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Lava Virat V1 5G Review: Not Just a Budget Phone

Lava Virat V1 5G Review: Not Just a Budget Phone

Name: Lava Virat V1 5G Review: Not Just a Budget Phone
Item: Lava Virat V1 5G

Lava Virat V1 5G was recently launched in India as the company’s first Virat series handset. Here’s our review.

Written by Dhruv Raghav, Edited by Ketan Pratap | Updated: 18 August 2026 09:00 IST

Lava Virat V1 5G Review: Not Just a Budget Phone

Lava Virat V1 5G is priced in India at Rs. 12,999

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Highlights

Lava Virat V1 5G is a decent-looking phone for its price
Lava Virat V1 5G gets a single 13-megapixel rear shooter
Lava Virat V1 5G ships with vanilla Android 16

India has seen multiple homegrown smartphone companies come and go, like Micromax, Karbonn, Spice, and iBall. Some brands vanished even before they could get their first product on the shelves, like Freedom 251's maker, Ringing Bells. Meanwhile, a few brands still exist in the country after exiting the category altogether. These industry trends show the cut-throat nature of the Indian smartphone market, which lets only companies that put real effort and thought into their handsets survive. One such homegrown brand that has managed to stay afloat is Lava, which has not only stayed put but also expanded its product portfolio in the country and beyond its borders, like the UK.

The Noida-based Lava recently launched its fresh smartphone lineup in India, Virat. The series includes two phones, the Lava Virat V1 5G and Virat V1, which share the same core DNA but differ in a few ways. Arriving in the sub-Rs. 15,000 price segment in India, the Lava Virat V1 5G is a new budget offering from the company, a bracket that has been abandoned by other OEMs due to the recent supply-side price shocks. However, is it worth buying in 2026, even after the recent price hikes?

Lava Virat V1 5G Design: Not So Unique

Dimensions - 165.85x76.8x8.75mm
Weight - 210g
Ingress protection - IP64 rating for dust and splash resistance
Colours - Arya Blue and Sonar Gold

The Lava Virat V1 5G does not have a unique design. The phone might look new and fresh to someone who hasn't seen many Lava smartphones. However, people who have seen other Lava handsets on sale would immediately recognise that the phone borrows heavily from the Lava Shark 2 5G, which coincidentally has identical features. To carve out its own visual identity, the Lava Virat V1 5G has a different back pattern and texture.

Lava Virat V1 5G shares its rear design with other Lava phones

Its flat rear panel is made of plastic and features a quadrilateral pattern that looks decent. The company branding sits in the bottom-left corner and takes up enough real estate. While the quadrilateral structures are matte, its surroundings, however minimal, have a glossy finish, creating a nice texture. As noted earlier, the deco matches the Lava Shark 2 5G, with a square camera module featuring vertically aligned cutouts and an LED flash.

The mid-frame of the Lava Virat V1 5G is also made of plastic. However, none of the materials used diminishes the phone's in-hand feel. So, to an average consumer, the phone might never feel like a budget device, simply because of the quality of the plastics used. Moreover, the waterdrop-style notch on the front looks dated.

Lava Virat V1 5G sports a flat rear panel

Moving on, the power button and volume controls have been placed perfectly. Your thumb rests perfectly on the power button, with the integrated fingerprint scanner, so you can unlock the Lava Virat V1 5G and get on with your work. Similarly, the volume buttons never feel out of reach. The physical buttons are flush with the frame but still tactile, which is a major plus.

Despite its large size, the corners of the front panel don't seem hard to reach. However, you might have to stretch your thumb a bit to tap the top-left corner of the screen. The phone weighs about 210g. The Virat V1 5G neither feels too heavy nor too light, owing to its decent weight distribution. But it is slightly thick at 8.75mm, which is something you will get used to within hours of use.

Lava Virat V1 5G sports an ergonomic button placement

The Lava Virat V1 5G comes in Arya Blue and Sonar Gold. Based on your preference, you can lean towards either shade. I got to test the Blue option, which I find a bit more subtle and significantly less flashy. Overall, the Lava Virat V1 5G might not be the best-designed phone, but it is certainly one of the most well-built and well-rounded handsets in its price segment.

