Best Phones Under 10000: The Best Smartphones You Can Buy Under Rs. 10,000 (January 2020)

The sub-Rs. 10,000 market has seen some of the trendiest smartphones launched recently. From the Samsung Galaxy M20 to the Realme 5i which was launched earlier this month, we have some Best Phones Under 10000. If you don’t wish to spend over Rs. 10,000, these smartphones will still give you a reasonable all-round experience. In this article, we have compiled our top picks for best mobiles under Rs. 10,000 available on the market right now.

As always, every phone that we are recommending has gone through our usual battery of tests. For this guide, we have restricted ourselves to the phones priced above Rs. 7,000 and under Rs. 10,000. If you have a budget even lower than that, make sure to check out our most recent guide to the best phones under Rs. 7,000.

Best phones under 10000

Realme 5i

The latest entrant in this list, Realme 5i joins the 5 series of smartphones from the Chinese smartphone maker. It looks nice, however, the size of the phone does make one-handed use quite cumbersome. It offers good performance with no issues in day-to-day performance.

Realme 5i just like its siblings has a quad-camera setup under Rs. 10,000, making it an interesting proposition. The primary shooter on the phone takes pleasing landscape photos, however they lack detail in distant objects. Wide-angle shots have less detail but provide a wider field of view. Close-ups shots are one area in which the Realme 5i does quite well. Low-light images had weak details.

Realme offers the 5i in one configuration only, with 4GB of RAM and 64GB of storage and it is priced at Rs. 8,999.

Realme 5s

The Realme 5s was introduced as an improvement to the Realme 5 and gets an upgraded 48-megapixel primary camera along with a new Crystal Red colour. The other cameras in the quad-camera setup remain the same. Realme has also kept the internals unchanged and the Realme 5s too is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 665 SoC.

We found the Realme 5s to be chunky because of its big 5,000mAh battery. It managed to last for an impressive 27 hours and 16 minutes in our HD video loop test. Thanks to the upgraded camera, the Realme 5s managed to capture better details and had better dynamic range than the Realme 5. The Realme 5s saves oversampled 12-megapixel shots by default, but you do have the option to save 48-megapixel full-resolution shots. The Realme 5s managed slightly better low-light camera performance compared to the Realme 5i.

Realme offers the 5s in two storage variants, 64GB and 128GB while the RAM remains unchanged at 4GB. Only the base variant priced at Rs. 9,999 qualifies for this list.

Samsung Galaxy M20

Samsung began 2019 with a pretty aggressive approach and brought its India-first Galaxy M-series to target the online smartphone buyers. The strategy seems to have been pretty successful for the company, as most of the Galaxy M-series phones have found favour with not only reviewers but consumers as well. Samsung Galaxy M20 is no different.

Samsung Galaxy M20 offers a decent experience and we didn’t have any trouble using the phone for day-to-day tasks. The phone’s display is bright and crisp with good viewing angles. It, however disappoints on the camera front. The photos taken with Galaxy M20 didn’t lacked realistic textures and finer details. On the positive side, all shots were all in focus and colours were fairly vibrant.

Samsung Galaxy M20 lasted 12 hours and 53 minutes in our HD video loop test, which isn’t too bad, but we were even more impressed with the phone’s real-life battery performance.

Samsung offers two variants of the Galaxy M20 – 3GB + 32GB and 4GB + 64GB – however, only the 3GB RAM can be found under Rs. 10,000.

Redmi Note 7S

Released as a variant of the Redmi Note 7, the Redmi Note 7S brings the 48-megapixel Samsung ISOCELL GM1 sensor from the Chinese variant of the Redmi Note 7 with rest of the innards from the India version of the same phone. In our review, we found the Redmi Note 7S to be a capable smartphone that can handle day-to-day tasks with ease. As it keeps the same design as the other Redmi Note 7-series phones, the phone looks premium in hand, however, it is a fingerprint magnet.

The Redmi Note 7S also delivers good battery performance and it ran for 13 hours and 17 minutes in our HD video loop test. The dual camera setup on the back of the phone takes decent photos with good colour reproduction. The low-light imaging performance is also decent, however, we were able to spot fine grain in the captures.

Xiaomi sells two variants of the Redmi Note 7S in the country – 3GB + 32GB and 4GB + 64GB, and both are available for under Rs. 10,000 with great prices during the company’s frequent promotions.

Realme U1

Even though Realme U1 is getting close to the one-year-anniversary of its India debut, the smartphone is still worth considering for anyone looking to buy a smartphone under Rs. 10,000. The phone impressed us in pretty much every aspect, except its cameras, which are also not a complete downer.

The smartphone’s rear camera setup manages to take good photos under decent lighting conditions, however it struggles in poor lighting situations. The auto-focus is also not the quickest on the phone. The 25-megapixel selfie shooter that is one of the highlights of the phone captures detailed selfies with good colours, however, like the rear shooters, it also performs poorly in badly-lit situations.

Realme U1 manages to get through the day-to-day tasks without issue and even games perform great. Battery life is another positive for the phone and Realme U1 lasted 14 hours and 56 minutes in our HD video loop test.

Realme sells two variants of the U1 in the country now – 3GB + 32GB and 4GB + 64GB, however only the 3GB RAM variants can be purchased under Rs. 10,000.

Redmi Note 8

Part of Xiaomi’s much touted Redmi Note 8-series, Redmi Note 8 is a decent option for anyone looking to buy a new phone under Rs. 10,000. While the phone doesn’t sport an eye-catching design, Redmi Note 8 packs a crisp full-HD+ screen that is bright enough for outdoor use. It is also good for entertainment experience.

In our review, we found the Redmi Note 8 to be capable of providing a decent experience without any hiccups. The phone also offers a decent battery performance and it can easily get through the day. Redmi Note 8 lasted 13 hours and 10 minutes in our HD video loop test.

In terms of the cameras, Redmi Note 8 takes impressive photos and we were able to capture crisp and bright shots with very good detail. The low-light photos, on the other hand, turned out to be noisy and blotchy. Further, we had trouble with autofocus in poor lighting situations.

Xiaomi offers two variants of the Redmi Note 8 in the country – 4GB + 64GB and 6GB + 128GB – however, only the 4GB RAM variant is available in this price bracket.