Smartphones have become an important part of our life. Especially in India getting a Smartphone is considered to be a big deal. Buying a Smartphone is like an investment and we spent a good amount of our income and savings to buy one. This makes it very important for us to get the right one which suits our needs. Why? Well, once you spend your money on buying a smartphone then you have to stick with it. You can’t change your decisions or get a second chance to choose a different smartphone if you didn’t like the first one. This makes choosing the right and obviously The best phone under 15000 is a very difficult task.

Ever since the mid-range smartphone market emerged so much it created a lot of healthy competition which is at the end good for consumers. But at the same time, it also created a lot of confusion. Having a plethora of smartphone in this range makes choosing one very difficult. Here are a few things you should consider; first, don’t rush to buy a new smartphone. You should also do some research first and check if the phone meets your requirement criteria and budget then compare the price both online and offline, check out user reviews on the internet, and then finally pick the right one which will last you a few years.

If you are in the market looking for the best smartphone you can buy under 15,000 then this article is for you. Nowadays Good phones are getting cheap and cheap phones are getting good. Some years before to get a good smartphone you have to spend a flagship price but nowadays it is possible to get a good performing device under 10,000 to 15,000 Rs. In this budget, you can also focus on last year’s flagship but they won’t offer you good battery life and updated software while this year’s mid-rangers will offer you great battery life as well as an up to date software.

This is the range where you should consider getting a mid-range smartphone. You can get a smartphone with an all-glass body, a good processor like the Snapdragon 710 or Snapdragon 675 and a large 4000 to 5000 mAh battery. At this budget we have to play a budget game, if are excited to get a lot of features, you also have to sacrifice some. We have compiled the best phone list which is available under 15,000 Rs. The phones in the list are the one that stands out amongst others and deserves to be in the list.

10 best phone under 15000 in India

This article has been put together with a lot of research and hard work. Here you will find all the tips you need to find the perfect smartphone for your need. You will save a lot of your time, money and you also don’t have to visit shops to shops and deal Store Salesman who tries to sell you an unworthy smartphone. You also don’t have to torture your mind by visiting smartphone comparing websites.

We have done extensive research on 100+ Smartphone models available in the market and here are our top recommended for best phone under 15000.

1. Samsung Galaxy A30

When the Chinese Smartphone brands were leading the budget smartphone segment Samsung finally realized it and launched 2 new series as Galaxy M and Galaxy A to provide value for money affordable smartphones. The Samsung Galaxy A30 is the mid-range model from the series and was launched in February 2019. The Samsung Galaxy A30 offers some great features at a very affordable price. Let’s check it out and see if it’s worth.

The phone is entirely made of plastic and feels great to hold in hand. The design on the resembles what we saw on the Asus Zenfone Max Pro M2. On the front you have the tall bezel-less display despite you have a small top and bottom chin. The display also has a dot notch or what sample calls it Infinity U Notch for the front camera and speaker Grille. On the back, you have a glossy finish which looks very good and makes the phone looks premium. The phone sells in three colour variant; Black, Blue, and Red. Personally, I liked the black colour the most.

The volume and power buttons are located on the right side of the phone. On the left is where you will find the SIM card tray. Samsung packed a dual nano-SIM card slot along with a dedicated micro SD card slot which is really appreciated. There’s nothing on the top and on the bottom, you have the 3.5 mm headphone jack followed by Type-C USB port, Primary Microphone, and Speaker Grille. On the back where lies the horizontally aligned dual rear-facing camera setup, Fingerprint Scanner, and the traditional Samsung Logo.

The phone features a 6.4 inch super AMOLED display with a screen resolution of 1080 x 2340 pixels. The display is in 19.5:9 aspect ratio and has 403 PPI density. Having the Infinity U Notched helped the device to achieve an 84.9% screen to body ratio. The display here is very vibrant and easily visible even in outdoors making it great for media consumption. The display here is well protected by Corning Gorilla Glass 3.

Now let’s talk about the hardware on this best phone under 15000. The Samsung Galaxy A30 features an Octa-Core Exynos 7904 Chipset which has 2 cores clocked at 1.8 GHz with Cortex-A73 Architecture while the other 6 cores are clocked at 1.6 GHz with Cortex A53 Architecture. In terms of graphics performance, the phone has Mali-G71 MP2 GPU. There are a couple of variants of this phone available such as 3GB + 32GB and 4GB + 64GB. The internal storage is further expandable up to 1TB via a dedicated micro SD card slot.

In terms of Cameras the Samsung Galaxy A30 sports dual rear-facing camera setup with a 16 MP primary sensor with f/1.7 aperture paired with a 5 MP secondary ultra-wide sensor with f/2.2 aperture. Other features include a LED flash, HDR, and Panorama support. The main camera is capable of recording 1080p videos @ 30fps. On the other hand, there’s the Single 16 MP camera with f/2.0 aperture inside the notch which is also capable of recording 1080p videos @ 30fps.

In terms of connectivity, the device has Wi-Fi 802.11, Bluetooth 5.0, GPS, FM radio, USB, 2.0, and Type-C 1.0 reversible connector. The phone has a massive 4000 mAh battery with Samsung’s 15 W fast charging support. With the AMOLED screen and great optimization, the battery will easily last you a full day on light usage.

Upon our testing, the battery lasted a full day on normal browsing with 20% Juice left. The software on this phone is Android 9.0 Pie out of the box with Samsung One UI 1.1 skin on top. The phone has very less bloatware and only a few preloaded apps like Microsoft Office and Daily Hunt News.

Overall the Samsung Galaxy A30 is a great phone but Samsung is somehow trying to compete with their own smartphones. There’s Samsung Galaxy M30 also available in the same range which offers a bigger battery, more RAM and Storage, and some other improvements. There are also other smartphones which offers much more value than this like the Redmi Note 7 Pro but it also depends upon you about what you think about the brand.

What I Liked

The AMOLED display here is really great. I liked how mid-range smartphones are also started getting AMOLED display. This also helps saves you a lot of battery and also gives you the always-on display feature. With the tall display and amazing viewing angles, my media consumption experience was great.

The device has Dual nano sim card along with a dedicated Micro SD card slot which memory expansion easier. The phone also supports Dual Volte which is great. The phone is also great in terms of network performance even on the low network the device holds pretty well.

What I Didn’t Liked

This the very best phone under 15000 we’ve called has a plastic build which is very prone to scratches and fingerprints. I recommend you to use the Transparent TPU case included in the box to protect it from scratches. There is also No Notification LED which is not acceptable considering it is a mid-range phone. There is also annoying notification and ads on the lock screen which makes the whole experience unpleasant.

Fingerprint sensor harder to reach as it is located higher on the back panel. The phone is great for all day to day tasks. It will handle everything with ease but when it comes to gaming the phone doesn’t stand out well. If we try to compare it with the competition then the Phone lacks a lot behind the Redmi Note 7 Pro and the Realme 3. lastly, the camera performance here is also not that great when compared to the competition.

2. OPPO K1

The OPPO K1 is one of its kind. It was the first smartphone to introduce the under display fingerprint scanner in sub 15,000 price bracket. The device was launched in October 2018 and offers some great specifications. The K Series is a new addition and this is their first smartphone. The panel will remind you of the typical iPhone 7 design but the addition with the gradient looks really cool here. Let’s start off with the build first.

The OPPO K1 features a bezel-less design on the front with a minor bottom chin. On the front, you get the tall display with a notch design on top. The notch houses the front camera and the speaker grille. Under the display you have the On-Screen Fingerprint scanner which is the main attraction of this device. On the back is where you see the gradient style design. The back has a purple and a blue gradient finish.

The top side of the design is clean and has no I/O to it. On the bottom is where you find the 3.5 mm headphone jack, primary microphone, USB type A charging port, and the speaker grille. On the right, you have the power button and on the left side, you have your sim tray and the separated volume rockers. Looking at the back you have the horizontal aligned Dual rear-facing camera setup and the dual-LED flash. The traditional OPPO logo is located at the centre of the back.

The OPPO K1 features a large 6.41 inch Super AMOLED display with a screen resolution of 1080 x 2340 pixels. It has a 19.5:9 aspect ratio with 402 PPI density. The phone comes in four colour variant; Blue, Red, Silver Green and Black. The blue colour is the one I like the most while I found the gradient finish on the back has a weird effect.