Lava Virat V1 5G Display: Decent for the Price

Screen size - 6.75-inch HD+ (720 x 1,600 pixels)
Refresh rate - 120Hz

The displays of phones have certainly gotten notably bigger, since they have now replaced other devices to become our one-stop content consumption and portable workstation solution. Hence, I expected the Lava Virat V1 5G's large screen to be one of its strongest suits. Fortunately, I was not disappointed. The 6.75-inch LCD panel might not have the widest colour gamut coverage or the highest pixel density, but for its price, it will not disappoint.

Lava Virat V1 5G features a large LCD screen

You can watch shows, videos, movies, Reels, and Shorts for hours. The HD+ resolution standard, with 720 pixels laid horizontally and 1,600 pixels laid vertically, offers sharp enough visuals, especially considering that we have seen the same or even inferior resolution LCD panels of smartphones costing well above Rs. 20,000.

However, the quality of the LCD panel does not match those on more expensive phones. The display is unable to reproduce lighter colours as accurately. The whites have a slight yellow tint, which can get annoying over time. However, other brighter hues appear punchy.

Lava Virat V1 5G is decent for watching content

The display also isn't ideal for reading books or online articles, as the edges of characters don't look as sharp. As noted earlier, the Lava Virat V1 5G is a decent content-consumption device. I watched the second season of the Ravi Kishan-starrer ‘Mamla Legal Hai' on Netflix, the second episode of Hustle Season 5 on Jio Hotstar, and the fourth episode of Legacy on YouTube.

Overall, the visual experience Lava Virat V1 5G's LCD screen offers is decent for its price, even when pitted against phones that are notably more expensive.

Lava Virat V1 5G Software: Vanilla Android on a Budget

Software - Android 16

One of the main selling points of Lava's phones is the vanilla Android experience its handsets offer, along with “zero bloatware”. However, it is not as bloatware-free as the company would like to claim. In practice, the Lava Virat V1 5G delivers a near lag-free experience. Moving between screens and pages is snappy, and I had few complaints browsing the phone's app drawer and settings menu.

Lava Virat V1 5G ships with vanilla Android 16

The vanilla Android 16 experience is as promised. However, it weirdly feels like a cheaper version of the real thing. But if you have used other Android devices, you will never feel out of your comfort zone. A few unwanted apps come preinstalled, like Adobe Scan, Tile Explorer, and Phone Clone. But you can uninstall them whenever you feel like it.

Lava Virat V1 5G Performance: Underpowered and Laggy

Chipset - Unisoc T8200 (6nm)
RAM - 4GB
Storage - 64GB

The real budget nature of the Lava Virat V1 5G comes up when you start to push the phone to its limits. The underpowered Unisoc T8200 chipset is decent for casual usage. However, it is extremely underpowered, and you feel it immediately when you try to multitask. Weirdly, more than once, I found the phone lagging while I was using YouTube.

Most prominently, the jitters turn up when you try to open a YouTube video in horizontal, full-screen mode. Similarly, when switching to a pop-up window, the Lava Virat V1 5G takes a full 10 seconds to transition. This is largely due to the low 4GB RAM, coupled with the limitations of the Unisoc chipset.

Lava Virat V1 5G rarely gets warm under stress

These issues also translate into lower scores in most benchmark tests. However, there are very few sub-Rs. 15,000 smartphones left, due to the recent price shocks. Compared with some older Rs. 10,000 phones, the Lava Virat V1 5G performed well on AnTuTu, Geekbench, and other benchmarking platforms.

Benchmark	Lava Virat V1 5G	Moto G37 Power
Display Resolution	HD+	HD+
Chipset	Unisoc T8200 (6nm)	MediaTek Dimensity 6400 (6nm)
AnTuTu v10/11	5,14,507	4,91,727
PCMark Work Performance 3.0	11,462	10,903
Geekbench 6 CPU Single Core	694	652
Geekbench 6 CPU Multi Core	1719	1,097
Geekbench AI CPU (Quantized)	958	829
Geekbench AI GPU (Quantized)	422	503
3DM Wild Life	1109	1,385
3DM Wild Life Unlimited	1,103	1,362
3DM Steel Nomad Light	FTR	FTR

For gaming, the Virat V1 5G runs most arcade titles with ease; however, at lower graphics presets. I played Temple Run 2, Angry Birds, and Subway Surfers on the handset, and it was largely glitch-free. However, you would notice a few frame drops here and there. For bigger titles, you will need a more powerful handset, and I wouldn't recommend playing even Battlegrounds Mobile India (BGMI) on the Virat V1 5G.

