The under Rs.15,000 price point is crucial to the Indian smartphone industry since it is accessible to a lot of people. Over the years we have seen multiple manufacturers attempting to capture this segment by offering better cameras, faster processors, and better batteries. In order to be the best in this segment, manufacturers have flooded the sub-Rs. 15,000 price segment with a range of good smartphones.
The Qualcomm Snapdragon 660 which was earlier exclusive to smartphones above Rs. 20,000 is now available under Rs. 15,000. You can also find mightier processors like the Qualcomm Snapdragon 675, and MediaTek Helio P70 at this price point, giving users powerful hardware at a bargain price.
Good camera technology has also trickled down to the sub Rs. 15,000 segment over the years giving people the option to capture good photos without paying a bomb for flagship devices. Some of the recent smartphones we have seen in this price point pack in as much as a 48-megapixel sensor. With so many options in the market, picking up a smartphone isn’t easy. But we’ve put together a list of the best phones under Rs. 15,000 for you. As usual, we've restricted ourselves to phones that have fared well in our review process.
1.Realme 7
The Realme 7 brings in three main upgrades over the Realme 6 — a new SoC, a bigger battery, and a new primary camera sensor. It features a mirror-split design, which creates some interesting patterns when light hits it. The Realme 7 is actually thicker (9.4mm) and heavier (196.5g) than the 6, due to its larger battery, and this is very noticeable in daily usage.
The Realme 7 is the first phone to debut with the MediaTek Helio G95 SoC. This is an updated version of the Helio G90T, which was seen in the Realme 6, but it's not a major upgrade. Performance is pretty satisfactory. The Realme 7 uses Realme UI, based on Android 10, which worked smoothly. Face recognition and the side-mounted fingerprint sensor are also quick. The Realme 7 is good with games too. Battle Prime looked great at the highest graphics settings and gameplay was smooth.
The Realme 7 gets a chunky, 5,000mAh battery and you can charge the battery fairly quickly too, thanks to the 30W Dart Charge fast charging.
The new primary rear camera in the Realme 7 offers a noticeable improvement in pixel-binned images, comapred to the Realme 6. It exhibits improved dynamic range and exposure, with better details too. Low light photos look cleaner too, with less grain. Shots captured using Night mode look more pleasing, compared to what the Realme 6 can produce. The Realme 7 can shoot videos at up to 4K, but without stabilisation. Colours are a bit on the warmer side.
1.Realme 7 Specifications
| Display | 6.50-inch, 1080x2400 pixels |
| Processor | MediaTek Helio G95 |
| RAM | 8GB |
| Storage | 128GB |
| Battery Capacity | 5000mAh |
| Rear Camera | 64MP + 8MP + 2MP + 2MP |
| Front Camera | 16MP |
2.Motorola Moto G9
Motorola Moto G9 Specifications
| Display | 6.50-inch, 720x1600 pixels |
| Processor | Qualcomm Snapdragon 662 |
| RAM | 4GB |
| Storage | 64GB |
| Battery Capacity | 5000mAh |
| Rear Camera | 48MP + 2MP + 2MP |
| Front Camera | 8MP |
3.Poco M2 Pro
The Poco M2 Pro has an attractive design and is built well, but it also looks very similar to the Redmi Note 9 Pro. It features a P2i water-repellent coating, which is said to make it splash-proof. Poco has used a 6.67-inch full-HD+ LCD display, with a cutout for the selfie camera. You also get Gorilla Glass 5 on the front, back, and the rear camera module. One feature that's missing is a high refresh rate.
The Poco M2 Pro runs on MIUI 11, which is based on Android 10, and my unit had the June security patch. Apart from having the Poco Launcher as a default, the features and functionality are very similar to what you get on Redmi devices.
MIUI and app performance were superb thanks to the Qualcomm Snapdragon 720G SoC. Navigating through MIUI's interface felt snappy, multitasking worked well, and apps in general were quick to load. Gaming performance was very good too. The 5,000mAh capacity easily lasted for an entire day, even with lots of gaming and camera usage.
