme, Samsung, Vivo, Nokia and Asus.

The best value-for-money devices are only chosen based on camera performance, gaming experience, multitasking optimisation, display quality and battery performance.

Realme X

Realme finally been launched the much anticipated Realme X smartphone country India last month. It has been trending in the country since then, and the pricing of Redmi K20 has worked as a favour for the new Realme smartphone. Backed by some sleek features, the new Realme X device turns out to be a top contender at under Rs 20,000 with a full-screen AMOLED display, pop-up sensor, in-display fingerprint sensor, 48MP camera and more.

It’s the first Realme notch-less smartphone runs on the Snapdragon 710 chip featuring a full-screen AMOLED display with an in-display fingerprint sensor embedded beneath the display.

Realme X is available via Flipkart starting at Rs 16,999 for the base model with 4GB RAM and 128GB storage. At the back, Realme X comes with dual cameras featuring the 48MP Sony IMX 586 sensor as the primary shooter. The company also launched a couple of special Realme X variants: Spiderman and Onion Garlic.

Poco F1

After the recent price cut, Poco F1 is now available starting at Rs 17,999 in India. Poco F1 is currently the one of the best smartphones you can buy at under 20,000 rupees. Poco F1 comes with a 6.18-inch Full HD+ display offering a resolution of 1080 x 2246 pixels in an 18.7:9 aspect ratio. Under the hood, Poco F1 runs on the previous Qualcomm flagship Snapdragon 845 SoC coupled with Adreno 630 GPU.

The Xiaomi flagship is backed by 6GB or 8GB RAM and 64GB, 128GB and 256GB storage respectively. The memory can be further expanded up to 256GB via an additional microSD card.

In terms of optics, Poco F1 comes with a dual rear camera setup offering a combination of 12-megapixel and 5-megapixel secondary camera and a 20-megapixel selfie camera. It’s backed by a non-removable Li-Po 4,000 mah battery running on Android 8.1 Oreo with a special Poco customised MIUI 9.6 skin on top.

Huawei Y9 Prime

Huawei launched its first pop-up sensor smartphone in the country, the Y9 Prime. The new Huawei Y9 Prime is also the most affordable pop-up sensor smartphone available in the country right now. The device comes with a 6.59-inch FullView display with a 91 percent screen-to-body ratio. The new Huawei smartphone runs on an octa-core Kirin 710F chipset, a slightly improved version of the existing Kirin 710 chip clocked at 2.2 GHz.

Huawei Y9 Prime is going to be available in a single variant in the country with 4GB of RAM and 128GB internal storage.

Coming to optics, the device packs in a triple rear camera system at the back. The triple camera setup on Huawei Y9 Prime comprises of a 16MP primary sensor, 8MP secondary sensor and a 2MP tertiary depth sensor.

Up front, Y9 Prime packs in a 16MP pop-up selfie camera. Huawei Y9 Prime houses a large 4,000 mAh battery with support for fast charging running on EMUI 9.0 based on Android 9 Pie. Huawei Y9 Prime is priced at Rs 15,990, to be available exclusively via Amazon.

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 in the list, available at under Rs 20,000.

The device comes 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.

Motorola One Vision

The recently-launched Motorola One Vision is takes the second spot to join the top smartphones under 20,000 list in the country. Available at Rs 19,999, the new Moto device runs on Google’s Android One program offering Pixel-like seamless user interface. The device comes with a 48-megapixel primary camera along with a 5-megapixel secondary sensor on the back.

Moto One Vision flaunts a 6.3-inch Full HD+ display with 21:9 aspect taller display ratio and 3D Corning Gorilla Glass on the back. Up front, Motorola One Vision has a 25-megapixel selfie camera.

Motorola One Vision is powered by Samsung’s Exynos 9609 processor with 4GB RAM and 128GB built-in storage. The storage can be further expanded with an external microSD card. The device runs on Android 9.0 Pie with guaranteed upgrade till the next two versions, Android Q and Android R. It houses a 3,500mAh battery supporting 15W fast charging technology.

Redmi Note 7 Pro

Up next, we have the popular mid-ranger from Xiaomi, Redmi Note 7 Pro. Being one of the current best mid-budget smartphones in the country rupees, it packs in some top flagship-level features with a premium glass design body on the out sandwiched between Corning Gorilla Glass 5 body. Just available starting at Rs 13,999, Redmi Note 7 Pro can easily fight off the higher priced stalwarts. 

The device comes with a 6.3-inch Full HD+ dot notch display running on Snapdragon 675 processor running on tje latest MIUI 10 UI on top based on Android 9 Pie, backed by a 4,000mAh battery supporting 18W fast charge (doesn’t ship with a fast charger). 

