BEST 5G MOBILE PHONES UNDER 50000 IN INDIA

The Galaxy S23 is a compact premium flagship smartphone from Samsung. The phone offers a design that is very similar to its predecessor and is made of glass and metal. While little has changed in terms of design, its compact form factor makes for easy one-handed usage.

The phone has a 6.1-inch Super AMOLED display with a flat screen. Powering the smartphone is a customised Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 processor which offers more than enough power for day to day tasks and even gaming.

Camera performance is quite good and is something one would expect from a premium flagship. The same can be said about the phone’s video recording quality. The phone is also capable of capturing 8K video at 30fps.

Battery life is impressive for a compact device and the phone easily manages a full day of use on a single charge. However, wired charging is quite slow for a premium smartphone.

The Google Pixel 7 Pro gets the premium treatment with a sharper curved edge display, more cameras and bigger battery. The Pixel 7 Pro looks premium compared to the matte-finished Pixel 7 even though the two smartphones share the same core hardware.

Inside you will find Google’s Tensor G2 processor which in India is available with 12GB of RAM. There’s a different ultra-wide-angle camera which now also doubles up as the macro camera because it features autofocus. The Pixel 7 Pro also packs in telephoto capability offering up to 5X optical zoom and 30X digital zoom.

Software performance is top notch and Pixel 7 Pro comes with no bloatware whilst delivering the fluid Pixel Android experience. Camera performance is top notch and so is the macro mode which is a first for Google Pixel lineup.

Battery performance is not the best as it only lasts a day on a single charge. Charging speeds too are relatively slow compared to the competition.

Vivo’s X80 Pro is the brand’s flagship replacement for the X70 Pro+. While the phone seems to have minor cosmetic changes, there’s plenty that’s changed on the inside.

The X80 Pro gets a new and updated Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 SoC that is now paired with Vivo’s updated V1+ imaging chip, which assists with imaging and gaming performance.

Its 6.78-inch display mostly remains the same, but is still a high-end one with a 120Hz refresh rate and 2K resolution, which makes it quite sharp. The Vivo X80 Pro has a 4,700mAh battery that plugs into an 80W charger and also offers 50W wireless charging.

The cameras have been upgraded as well. There’s now a 50-megapixel Samsung-made GNV sensor for the primary camera and Vivo has moved its unique gimbal stabilisation technology to the 2x Portrait camera for clicking better Portrait photos in low light.

The iQoo 9 Pro is a solid offering in the premium segment and it comes packed with features and impressive core hardware. There’s a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 chipset which offers ample performance whether its regular use or even hardcore mobile gaming.

The 6.78-inch AMOLED display is geared towards gaming with a 120Hz refresh rate and 300Hz touch sampling rate but is also quite colour accurate and delivers deep blacks when viewing videos. The loud stereo speakers also sound quite immersive.

Camera performance is top notch. All three cameras perform well in daylight and in low light. The primary camera’s gimbal stabilisation also works well for daylight video recordings, but quality drops a bit when shooting at night.

The iQoo 9 Pro’s 4,700mAh battery easily lasts a day and bit more on a single charge and charges up very quickly using the bundled 120W charger. There’s also 50W wireless charging using the company’s proprietary charging dock. While the phone looks good and feels premium, an official IP rating is missing and could be a deal breaker for some.

The OnePlus 9RT has a good in-hand feel despite its hefty 198.5g weight. The rounded edges of the aluminium frame make it comfortable to hold. It has a relatively large 6.62-inch AMOLED display with a 120Hz refresh rate and a full-HD+ resolution. The second big change lies in the performance of the phone. The OnePlus 9RT uses the Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 SoC making it equal to the OnePlus 9. OnePlus has even tweaked the touch response of the 9RT's screen, which can boost to 600Hz (from 300Hz) in certain games.

The in-display fingerprint sensor is lightning quick at authentication, and navigating the phone's menus is quick. Switching between apps was also seamless and it never felt like I was stressing this phone, no matter what I did. The 4,500mAh battery lasted for 20 hours and 16 minutes in our internal test, which runs an HD video clip on loop till a phone shuts off. The camera app on the 9RT has been lifted straight from sister company Oppo's ColorOS. Image quality is good but low light performance could have been better. 

The OnePlus 9RT is a solid flagship that needs a couple of thousand Rupees shaved off its current asking price for it to be a good deal. If you can't wait, Xiaomi, Realme and Samsung have equally enticing offerings at better prices.

