BEST MOBILE PHONES UNDER 20000 IN INDIA

At a starting price of Rs. 15,499 (Rs. 13,499 with offers), the Realme P4x 5G gets a lot right — especially day-to-day performance, battery life, and its refreshed design. The phone feels smooth in regular use, handles gaming well, and the large battery easily delivers up to two days of runtime. However, there are compromises. Its advertised 144Hz refresh rate is inconsistent in behaviour, the software experience lacks refinement, and the cameras are strictly average. If strong performance and long battery life are priorities, the Realme P4x 5G is worth considering.

The Moto G67 Power offers plenty of value given its performance and design turning into a well-balanced budget offering from Motorola. Despite its budget price tag, its design does feel quite premium thanks to its vegan-leather rear panel. The device also has an IP64 rating offering good dust and decent water resistance.

Its display shows natural colours but is a bit dim for the bright outdoors. The 120Hz high refresh works mainly for the software as most games can only be enjoyed at 60 fps.

Performance is on point for a budget device as the software experience is smooth and lag-free. What is disappointing is the software commitment which only includes one major Android update.

Cameras offer decent image quality. The primary camera is the one that performs just fine, while the ultrawide is only there to fill up the spec sheet. Battery life is quite solid and can easily last two days with casual use. Charging is relatively fast given the slow charger and its higher capacity.

The Samsung Galaxy M17 5G has a lot to offer in this price segment. The smartphone offers a sleek and premium-looking design, which is in line with its flagship series. The smartphone also packs a bright AMOLED display, a rarity at this price point. Moreover, the phone comes with decent battery life, though fast charging speeds could have been better. That said, if you are looking for a Samsung model in this price segment, then you can consider this. 

Motorola’s Moto G96 has a design that makes use of glass, silicon and polycarbonate, but still manages to deliver an IP68 rating. The phone has a classy design with tapered sides thanks to the curved-edge front and rear panels.

The phone’s processor is a capable one and delivers reliable performance whether its daily app multitasking or mid-level gaming. Heating is also not an issue.

Camera performance is quite good both in daylight and in low light. The primary camera steals the show, while the ultrawide camera, which also doubles up as the macro camera, is present just to fill up the spec sheet.

Software is updated, but Motorola’s one year OS commitment seems a bit shaky given that it's still running Android 15. Battery life can easily last a day with heavy usage. Charging speeds are quick enough for a smartphone at this price point. 
 

The CMF Phone 2 Pro brings a lot of improvements to the CMF series. The latest smartphone from the brand offers a sleeker design language and a good in-hand feel. The handset provides decent performance and a good value-for-money proposition in this price segment. The cameras are capable of taking some good photos in different lighting conditions. The CMF Phone 2 Pro also has a good battery life, lasting slightly more than a day and having moderate to heavy usage. That said, if you are looking for an all-around package and want to experience a clean user interface, consider this smartphone. 

The Poco X7 is packed with features to the brim and, on paper, is a great device for everyday use. Starting with the display, the peak brightness is on par with the competition, and the additional IP rating offers consumers peace of mind. It is powered by MediaTek Dimensity 7300 Ultra and is a decent processor for everyday tasks. The phone also packs AI features and comes with 3+4 years of software update. The camera isn't the strongest highlight, but its performance credentials make it an excellent choice for its price segment.

The Moto G85 5G is a mid-range smartphone that is desiged to combines a modern design with reliable performance. It boasts a large curved display with a high refresh rate for smooth visuals and vibrant colours that enable users to watch content on a range of applications.

Powered by a recently launched midrange processor, the Moto G85 handles multitasking and gaming efficiently and comes with enough memory and internal storage, which are both expandable as per your needs.

For photography, the Moto G85 features a dual-camera setup with optical image stabilisation (OIS). It also has a high-resolution front-facing camera for selfies. The It packs a large battery with support for fast charging, ensuring all-day use.

Running on Android 14, the Moto G85 5G includes useful software features and security updates but comes with some bloatware and notification spam. Its practical design includes a plastic frame and back, and the phone has an IP54 dust and splash resistance rating.

The Honor 200 offers a stunning design, which makes it stand out from the crowd. The handset offers a crisp display, making it an ideal multimedia device. The Honor 200 also brings decent performance, though looking at the competition, it may appear to be an underdog. However, the camera is where the Honor 200 stands out from the competition. The phone takes some perfect photos in both daylight and low-light conditions. The portraits came out to be quite good from the rear sensor, while the selfies look good, though they are a bit over-styled. The device also packs a decent battery life that can easily last one whole day with medium usage. That said, if you are looking for a sleek phone with good camera capabilities, then you can consider the Honor 200. 

