Best Non-Chinese Phones under Rs. 30,000
|By Prasham Pratap|
With tensions between India and China increasing and #BoycottChina trending on the internet, here's something we can do rather than just using this hashtag in composing tweets. A major chunk (60-70%) of the smartphone market in India is occupied by Chinese manufacturers. Apart from being affordable, they are so aggressive in launching products and marketing that you can only see these brands everywhere.
So, to support the movement and actually implement the hashtag, a small step would be to buy a phone from a Non-Chinese manufacturer, the next time you buy one. And no, you cannot buy phones from Chinese OEMs just 'Made in India' because the money goes to China at the end of the day.
The only compromise you will have to make is the step down in terms of a couple of features and the choices. There are only a few brands that remain. These include:
Apple
Asus
Google
LG
Nokia
Samsung
Sony
HTC (If you can find one today!)
This article will only include phones up to Rs. 30,000. If you are interested in buying a more expensive phone, that article will be out soon. Stay Tuned!
(To buy any of the recommended phones, just click on the image. It will redirect you to that phone's Amazon page)
1. Under Rs. 10,000
The entry-level segment of the Indian market. With not many smartphones at your disposal, you need to be very careful of what you choose, as this segment is very tricky. Manufacturers give you the most basic specs with the bare minimum functionalities. So, if you put a foot wrong, you might destroy your smartphone experience by buying a pseudo-smartphone.
There are two choices in the market currently at this price point. The Nokia 3.2 is the top pick here, with 6.26-inch display, Snapdragon 429 SoC, 3 GB of RAM, 32 GB of storage and 4000mAh battery. It also has decent cameras and a dual sim slot. It retails between Rs. 9,000 to Rs. 11,000 on Amazon.in
There is also the newly launched Samsung Galaxy M01. With the same battery, RAM and Storage as the Nokia, it has dual cameras, a marginally better Snapdragon 439 chipset and a smaller 5.7-inch screen. It is yet to go on sale though.
A notable mention to Asus Zenfone Max Pro M2, which has a mammoth 5,000 mAh battery, a brilliant Snapdragon 660 chipset, dual cameras, 4GB of RAM and 64 GB of internal storage, for just Rs. 9,999. However, this phone has been out of stock across platforms for quite some time now. If you get your hands on this device, at this price, it is a sure choice!
2. Rs. 10,000 to Rs. 20,000
This is probably the most active price segment in the Indian market. Every brand out there is trying to get ahead of the others particularly in this segment because the demand is just huge! In such a cut-throat competition, you will find a bucket load of Chinese phones to choose from. However, there are only a few good offerings from other manufacturers.
For one, you could look at the Samsung Galaxy M21 or the Samsung Galaxy M31. Both these phones have the same chipset (The Exynos 9611), the same amount of battery (6000 mAh), the same screen size and same resolution. However, the prices differ quite a bit with the M21 retailing at a price close to Rs.13,500 and the M31 starting at Rs. 15,999. The M21 has triple rear cameras whereas the M31 has quad rear cameras. Also, while the M21 houses 4 GB of RAM and 64 GB of storage, the M31 has three variants, with either 6GB of RAM or 8GB.
It is up to you, to choose one based on the price point you are looking for, as both phones, according to me are almost identical.
As for an alternative to the Samsung phones, there is a phone from Nokia. The Nokia 7.2 has the Snapdragon 660 processor with 6GB RAM and 64 GB Storage. With triple rear cameras supporting Zeiss optics, it is surely a good shooter. Compare it to the Samsung, and you will get a better processor and a much better build quality with glass on both sides as opposed to a plastic build on Samsung. However, the only thing where it falls back is the battery. It is just 3,500 mAh.
3. Rs. 20,000 to Rs. 30,000
Here is where it gets a little tricky to find one good phone for your price from a Non-Chinese brand. For the Chinese OEMs, Vivo and Oppo dominate this segment a lot. However, from brands like Nokia and Samsung, you don't find much here.
One year ago, Nokia had a couple of offerings in this segment, but now either those phones have received a huge price cut or they are discontinued. Samsung, on the other hand, has a couple of offerings in this segment.
One of them is the Samsung Galaxy A51. It is a phone with plastic built but an attractive texture on the back. It has support for Samsung Pay which is very convenient. But, the thing that is disappointing is that the phone is priced close to Rs. 25,000 and still houses the same chipset as the Rs. 13,000 Samsung Galaxy M21. This takes away all the points it scores. The battery too is just 4,000 mAh.
The other offering is the Samsung Galaxy A70s. This phone, launched in October 2019, comes with a Snapdragon 675, 8GB of RAM and 128 GB of storage. It has triple rear cameras and 4,500 mAh battery. This phone is available for close to Rs. 28,000 on Amazon. It also has a 6GB RAM variant available. This is not exactly a complete value for money package but if you have the money to spend, you could look at this one.
The last phone that comes to mind when recommending a phone in this segment is the Samsung Galaxy S9, which retails for Rs. 24,999 on flipkart.com. However, it is a 2-year-old flagship with just 3,000 mAh battery and outdated software. But, if you are looking at a phone that can get you 12 to 18 months, you could consider this one.
Though you get these phones in this segment, they are not the best value for money smartphones. If you are in the market with this budget, I would suggest, you either increase your budget if you can and go above Rs. 30,000 or go below Rs. 20,000, because those phones might give you better value for money.
This is all for this article of Phone recommendations. Let us know in the comments if we missed on a phone which could have made it to this list. If you think, you need to get one of these, just click on the image and you will reach the phone's retail page on Amazon.
I will be back with another recommendation video of phones above Rs. 30,000. Stay Tuned!
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