The device is powered by the Octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 660 Chipset which has 4 cores clocked at 2.0 GHz with Kryo 260 architecture & the other 4 cores are clocked at 1.8 GHz with Kryo 260 architecture. In terms of GPU, the phone has Adreno 512. You can buy OPPO K1, best phone under 15000 in various RAM and Storage configurations such as 4 GB + 64 GB and 6Gb + 64GB. The internal storage is further expandable up to 256 GB via a dedicated MicroSD card slot.

Now let’s talk about cameras on this phone. The OPPO K1 features a dual rear-facing camera setup with a 16 MP primary sensor with f/1.8 aperture paired with a 2 MP secondary depth sensor with f/2.4 aperture. The rear camera also packs LED flash, HDR, and Panorama support. On the front you have the 25 MP selfie shooter with f/2.0 aperture inside the notch. The camera also has some software features such as beauty mode which uses AI to enhance your photography.

Connectivity options in OPPO K1 include Wi-Fi 802.11, Bluetooth 5.0, GPS, micro USB 2.0, and USB On-The-Go. Out of the box the phone runs on Android 8.1 Oreo with Company’s own Color OS 5.2 Skin on top. The device has a 3600 mAh battery with a 10 W OPPO’s fast charging support, the battery will last you a full day on day to day task like browsing and watching videos but if you decide to do heaving gaming on it then you will have to charge it a couple of times.

Overall the OPPO K1 is a great mid-range smartphone & Probably the best phone under 15000 for Middle-class families. The AMOLED display and the In-Display Fingerprint scanner is a great addition in the budget segment. The phone is great for everyday use and light gaming. If you get a good deal on this phone then I recommend you to go for it.

What I Liked

Being an AMOLED display helps the phone saves a lot of batteries. The colours pop out really well and is easily visible in the sunlight. The display is also well protected by the Corning Gorilla Glass 5. There’s another reason why this phone has an AMOLED display, placing an In-Display Fingerprint below an IPS LCD display is not currently possible now. This OPPO device is one of the most affordable devices to pack an In-Display Fingerprint scanner for security.

What I Didn’t Liked

The phone has a plastic built (Which is normal for best phone under 15000) but still it feels great in Hands. While the back panel is made of plastic it is very prone to scratches. I recommend you to use any kind of case and protect it from scratches. The OPPO K1 also lacks the USB Type C port, the phone is still having the Micro USB port. The Os here is also not liked by many including myself. It is also running an Older version of Android and might receive an update but i would have liked Stock Android experience here.

3. Nokia 6.1 Plus

Ever since the HMD global took over Nokia, the company has launched a bunch of exciting smartphone in both budget and mid-range series. The company also launched a couple of best phone under 15000 in the Android One initiative and the Nokia 6.1 Plus is one of them. The Nokia 6.1 Plus is the third smartphone in the Nokia 6 Series being the Nokia 6 (2017) and Nokia 6 (2018) as its predecessor. The Nokia 6.1 Plus was launched in July 2018 and features a lot of hardware upgrades and a new design overhaul.

The Nokia 6.1 Plus has a premium design and builds quality despite being a mid-range and budget phone. The phone is made of both front and glass back with aluminium frame. The phone looks amazing and the design makes the phone looks even more expensive. The phone sold in a few different colours such as Black, Blue, and White. Personally, I like the Black colour also keep in mind that the back of the phone is a fingerprint and smudge magnet. On the front, you have the tall display with a slight bottom chin and a notch for the front camera and the earpiece. On the back, you have the vertically aligned dual rear-facing camera setup with a bump design and below that, you have the fingerprint scanner followed by the Nokia and Android One Branding.

On the top, the phone has the 3.5 mm headphone jack while on the bottom you have the speaker grill, USB Type C charging port and the primary microphone. On the left side, you have the Sim Card tray which is a Hybrid one so you can either insert 2 sim card or 1 sim card and a micro SD card. On the right, you have the power button and volume rockers. Both the Power and Volume key has a chrome trim which looks really great but they lack the clicky feel. The phone is also more on the lighter side weighing only 151 grams.

The Nokia 6.1 Plus features a 5.8 inches IPS LCD display with a screen resolution of 1080 x 2280 pixels. The screen has a 19:9 aspect ratio display with 432 PPI density. With the notch and bottom chin, the phone has an 81.5% screen to body ratio. The display is also great, it is one of the best display you can get on this best phone under 15000. The brightness is the only issue here and the rest of the things like colours, contrasts, viewing angles are great. The display and the back glass is also well protected by corning gorilla glass 3.

This best phone under 15000 is powered by the Octa-Core Qualcomm Snapdragon 636 Processor. All the cores are clocked at 1.8 GHz and come with Kryo 260 Architecture. On the GPU side, it has the Adreno 509. The phone comes in multiple variants such as 6 GB + 64 GB or 4 GB + 32 GB. The internal storage is further expandable up to 400 GB via a micro SD card but keeps in mind that you have to sacrifice your second sim card. The device will perform well for all your everyday tasks but don’t consider this if you are into gaming. The device also doesn’t heat up even when doing intense tasks so that’s a plus point.

The Nokia 6.1 Plus features a dual rear camera setup with a 16 MP primary sensor with f/2.0 aperture and a 5 MP secondary depth sensor with f/2.4 aperture. Other features include Dual-LED dual-tone flash, HDR, and Panorama support. The rear camera is capable of recording 2160p videos @ 30 fps, 1080p videos @ 30fps and in terms of stabilization it has (gyro-EIS). While on the front it has a 16 MP selfie shooter with f/2.0 aperture. The front camera is capable of recording 1080p videos @ 30 fps. There is also a Dual-Sight mode or what you call as “bothie” mode which lets you capture photos and videos from both front and rear camera at the same time.

Connectivity options in this phone include Wi-Fi 802.11, Bluetooth 5.0, GPS, FM radio, USB 2.0, Type-C 1.0 reversible connector, and USB On-The-Go. The phone has a decent 3060 mAh battery which is good enough to last you a full day on day to day task but if you decide to do gaming and other such intensive tasks then you have to charge it a couple of times. The phone also supports quick charge 3.0 so you can get a 100 per cent charge in a span of about 80 minute which is a good thing. On the software side, the phone comes out of the box with Android 8.1 Oreo and includes Android One. With Android One initiative the phone will receive a guaranteed update of 2 years.

What I Liked

The first thing I liked about the Nokia 6.1 Plus is the design. The use of Glass here with aluminium casing all around makes it look very premium. The camera module here also has a slight chrome lining which looks good and the overall ergonomics of the phone is amazing. The display is also one of the best in this range. The colour reproduction here is excellent. Android One initiative guarantees you two years of Android and Security Patch updates. Considering this you will get at least Android P and Android Q update.

What I Didn’t Liked

The major downside of this phone for some people will be the performance. As said before for day to day task the phone is great but it’s not up to mark when it comes to games. The phone only offers you Snapdragon 636 while the other phone in the competition is offering Snapdragon 675 or Snapdragon 660. So if you are into gaming then seriously don’t consider this phone under 15000 budget. The Low Light Camera performance here is not good at all. It captures the blurry and noisy image but if you manage to get good lighting then it’s great.

The phone comes with Quick Charge support but the box doesn’t includes Fast charger in the box. You will have to buy a separate fast charger. Lastly, there’s the Hybrid Sim Slot so you will lose one Sim card if you decide to use a micro SD card.

4. Samsung Galaxy A20

Samsung has flooded the Galaxy A series by launching a lot of smartphones in the past few months which leads to taking multiples spots on best phone under 15000 list. Till now we have a total of 15 phones in the Galaxy A series. Now this Samsung Galaxy A20 smartphone was launched in March 2019 and directly competes with Samsung’s own phone Galaxy M20. The phone features some good specs and comes at a very affordable price. It has its own advantages and disadvantages as compared to the M20, Realme 3 or the Redmi Note 7. Let’s see how this phone holds up against the competition.

The Samsung Galaxy A20 features an all-plastic build. The design resembles most of the phones in the Galaxy A series. On the front, it has a tall display with minor side bezels and a bottom chin. You also get to see a Notch for the front camera and speaker grille. Samsung calls it an Infinity U notch. On the back, it has a shiny finish. It makes it looks like glass but it is polycarbonate back. You also have the dual rear-facing camera setup with the fingerprint scanner and the traditional Samsung logo. The display here has no kind of protection it seems. The phone has a nice form factor and it is available in different colour variants; Black, Deep Blue, Red, and Coral Orange so you get a wide variety to choose from.