At the back, Redmi Note 7 Pro comes with a dual camera setup 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 (for the base model with 4GB RAM and 64GB storage) via Flipkart and Mi.com.

Vivo Z1 Pro

Vivo launched its all new Z series smartphone in the country this July. Vivo Z1 Pro is currently available via Flipkart starting at just Rs 14,999, making it a solid contender at under 20,000 rupees. Vivo Z1 Pro will come with an in-display camera on the upfront with a punch-hole. Vivo Z1 Pro sports a 6.53-inch Full HD+ display offering a screen-to-body ratio of 90.77 per cent running on Qualcomm Snapdragon 712.

The three camera setup on Vivo Z1 Pro comprises a 16-megapixel primary sensor accompanied by an 8-megapixel wide secondary sensor and a tertiary 2-megapixel depth sensor.

Up front, the Vivo phone sports a 32-megapixel selfie shooter inside the punch hole. Finally, Vivo Z1 Pro is backed by a massive 5,000mAh battery. It can easily run for close to two days on a single charge. If that is not enough, Vivo Z1 Pro support 18W fast charging technology (ships with the fast charging brick in the box). So, you can juice up quick. The phone runs on Android 9 Pie with Funtouch 9.0 on top.

Samsung Galaxy M40

The newly launched Samsung smartphone comes with a punch-hole display, an Infinity-O Display panel. It was the first smartphone to be launched under 20,000 rupees with a hole-punch camera design. The smartphone packs in a fingerprint sensor at the back with a triple rear camera setup. On top, Samsung Galaxy M40 comes with a 6.3-inch Full HD+ display with a screen resolution of 1080 x 2340 pixels with the Infinity-O cut.

In terms of optics, Galaxy M40 packs in a triple camera system featuring a 32-megapixel primary sensor with an f/1.7 aperture. Additionally there’s a 5-megapixel secondary depth sensor with an f/2.2 aperture.

Finally there’s an 8-megapixel tertiary sensory with an ultra-wide-angle lens with an f/2.2 aperture and 123 degree wide angle view with AI supported features. Upfront, the smartphone has a 16-megapixel selfie camera running on Snapdragon 675 SoC coupled with 6GB of RAM, 128GB storage on Android 9 Pie with company’s own One UI on top, backed by a 3,500mAh battery supporting 15W wired fast charging technology.

Vivo V15

After the latest price cut, Vivo V15 is now available at under Rs 20,000 in India starting at Rs 19,990. The smartphone comes with a rear triple-camera system with a full-screen display and a pop-up selfie camera. It’s the only smartphone at under 20,000 rupees to come with a pop-up selfie sensor and a rear triple camera system. The fingerprint sensor sits perfectly at the back.

Vivo V15 comes with a 6.53-inch Full HD+ display with a bit of a chin at the bottom protected by Gorilla Glass 5. The smartphone runs on the much-dependable 12nm MediaTek Helio P70 paired upto 6GB of RAM. 

The three camera system of the Vivo V15 features a 12-megapixel main sensor with f/1.78 aperture, an 8-megapixel ultra-wide sensor with f/2.2 aperture and the last 5-megapixel shooter with f/2.2 aperture.

The pop-up selfie camera up front houses a 32-megapixel f/2.2 aperture sensor. The system is backed by a 4,000mAh battery, which can run a little over a day on average. Vivo V15 delivers a decent performance on a budget with some premium features at under 20,000 bucks. Of all, the camera performance is well above average offering some great photography experience.

Samsung Galaxy A50

Samsung Galaxy A50 is currently available starting at Rs 19,990. The A series maestro from Samsung packs in a three camera system at the back, a super AMOLED display and an in-display fingerprint sensor. Galaxy A50 comes with a 6.4-inch Super AMOLED display running on in-house Exynos 9610 SoC chip with an in-display fingerprint sensor, backed by a 4,000mAh battery with support for 15W fast charging.

The highlighting feature is the triple camera setup at the back. The Galaxy A50 packs a 25-megapixel sensor with f/1.7 aperture, an 8-megapixel ultra-wide lens with f/2.2 aperture and a 5-megapixel sensor with an f/2.2 aperture.

The smartphone can capture some great shots irrespective of lighting conditions. Upfront, the Galaxy A50 features a 25-megapixel camera with f/2.0 aperture.

Samsung Galaxy A50 in all does a good job, making it a great option at under 20,000 rupees. The smartphone boasts a top-quality screen, big battery, an ultrasonic under-display sensor, three cameras at the back, a much-premium design, all at an affordable mid-range pricing.