The price bracket of Rs. 50,000 doesn’t move as fast as the mid-range of the affordable smartphone segment.
Here you’d ideally find two categories of phones in this price range - these are either the stripped-down or Lite variants of the flagship devices that look to offer you the same flagship experience but at a slightly lower price point.
These phones are mostly from top-tier brands like Samsung, Apple etc and include devices like the Galaxy S21 FE and iPhone 11 among others.
The second category is phones from brands that are primarily known for affordable phones but when they try to break these shackles and try to offer their best, that’s when you get phones like Realme GT2 Pro, Xiaomi 11T Pro, iQoo 9T, etc.
Of course, we also have OnePlus, which comes somewhat in the middle ground between these two.
iQoo 9T is iQoo’s latest flagship smartphone in India, and it comes with Snapdragon 8 Plus Gen 1 chipset, Snapdragon’s flagship SoC that offers the best performance on the Android side. That makes the iQoo 9T one of the most powerful smartphones available on the market currently.
It does not just offer the best performance; it is also feature-packed. iQoo 9T comes with a 6.78-inch Full HD+ AMOLED display with 120Hz refresh rate and a Samsung E5 panel that supports up to 1500 nits of brightness.
The triple camera setup consists of a 50MP primary GN1 sensor with OIS support and a duo of 13MP ultra-wide and 12MP telephoto sensors. There is support for the 120W super fast charging we saw in the previous iQoo flagship, which charges up the 4700mAh battery in 20 minutes.
OnePlus 10T is OnePlus’s latest smartphone in India, which takes the place of the OnePlus 10, which was never released. It comes with Snapdragon 8 Plus Gen 1, making it one of the best-performing smartphones in the market.
It comes with a 6.7-inch Full HD+ AMOLED display with a refresh rate of 120Hz, with HDR 10+ certification. The camera of this smartphone does leave more to be desired, as the secondary cameras are underwhelming compared to its competition. The 50MP primary camera is aided by an 8MP ultra-wide and 2MP macro, a setup you’d typically find in midrange smartphones.
There is support for 150W super fast charging, making it one of India's phones with the fastest fast charging speeds. It will refill the battery of 4800mAh in just under 20 minutes.
In any case, since this is not the category where you need to compromise much in terms of features for the price, you get almost the best performance, a slew of high-end cameras, premium design and build apart from high refresh rate displays.
Unfortunately, this segment might not be as exciting as it was a couple of years ago as the pricing of the components has gone up. This shift can be attributed to a disrupted supply chain, shortage of high-end chips, depreciating rupee value and more.
The best smartphones under Rs 50,000 for July 2022 consist of phones from all the major brands such as OnePlus, Xiaomi, Samsung, Apple, Realme, iQoo and Motorola. Surprisingly, Vivo and Oppo are missing from this list - but things might change soon.
Also, the pricing of the phones in this segment will vary depending on the offers provided by the e-commerce platforms, hence there might be slight variance. Be sure to check out the card offers or other discounts before hitting the buy now button.
Realme GT2 Pro is Realme’s most premium smartphone ever. It is powered by the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 SoC, which makes it one of the most powerful devices you can get in the segment.
You get a flagship level 2K AMOLED display, that supports refresh rates from 1hz to 120Hz. You get a 50MP primary and secondary camera combo, and also there is a 40x 3MP microscope camera that can take some interesting shots of daily objects.
While we often associate Realme to offer more for the money, this phone misses out on wireless charging and IP rating, which could have made this phone a real flagship contender. But Realme GT2 Pro offers an almost true flagship experience at a not-so-flagship price.
Read our review of Realme GT 2 Pro
The Moto Edge 30 Pro is a premium device at an affordable price point. Powered by the latest Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 SoC, this phone offers raw processing power for people who do not want to compromise on that front.
Sadly, Motorola has launched the phone in only one variant of 8/128GB, limiting the options for users.
Apart from that, the phone boasts some impressive numbers. The camera setup on the phone is a triple module setup with a couple of 50MP snappers. The selfie camera is a 60MP shooter.
Powering the phone is a 4,800 battery pack that comes with a 68W wired charging solution.