The Poco M2 Pro has four rear cameras, which include a primary 48-megapixel sensor, an 8-megapixel sensor with a wide-angle lens, a 5-megapixel macro camera, and a 2-megapixel depth camera. You get a 16-megapixel hole-punch selfie camera. Overall, the cameras of the Poco M2 Pro performed decently under good light, but struggled to deliver satisfactory results in low light.
Poco M2 Pro Specifications
| Display | 6.67-inch, 1080x2400 pixels |
| Processor | Qualcomm Snapdragon 720G |
| RAM | 4GB |
| Storage | 64GB |
| Battery Capacity | 5020mAh |
| Rear Camera | 48MP + 8MP + 5MP + 2MP |
| Front Camera | 16MP |
Price:₹13,990
Poco M2 Pro (4GB RAM, 64GB) - Green and Greener
PricePrice:₹14,990
Poco M2 Pro (6GB RAM, 64GB) - Out of the Blue
4.Realme 6i
The Realme 6i is a budget smartphone from Realme and is a toned-down version of the Realme 6. This smartphone sports some interesting hardware such as the 90Hz display which isn't available from the competition. The Realme 6 sports a 6.5-inch display and has a hole-punch design to accommodate the selfie camera.
Powering the Realme 6i is a MediaTek Helio G90T SoC which is paired with either 4GB or 6GB of RAM. The storage between both variants remains the same at 64GB. The Realme 6i has a quad-camera setup at the back with a 48-megapixel primary camera, an 8-megapixel ultra-wide-angle camera, a 2-megapixel macro camera and a 2-megapixel depth sensor.
The phone runs Realme UI on top of Android 10. There is some amount of bloatware that comes preinstalled on the device and we did encounter some spammy notifications. The camera performance from the Realme 6i was good in daylight using the primary camera. Its wide-angle camera offered decent details. Lowlight camera performance wasn't as good as we saw a noticeable dip in performance.
The Realme 6i packs in a 4,300mAh battery which offers all-day battery life. It is also bundled with a 20W charger for quick charging.
Realme 6i Specifications
| Display | 6.50-inch, 1080x2400 pixels |
| Processor | MediaTek Helio G90T |
| RAM | 4GB |
| Storage | 64GB |
| Battery Capacity | 4300mAh |
| Rear Camera | 48MP + 8MP + 2MP + 2MP |
| Front Camera | 16MP |
Price:₹13,999
Realme 6i (6GB RAM, 64GB) - Lunar White5.Realme Narzo 10
The Realme Narzo 10 is a low-cost phone that claims to offer a great experience for young gamers thanks to the MediaTek Helio G80 SoC. It has an interesting look with subtle stripes down the back that appear to shift as you turn the phone under the light. It feels well built but is a little heavy thanks to the 5000mAh battery. The 6.5-inch display is quite good and the HD resolution won't stress the processor too much, but some might prefer a crisper full-HD panel at this price. There are no variants, so you can only get this phone with 4GB of RAM and 128GB of storage in India. Gaming performance is quite good, though we did feel the upper rear get a bit warm while playing heavy games. Battery life is excellent and you can get well over a day of usage out of each charge. The cameras are largely average, with the primary one doing well in the daytime but the wide-angle and macro cameras feeling a little sub-par. Low light photography isn't great, and video is also limited in quality.
Realme Narzo 10 Specifications
| Display | 6.50-inch, 720x1600 pixels |
| Processor | MediaTek Helio G80 |
| RAM | 4GB |
| Storage | 128GB |
| Battery Capacity | 5000mAh |
| Rear Camera | 48MP + 8MP + 2MP + 2MP |
| Front Camera | 16MP |
Price:₹13,999
Realme 6i (6GB RAM, 64GB) - Lunar White
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