Fortunately, I did not notice any heating issues while gaming or editing photos. It does get a little warm while charging or during resource-intensive tasks, but not at an alarming level.

Lava Virat V1 5G Cameras: Performs as Expected

Rear camera - 13-megapixel
Selfie camera - 5-megapixel

The Lava Virat V1 5G is certainly not your photography pal. Still, for what it is, the smartphone can capture decent pictures. If you are looking to take photos and videos for personal keeping, the phone delivers passable shots. However, if you plan to post them on social media apps, which already compress images and videos to low-resolution media, you might want a more expensive handset.

Lava Virat V1 5G camera performance during the day

Its 13-megapixel main sensor on the back doesn't capture as much detail as you would want. The images also look overly processed, smoothing skin and uneven textures. It does perform well in portrait mode.

Lava Virat V1 5G camera performance in portrait mode

However, the Lava Virat V1 5G's camera gets the edges and borders right. Almost every time, the phone detects the subject well. This means that the overall rear camera performance during the day is consistent.

Lava Virat V1 5G camera performance during the night

It also manages to perform well while capturing neutral colours. However, the same doesn't hold when it is pointed at brighter hues. When shooting lush, green trees, images from the Lava Virat V1 5G can look noisy.

Lava Virat V1 5G selfie camera performance

At night, you can also get decent photos for its price. The selfie camera also performs fine. However, it tends to brighten the skin tones slightly.

Lava Virat V1 5G Battery: Underwhelming

Capacity - 6,000mAh
Fast charging - 10W
Charging Adapter - Included

The most underwhelming aspect of the Lava Virat V1 5G is its battery performance. At best, you can get one day's use out of its 6,000mAh battery, which may be due to poor optimisation. Starting in the morning, the phone lasted me a full work shift, including about 45 minutes of YouTube videos, 5-6 hours of music on YouTube Music, a few phone calls, and 20-25 stills.

Lava Virat V1 5G support 10W wired charging

Even on the PC Mark Battery Performance 3.0 test, the Virat V1 5G only lasted for 13 hours and 10 minutes, which is quite low for a phone with a 6,000mAh cell. However, the standby battery performance is quite good. Coming to charging, the phone is quite slow as well. It ships with a 10W adapter, which got the handset to a 17 percent battery level in 30 minutes from 0 percent. It charged to about 33 percent in an hour, taking more than 3 hours and 25 minutes to reach 100 percent.

Lava Virat V1 5G Verdict

To conclude, the Lava Virat V1 5G has no standout features, except for its price tag. Launching at Rs. 12,999 for the sole 4GB + 64GB variant, the phone becomes a go-to choice under Rs. 15,000 because of the lack of competition. If you are looking for a handset in this exact price range, the Virat V1 5G might be the phone for you.

The company also offers the Lava Bold N2 5G in this price range, with identical hardware. You can also look at the Vivo T5e, which is slightly more expensive but has an even weaker chipset and a smaller battery. I would rather recommend the OnePlus N6x, which is slightly more expensive but offers more bang for your buck.

Lava Virat V1 5G

REVIEW
KEY SPECS
NEWS

Design
Display
Software
Performance
Battery Life
Camera
Value for Money

Good
Camera performance is decent for its price segment
The software experience is glitch-free
Large display
Good selfie camera performance
Decent for arcade games

Bad
Same design as other Lava Smart series phones
Battery life is quite low for a 6,000mAh cell
Charging takes a lot of time
The phone can get laggy even while opening YouTube

Read detailed Lava Virat V1 5G review

Display 6.75-inch

Processor Unisoc T8200

Front Camera 5-megapixel

Rear Camera 13-megapixel

RAM 4GB

Storage 64GB

Battery Capacity 6000mAh

OS Android 16

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Further reading: Lava Virat V1 5G, Lava, Lava Virat V1 5G Review, Lava Virat V1 5G Price in India, Lava Virat V1 5G Specifications

Dhruv Raghav

Email Dhruv Raghav

Dhruv Raghav is currently working as a Senior Sub Editor at Gadgets360. He has previously covered the North American financial markets as a Headline News Correspondent for a major news agency. After taking a sabbatical to prepare for the Civil Services examination, he returned to journalism to cover tech policy, with a special focus on AI laws and online gaming regulation. Now, he is back in Gadgets360 to write features and edit stories. To unwind, he likes to spend time with his PS5, listening ...More