The right side of the phone houses the volume rockers and the power button. On the left side, you have the SIM card tray. The SIM card tray also includes a dedicated microSD card tray which is a good thing. On the top you ave the secondary noise cancellation microphone while on the bottom you have the 3.5 mm headphone jack, USB type C charging port and the speaker grille. The back has a slightly curved finish to it so when the phone is lying on its back it’s wobble if you try to press the corners of the screen. The phone is also very light weighing around 169 grams.

The display on this phone is great. You get a 6.4 inch Super AMOLED display with a screen resolution of 720 x 1560 pixels. The screen has a 19.5:9 aspect ratio display with a pixel density of 268 PPI. To push the screen to its limit Samsung also included the Infinity V-shaped notch. You get an 85.0% screen to body ratio here. The display on the Samsung Galaxy A20 is great for media consumption. The display has very good viewing angles and the brightness here is sufficient even to visible in the outdoors. Having an AMOLED display makes the colours pop out really well. The colours show great contrast and the blacks are like ink black.

Talking about the hardware and performance on #4th best phone under 15000, you get an Octa-Core Samsung Exynos 7884 chipset paired with Mali GPU. The SoC has 2 Cores clocked at 1.6 GHz while the other 6 cores are clocked at 1.35 GHz. The phone comes in only one configuration which is 3 GB + 32 GB but you get good storage expandability here. With the help of the dedicated microSD card here you can expand the storage for up to 1 TB. The device is great for any day to day usage and media consumption but this best phone under 15000 is definitely not for high-end gaming.

The Samsung Galaxy A20 has a dual rear-facing camera setup with a combo of 13 MP primary sensor with f/1.9 aperture and a secondary 5 MP ultra-wide sensor with the f/2.2 sensor. The camera also features LED flash, panorama, and HDR. You can record 1080p videos @ 30 fps here. On the front, it has a single 8 MP sensor with f/2.0 aperture for taking selfies. The phone ships with the all-new camera app which comes with the new One UI. You get some extra features like Live focus which works as a portrait mode. The ultra-wide sensor here is an added bonus because most of the phone in this range includes a depth sensor.

Connectivity options in this phone include Wi-Fi 802.11, Bluetooth 5.0, GPS, NFC, FM radio, USB 2.0, Type-C 1.0 reversible connector, and USB On-The-Go. The phone is powered by a 4000 mAh battery and also supports 15 W fast charging. A large battery here with a low-resolution display will make sure you get a great battery life here. Samsung has included a fast charger and earphones itself in the box which is really appreciated. The phone runs on Android 9.0 Pie out of the box with Samsung’s own OneUI skin on top.

What I Liked

The battery life on this phone is amazing. There is an added dark mode feature in the OneUi which you can enable by going to settings. The dark mode turns the whole UI into the dark which in return saves you a lot of battery as it is an AMOLED display.

The phone has dual nano-SIM card slot and supports dual VoLTE. The Signal reception here on this phone is great. Samsung has done a great job here, the call quality on this phone is excellent. If you do a lot of calling then this phone is perfect for you even where signals are very week.

What I Didn’t Liked

The design here is very dull. The phone has a glasstic finish which makes the back of the phone looks like glass but its simple isn’t. The display here is also low resolution. You get a 720p display here while the other phone in this competition includes a 1080p display here. It is true that on a small screen it is hard to tell a difference between 720p and 1080p display but if you are someone who consumes a lot of media then you might prefer a high-resolution display.

The gaming performance here is also not that impressive. You can definitely play the low to the mid-end game but when it comes to intense gaming then this phone that we’ve once called best phone under 15000 really lags behind. There is also some bloatware included in the phone with the One UI, you can uninstall some but not all of them.

5. Asus Zenfone Max Pro M2

Asus has launched 2 budget series in India targeting the Sub 15,000 Rs and Sub 10,000 Market. The first phone was the Asus Zenfone Max Pro M1 and after the great success of Asus Zenfone Max Pro M1 in India in the budget range, Asus finally unveiled its the successor as the Max Pro M2 with improved specifications like an upgraded processor and a modern display. There is also a toned-down variant of the same available but we are going to talk about the main device as it packs a great value to it.

The phone has an all-plastic build with a glass-like design. The phone looks very premium and is very lightweight, it weighs around 175 grams even after having a large battery. On the front, you have the tall display with small side bezels and a bottom chin. On the top, you have the Notch which houses the front camera, front flash, and the earpiece. On the back is where you have the dynamic finish in all its glory. You also have the dual rear-facing camera setup aligned vertically followed by an LED flash, fingerprint scanner, and Asus logo. Do note that the back of the phone is very prone to scratches so use the transparent case which is included in the box.

Talking about the aesthetics, The right side of the phone holds the power button and the volume keys. On the left, you have the SIM card tray. The SIM card tray is a 3 in 1 tray, you can insert 2 nano sim card as well as a micro SD card. On the top, you have the secondary noise cancellation microphone while on the bottom you have the headphone jack, primary microphone, USB 2.0 charging port, and the speaker grille. The phone is available in only two colours; Blue, and Titanium. The phone looks great in both of its colours, no doubt.

The Display on this phone is simply amazing. You get a very bright display here with good colour reproduction. On the front, you have the 6.3 inch full HD+ IPS LCD display with a screen resolution of 1080 x 2280 pixels. The screen has a 19:9 aspect ratio with 403 PPI density. You have a screen to body ratio of 82.0%! Thanks to the notch. The notch is not that big and you also get an option in settings to hide it, but it doesn’t work out well because it has a rounder corner all around. The phone is also well protected by the Corning Gorilla Glass 6, in fact, it is the cheapest smartphone available in the market to order the Gorilla Glass 6 Protection.

The Max Pro M2 comes with some major upgrades from its predecessor. The device is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 660 chipset paired with Adreno 512 GPU. The octa-core chipset has 4 Cores clocked at 2.2 GHz with Kryo 260 architecture & 4 cores clocked at 1.8 GHz with Kryo 260 architecture. You can get this beautiful best phone under 15000 in two configurations 3 GB + 32 GB and 4 GB + 64 GB. The internal storage is further expandable up to 512 GB via a dedicated microSD card slot. The device performs well for any day to day task and has great RAM management. The gaming performance here is also great. You can play all high-end games at medium settings flawlessly.

The phone features a dual rear-facing camera setup with a 12 MP primary Sony IMX486 sensor with f/1.8 aperture paired with a secondary 5 MP depth sensor. The camera also features LED flash, HDR, and Panorama. The camera is capable of recording 2160p videos @ 30fps, 1080p videos @ 30/60fps. In terms of stabilization, the rear camera features gyro-EIS. On the front, it has a single 13 MP camera with f/2.0 aperture. You also get front flash and HDR support. The front camera is capable of recording 1080p videos @ 30fps. The camera struggles a bit in the low lighting but with good lighting conditions, it performs great.

Connectivity options in this phone include Wi-Fi 802.11, Bluetooth 5.0, GPS, NFC, FM radio, micro USB 2.0, and USB On-The-Go. The Zenfone Max Pro M2 packs a large 5000 mAh battery which will easily last you a day on heavy usage. You can browse, watch a movie or play games for a long time and you will still have some juice left at the end of the day. On the software side, it features Stock Android 8.0 Oreo. It has some added things like some pre-installed Apps like Facebook, Messenger, and Instagram. Though the phone ships with an older version of Android, Asus has already rolled out Android 9.0 Pie update recently.

What I Liked

The Asus Zenfone Max Pro M2 has a brilliant display. If you compare it side to side with any other phone in best phone under 15000 segment in the competition, the Max Pro M2 will really stand out amongst all of them. You have a brighter display with punchy colours and excellent viewing angles. The display can go very bright even in bright sunlight. The Battery on this phone is also amazing. You get to see very less phone featuring a large 5000 mAh battery in this of best phone under 15000.

You also get Front Flash feature for the front camera. This helps you to take selfies in low lighting condition. The software here is also clean and free from bloatware which affects the user experience. You get a very small set of the pre-installed app and later you can download whatever you need.

What I Didn’t Liked

There is no No fast charging support on this phone. It ships with the old Micro USB 2.0 charging port while other phones have a USB Type C along with fast charging. It also has a large battery and charging it takes a lot of time. Low light camera performance here is also average. Sometimes it clicks noisy and blurry images.

