Best Phones Under Rs. 30,000: Should You Buy a Feature-Packed Midrange Smartphone?

Samsung Galaxy A53 5G, OnePlus Nord 2T and other midrange phones are up for discussion on this week’s Orbital podcast.

Written by David Delima, Edited by Siddharth Suvarna | Updated: 28 October 2022 17:03 IST

Best Phones Under Rs. 30,000: Should You Buy a Feature-Packed Midrange Smartphone?

Xiaomi 11i HyperCharge features 120W fast charging support

Buying a smartphone on a medium-sized budget can be a confusing task, with so many smartphone models available across popular manufacturers such as Samsung, Oppo, Xiaomi, and OnePlus. These handsets are typically equipped with one or two features typically found on more expensive flagship phones, such as faster charging, high-end chipsets, or camera sensors. While it might be argued that you get more value for your money when purchasing a smartphone in this price segment, you might also have to make certain trade-offs.

On this week's episode of Orbital, the Gadgets 360 podcast, host Akhil Arora talks to Reviewer Pranav Hegde and Consultant Sub Editor Siddhant Chandra to outline some of the best smartphones worth buying under Rs. 30,000.

It's been a while since we discussed the best phones under Rs. 30,000, and brands have shown a lot of interest in the Rs. 20,000 to Rs. 30,000 segment, according to Pranav. Consumers have started to spend more to get more value out of their smartphones, aided by buy now pay latter (BNPL) or easy EMI offers. These aren't phones that come with many compromises, and tend to offer good value for money, he says.

Thanks to the pandemic and the ongoing global supply crunch, smartphones priced under Rs. 20,000 do not offer the same value that they used to until last year, Pranav explains, adding that there are a few smartphones making their debut under Rs. 10,000, but they do not offer enough value.

Akhil asks if there are any “flagship” phone features that you simply won't see on smartphones priced under Rs. 30,000, and Pranav says that while you do get high-end features like a 108-megapixel camera, or support for 120W fast charging, you will usually get one outstanding feature that might compete with a flagship phone, the rest of the specifications will not be as good as a premium handset.

He cites the example of the Xiaomi 11i HyperCharge, a smartphone equipped with an AMOLED display and support for 120W fast charging that offers a good multimedia experience and the ability to charge your phone quickly. However, he found that the camera performance on the Xiaomi handset was not as good as other phones in the same price segment.

The Best Smartphones You Can Buy Under Rs. 30,000 in India

Siddhant asks Pranav to list out the best features that a buyer can expect under the Rs. 30,000 mark. You can get smartphones with a powerful Snapdragon 870 chipset, or a MediaTek Dimensity 1300 chipset, so performance is not an issue, he says. Very few phones in this price segment will feature a premium build quality, but you can consider phones like the Poco F4 5G or the Oppo Reno 8 5G, he adds.

When picking a phone under the Rs. 30,000 mark, you should probably opt for a phone with an AMOLED display, according to Pranav. Many phones in this segment do not offer a 3.5mm headphone jack, which means you should also check whether the handset supports dual stereo speakers, he says.

Akhil asks if it makes a difference whether your smartphone's display supports a refresh rate of 90Hz or 120Hz. While the difference between 90Hz and 120Hz isn't obvious, you will see a difference when upgrading from an older smartphone with a 60Hz display, Pranav says.

Poco F4 5G Review: Is It a Serious Contender?

If you want a feature rich experience, you can also consider the Samsung M53 5G, Pranav says. While you might not get the most powerful processor in this price segment, you get Samsung's One UI 4.0 skin running on top of Android 12, with two years of operating system updates and four years of security updates, as is the case with the company's M-series phones. It is equipped with a 108-megapixel quad camera setup.

Software updates might be patchy in this price segment, Pranav says. While there's no word on timelines, the general norm for phones priced under Rs. 30,000 is two years of software support. The Xiaomi 11i Hypercharge, for example, launched with Android 11 out-of-the-box when development of Android 13 had already been announced by Google. The phone eventually received an update to Android 12, bringing it on par with other phones from Samsung and OnePlus.

