Best Mobile Phones Under ₹25,000 in India (September 2023)

The Redmi Note 12 Pro 5G is the middle child in Xiaomi's latest Redmi Note series. The Redmi Note 12 Pro 5G has a mid-range MediaTek Dimensity 1080 SoC with up to 8GB RAM, which gives the smartphone enough power to take on all kinds of tasks you throw its way. The Redmi Note 12 Pro 5G also comes with a triple rear camera setup that includes a 50-megapixel primary Sony IMX766 shooter with optical image stabilisation and an f/1.8 aperture, meaning that it can take in sufficient light, which can be adjusted by the user. Further, smaller aperture also means a faster shutter speed. There is also an 8-megapixel wide angle lens and a 2-megapixel macro shooter on the Redmi Note 12 Pro 5G, which gives users the ability to click a wider frame and better macro shots. Up front, there is a 16-megapixel selfie shooter on the Redmi Note 12 Pro 5G. Battery on the Redmi Note 12 Pro 5G is a 5,000mAh unit, which is good for a 1.5 days backup in all scenarios. With the 5,000mAh battery, you get 67W fast charging, meaning that the smartphone will charge from 0-100 in under 1 hour, which is great charging speed. The Redmi Note 12 5G tops our list of the best smartphones under Rs 25,000 since it offers one of the most complete package of features, reliability, design, and performance.

One of the best and most recent smartphone for gaming in our list is the Poco X5 Pro. The Poco X5 Pro was launched back in February this year. In our review, we liked the smartphone's design, performance, battery, and the display. Powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 778G chipset, the Poco X5 Pro offers a good gaming experience at a fairly affordable price. The display on the Poco X5 Pro is also a nice AMOLED panel with a 120Hz refresh rate. This is one of the only smartphones in this range to offer support for Dolby Vision and HDR10+, meaning that not just gaming, watching content on the Poco X5 Pro is also a great experience. For optics, we get a triple rear camera setup with a primary 108-megapixel Samsung ISOCELL HM2 shooter, an 8MP wide angle lens, and a 2MP macro shooter. The camera performance on the Poco X5 Pro is just about average. We experienced the highlights being overblown and shadows being crushed in tricky lighting conditions. Battery on the Poco X5 Pro is a 5,000mAh unit with support for 67W fast charging. In our battery loop test, the Poco X5 Pro lasted for more than 18 hours.

Second smartphone in our top 10 list is last year's mid-range gaming champ, the Redmi K50i. Despite many smartphone launches in this range, the Redmi K50i still shows a lot of promise. The Redmi K50i has one of the highest AnTuTu score for smartphones priced under Rs 25,000. This is with the help of a MediaTek Dimensity 8100 Soc, which was last year's flagship-level chip from MediaTek. Apart from the flagship-level chip, what makes the experience of using the Redmi K50i even smoother and more slick is the 144Hz refresh rate. Yes, the Redmi K50i comes with a 144Hz FFS LCD display - highest in this segment. Apart from performance and gaming, the Redmi K50i also has a solid camera setup that includes a primary 64-megapixel primary Samsung ISOCELL shooter with an f/1.9 aperture. The images out of the Redmi K50i's primary shooter are very good and detailed. The 64MP shooter is able to retain good details in shots, and the dynamic range in photos clicked from the primary camera is also pretty good.

Third device in our list of the best smartphones under Rs 25,000 is the Realme 10 Pro+. Realme's latest mid-ranger is also quite the looker. One of the first smartphones in this category to come with a curved display, the Realme 10 Pro+ is not just about the looks, but the smartphone can also perform and has a very good display. The cameras aren't as good as its predecessor, the Realme 9 Pro+ (which also won our Digit Best Buy award for the best mid-range camera smartphone of 2022), but it's nothing you can't work with. In terms of specs, we get a new MediaTek Dimensity 1080 SoC with up to 12GB of RAM. This gives the Realme 10 Pro+ enough power to facilitate demanding tasks like gaming. The Realme 10 Pro has a triple rear camera setup within the two large cutouts at the back. This incudes a 108MP primary shooter, an 8-megapixel wide angle lens, and a 2-megapixel macro shooter. The images out of this camera are decent, but not at the same level as last year's Realme 9 Pro+. We also get a 5,000mAh battery, which should be good enough for about a day and a half usage, and there is 67W fast charging, which charges the smartphone from 0 to 100 in just about 45-50 minutes.

While we already have the iQOO Neo 6’s successor in the market, the iQOO Neo 7, the iQOO Neo 6 still holds up well when it comes to smartphones under Rs 25,000. The smartphone was launched last year as a competitor to the Redmi K50i, the Poco F4 5G, and the OnePlus Nord 2T 5G. In terms of performance, the iQOO Neo 6 held its own amid the strong competition from powerful devices like the Poco F4 5G and the Redmi K50i. The smartphone also has a pretty decent set of cameras (64MP + 8MP + 2MP), which come with features like optical image stabilisation (OIS) that further enhance the camera performance on the iQOO Neo 6. The design of the smartphone is pretty basic and the quality of materials used isn’t as good as some other competing devices like the OnePlus Nord 2T, but in terms of performance, the iQOO Neo 6 is one of the best mid-rangers from last year. Battery backup on the smartphone is also very good. The iQOO Neo 6’s 5000mAh battery is good for more than a day’s backup even with heavy usage, and we get super-fast 80W fast charging, which will charge your iQOO Neo 6 fully in about 35 minutes.