6. Samsung Galaxy M20

The Samsung Galaxy M series gives direct competition to the Redmi Note 6 and the Honor 10 Series when’re looking for best phone under 15000 in India. The Samsung Galaxy M20 falls right between the Galaxy M10 and the Galaxy M30. The phone was launched in January 2019. The phone is like an entry-level smartphone and great for someone who is looking for a decent phone under 15000 rupees from a reputed brand. The Galaxy M20 offers some decent specs but it’s not bad at all, But why will you consider this when there’s better offering from competitors? let’s find out.

The Samsung Galaxy M20 features an all-plastic build design. The build quality is not impressive here and has its own flaws. You get a matte finish on the back with a glossy layer on top of it. The phone resembles its siblings in terms of the design. The back of the phone is also a smudge and Scratch magnet so it is recommended to get yourself a decent case before the back turns into a great mess. On the front, you have the tall display with very minimal top and side bezels while on the bottom you have a small chin. The front of the phone also has a V-shaped or Infinity V Notch for the front camera and earpiece.

Now let’s talk about the positioning on this phone, On the left side, you have the SIM card tray while on the right you have the Power button and the volume keys. On the top, there’s the secondary noise cancellation microphone while on the bottom you have the 3.5 mm headphone jack, primary microphone, and the speaker grille.
On the back, you have the dual rear-facing camera setup with dual-LED flash. The fingerprint sensor is also there along with the traditional Samsung logo. This one of best phone under 15000 in India sells in two colour variants Ocean Blue, and Charcoal Black. I personally liked the Blue colour and the plastic used on the back is also of good quality.

On the Galaxy M20, Samsung has used a large 6.3-inch PLS TFT display with a screen resolution of 1080 x 2340 pixels. The screen has a 19.5:9 aspect ratio with 409 Pixel Per Inch Density. The Waterdrop or the Infinity V-shaped notch allowed us to see a screen to body ratio of 83.6%. The notch can also be hidden by enabling a setting. The display on the phone looks very vibrant, it is very rich in colours and the black levels are also good. The brightness level here is also great, Even in bright outdoors you won’t face any issue here. The use of Asahi Dragontrail Glass here protects the phone from any kind of damage from small drops.

The phone is powered by Samsung’s Exynos 7904 chipset paired with Mali-G71 MP2 GPU. The Processor is Octa-core which has 2 cores clocked 1.8 GHz with Cortex-A73 architecture while the other 6 cores are clocked at 1.6 GHz with Cortex-A53 architecture. The phone is available in two variants 3 GB + 32 GB and 4 GB + 64 GB. The internal storage is also expandable up to 512 GB via a microSD card here. The best thing here is the phone ships with a 3 in 1 SIM card tray unlike any other best phone under 15000, So you can use a microSD card without losing your 2nd SIM card. For any day to day task the phone handles it flawlessly but the RAM management here is a bit aggressive.

The Galaxy M20 has a dual rear-facing camera setup with a 13 MP primary sensor with f/1.9 aperture and a 5 MP secondary ultra-wide sensor with f/2.2 aperture. Other features include LED Flash, Panorama, and HDR. You can record 1080p videos @ 30fps. On the front, it has an 8 MP sensor with f/2.0 aperture for taking selfies. The front camera features HDR and can also record 1080p videos @ 30fps. The rear camera features a 120-degree field of view so you can capture large buildings or a group of people in one frame.

Connectivity options here in this costing just 15,000 inr include Wi-Fi 802.11, Bluetooth 5.0, GPS, FM radio, RDS, recording, USB 2.0, and Type-C 1.0 reversible connector. The phone is backed up by a massive 5000 mAh battery and the phone also supports fast charging via the Type C USB port. The fast charger is also included in the box which is another plus point. The Samsung Galaxy M20 runs out of the box with Android 8.1.0 Oreo and has Samsung’s Experience 9.5 Skin on top. The phone is running very smooth and the new interface is also very user-friendly. Some other features of this phone include a dark mode, and face unlock.

What I Liked

The battery performance here on this phone is amazing. You get a large battery as well as fast charging support. You can charge the phone completely from 0 to 100% in Just 2 hours. The phone also has great Network reception, It also features Dual VoLTE so no calling related issues here. You will easily get through areas where you get low network.

There is also Widewine L1 DRM Certification on this phone. It allows you to stream HD content on Amazon Prime Videos and Netflix.

What I Didn’t Liked

This M20 is a price well above 10K but still worth considering if you’re looking for best phone under 15000 inr, Samsung decided to use a TFT display on this phone. Though the display is good the viewing angles are not great. You get a slight colour shift on certain Angles.

Gaming performance here on this phone is also not that impressive. It is good for everyday tasks and some low to mid-end gaming but when it comes to playing high-end games like Pubg on High Settings then the phone lags behind. You can play high-end games at Low to Medium settings only.

There is also some Bloatware on this phone. You have apps like Daily Hunt News, Office Mobile, One Drive, and LinkedIn and the worst thing is you cannot uninstall most of them.

7. Redmi Note 7 Pro

The Redmi Note lineup is one of the successful series from Xiaomi from years launching various best phone under 15000 from years. The Redmi Note series focuses on providing top-notch performance at a very affordable price. So, the new Note 7 Pro came as a successor to the previous “Not much successful” Note 6 Pro. It was launched in February 2019. The new and improved note device has a lot of talk about and let’s gets started with the design first.

On the front, you have the tall display with a small chin at the bottom where you will find the notification LED, the top is almost bezel-less and has a Dot / Circular shaped notch for the front camera. On the back is where you see the Vertically aligned Dual Rear-facing camera setup along with the LED Flash and Fingerprint scanner.

On the bottom of the phone you have the Type-C USB port to charge the phone and alongside you have the speaker and microphone grill. On the right side, you have the volume rocker key and the power button. The left side only has the SIM and Micro SD card tray. Finally, on the top, you have the Headphone jack and IR ( Infrared ) Blaster.

The Redmi Note 7 Pro features a 6.3 inches IPS LCD Display with a screen resolution of 1080 x 2340 Pixels. The display looks really nice and far better than the one which was on the Note 6 Pro. The notch helps the phone achieve an 81.4% Screen to body ratio and Yes! you also get an option in settings to Hide the Notch if you want to.

Being an IPS display doesn’t really help in Hiding the Notch, you still get a Black tint visible at a Higher Brightness. The Screen has a 19.5:9 aspect ratio and 409 PPI density. The Redmi Note 7 Pro costing ₹11,999, Makes its Xiaomi’s best phone under 15000 & sells in three different colour variants; Nebula Red, Neptune Blue, and Space Black.

Now let’s talk about the Hardware on this phone. The Redmi Note 7 Pro is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 675 Chipset, The Octa-core chipset here is a combination of Six cores based on Cortex A55 architecture and two cores based on Cortex A76 architecture. The processor is paired with the Adreno 612 GPU.

If we try to compare it with something in the Snapdragon 8XX series then it will easily leave the Snapdragon 835 behind. This very best phone under 15000 inr sells in a few different RAM and Storage configurations. The base variant has 4GB of RAM + 64GB internal storage and the top-end variant comes with 6GB of RAM + 128GB of Internal Storage. The Storage is further expandable up to 512GB via a Micro SD card slot.

As far as the camera is concerned on this device, the Redmi Note 7 Pro features a dual rear-facing camera setup with a combo of 48 MP Primary sensor with f/1.8 aperture and a 5 MP secondary depth sensor with f/2.4 aperture. The rear camera also has a Dual-LED flash with HDR, and Panorama Support. The camera is capable of recording 2160p videos @30fps, 1080p videos @30/60/120fps, in terms of stabilization it has (gyro-EIS).

On the front, it has a single 13 MP selfie camera with HDR support. The front camera is capable of recording 1080p videos @ 30 fps. Other features of the camera include AI mode. The AI mode bumps up the saturation and sharpness and makes the image social media-ready. You can turn it off in the settings if you don’t like.

Connectivity options here on this phone include; Wi-Fi 802.11, Bluetooth 5.0, GPS, Infrared Sensor, FM radio, USB 2.0, and Type-C 1.0 reversible connector. The phone runs on Android 9.0 Pie based on MIUI 10 Skin on top. The device has a massive 4000 mAh battery inside with 18W Qualcomm Quick Charge 4 Support.

