In this post I will teach you how to get a perfect smartphone for you under 10,000 rupees. I will not be mentioning any specific model but will tell you the specs and things you must consider in this budget. This might change according to the marketing trend but in the beginning of 2025 this is the best you can get.
Screen: Screen should be more than 6.5 inch as it has become a standard size and it should be AMOLED for bright Color and good brightness, IPS LCD is also good but make sure you check reviews of your desired smartphone model before buying it.
Screen Resolution: 1080p is very common these days which is also known as Full HD Display, While selecting a smartphone under 10k you should opt for it, If you go for HD+ then you might miss the crisp of finer details while watching movies or gaming and it would look bad.
Screen Refresh Rate: Opt for a 90Hz display minimum which would give you a very smooth UI Scrolling experience and also it would help you to play you favorite games very smoothly and lifelike, Nowadays 120Hz is also very common which is even better but note that these higher refresh rates takes more power from you battery results in less battery backup if you compare it with standard 60Hz. The good news is that new smartphones are coming with adaptive refresh rate and that means it will automatically adjust the refresh rate according to the application and usage so your experience would be much better.
SoC/CPU: Under this budget if 10,000 Indian rupees you will get a very decent SoC or CPU in 2025 as both Snapdragon and MediaTek has released very affordable and powerful SoC in this range. If you are looking for a Mediatek one then look for 600 series and in case of Snapdragon look for Qualcomm Snapdragon 6 series which is very common for this budget and performs very well, before buying look for it’s CPU or SoC and search it on Google to know when it was launched, Latest is basically better and the last thing you should check is Fabrication Process which should be 6nm or 7nm minimum, The less nm you will get the more efficient your phone will be and more battery backup you will get with very less heating issues.
RAM: Minimum RAM for 2025 is 4GB, More than this would be very good if you want to use heavy apps or games that are made of high-end devices. More RAM means you can do multitasking at ease without stressing out your phone. 6GB Will be a sweet spot for most of the users. There are some brands and models that provide virtual ram too, this is purely marketing trick to make people believe that the phone has more RAM whereas the reality is just opposite. Always see and check for main RAM and do not rely on virtual RAM.
Battery: Minimum 5000mAh or higher for full day of usage and still juice for next day, 5000 Mili ampere hour is a standard capacity you should check in your smartphone even in budget range. Please note that if you go for more capacity battery then your phone will be bulkier as bigger battery needs more space.
Charging: At least 18 Watts charging is standard these days but it does not mean that slower charging like 10 watts are bad. Avoid getting it if you have option for decent watts. 18 Watts is a sweet spot. Make sure it has Type-C as micro-USB is outdated and delivers power very slowly and your device will take longer to get full charge.
User Interface (UI)
Operating System: Minimum Android 14, if you are getting Android 15 out of the box then it is even better. Operating system should be latest and not too old. There are few brands which gives extra features with their custom UI and Skins on Base android so choose them wisely as sometimes they also give bloatware. Brands like Redmi, Realme UI are heavily bloated whereas Nokia, Motorola, Samsung are less bloated. (Bloated = Pre-loaded apps that you don’t need and sometimes you cannot remove them)
Updates: Make sure the smartphone brand offers guaranteed updates for major android OS and extended security updates. Minimum 2 Years of Major Android Updates and 3 + Years of Security Updates. These Days you will get atleast 3-4 years of updates if you go for more reputated brands like Samsung and Motorola.
Camera
Camera is a very important part of your smartphone and most people check for megapixels when comparing the camera whereas megapixel is just a single factor and does not guarantee a better camera setup with good videos and photographs. Always check for sample images from your trusted review website or YouTuber before buying any smartphone so that you can get an idea about the camera performance and quality. When it comes to numbers then minimum two back cameras with 50 megapixels and 8 megapixels combination or similar is better along with 16 megapixels front camera, It should be able to shoot 1080p videos with both rear and front cameras. If you are getting 1080p 60fps then its even better for shooting fast paced shots. Features like Night Mode, Potrait Mode, HDR, Ai Enhancements are add-ons you should look for.
Connectivity
It should have 5G with Indian supported bands (For Jio and Airtel and possibly for Vi and BSNL If they launch their 5G Services in future) You can check these with latest reviews and articles.
WiFi & Bluetooth should be latest like atleast Wifi (802.11ac) and Bluetooth 5.0 or higher.