The phone is available at an effective price of Rs. 45,999 which makes the cheapest phone with the flagship Qualcomm SoC even cheaper.
Read our review of Moto Edge 30 Pro
OnePlus's flagship phone from last year received a price cut after the OnePlus 10 Pro launch, bringing down its price to under 50,000.
OnePlus 9 Pro comes with the much-hyped Hasselblad partnership in camera. It offers better-balanced colour reproduction. The primary camera is a 48MP sensor, and the ultra-wide is a 50MP one.
The phone is powered by the Snapdragon 888 SoC and there is a 2K AMOLED display with a 120Hz refresh rate which supports HDR10+.
If you want a flagship phone in this price range, the OnePlus 9 Pro offers you pretty much everything you need. It has even got fast wireless charging and an IP rating.
Read our OnePlus 9 Pro review.
The Xiaomi 11T Pro is both a mid-range take on the Mi 11 and the year-on successor to the Mi 10T Pro. It comes with an insanely fast-charging solution and you do not have to buy the 120W charger separately.
This is a great affordable premium handset with a powerful chipset, good-looking screen, useful camera array and intuitive fingerprint scanner. If you liked the look of the Mi 11 you'll find many of its features here like the 5MP telemacro lens or plentiful camera modes.
There were a few issues with the phone though - its fingerprint sensor, though quick to use, was a bit too high for some people to reach. The main problem we had was that it got hot really quickly, which reduced processing power.
Overall, though, this is a great Xiaomi phone, and if you need a new mid-range handset it's definitely worth checking out.
Read our full Xiaomi 11T Pro review
Samsung Galaxy S21 FE received a price cut recently that made the phone a compelling option at Rs. 50,000. It comes with the same Exynos 2100 as its elder siblings.
It also borrows the main camera sensor from Galaxy S21, a 12MP sensor, and it comes close to the camera performance of the Samsung Galaxy S21, at least with the main sensor.
The phone brings IP68 dust and water protection and wireless charging, unlike some other phones in this budget.
One thing to be noted with Samsung Galaxy S21 FE is that it comes close to the pricing of the Samsung Galaxy S21, so why not buy that instead?
Read our full Samsung Galaxy S21 FE review.
It’s not often that we see iPhones in this segment, but that is exactly what Apple has been able to achieve with the new iPhone 11. Don’t judge on by its unassuming stature as on the inside, it is equally as powerful as the latest flagships.
Its primary camera is one of the best in the business, but it loses out in terms of versatility. The same goes for design and display. If you’re looking to hop aboard the Apple ecosystem, this is the easiest way to get started. The ongoing sales have made it a must-have.
Read our iPhone 11 review
iQoo 9 5G is a part of the iQoo 9 series that has just been announced in India. The phone comes with high-end specifications and a gorgeous design.
It comes equipped with a 6.56-inch FHD+ AMOLED display coupled with a 120HZ refresh rate 300Hz touch sampling rate - which makes it ideal for gaming as well.
The phone is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 Plus processor with up to 12GB LPDDR5 RAM, and up to 256GB UFS 3.1 storage. Though this chipset is from 2021, however, it is an extremely powerful and worthy mobile SoC.
The highlight of this phone is its triple rear camera setup which includes a 48MP primary snapper with 'Gimbal' technology, 13MP ultra wide-angle snapper, and a 13MP portrait snapper.
The phone is powered by a moderate 4350mAh battery pack, however, it supports 120W flash charging that can fully fuel up your device in 20 minutes.
The OnePlus 9 sits between the OnePlus 9R and the OnePlus 9 Pro. Just like the OnePlus 9 Pro, the vanilla OnePlus 9’s camera is also built in partnership with Hasselblad and it offers better colour reproduction, and both regular and ultra-wide photos look great. The performance is taken care of by Snapdragon 888 while you get to enjoy the smooth 120Hz super AMOLED display.
Backed by a 4,500mAh battery, the device is backed by Wrap Charge 65T fast charging which charges the device from 0 to 100% in under 30 minutes. If you’re hunting for a flagship Android phone at an affordable price, the OnePlus 9 is worth considering. Oxygen OS has always been a crowd favourite and you’ll enjoy it here as well.
Read our OnePlus 9 review