The battery performance here is great, you will easily get a full day of battery line on a single charge. Considering the price of the phone the Redmi Note 7 is a killer deal if you are looking for the best value for money smartphone. Despite all the flaws it has like the Software if you already own a Xiaomi Software and familiar with MIUI or can live with minor ads here and there then this phone deserves a closer look.

What I Liked

The Phone is entirely made of Glass and Metal build. As it’s a Glass the Phone also has the Gorilla Glass 5 protection on the front as well as the back. The phone also has the Widevine L1 DRM support so you can watch High-Quality content on Netflix and Amazon Prime and make use of the 1080P Display.

The performance of this phone under 15000 is great. As good as it seems on the paper, the phone performs equally good. The performance here can easily leave behind a lot of other phones which costs almost double of 15000 Indian Rupee Which is what Xiaomi is offering with the Redmi Note 7 Pro. The main sensor here uses the idea of pixel binning. It combines four adjoining pixels to get a better 12 MP image. The situation where the camera tops are the low light condition.

What I Didn’t Liked

The Phone has a niche form factor and a premium look. It weighs around 186 grams which is a kind of heavy. I recommend you to use a Protective case along with it as the glass is very slippery and might fall from your hand in rare circumstances. For storage expand-ability, it has a hybrid sim card slot and you have to remove the 2nd Sim in order to use the add the extra storage on to your device which is pretty common best phone under 15000 segment.

If we directly compare it with the competitor which is the Realme 3 Pro Right now, the CPU performance here is on par but the GPU performance is not as good as what’s on the Realme 3 Pro. Also, there’s the Xiaomi Optimizations with the MIUI like the Aggressive RAM management and other kinds of stuff which bottlenecks the device. Though the Skin adds a lot of functionality to the device, it is also not liked by many others. You get a few unwanted things like Ads on the UI which is really not appreciated.

8. Redmi Note 7

The Redmi Note 7 is another iteration by Xiaomi in the budget segment. The phone was launched in January 2019 as a successor to the previous Xiaomi Redmi Note 6. The Redmi Note 7 is like a toned-down version of the Xiaomi Note 7 Pro, the only major difference you will find is the cameras and the processor, despite that everything is almost same. If you compare it with its predecessor then the device packs a lots of improvements in terms of design, and hardware.

Let’s start off with the design. The device sports an entire glass and metal design, you get a tall display with very minor bezels around the sides. You also get to see a notch or as Xiaomi calls it a Dot notch for the front-facing camera. The bottom chin also houses the notification led. On the back is where you see the vertically aligned Dual rear-facing setup along with dual-LED flash and a rear-mounted fingerprint scanner. The back has a nice gradient look to it while the phone ships with three colour variants; Blue, Black, Twilight Gold. The Blue colour variant is what I like the most because it’s more appealing.

On the top, you have the headphone jack and the IR (Infrared) Blaster. Xiaomi is still keeping the IR Blaster alive which lets you control the almost all devices which has an IR remote. It is very handy when you don’t find the remote or you just want every remote on your fingertips. On the bottom, you have the TYPE-C reversible USB port for charging and data syncing followed up by speaker and microphone grille on either side. On the left is where you find the Hybrid sim tray. Lastly, on the right, you have the power button and volume rocker keys.

Talking about the display, the Redmi Note 7 features a 6.3 inches IPS LCD HD+ display with a screen resolution of 1080 x 2340 pixels. The screen is very bright even in sunlight and you won’t have difficulty looking at the screen. The display has an 81.4% screen to body ratio, 19.5:9 aspect ratio and 409 PPI density. The phone has a premium look to it and great ergonomics and obviously not look like some other phones from our list of best phone under ₹15000. It is more on the heavier side and weighs around 186 Grams. The device is kind of slippery but you can use the silicon case included in the box to protect it from any kind of damage.

Powering up the device is the Octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 660 Chipset with 4 cores clocked at 2.2 GHz with Kryo 260 Architecture and the rest 4 Cores is clocked at 1.8 GHz with Kryo 250 Architecture. On the GPU side, the device has Adreno 512. You get a couple of different RAM and Storage configuration to choose from. The base variant has 3 GB of RAM + 32 GB internal storage, there’s another variant with 4GB of RAM + 64GB internal storage and the top-end variant has 6GB of RAM + 128 GB internal Storage. Well, you can also expand the internal storage up to 256 GB via a micro SD card slot.

Considering the price of this phone for best phone under 15000 the camera’s here are just great. You get a 12 MP primary sensor with f/2.2 aperture and a secondary 2 MP depth sensor with f/2.4 aperture. The rear camera also features Dual LED flash, HDR, and panorama support. The rear camera is capable of recording 1080p videos @ 30/60/120fps and in terms of stabilization it has (gyro-EIS). While on the front you get a 13MP single camera with f/2.0 aperture for taking selfies. The front camera also features HDR support. You can easily record 1080p videos @ 30 fps using the front camera. You also have AI mode here which enhances certain things like Sharpness and contrast to make the image look good. You can also turn this setting off in case you don’t like.

Connectivity options in this phone includes Wi-Fi 802.11, Bluetooth 5.0, GPS, Infrared Blaster, FM radio, recording, USB 2.0, and Type-C 1.0 reversible connector. The device runs on Android 9.0 Pie Based on company’s own MIUI skin on top. Everything on this phone is backed up by a massive 4000 mah battery, the phone also has 18W fast charging support so you can easily make this phone last a full day on heavy use. The Redmi note 7 is a great device if you are looking for an upgrade or just want to buy a Great device in the budget segment. You can also spend a little more and get the pro version for improved camera and processor.

What I Liked

Both front and back is protected by the Corning Gorilla Glass 5 and you also get a clear transparent protective case which is a nice addition. In case you are wondering about the widevine L1 DRM support then Yes! This phone doesn’t have the support. You can enjoy HD Contents across all sorts of Video streaming platform such as Netflix. If you consider the price, camera’s on this phone are great. We tried to compare it with the competitor which is Realme 3 and the photos turned out to be pretty impressive.

The performance here can easily beat another phone in the competition in range of best phone under 15000. The Snapdragon 660 along with Adreno 512 is good enough for all the day to day task and light gaming. You won’t face any lag issue while playing PUBG or Call of Duty on this very best phone under 15000. In fact, if you are looking for a budget device just to play games then this is the one you should pick. The device performs slightly better than the Realme 3 and is much better in terms of software optimization.

What I Didn’t Liked

You can insert two sim card and i case you want to use the Micro SD card then you will have to sacrifice the 2nd Sim. The MIUI skins adds a lot more feature to the device such as screen recorder, and other Xiaomi Apps. Despite that it also makes the System more heavy and less optimized so you may face some memory management issue here.

9. Realme 3 Pro

Realme is a new company which entered the smartphone market just a year ago and has launched a lot of phones in the budget segment. Realme is a subsidiary of the popular Chinese smartphone brand OPPO and since the launch of its first smartphone, it has created a lot of healthy competition in the Sub – 15,000 Price range. The Realme 3 Pro launched as a successor to the Previous Realme 2 Pro, The phone was launched in April 2019 and comes with a lot of improvement especially in the Hardware department. Let’s start the design.

The front of the device has a bezel-less approach with very minimal bezels. You get a Teardrop/Water Drop-shaped notch for the front camera and speaker grille. You have a Vertical Dual rear-facing camera setup along with LED flash and fingerprint scanner. On the bottom side, you get the Headphone jack, Speaker Grille, and the Charging port. On the right side, you get the power button and on the left side, there’s the Volume key.

The back of the phone has a nice gradient look with a curvy design. There are 3 colour variants of this phone; Carbon Gray, Nitro Blue, and Lightning Purple. Now let’s talk about display, shall we? The Realme 3 Pro has a 6.3 inch Full HD IPS LCD display with a screen resolution of 1080 x 2340 Pixels. The screen has a 19.9:5 aspect ratio and 409 PPI density. The screen can go bright enough even in the bright sunlight.

Internally, Realme 3 pro, The best phone under 15000 is powered by the Octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 710 chipset. The chipset has two Kryo 360 cores based on the Cortex A75 architecture which is clocked at 2.2 GHz while the other six Kryo 350 cores based on Cortex A55 architecture and clocked at 1.7 GHz. On the Graphics side, the phone has the Adreno 616 GPU. The phone sells in two different RAM and Storage variants; 4GB RAM + 64GB Storage, and 6GB RAM + 128GB Storage. The internal storage is further expandable up to 256GB via a dedicated Micro SD card slot.

