Should you choose a budget flagship phone over the iPhone 13 and Galaxy S22?
These days, you can find flagship phones that cost upwards of Rs. 1 lakh. But at the same time, there are some models that seem to have a list of high-end features under the Rs. 50,000 price segment. The smartphone market in India has not only grown in terms of units sold, but also in terms of prices. These phones can be termed as “value flagship phones”. But are they worth choosing against the premium phones — the iPhone 13 and the Galaxy S series — available in the country? We try to find out.
In this week’s episode of the Gadgets 360 podcast Orbital, host Akhil Arora speaks to senior reviewers Aditya Shenoy and Sheldon Pinto about affordable flagship phones: the best of the best under Rs 50,000.
Value flagship phones are the phones that are available in the price range of Rs. 40,000-50,000 and have a flagship processor along with improved build quality, satisfying camera experience and comparable battery along with fast charging support. We can simply say that these should be the phones that can give you maximum value for your money spent.
In the past few months, companies like Motorola, OnePlus, Realme and Samsung have launched phones that offer a flagship-like experience in the Rs 50,000 price segment.
One of the good options is the Motorola Edge 30 Pro which brings the top-of-the-line Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 SoC for a price of Rs. 49,999. Apart from the top-of-the-line processing unit, the Motorola phone features a 144Hz pOLED display, a triple camera setup on the back with a 50-megapixel primary sensor, and a 4,800mAh battery with support for 68W fast charging.
Motorola Edge 30 Pro review
Samsung also has the Galaxy S21 FE 5G in the same segment. It offers some features that are closer to the regular Galaxy S21, including the same Exynos 2100 SoC and even a larger 6.4-inch full-HD+ Dynamic AMOLED 2X display with a 120Hz refresh rate. While the Samsung Galaxy S21 FE 5G was launched in India for Rs. 54,999, it is currently available for Rs. 47,990, which puts it in the value-for-money flagship segment.
Samsung Galaxy S21 FE 5G review
Chinese giant BBK Electronics has also started seeing the sub-Rs. 50,000 price segment as its sweet spot. It has launched the OnePlus 10R 5G and the Realme GT Neo 3 as two models designed to take on the likes of the Samsung Galaxy S21 FE 5G and Motorola Edge 30 Pro. Both the phones come with 150W fast charging support and are powered by the MediaTek Dimensity 8100 SoC. The OnePlus model even gets some customizations on top of the vanilla MediaTek chip and is called the MediaTek Dimensity 8100-Max.
Realme GT Neo 3 (150W) First Impressions
While the Realme GT Neo 3 (150W) carries a price tag of Rs. 42,999, the OnePlus 10R Endurance Edition carries a price tag of Rs. 43,999. Both the phones come in the 12GB RAM + 256GB storage configuration.
OnePlus 10R 5G (150W Endurance Edition) Review
Apart from the Android options, there is also the iPhone SE (2022) in the market for those looking for a brand new iPhone model under the Rs. 50,000 price segment.
The iPhone SE (2022) officially starts at Rs. 43,900 and comes with the A15 Bionic chip that is available on the iPhone 13 models. It also runs on the latest iOS 15 version and supports wireless charging. However, the iPhone SE (2022) has an identical design to the dated iPhone 8. It also doesn’t come with features like Face ID and multiple rear cameras that you get on most other iPhone models in the market. It’s hard to really call it a “flagship”.
You might want to consider the iPhone 11 that is now selling for under Rs. 50,000, or the iPhone 12 that is dropping below Rs. 50,000 during the sale. Of course, both phones are years old. The iPhone 13, the latest version, is itself nine months old. Add a year or more to that for the phones that came before it. On the other hand, most of the Android phones we mentioned above are launching in 2022.
Apple iPhone SE (2022) review
In the podcast, we also talk about the key things to look for when choosing a value-for-money flagship phone, as well as the downsides like worse low-light camera performance compared to premium models. We also discuss what features you could get if you’re willing to stretch your budget a little, or a lot.
You can listen to all this and more in our half-hour-plus episode by clicking the play button in the Spotify player above.
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New episodes of Orbital are released every Friday. Make sure to tune in every week.
