Best Android Phones Under Rs 20,000 in India

Discover top-performing Android phones under Rs 20,000. Compare cameras, performance, and value in our comprehensive buying guide.

With the ever-evolving smartphone market, picking up a phone of your choice and budget is a challenge. While smartphone makers regularly introduce phones with new features and top-end specifications, you need to understand what features are relevant to you and spend your money wisely.

If you’re a budget-conscious user who’s looking to buy a phone under Rs 20,000, then you’re mostly looking for a device that offers the best camera performance and battery life, is durable, and lets you play your favourite games at decent graphic settings.

While we have another list of best phones under Rs. 30,000, this list purely focuses on smartphones under Rs. 20,000, offering the best value for your hard-earned money.

CMF Phone 1: Best Overall Phone

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When Nothing introduced a new budget Android phone under its sub-brand, CMF, it surprised many people. However, a quick look at the phone makes you believe it is unique and adds a flavour of uniqueness to the sea of similar-looking devices.

Its semi-modular design allows you to play with the rear panel design by swapping out the plastic back, adding a kickstand, and more.

That said, it has a few shortcomings, too. The plastic build may feel cheap to a few, but the camera performance could be slightly better. Like the flagship devices, Nothing’s decision to remove the charger from the box may help keep the costs down, but it’s an added investment for first-time buyers who do not have a spare charger lying at home.

The CMF Phone 1 has four colorways, two memory options, and 128GB onboard storage. It retails for Rs. 14,999 for the 6GB/128 GB version, and the 8GB//128GB variant sells for Rs.16,999.

Quirky design aside, CMF Phone 1 performs excellently in almost all aspects, thanks to its optimized Android skin and decent hardware specs, making it the best overall phone under the price band of Rs. 20,000.

iQOO Z9s 5G: Best gaming Phone

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The iQOO Z9s has a premium design thanks to its curved display that produces vibrant images, sturdy build quality, and rock-solid performance. While its overall performance makes it compete with the CMF Phone 1 for the pole position, its gaming capabilities make it one of the best gaming phones under the Rs. 20,000 price band.

The phone can handle most tasks thrown at it without any jitter or breaking a sweat. Available in Onyx green and Titanium matte colour options, the Z9s has a crisp and bright display that makes it easy to use even while outdoors.

It has a dual camera setup at the back with a primary 50-megapixel Sony that carries the load of mobile photography on its shoulders.

That said, it has a starting price tag of Rs. 19,998 for 8GB/128GB trim, which makes it slightly costly compared to the other devices. There are two more variants with 8GB/256GB and 12GB/256GB combinations; however, they come with a higher price tag.

Poco X6: Best Performance Phone

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If performance is at the top of your list of must-haves for your next smartphone purchase, then the Poco X6 is the device to buy. This phone offers rock solid performance, thanks to the capable mid-range chipset Qualcomm Snapdragon 7s Gen 2, paired with up to 12GB RAM and 512GB storage.

Thanks to this combination, the phone is great for more than playing games, multitasking, content consumption, professional usage, and more. It even has an excellent AMOLED display, which, paired with Dolby Atmos speakers, offers an immersive viewing and gaming experience.

It retails at a starting price of Rs. 18,999 for the base variant with 8GB of RAM and 256GB of storage. There are 12GB/256GB and 12GB/512GB variants available for people looking for more RAM or storage, but the price tips over Rs. 20,000 benchmark of this article.

The Poco X6 is a stellar device with some quirks like average camera performance and limited software update promise. If you can look beyond these compromises, you can’t go wrong with the Poco X6.

Motorola G85 5G: Best Stock Android Experience

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If you prefer their phones to be simple, easy to use and do not have too many pre-installed apps yet look premium, then the Motorola G85 5 fits your bill.

While Motorola’s UI – MyUI is not stock Android, it can be easily classified as closest to stock Android in the sea of highly customised Android skins. And for those who’re confused between these, let us explain. A near-stock Android user interface is often bland and doesn’t have many customizations apart from the bare necessary ones. This means it’s lighter and offers faster response whenever you swipe through the menus.

Besides the user interface, the Moto G85 5G is a decent phone with a gorgeous curved display, ample storage, and memory, a large battery with not-so-fast charging tech, and average camera performance.

It comes in four bright colour options and has a maximum of 12GB of RAM and 256GB of storage. The Moto G85 5G is available at a starting price of Rs. 17,999 and goes all the way up to 19,999 for the top-end variant.

OnePlus Nord CE 4 Lite - Best Camera Phone

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It's challenging to pick a clear winner when looking for a camera phone under Rs. 20,000. Various smartphones offer more than decent camera performance, but finding a device that outperforms others in all camera-related departments is tricky.

This is why we’ve chosen the OnePlus Nord CE 4 Lite as our favorite budget camera phone, as it ticks almost all the boxes and is more than a decent phone in this price range.

It sports a 50 MP Sony LYT-600 primary camera, which captures detailed images with good dynamic range, even in low-light conditions. The depth sensor helps create pleasing bokeh effects in portrait mode, while the macro sensor allows you to capture close-up shots of small objects.

The Nord CE 4 Lite has a massive 5500mAh battery which sports 80W SUPERVOOC charging that can quickly top up the battery when needed.

However, among its peers, the OnePlus Nord CE 4 Lite has the most boring design and has a dated chipset under the hood. Its price starts at Rs. 17,999 or an 8GB/128GB trim and is available in three colour choices.

How to choose the perfect phone?

When planning to buy a new phone, you need to make sure that you list down your requirements and shortlist devices based on these preferences.

Some key things to consider while making a purchase decision are the internal specifications, memory and storage combination, battery capacity and charging tech, and camera specifications.

Build quality, design, and after-sale support, along with the brand value, also play an essential part while picking up a device of your choice.