The phone has a dual rear-facing camera setup with a 16 MP Primary camera with f/1.7 aperture paired with a 5 MP depth sensor with f/2.4 aperture. The back camera also has LED Flash and HDR support. The rear camera can record 2160p videos @ 30fps, 1080p @30/120fps, and 720p @960fps. In terms of stabilization, the device has gyro-EIS. On the front, there’s the single 25 MP selfie shooter with f/2.0 aperture and HDR support. The front camera is capable of recording 1080p videos @ 30fps. The front camera of this device is also used for the Face Unlock feature and also has a Beauty mode which enhances the image based on the type of object. You can turn it off in the settings if you don’t like.

Connectivity options in this phone include Wi-Fi 802.11, Bluetooth 5.0, GPS, FM radio, micro USB 2.0, and USB On-The-Go. The phone has a massive 4045 mAh battery with 20W VOOC 3.0 Fast charging support. According to Realme, the device can be charged from 0 to 50% in just 30 mins. The phone will easily last you a full day on a single charge. On the software side, the phone runs on Android 9.0 Pie with company’s own Color OS 6 Skin on top. The phone has also received the Android Q beta update and you can expect 1 or 2 Years of software update on this one.

Realme 3 is a great performing device in the budget segment. It easily outperforms other such devices which costs a lot more than this. Comparing it with the Redmi Note 7 Pro, then the device doesn’t stand out in terms of design and performance-wise it is equally great. You can pick one depending upon design, camera, and hardware or the previous experience with the company.

What I Liked

The phone has great ergonomics and it’s not so much on the heavier side. The weight of this phone is around 172 grams. The back of the device is also prone to scratches. You also get a clear plastic case in the box to protect it. If you decide to not use the protective case then get ready to get a ton of scratches on the back, on the other hand, the front of the display is well protected by Corning Gorilla Glass 5. The phone also has Widevine L1 DRM support so you can enjoy HD streaming on Netflix and Amazon prime videos.

The performance on this phone gives direct competition to the Snapdragon 675 Chipset on the Xiaomi Redmi Note 7 Pro. The comparison lacks on the CPU side but it performs better than the Note 7 Pro for graphics-intensive tasks.

What I Didn’t Liked

I personally didn’t like the design approach here. As most of the smartphone progress in terms of design, the Realme 3 Pro is much like a downgrade. On the back, the phone has a Plastic Back and that’s what I was talking about. It’s predecessor Realme 2 Pro had a glass back and plastic back here is not acceptable, The phone doesn’t look premium and it’s more on the cheap side but that’ll you get when you look into best phone under 15000.

The UI is not liked by many and I personally don’t like the UI at all. The skin has improved a lot with the recent version but still, I would have preferred a Stock Android experience. The only major con which I would like to talk about is the Design and Missing USB Type C port. Those 2 things would have made it a killer deal.

10. Samsung Galaxy M30

Samsung has now created a lot of competition in the budget range by launching two of its new series. One of them is the Galaxy M having 3 phones in total right now. The Galaxy M30, M20, and M10 all are best phone under 15000 you can consider to buy. The Top end variant among all of them is the Galaxy M30. The phone was launched in February 2019 and packs a lot of amazing features. The phone is also known as Samsung Galaxy A40s in China. Now let’s check out what Samsung offers with one of it’s a best selling mid-range phone.

The Samsung Galaxy M30 features an all-plastic build and doesn’t look premium at all. It packs the old dull design like what we have seen on the Asus Zenfone Max Pro M1 last year. On the front, it has a tall display with very minor bezels and bottom chin. The screen also has a Notch or what Samsung calls it Infinity U notch for the front camera and speaker grille. On the back is where you have the plastic body which has some kind of metal finish to it. You also have the triple rear-facing camera setup with LED flash, Fingerprint scanner, and the traditional Samsung logo. The M30, Best phone under 15000 is available in Black and Blue colour.

On the top, there is nothing on the phone while on the bottom you have the 3.5 mm headphone jack, Type C USB charging port, primary microphone, and the speaker grille. On the right, you have the volume rocker keys and the power button. On the left, you have the sim card slot. The best thing here is the sim tray supports two nano sim card as well as it has a dedicated micro SD card slot which we have seen very less in the budget segment. The backside is very prone to scratches so you have to use any case to protect it. The fingerprint scanner is very easy to reach and in fact, it is one of the fastest fingerprint scanners in the budget segment.

The display on this phone is gorgeous. You get a 6.4 inch Super AMOLED display with a screen resolution of 1080 x 2340 pixels. The display here is in 19.5:9 aspect ratio and has 403 PPI density. You also have the Infinity U Notch which helped the device achieve a screen to body ratio of 84.2%. You also have an option in the setting to hide the notch but it doesn’t work really well. The advantage of having an AMOLED display here is you get great viewing angles. The brightness is good enough so you can easily view the screen even in bright sunlight. There are also colour settings available so you can tweak the screen according to your taste.

Now let’s talk about the hardware on this best phone under 15000. The Samsung Galaxy M30 is powered by the Octa-Core Samsung Exynos 7904 Chipset which has 2 x Cortex A73 Cores + 6 x Cortex A53 Cores. In terms of GPU, the device has Mali G71 MP2. The phone comes in two configurations such as 4 GB + 64 GB and 6 GB + 128 GB. You also have storage expandability with the micro SD card for up to 1 TB. The phone also supports dual VoLTE and has great network reception. If you are someone who makes a lot of calls daily then this phone won’t disappoint you.

In terms of the camera’s the phone sports a triple rear-facing setup with a combination of a 13 MP primary sensor with f/1.9 aperture, a 5 MP secondary Ultra wide sensor with f/2.2 aperture, and a third 5 MP depth sensor. The rear camera features LED flash, panorama, and HDR. It is capable of recording 2160p videos @ 30fps, and 1080p @ 30fps. On the front, it has a single 16 MP selfie camera with f/2.0 aperture. It also features HDR and can record 1080p videos @ 30fps. There is also no video stabilization features available here.

Connectivity options in this phone includes Wi-Fi 802.11, Bluetooth 5.0, GPS, USB 2.0, and Type-C 1.0 reversible connector. Everything on this phone is backed up by a massive 5000 mAh battery. Samsung has done a great optimization here so you can easily stretch the battery for full-day use and still left with some juice at the end of the day. You also have fast charging capability. The phone comes with a 15 W fast charger which is included in the box. On the software side, the phone runs on Android 8.1.0 Oreo with Samsung Experience 9.5 Skin on top. though the software is a bit old we can expect Android 9.0 Pie here anytime soon.

What I Liked

A Super AMOLED display in a budget smartphone is something that bumps up the value of the phone to a great extent. The AMOLED display also helps you save a lot of battery. The blacks can go down to a very dark level. The phone also supports Widevine L1 DRM support so you can easily stream Netflix and Amazon Prime videos in HD format here.

The battery on this best phone under 15000 is also amazing. A very less phone has actually included a 5000 mAh battery in this range. Along with Samsung great optimization the battery performs really well here.

What I Didn’t Liked

The phone is great for all day to day use but when it comes to gaming the phone will disappoint you just like the Nokia 6.1 Plus. Well, you can play almost all the games and some high-end games like PUBG at low to Medium graphics but pushing the graphics to high will result in laggy gameplay. The camera’s here is same as the one on the Samsung Galaxy M20 but it doesn’t produce great images. You will see slight noise effect at some level. The front camera also takes mediocre images.

The phone includes some Bloatwares like the Daily Hunt news app, Amazon Shopping App, and Microsoft App Suite which can’t be uninstalled. The lock screen also shows annoying things so there you have it.

Buying the best phone under 15000 Guide

Purchasing a smartphone is a very challenging task these days. Where ever you go, whether it’s online and offline they try to convince you to turn your way to their most profitable smartphone. If you go offline the salesman tries to convince you to manipulate you to get a particular smartphone and the same goes with online.

You get distracted by ads and they list every single feature phone has and half of which you probably don’t even have an idea about. This smartphone buying guide will help you to get all the tips to help you buy the right smartphone in the competitive market.

Here are few things to remember

Be ready to flex.