The OnePlus Nord CE4 has an IP54 rating for dust and water resistance. It has a frame made out of polycarbonate that is supposed to be very durable and is able to sustain drops. The rear panel too is made of polycarbonate.

The phone offers good performance for the casual user, but is not ideal for gaming. Its display can get really bright outdoors and is also HDR10-certified. While it offers a high refresh rate, its touch sampling rate or sensitivity comes up a bit short while playing FPS games

The Nord CE4 comes with OxygenOS 14, which is based on Android 14. It is highly customisable and offers some handy new features like Fluid Cloud. Some of these features are AI-enabled.

Overall camera performance is quite average for its segment and video recording quality isn’t great either. Battery life is excellent and the phone offers fast wired charging.

The iQOO Z11 Lite has a design made from polycarbonate and glass. Its frame and rear panel use polycarbonate, but the phone still manages an IP65-rating for dust and water. Its primary speaker placement at the top feels a bit out of place and gets blocked when playing games. 

Its processor is not capable of handling the software interface, so there are moments of lag, stuttering when using it. You can play 3D games on this device, but expect random lag and stuttering when doing so.

The camera experience is quite basic. The primary camera manages average images in daylight and is not really usable in low light. The selfie camera tends to overprocess images because of its low sensor resolution.

Battery life is the iQOO Z11 Lite’s highlight feature. Given the underperforming hardware it’s not surprising to see the phone excel with battery life. 

The Moto G37 Power was recently launched in India alongside the standard Moto G37 model. It currently retails in the country at a starting price of Rs. 15,999 for the base 4GB RAM model. The new smartphone boasts a 7,000mAh battery. In real-world use, it offers a really long battery life, which is more than enough even for casual users. Adding to this, the standby battery drain is minimal. However, the lack of an ultrawide camera, which is found on its predecessor, is slightly disappointing. But the primary rear camera remains the same, which means you can still capture decent photos and videos in most scenarios.

The Poco C85 is a stylish big battery smartphone with a design made mainly from polycarbonate. Despite its extensive use of plastic, the phone still manages an IP64 rating for dust and water resistance.

The phone has a notched display which may feel a bit dated, but it delivers when it comes to brightness, making it easy to use outdoors. Viewing angles aren’t great and the underlying hardware barely utilises the display’s 120Hz refresh rate.

Image quality is decent for a budget device. They appear fine with slightly warmer colour tones but are low on detail when zoomed in. Video recording is quite poor and recording options quite limited.

Battery life is pretty good for a budget device and Poco has picked the right hardware components to deliver the same. Wired charging is fast with the bundled charger and users can also charge accessories with reverse wired charging.
 

The iQOO Z10R has a slim IP69-rated design that uses a polycarbonate frame and rear panel. The matte finished panel does gather fingerprints despite having a matte finish. Given its regular-sized battery the phone isn’t too thick, but it does not last as long as some competing devices.

Performance is good enough to sustain a smooth software experience. You can play casual games on it as well, but heavy games will start to lag once the phone heats up internally as it lacks a proper cooling mechanism.

Camera performance is not good overall. While the photos look passable from afar, they lack detail when zoomed in even by a bit. Its video recording capabilities aren’t too great either. While the software experience is smooth, we wished that its commitment to future updates was better.

Battery life is good, but you can get better performance from other smartphones at this price point. Charging speeds are average.
 

Samsung’s Galaxy M36 has a design with a buffed and slippery matte-finish back. This is coupled with a matte-finished frame with flat sides which gives it a fresh and modern appearance.

Part of this image is ruined by its display, which has a dated waterdrop notch. However, it's of the Super AMOLED variety and performs well in terms of colours and contrast.

Its processor is a bit dated as well and isn’t ideal when paired with its moderately sized battery, which results in below average battery standing power. Charging too is quite slow and Samsung does not offer a charger in the box.

Camera performance in daylight is decent, but poor in low light. The selfie camera  also performs well in daylight. Video performance is quite good, but this only applies to footage captured in daylight. 

The HMD Fusion is a fun budget smartphone with reasonably priced accessories that somehow elevate its otherwise lacklustre software experience. Looks are subjective, but we are fans of its practical and industrial translucent design, which also makes it very easy to access its interior.

HMD offers three Outfits, two of which are smart. The Smart Outfits like the Gaming and Flashy Outfits are quite practical and useful.

This phone isn’t built to perform but for those who love to explore, tinker and repair their own devices. Given this approach, there’s not much room for performance, and whenever it does, the phone does heat up.

Software is a bit of a mixed bag. It’s near-stock, but loaded with preinstalled apps and not optimised to take advantage of the hardware. Camera performance is a bit below average, and the same goes for battery performance. But wired charging speeds were up to expectations.