The iPhone 13 brings a few subtle updates compared to the iPhone 12, but you might find that the previous year's model offers better value. This phone has a bright, vibrant 6.1-inch OLED screen, but with only a 60Hz refresh rate and an annoying notch. The A15 Bionic SoC provides more than enough power for gaming and heavy apps. The cameras are versatile and deliver great quality for stills as well as video, plus you get the same Cinematic Mode and Photographic Styles features as on the more expensive iPhone 13 Pro. Battery life is good, but not great. iOS 15 keeps everything running smoothly. You can choose between 128GB, 256GB and 512GB of storage. The iPhone 13 mini is equivalent in terms of features and performance. 

The Vivo X70 Pro+ is a premium flagship smartphone that finally checks all the boxes. Unlike the Vivo X60 Pro+, the X70 Pro+ offers everything a premium smartphone should have along with some unusual camera features.

The curved-edge display has been upgraded to a 120Hz, 1 billion colour, WQHD+ resolution panel which delivers natural-looking colours and high brightness. It also offers HDR10 and HDR10+ support for video streaming.

The phone loses the faux leather back of the X60 Pro+ in favour of an elegant matte-finished glass back that remains smudge-free. It also has a matte-finished metal frame along the sides.

With a Qualcomm Snapdragon 888+ processor, software and overall device performance was not a problem. Games ran smoothly without any hiccups and the phone did not get hot during gameplay.

Camera hardware and performance have taken a noticeable leap. OIS is offered on all four rear cameras and they ensure not just good quality photos but also great-looking video.

The Asus ROG Phone 3 is designed primarily for gaming but tries to be a well-rounded flagship-class phone. It's large and heavy thanks to its 6000mAh battery and cooling apparatus, but is also extremely powerful with its Snapdragon 865+ SoC. You get fast RAM and storage, plus a full-HD+ AMOLED panel with a 144Hz refresh rate and HDR10+ support. Asus has also customised the ROG Phone 3 with its ultrasonic AirTriggers that act as physical gamepad-like buttons for games. The company's software lets you configure them and also manage several other shortcuts and optimisations for gaming. There are three rear cameras, which take surprisingly good photos in the daytime and at night. The front-firing stereo speakers are a nice touch but there's no wireless charging or IP rating. Games run super smoothly, and we had no trouble at all even at the highest quality settings. 

The Vivo X50 Pro is a part of the Vivo X series which serves the higher end of the market. The Vivo X50 Pro is the first smartphone in India to sport a Gimbal camera system. This system helps stabilise video and helps click better photos by stabilising the primary camera. The Vivo X50 Pro sports a quad-camera system with the primary camera being a 48-megapixel sensor with a gimbal to stabilise it. 

While the camera is the highlight of the Vivo X50 Pro, it is well equipped. It is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 765G SoC that is 5G enabled. The Vivo X50 Pro has a 6.56-inch full-HD+ AMOLED display with a hole-punch at the top left corner. The panel also have a higher 90Hz refresh rate. It has 8GB of RAM and 128GB of storage. It houses a 4,315mAh battery that is capable of delivering all-day battery life.

The quad-camera setup on the Vivo X50 Pro consists of a 48-megapixel primary camera, a 12-megapixel portrait camera, an 8-megapixel wide-angle camera and a 13-megapixel telephoto camera. The Vivo X50 Pro managed good photos in daylight and the telephoto camera does offer 60x zoom. Lowlight photos were even better as the phone could stabilise for shakes while shooting with night mode. Videos from the Vivo X50 Pro were also well stabilised at all resolutions. 

The Galaxy S20 Ultra is the flagship smartphone of Samsung’s Galaxy S20 series. As the name suggests, the device is huge with the display measuring 6.9-inches. This makes the phone uncomfortable for single-handed use. The QHD+ panel on the Galaxy S20 Ultra has excellent viewing angles and the output is vivid. The panel also gets bright enough when outdoors. The device feels extremely well built. 

The phone is powered by an Exynos 990 SoC and has 12GB of RAM and 128GB of storage onboard. The Galaxy S20 Ultra launched in India supports 4G networks only. It packs in a 5,000mAh battery and has support for 45W fast charging. Samsung ships a 25W charger in the box which is quick to charge the device. The Galaxy S20 Ultra offers good battery life and lasted us for about a day and a half easily. Performance is good as well but the device does get warm under load. 

