It’s 2018, and a fresh start to the new year may call the need for a new mobile phone purchase. The price segment of Rs. 10,000 to Rs. 15,000 has been the hottest place in town, as most mobile manufactures aim to be at the top of this segment. There are so many phones are available in this price segment and the competition has been getting stiffer.
Xiaomi Redmi Note 4:
Xiaomi had quite a hit on its hands last year with the Redmi Note 3. It was a phone that got almost everything right, that too at quite a bargain. To top it this year was going to be quite the challenge. The Chinese company hasn’t changed the winning formula too much with the incrementally-updated Redmi Note 4. It has the same metal build and uses the 14 nanometers Qualcomm Snapdragon 625 chip. The lower benchmark scores to the Snapdragon 650 on the Redmi Note 3.
Battery life was stellar as well, as the Redmi Note 4 ran continuously for 15 hours and 10 minutes in our video loop test. The cameras performed decently as well. Finally, the phone also retains the IR blaster from its predecessor. Nonetheless, with the 4GB RAM/64GB storage variant costing Rs.12,999, the Redmi Note 4 earns our pick as one of the best phones for under Rs.15,000.
Lenovo Z2 Plus:
Lenovo is the other brand that has been releasing showstopper handsets in this budget. The Lenovo Plus was originally on our best phones under Rs.20,000 list. Interestingly, the phone got a price cut recently and now qualifies as the second best option as the best smartphone under Rs.15,000. The only phone with the high-end Snapdragon 820 chip in this list, the Z2 Plus is also reasonably-sized thanks to its 5-inch screen. The fingerprint sensor below the screen also doubles up as a touchpad of sorts with gestures. Lenovo’s ZUI user interface also has a stock-Android like feel, lastly, the large 3500mAh battery it managed to pack into this phone keeps it running for an entire day.
Moto G4 Plus:
Motorola got its winning formula in the Rs.10,000 to Rs.15,000 price segment early on, with the Moto G series of affordable smartphones. In its fourth iteration, the Moto G4 Plus is the only one at the time of writing to get the Android Nougat update. Besides running the newest version of Android, the Moto G4 Plus is a reasonable performer in all departments-UI speed, camera, battery life, and so on.
The fingerprint sensor on the front is also pretty fast, and the 2GB storage quite reasonable. The bundled 25W TurboPower charger also tops up the phone with juice pretty fast. Al these reasons make it our third choice for the best phone under Rs.15,000 today.
Lenovo K6 Power:
Our fourth choice is the Lenovo K6 Power which is the cheapest option from this list. Bearing dual speakers grilles, this phone touts Dolby Atmos support and the audio quality was also pretty good, as we discovered in our review. This easy-to-hold 5-inch phone comes with a huge 4000mAh battery. With it, you’ll be able to get a solid uptime for over a day with regular use. A solid pick in our list of best smartphones under Rs. 15,000.
Coolpad Max:
This Coolpad phone is another phone that made the list of best phones under Rs. 15,000 because of a price drop. The Coolpad Max has a premium-looking metal body with curves around the edges of the screen. It has the same Snapdragon 617 chip as the Moto G4 Plus above but is paired with 4GB RAM and 64GB of onboard storage. The Android customisation dubbed ‘Cool UI’ comes with features such as a private area, where your contents can be safely revealed to get warm. Also, this phone has been around since April 2016, making it one of the older handsets in this list. Photo quality from the cameras is good and although the battery size isn’t as massive as the others on the list, fast charging supports is the saving grace.