Stick to a budget but If you can then spend a little more money. Some features are expensive and if a certain phone doesn’t have it and you found a phone which is just a little more expensive then prepare to spend a bit more. This will get you a clear idea of what you are paying for. You should also invest in the best phone under 15000 which will be future proof and last you at least 2 years before dying off.

Another thing is the resell value, it depends on mainly two things. The condition and the Brand Value. So invest in a reputed and popular brand like Samsung that holds a good resell value. Actually, these mid-range phone doesn’t hold up pretty well so you will only get half of what you paid for as the resell value.

Focus on What you need.

What’s the purpose of the Smartphone you are going to buy? Think about it. There is one special thing for one buys a smartphone. Now when it comes to personal need then it makes certain smartphones better than others. What’s the one special feature you are searching for? Let me explain it with an example. If you play a lot of game, then you will need a device with a high-end Processor and GPU. If you take a lot of photos then you will need a phone with the great Camera hardware. That one special feature can really change your decision from picking a particular phone. Look for the special feature and filter down the list to find your perfect smartphone.

Design matters a lot.

Pick something which has a great design. Every small details matter. We spend a crucial part of our life on our phones. So phones should be with great design and should be user-friendly as well. The ergonomics is what we are talking about. If the phone doesn’t feel good in the hand, the button placements, the headphone jack placement or the fingerprint scanner placement is the things you have to consider. If these parts are not easily reachable with one hand you will have a lot of inconveniences. If the placements are not good then you might have to look at something else.

The smartphone size is also you should look at. Smartphones are getting bigger in size. Some people with small hands will have difficulty reaching the screen or the buttons. You should not compromise on comfort and portability. This one of the major reason why people don’t like to use a phone with a large screen.

Always choose phones which allows good one-handed usage and is lightweight. The phone should not be felt bulky in hand and pocket. These minor things, Small annoyances will create a lot of inconveniences later on. Of course, you are going to use the phone for at least 2 years’s so keep these things in mind before making a purchase decision.

Regular OS Updates.

Regular Android Updates is another thing you should take care of. While Google Pixel devices get regular Android updates, the case is not the same when it comes to Mid Range devices especially devices listed in best phone under 15000. The updates here are pushed by OEM and not by Google itself so it takes some times to arrive in your device. Even till now some manufacturers are shipping devices which has an older version of Android which is not acceptable.

So make sure to pick a reputed brand which is known to push Android updates and Security patches faster. Some of the brand’s suggestions are the Xiaomi, Nokia, and Realme. I recommend you to at least buy the smartphone which ships with Android 9.0 Pie out of the Box as of June 2019. You can also opt for a device which has Android One enrollment. These devices get timely security patch and Android System updates for at least 2 years.

Minimum Internal Storage and Battery Capacity.

Gone are the days where a phone with 16 GB of internal storage was more than enough. The apps, images, videos are getting bigger in size and to store them in your phone you need a large storage capacity. Look for a smartphone which offers a minimum of 32 GB or 64 GB of internal storage which is pretty common when you look into our list of best phone under 15000. Let me tell you, even a 32 GB internal storage device will get filled up pretty easily if you have like 40 to 50 apps installed. If you are going to add a microSD card for further expansion then 32 GB internal storage is optimal, if not then focus on getting the 64 GB internal storage one.

When it comes to battery capacity, a minimum of 3000 mAh is good enough to last you a full day. If you do a lot of intense gaming or use your phone a lot for browsing or media playback then get a smartphone with 4000 to 5000 mAh battery capacity. There’s one more feature you should check on and that’s Quick Charge or Fast Charge support. If your phone has a large battery and doesn’t support Quick charge then it will take a lot of time to fill the juice and if the phone supports Quick/Fast-charge then it’s like a cherry on the cake.

Specifications don’t matter.

The specs of the phone really don’t matter a lot. Most of the mid-range smartphones offer good performance. Let’s take an example, The Nokia 6.1 Plus in our list gives a great day to day performance but when it comes to gaming then you need a more powerful device with a Good Processor and GPU like the Snapdragon 710 or the Snapdragon 625.

The same goes with RAM capacity, if you are not into gaming and intensive tasks then you also don’t need a 6 GB RAM smartphone, a smartphone with 4 GB RAM is more than enough for you to quickly load apps and retain them in memory and lastly, if you want the best camera phone to click great pictures then you should look at the aperture more than the MegaPixel count.

Keep an eye on Launch Calendar.

Every month we see a manufacturer launching a new smartphone in the budget range. So there no right time to buy a new smartphone. If you are getting a great deal on your smartphone then don’t be late to grab it. The smartphone prices online keep fluctuating and depend on the E-Commerce site as well, if there’s some kind of Sale going on then you can get an amazing deal. On the other hand, if you see a smartphone with more superior feature launching in the next few months and week then it’s worth the wait.

You will get a much better and improved smartphone. Let’s take an example; There’s one smartphone which is now 9 months old then the manufacturer is probably going to release a new and updated smartphone as a successor to that in the next few months. I recommend you to wait for the successor because it will give more value for money.

Types of Phones You consider while buying best phone under 15000

Gaming Phone – Not for someone looking for best phone under 15000

This year gave a big boost to the mobile gaming industry. We have seen a lot of great games with amazing graphics launching this year and well as last year. The most famous Battle Royale game PUBG was introduced to Mobile last year in March, we also have the Call of duty mobile beta testing going on while we are yet to see the launch of the Apex Legend mobile game.

Everyone has access to mobile nowadays and getting a game with PC or Console-like graphics was a great hit. These helped the mobile gaming market rise to the next level as well as we have seen a lot of Gaming oriented smartphone launching to help you play the game smoothly and flawlessly.

Well, all those gaming smartphones cost a lot, So, Searching best phone under 15000 & Expecting gaming phone isn’t something You should be expecting and doesn’t even come in the budget range but you can get a decent smartphone in this range to handle most of your game at ease.

Now if you are looking to buy the best phone under 15000 which has the main purpose which is “Gaming” then you must ask – what to look for in a Gaming Phone?. The most important thing to consider is a better processor, RAM, a good display, large internal storage, and a great battery. In this range, you should consider getting a Qualcomm Snapdragon 710, 675 or 660 Processor when it comes to Exynos you can pick Samsung Exynos 7904 SoC.

In terms of display pick something which has a minimum of 1920 x 1080 pixels resolution (Full HD). Ram and Storage should be a minimum of 4 GB + 64GB so your game will have plenty of RAM and you will have large storage to download and store your games.

Finally, when it comes to battery capacity pick something which has at least 4000 to 5000 mAh battery along with fast charging support. Some manufacturer includes App or Game Booster features to help optimize a few things like RAM, and Network to help you get better performance. We have seen this feature in MIUI as well as Samsung Experience/One UI so that’s another plus point.

Camera Phone

The camera’s in the mid-range smartphones are improving way faster and becoming superior year by year. We have seen dual camera setup arrived in the budget range last year but this year we now have a triple rear-facing camera setup available in the same range. Amazing isn’t it?. We now have great megapixel count as well as a combo of Ultra Wide as well as Depth Sensors which helps us takes great wide-angle photos and portrait mode but is this the only thing we should look at while buying a Camera Phone? Definitely Not!

The camera in a smartphone is the most important feature while some don’t care about it at all there are others who spend a lot of their time clicking pictures and taking videos. These are the people who need a Camera centric smartphone. But the problem here is – not all smartphones in this range pack a great camera. You should focus less on what the Megapixel count is and focus more on the other features like Aperture, Dual or Triple Camera Lens, Optical Image Stabilization, low light performance and a lot more.

If you click a lot of selfies then pick a phone which has a good front camera with 16 MP or 20 MP sensor and a LED flash if possible. If you take a lot of landscape images like buildings and scenery then pick the best phone under 15000 ₹ which has a wide-angle sensor. Nowadays we have Pixel Binning technology which helps make us great low light images. These are a few things you should focus on but the difficult part here is it is very difficult to judge a camera with just the specs sheet. I recommend you to at least visit the store and try out each individual camera phone yourself and test their camera for a better idea.

Entertainment Phone

Smartphones have become a great means of entertainment, you can watch movies, tv shows, watch live tv, Youtube, and play games. Now if you are buying a phone under ₹15,000 for Entertainment then you must think about the screen on which you are going to spends hours looking at it. I will recommend you to get a smartphone with at least a 1080p screen which means a minimum resolution of 1920 x 1080p (Full HD) for consuming media.

