As premium smartphone prices continue to shoot northward, we’re seeing a shift in some of the old price segments and currently, the Rs. 10,000 segment is essentially the entry point if you want a decent, functioning Android smartphone. Most phone’s at this price still don’t offer an ideal experience, but there are a few that are worth recommending if you’re working with a very tight budget or simply need a secondary phone. We’ll admit, we haven’t been able to test all of the latest offerings in this segment, but we have updated out list with options that we feel are worth checking out.
The Realme C31 is a recent addition that offers a good design and battery life. The Micromax In 2b is still worth getting as it to strike a good balance between performance, design, and price. There’s also the Moto E40 and Realme Narzo 30A. Here are the best smartphones in India under Rs. 10,000 in no particular order.
Best phones under 10,000
| Phones under Rs. 10,000 | Gadgets 360 rating (out of 10) | Price in India (as recommended) |
|---|---|---|
| Motorola Moto E40 | 7 | Rs. 9,999 |
| Micromax In 2b | 8 | Rs. 8,999 |
| Realme Narzo 30A | 8 | Rs. 8,999 |
| Realme C31 | 7 | Rs. 9,999 |
Motorola Moto E40
The Moto E40 is a decent budget offering Motorola in the sub-Rs. 10,000 segment. It offers acceptable hardware, and performance is adequate for causal use. The Unisoc T700 SoC chugs along just fine for everyday apps, but isn’t going to be suitable if you often switch to more demanding tasks such as video editing. Heavy apps and games take a bit longer than usual to load too. Still, there are plenty of things to like about this phone, such as its 90Hz display, clean and bloat-free Android experience, and decent battery life. Its main shortcomings are slow charging and average camera performance, which are not out of the ordinary for a phone at this price.
Micromax In 2b
The Micromax In 2b may not be a jack of all trades, but it is good at the basics, which increases its value over some competing smartphones. The phone’s back is made of plastic but is practical in terms of design and does not gather fingerprints and smudges. Its display is sufficiently bright and shows decent colours, keeping in mind its entry-level price tag. The Unisoc T610 SoC in the phone turned out to be a decent performer, for a phone in this class. Camera performance was weak, but battery life and the software experience were very good, making this a strong contender in the segment.
Realme Narzo 30A
The Realme Narzo 30A still offers good value for its current selling price. It has a fresh design with a square-shaped camera module as well as a rear-mounted fingerprint scanner. The display size is generous at 6.5 inches but it only has an HD+ resolution. The Narzo 30A is powered by the MediaTek Helio G85 SoC and comes with up to 4GB of RAM and 64GB of storage.
You get a dual-camera setup on the Narzo 30A which delivers decent photos in daylight, but low-light camera performance is below average. If you like taking a lot of selfies, the Realme Narzo 30A will keep you happy. The big battery also helps deliver excellent battery life but it comes at the cost of the device being slightly big and bulky.
Realme C31
The Realme C31 performs well as a daily driver for casual use. The phone looks modern and stylish and at first glance, it’s tough to tell that it’s actually a budget device. The 5,000mAh battery is also sufficient to deliver good battery life. While the SoC can handle basic multitasking and social apps, gaming isn’t exactly its forte, which means you’ll need to stick to casual games at best on this one.
The cameras on the C31 could’ve been better and we didn’t like the fact that Portrait mode only works with human subjects. We think it’s best if you get the higher RAM and storage variant of the Realme C31, instead of the base model, since that price difference is not much and it should offer better performance in the long run.