Another Qualcomm Snapdragon 870-powered smartphone, the Realme GT Neo 3T was launched in September last year as a mid-cycle offering from the BBK Electronics-owned brand. The Realme GT Neo 3T was launched with its own distinct design with a checkered “racing flag” like back panel, which represents the smartphone’s “racing traits.” The Realme GT Neo 3T, like every other Realme GT-series device, was a performance and gaming-centric device. Despite using a rather old Snapdragon 870 flagship chip, the Realme GT Neo 3T still showed promising benchmark scores and gaming performance. We also get a high refresh rate AMOLED display, which also enhances the overall experience of using the Realme GT Neo 3T. The camera performance on the device is also pretty decent. While it is not a camera-centric offering or doesn’t offer the best camera in this list, the images out of this 64MP + 8MP + 2MP triple rear camera setup are quite nice. We also get a 5000mAh battery with 80W fast charging, which is good for a day and a half usage easily (on high brightness and high refresh rate), and you can charge it from 0 to 100 in about half an hour. Superb experience.

Another smartphone from last year, the Moto Edge 30 remains in our list of the top 10 smartphones under Rs 25,000. The Moto Edge 30 probably has the best display in this list. We get a 10-bit AMOLED display with support for HDR10+ and a 144Hz refresh rate! The Moto Edge 30 is also good for gaming. It runs on the Qualcomm Snapdragon 778G+ chipset paired with up to 8GB RAM, giving the Moto Edge 30 enough juice to be able to handle longer gaming sessions. We also get a clean, close to stock Android experience on the Moto Edge 30. The smartphone was launched with Android 12, but you will get an Android 13 update right outside the box. Camera on the Moto Edge 30 is also quite good. The smartphone has a 50MP + 50MP + 2MP triple rear camera setup, which captures super sharp and detailed images, and the 4K video recording is pretty good. The colour representation and dynamic range, however, aren't the best in this segment. The 32MP front camera on the Moto Edge 30 is also very good in terms of detail retention. The battery on the Moto Edge 30 is only 4,020mAh with 33W fast charging.

Xiaomi 11i HyperCharge also features in our top 10 smartphones under Rs 25,000. Launched in early 2022, the Xiaomi 11i HyperCharge was the fastest charging smartphone of its time. It was also one of the first smartphones to feature MediaTek's rather reliable Dimensity 920 SoC with up to 8GB of RAM. This means that the Xiaomi 11i HyperCharge was a delight to use day-to-day, especially if paired by the nice 120Hz AMOLED display. Xiaomi 11i HyperCharge also offers enough power for those who play games on their smartphones. The camera and battery on the Xiaomi 11i HyperCharge are what stand out. The smartphone gets a triple rear camera setup that includes a primary 108-megapixel Samsung HM2 shooter, an 8-megapixel ultra-wide angle lens, and a 2-megapixel macro shooter. A 108-megapixel sensor means that the photos from the primary shooter will be larger and have more detail, since there is a higher amount of pixels. Battery, on the other hand, is a 4,500mAh unit which comes with support for 120W fast charging. To enable 120W fast charging, however, users have to go into the settings and turn it on. By default, the Xiaomi 11i HyperCharge charges at 67W fast charging.

Another iQOO smartphone from last year, the iQOO Z6 Pro is also a good option under ₹25,000. The smartphone comes with a nice 6.44-inch AMOLED display with HDR10+ support and a 90Hz refresh rate. Powered by the same chip as the Poco X5 Pro, the iQOO Z6 Pro is also a pretty decent gaming smartphone. We get a 4,700mAh battery on the iQOO Z6 Pro, along with 66W fast charging, which will fill-up your device in about 45 minutes to one hour. The camera on the iQOO Z6 Pro isn't as good as the iQOO Neo 6 that features above in the list. The iQOO Z6 Pro has a similar setup with a 64MP primary, an 8MP ultra-wide and a 2MP macro shooter, but lacks features like OIS.

The Realme 9 Pro+ is still a good buy under ₹25,000. Mainly because of its camera. The Realme 9 Pro+ was our Digit Best Buy Award 2022 Winner for the best mid-range smartphone camera. It comes with a 50-megapixel primary wide angle shooter with support for PDAF and OIS. Apart from that, we get the basic 8MP ultra-wide and a 2MP macro shooter. The Realme 9 Pro+ is one of the better camera smartphones in this range. It is easy to take a good picture with this camera, and there are features like long exposure and filters for users to play around with. Performance-wise as well, the Realme 9 Pro+ is a pretty good device. The smartphone comes with a MediaTek Dimensity 920 SoC paired with up to 8GB RAM. Multitasking, switching apps, and doing day-to-day tasks is just a breeze on the Realme 9 Pro+. Gaming is also good. In our review, the Realme 9 Pro+ showed good frame rate stability with standard AAA games like Battlegrounds Mobile India, Asphalt 9, and more. Battery is a 4,500mAh unit with support for 60W fast charging.