The phone has a quad-camera setup with a 108-megapixel primary camera, a 48-megapixel telephoto camera, 12-megapixel ultrawide-angle-camera and a depth vision camera. Samsung also offers 100x zoom on the device which is the highlight of the Galaxy S20 Ultra. The camera performance is excellent as the device manages to take good shots irrespective of the lighting conditions. The phone delivers good battery life. 

Xiaomi has made a bold move by launching the Mi 10 5G in India at a starting price of Rs. 49,999. The curved glass on the front and back of this phone looks classy. This, coupled with the high-gloss finish makes it striking to look at. The Mi 10 5G has a 6.67-inch AMOLED screen and is sharp enough, but the resolution is full-HD+ (2340x1080). The display also runs at 90Hz, which is a big trend right now.

Xiaomi says that the Mi 10 has a P2i coating to repel water, but there isn't any IP rating. Other than this, it has almost everything you can think of, starting with the Qualcomm Snapdragon 865 SoC, LPDDR5 RAM, UFS 3.0 storage, an in-display fingerprint sensor, Wi-Fi 6, fast wireless charging, and 5G.

It runs on MIUI 11 and Xiaomi has replaced some of its own apps like the dialler and messages with Google's apps. However, spam notifications are still an issue, although it's not as severe as its budget offerings. 

The Snapdragon 865 is a powerful chip but it also makes the phone quite hot when using the camera or even gaming. The stereo spakers sound balanced but don't get very loud. The in-display fingerprint sensor on the other hand is not very quick, and it took a good second before it recognised our finger and unlocked the phone. 

Xiaomi is making a big deal about its 108-megapixel primary camera, which performs well in daylight and at night. The other cameras are a wide-angle and macro, which work decently well in the day but aren't very good in low light. The 20-megapixel selfie camera is also decent but not great at night. 

Battery life is very good on the Mi 10 5G, as it typically lasts for an entire day. Fast charging helps and there's even reverse wireless charging. 

The Nokia XR20 is a very niche smartphone for a niche set of consumers. It’s rugged design looks tough and modern, but does not feel like someone stuck a bumper case to a smartphone. Its design comes with an IP68 rating and a MIL-STD-810 rating which means it can be used in a variety of harsh environments unlike most other premium devices.

The phone has a regular LCD display with a standard 60Hz refresh rate. There’s a Qualcomm Snapdragon 480 processor, which is more budget in terms of performance than what a premium smartphone delivers.

Regular software performance was quite smooth, but gaming performance was well below the mark especially when compared to similarly priced premium smartphones.

Battery life was quite good, but charging was relatively slow. Camera quality is quite inconsistent in general. While the daylight photos looked average, low camera performance was well below the mark.

Vivo's gimbal camera system was a big hit in the company's X50 series, and it has gotten even better in the latest X60 series. It has a 6.56-inch curved AMOLED display with Schott Xensation Up glass. It also has Corning Gorilla Glass 6 at the back which gives the smartphone superior drop protection. 

The smartphone is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 870 SoC and has 12GB of RAM and 256GB of storage. It also has the Virtual RAM feature which allocates 3GB of storage as RAM when enabled. 

The gimbal camera system on the Vivo X60 Pro comprises a 48-megapixel Sony IMX598 sensor that physically moves to compensate for minor shakes. It also has a 13-megapixel ultra-wide angle camera and a 13-megapixel portrait camera. The Vivo X60 Pro clicks very good photos and should be your first pick if you intend to shoot a lot of videos.

The Galaxy S21+ has a 6.7-inch full-HD+ display with a 120Hz refresh rate.. It has Corning Gorilla Glass Victus on the front as well as the back and uses a metal frame. The smartphone packs in a 4800mAh battery and does not get a charger in the box. The Galaxy S21+ is IP68 rated just like other smartphones in this series.

The Galaxy S21+ is powered by the Exynos 2100 5G SoC and gets 8GB of RAM. You can choose between 128GB and 256GB of storage but it isn’t expandable. You get Android 11 out of the box with Samsung's One UI 3.0 on top. The Galaxy S21+ offers good performance and also offers good battery life.

There is a triple camera setup with a 12-megapixel ultra-wide angle camera, a 12-megapixel wide-angle camera, and a 64-megapixel telephoto camera. For selfies, it has a 10-megapixel front camera. Camera performance of the Galaxy S21+ is impressive in different lighting conditions and will not disappoint you. There aren’t any major shortcomings with the Galaxy S21+ making it a good pick for those looking for a nice flagship.