This mid-range segment will offer you either an HD screen (720p) or a Full HD screen (1080p) and is it probably difficult for you to the difference between these two but a higher resolution is always recommended so you can enjoy High Definition content. The notch can also be a thing here, the bigger the notch the higher the distraction and you are going to miss out some part of the screen. Another thing here is to pick between an IPS LCD and an AMOLED display but we will talk about that later in this article so keep reading.

Battery Life Phone

Getting the Battery low notification in the middle of something is what nobody likes so having a better life is a must-have. If you are going to get a phone which has a low-resolution screen, let’s say 720p (HD) then an ideal battery capacity should be 3500 mAh to at least keep you going through the day. On the other hand when you have a higher resolution display like a 1080p (Full HD) one then you will need a higher capacity battery to pair it with.

I would recommend you to go with a smartphone which has at least a 4000 mAh or 5000 mAh battery, which is very easily available if you look into our list of the best phone under 15000. This much battery will be good enough to last you a full day on heavy use and you will still have some juice left at the end of the day. You should also look if the phone has fast charging support. If it doesn’t then you have to wait a long long time waiting for the large battery to full charge. Ideal charging time for a 4000 mAh battery is like more than 2 hours but if it has fast charging support then you can get going in just 1 Hour.

All Rounder Phone

An All Rounder smartphone under best phone under 15000 is something which offers a great screen, a powerful chipset, very good battery life, a great camera and all the other features which give the most value for your money. We do have some all-rounders in the list like the Redmi Note 7 Pro, the Realme 3 Pro, the Samsung Galaxy M30, and the Samsung Galaxy A30. Now if you are looking for the best phone under 15000, then you might wanna take a closer look on these devices and pick one depending on the most important feature you need whether it’s the design or the performance or you can pick one depending upon your previous experience with the company.

Choosing Display for The Best Phone Under 15000 INR

IPS LCD Vs AMOLED display

LCD displays are the most common in smartphones in the mid-range segment. You can get a phone which has a resolution of 720 x 1560 to all the way up to 1920 x 1080. This LCD display produces colours in a more natural way. These are also termed as retina display and rely on the backlights. These can also cause the viewing angles to go bad sometimes when looking from an edge and also low contrasts level. The IPS LCD screen also uses more battery life than the AMOLED display and some displays also faces burn-in issue but nowadays LCD display has become much better and gets the job done.

Meanwhile, an AMOLED display in the mid-range smartphone is a great thing and I am glad it is finally happening well, yes it the phone will have a Great display but it will have to compromise on some other things to cut the price. Now let’s talk about the advantages. An AMOLED display produces light from Individual Pixels so it has great viewing angles and those displays can be turned off to save some battery life. The whites are clean and the blacks are like ink black as it turns off pixels for them. The power consumption here is also low because the black pixels are just off and uses no power.

Which is better?

LCD displays get the job done but there is not much special thing about them. On the other hand, AMOLED displays have better colours and brightness and low battery consumption. If you are getting a best phone in the budget range with an AMOLED display then it’s definitely a pick.

Plastic Vs Metal Vs Glass body

Phones come in all kind of design and styles and the material used is what makes it different from others. This also decides the price of the phone and we can use it to determine which phone is better. It is always been a discussion on which built material is the best for making the best phone. Whether it’s Metal or Plastic or Glass, All of them has its own advantages as well as disadvantages.

Body

Metal

A lot of phones in the mid-range aka best phone under 15000 uses a metal design. When it comes to metal the most common material being used is the aluminium alloy which is very thin and lightweight. For many people metal design means premium. It gives chirps finish to the back and the phone looks amazing.

Metal can have a better heat transfer that’s why in winter you touch the phone in the morning it feels like frozen in ice but the same thing can become hot like iron when used for a while to escape this situation you get the best ac in india. Phones with a shiny metal design look very premium and modern but they also tend to bend and get dents very easily. They are also not so good when it comes to Radiofrequency transmission as they hardly penetrate the metal.

Plastic

Plastic back is what we have seen since the beginning. It comes in all shapes, sizes and colours which means the phone can come with various finishes and colour variety. Plastic phones feel very slim and lightweight but nowadays plastic phones gives a cheap tag to the phone. Anyways, plastic back phones can be tough and survive major drops before breaking. They also give a great grip to the phone so you don’t break them so easily.

Some companies are still sticking to the plastic body but soon it gonna be replaced by either metal or glass body. Plastic back is very prone to scratches, even in a very short period of time the back can become a real mess. When it comes to Radio-frequency transmission Plastic back wins ahead of Metal Back.

Glass

Glass Back is what we used to see only in premium phones but nowadays it is possible to fit a glass back that too with Corning Gorilla Glass protection in the best phone under 15000 segments too. A glass back looks very premium and feels great holding in the hand. It also has better Radio Frequency transmission as compared to Plastic and Metal body. On the other hand Glass back phones are very fragile.

We know that if we can’t handle our phone with care then the Glass gonna break so easily. It also adds up to the phone price. They are also very prone to scratches if doesn’t come with any protection.

What Software to pick for your best phone under 15000?

Android One – Pure but not Sexy

The Android One initiative was introduced by Google at the I/O developer conference back in 2014. The program was initially for the budget devices but in 2018 it finally entered to the mid-range and flagship. Now we have a lot of devices with Android One Certification, but what does Android One benefit?

The Android one assures you that you get a full-fledged and stable version of Android without any other apps, bloatware, and services. In simple words, it is Stock Android Experience and doesn’t include any Skins or Duplicate apps and services. You also get 2 years of guaranteed Android OS and Security Patch Updates.

MIUI – Sexy with Buggy Experience

MIUI has been around from a couple of years now and is only limited to smartphones offered by Xiaomi. MIUI has evolved a lot and now currently available as MIUI 10 and soon we will see an update to MIUI 11. If you are going to buy a Xiaomi’s best phone under 15000 then it is most probably going to ship with MIUI if it’s not Android One.

MIUI comes with additional features to improve user experience like the Gestures, ability to apply themes, Picture in Picture mode, Auto-fill Support, AI features, Pre-Built Screen Recording, Dark mode, Game Booster, and much more. Though Xiaomi is known to be late when it comes to updating MIUI to the latest Android version, you get regular security patch updates.

Samsung Experience/One UI – Best for you in best phone under 15000

Samsung has been giving the UI their own touch since a very long time, but recently in a conference held in San Francisco Samsung unveiled a complete redesign for their Samsung Experience Skin as “One UI”. The new skin brings a lot of changes and makes the UI feel more user-friendly and responsive.

The new UI is available for the ongoing Samsung device and is currently in beta but till now here are the features it offers. Better One-Handed Usability, Navigation Gestures, Adoptable Storage, Dark Mode, Recycle Bin in Gallery, Life to Wake, Battery Optimization Settings, Smart Orientation, Extra keyboard features, Extra Camera features, Animation Controls, Clock Designs, and much more.

Stock Android – Just Like Android One

Stock Android is something most of us have already heard before or for those who are unfamiliar then here’s what Stock Android means. The term Stock Android means Pure or Vanilla Android which is the most basic version of the OS Android developed by Google. The Stock Android is an unaltered version which means the smartphone manufacturers have installed it without modifying a lot of things.

Though Android is open-sourced and any manufacturer can build their own skin around it and add a lot of features like themes, Gestures, App locker but all of that is not there in Stock Android. You get a basic set of features but that too has its own advantages, it gets faster updates, it doesn’t feel heavy on RAM, and also doesn’t take up a lot of space.

Color Os – Dope

Color Os is a custom skin which was developed OPPO by and is being used in the devices launched under OPPO, Vivo, and RealMe. Though the Skin was not liked by many because of it’s iOS copying style but finally OPPO did withdraw it and launched a new version as ColorOS 6.0 with a complete Overhaul which is now ruling the market of the best phone under 15000.

The new skin is much lighter and comes with a lot of added features. You get an App Drawer, New Notification Panel, AI features, Redesigned Stock/Preloaded Apps, New Volume UI, Pill Based Navigation System, Enhanced Game Space App, Hyper Boost, Riding Mode, Redesigned Smart Assistant, and many more. The new skin is much better than it’s older version but Color Os is known to receive Android Updates very less so if you are getting any device from OPPO, Vivo or Realme then you have to live with it.