You can listen to all of that in detail and more in our episode by hitting the play button on the Spotify player embedded above. Don't forget to check our guide to the best phones under the Rs. 30,000 mark, which you can find linked above.

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Xiaomi 11i HyperCharge 5G

REVIEW
KEY SPECS
NEWS

Design
Display
Software
Performance
Battery Life
Camera
Value for Money

Good
Crisp AMOLED display
Loud stereo speakers
120W fast charging

Bad
Too many preinstalled apps
Average low-light camera performance

Read detailed Xiaomi 11i HyperCharge 5G review

Display 6.67-inch

Processor MediaTek Dimensity 920

Front Camera 16-megapixel

Rear Camera 108-megapixel + 8-megapixel

RAM 6GB, 8GB

Storage 128GB

Battery Capacity 4500mAh

OS Android 11

Resolution 1080x2400 pixels

More Xiaomi mobiles Xiaomi mobiles price in India

Oppo Reno 8

REVIEW
KEY SPECS
NEWS

Design
Display
Software
Performance
Battery Life
Camera
Value for Money

Good
Good performance
Excellent battery life
Bundled 80W fast charger

Bad
Main camera lacks OIS
Preinstalled bloatware

Read detailed Oppo Reno 8 review

Display 6.43-inch

Processor MediaTek Dimensity 1300

Front Camera 32-megapixel

Rear Camera 50-megapixel + 2-megapixel + 2-megapixel

RAM 8GB

Storage 128GB

Battery Capacity 4500mAh

OS Android 12

Resolution 2400x1080 pixels

More Oppo mobiles Oppo mobiles price in India

OnePlus Nord 2T 5G

REVIEW
KEY SPECS
NEWS

Design
Display
Software
Performance
Battery Life
Camera
Value for Money

Good
Premium design
Good software performance
Good for gaming
Excellent battery life, 80W fast charging
Primary camera has good low-light performance

Bad
No macro camera
No IP rating

Read detailed OnePlus Nord 2T 5G review

Display 6.43-inch

Processor MediaTek Dimensity 1300

Front Camera 32-megapixel

Rear Camera 50-megapixel + 8-megapixel + 2-megapixel

RAM 8GB, 12GB

Storage 128GB, 256GB

Battery Capacity 4500mAh

OS Android 12

Resolution 1080x2400 pixels

More OnePlus mobiles OnePlus mobiles price in India

Samsung Galaxy M53 5G

REVIEW
KEY SPECS
NEWS

Design
Display
Software
Performance
Battery Life
Camera
Value for Money

Good
120Hz Super AMOLED display
Capable 5G SoC
Guaranteed software updates
Good battery life

Bad
Lots of preinstalled bloatware
Weak low-light camera performance
Average video recording capability
No bundled charger

Read detailed Samsung Galaxy M53 5G review

Display 6.70-inch

Processor MediaTek Dimensity 900

Front Camera 32-megapixel

Rear Camera 108-megapixel + 8-megapixel + 2-megapixel + 2-megapixel

RAM 6GB, 8GB

Storage 128GB

Battery Capacity 5000mAh

OS Android 12

Resolution 1080x2400 pixels

More Samsung mobiles Samsung mobiles price in India

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Further reading: Samsung Galaxy M53 5G, OnePlus Nord 2T, Xiaomi 11i HyperCharge, Oppo Reno 8, Poco F4 5G, Orbital, Gadgets 360 Podcast, Podcast

David Delima

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As a writer on technology with Gadgets 360, David Delima is interested in open-source technology, cybersecurity, consumer privacy, and loves to read and write about how the Internet works. David can be contacted via email at DavidD@ndtv.com, on Twitter at @DxDavey, and Mastodon at mstdn.social/@delima. More