Best Mobile Phones Under ₹25,000 in India (December 2024)

Phones priced under 25,000 these days deliver impressive performance and features comparable to what flagship models offered a couple of years ago. With numerous options available in this price range, selecting the right device can be challenging. Among the plethora of excellent choices, standout options include the OnePlus Nord CE4, Nothing Phone (2A), POCO X6, Redmi Note 12 Pro, Motorola Edge 40 Neo, Infinix Zero 30 and iQOO Z7 Pro. When considering smartphones under ₹25,000, it's important to prioritize factors like processor capabilities for smooth everyday use, camera quality for capturing great photos, and battery life and efficiency. To simplify your decision-making process, we've compiled a list of the top 10 smartphones under ₹25,000, each offering a comprehensive user experience.

• 1.

The OnePlus Nord CE4 is an exceptional performer that stands unrivaled in its category. The device boasts a sleek design, a vibrant display, and a user-friendly software experience. Its camera setup delivers reliable results, and the battery life is impressive, offering prolonged usage. The phone’s build quality is solid as well. Despite intense competition in the market, the OnePlus Nord CE4 emerges as a top contender, thanks to its balanced combination of features and performance.

• 2.

Priced at INR 23,999 in India, the Nothing Phone (2a) is like a breath of fresh air in the fiercely contested sub-₹25,000 market segment. It distinguishes itself by delivering a seamless, bloatware-free user experience, a rarity in this space. While its design be a bit risky, it reflects Nothing’s bold determination to stand out. Boasting an excellent primary camera, decent battery life, and smooth performance, the Nothing Phone (2a) has the potential to capture the attention of the Indian masses. The cameras are superb for the price as well, delivering some fantastic daylight and low-light shots. Overall, a great option for anyone looking for a smooth experience.

• 3.

The POCO X6 5G is surprisingly good for its price. Its Snapdragon 7s Gen 2 chipset brings out its performance chops whether you’re playing games or just using it to browse the web. The camera stands out as well with fantastic performance, even in tricky low light situations. The battery life could be improved though, since it is not the best for the price. However, with other features such as fast charging, an AMOLED screen, and Dolby Atmos support, the POCO X6 5G makes a strong case for itself in the mid-range smartphone market.

• 4.

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. 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.

• 5.

The Motorola Edge 40 Neo is an incredibly well-rounded smartphone under ₹25,000. The phone has a nearly bloatware-free user interface, a stylish and premium design, and a very bright display. While it is not the most powerful performer, with phones such as the Infinix Zero 30 and iQOO Z7 Pro beating it in most benchmarks, it still manages to perform smoothly in most instances apart from heavy gaming. Motorola has priced the phone just right as well; making it one of the most value-for-money phones in this price segment.  

• 6.

The Infinix Zero 30 5G is one of the fastest smartphones you can get under ₹25,000. But that’s not all; everything from the vegan leather design to the dust and water resistance to the bright AMOLED display is well-implemented. The Dimensity 8020 processor blows most of the competition including the Vivo V29e, OnePlus Nord CE 3, and Realme 11 Pro out of the water. Infinix’s XOS skin has also been improved and now looks less cluttered. The cameras are pretty decent and 4K video recording on the front camera is a nice addition to the mix. Battery life is decent, although we’ve seen better. The most annoying pain point is that only 1 guaranteed major Android update will be provided by Infinix for the Zero 30.

• 7.

The iQOO Z7 Pro oozes of iQOO DNA. The phone has superb price-to-performance ratio and surprisingly, you also get a pretty decent camera setup. The phone’s design is also beautiful with a curved glass on the front and back. Sporting the MediaTek Dimensity 7200 chipset, the phone smashes the competition out of the park with incredible benchmarks scores. The phone scored over 700,000 in AnTuTu – making it one of the fastest in the segment. There are a couple of shortcomings though such as low display brightness, and no ultra-wide lens.

• 8.

The Realme 12 Pro delivers on its promises, presenting top-notch design and remarkable cameras at this price point. Though its performance in low-light conditions could be improved, its design is nearly flawless. This phone is undeniably eye-catching and is sure to turn heads. Yet, it isn’t a jack of all trades. Performance-wise, it matches up with its 2023 predecessor, making it less appealing to power users who might find better options in the iQOO Z7 Pro or POCO X6 Pro. Moreover, while its battery life is satisfactory, it doesn’t stand out notably. Nonetheless, it excels in the areas it promises to. For those in search of a well-built device with a great display and impressive camera prowess, the Realme 12 Pro emerges as an outstanding choice.

• 9.

One of the best smartphones 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. 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.

• 10.

Curved displays are becoming increasingly popular in the sub-₹25,000 price range and the Lava Agni 2 incorporates the same. The phone has a curved glass front and back, which makes it look quite attractive. You get a solid Full HD+ AMOLED screen that gives the illusion of almost spilling over the edges. Content on OTT platforms looks superb on this screen – very vivid and crisp. The phone houses the powerful Dimensity 7050 processor that performs pretty well – it sits in the middle of the pack in terms of performance. The cameras are decent but the colour science could use some work.