In the past couple of years, the popularity of affordable flagship/flagship killer devices in India have increased sharply.
Smartphones have become more powerful, ensuring the buyers get maximum value during the purchase they make. With that, one can now safely say that there hasn’t been a better time to be in the market for buying mobile phones.
At present, Rs. 35,000 is the sweet spot if you want to land in some great Android phones, featuring excellent cameras, solid performance, immersive gaming experience, and brilliant displays. If you are an average Joe (like me) who wishes for the best/latest tech in smartphones without having to shell out more money, congratulations, you have come to the right place.
For buyers looking for the best smartphone in Rs. 35,000, here’s our list.
iQOO 7
iQOO has launched its second smartphone in India – iQOO 7, which in our opinion, will be one of the most sought-after devices this year. Why? For numerous reasons! The first reason is the implementation of ‘Dual Chip technology,’ which no other smartphone in this price segment has.
The iQOO 7 features an Intelligent Display Chip that enhances display capabilities, delivering elaborate and smooth visuals. For gaming, the intelligent display chip improves the iQOO 7’s display capabilities from two levels: increase the frame rate (Game Frame Rate Interpolation or Motion Estimation and Motion Compensation) and optimise colors (Game All-HDR).
The MEMC add a transition frame between two frames, thereby bringing higher frame rates that exceed games’ native frame rates and provide a smoother visual gaming experience in games like Free Fire and Call of Duty.
On top of that, the chip can convert all SDR content to HDR level quality to achieve more vivid images in a game. It is coupled with a game-changing touch sensing capability – 300hz Touch Sampling Rate and 1000Hz Instant Touch Sampling Rate, for an unparalleled gaming experience.
The iQOO 7 is powered by an Octa-Core (1 x 3.2GHz + 3 x 2.42GHz + 4 x 1.8GHz Hexa) Qualcomm Snapdragon 870 Mobile Platform, which utilizes a 7nm process with Adreno 650 GPU.
Compared with Qualcomm Snapdragon 865, the CPU performance has increased by 10%, and GPU performance has increased by 10%. It is equipped with V6 UFS 3.1 storage as well. Compared to Version 5 (V5), it increases the random write speed by 21.28%.
In an attempt to improve the gaming experience, iQOO has implemented a 6000mm² Graphite Layer Full Coverage Liquid Cooling System in its latest device, that reduces the temperature by up to 11%.
The phone has extended RAM that uses the storage to boost the RAM by an additional 3GB. Meaning, it can expand the operation storage from 8GB to 11GB and 12GB to 15GB.
The iQOO 7 sports a 6.62-inch (2400×1080 pixels) Full HD+ AMOLED 20:9 aspect ratio screen with HDR10+, 120Hz refresh rate, 105% NTSC color gamut, and up to 1,300 nits brightness.
Just like the performance, iQOO made no compromises in cameras as well. It features a 48MP camera with an IMX598 sensor and OIS, a 13MP 120° ultra-wide sensor with 2.5cm macro support, and a 2MP mono sensor. On the front, you get a 16MP front-facing camera with an f/2.0 aperture.
With the iQOO 7 camera, you can explore various features including, Extreme Night Vision, Pro Sports Mode, Super Night Mode, Super Night Pano, and Double Exposure.
The entire hardware is powered by a 4,400mAh battery with 66W superfast flash charging. This 66W can charge the device from 0 to 100 in just 30 minutes. It’s worth mentioning that, the travel charger is also
compatible with PD protocols and can charge other devices.
The iQOO 7 5G comes in Solid Ice Blue and Storm Black colours, is priced at Rs. 31,990 for the 8GB RAM with 128GB storage, Rs. 33,990 for the 8GB RAM with 256GB storage version and the top-end 12GB RAM with 256GB storage version costs Rs. 35,990.
Pre-order offers
- Flat Rs. 2000 off on ICICI Bank Credit cards and EMI
- Flat Rs. 2000 off with Amazon coupons
- No cost EMI up to 6 months
OnePlus 9R
Next up is the OnePlus9R. The OnePlus 9R has a 6.55-inch (1080 x 2400 pixels) Full HD+ Fluid AMOLED display with 120Hz refresh rate, and HDR 10+ support. Instead of a glass back in other OnePlus 9 series phones, this has a polycarbonate back with a matte finish.
It is powered by Octa-Core (1 x 3.2GHz + 3 x 2.42GHz + 4 x 1.8GHz Hexa) Snapdragon 870 7nm Mobile Platform with Adreno 650 GPU as well. OnePlus 9R has a 48MP rear camera with a Sony IMX586 sensor, 16 ultra-wide cameras, 5MP macro, and a 2MP monochrome lens. Selfies are taken care of 16MP camera with a 1/1.43″ Sony IMX471 sensor.
It packs a 4500mAh (Twin 2250mAh batteries) and Warp Charge 65W charging that can charge the phone fully in just 29 minutes.
The OnePlus 9R comes in Carbon Black and Lake Blue colours, is priced at Rs. 39,999 for the 8GB RAM with 128GB storage version and the 12GB RAM with 256GB storage version costs Rs. 43,999.
Mi 11X
The third is Xiaomi’s Mi 11X! Xiaomi launched Mi 11X in India with a 6.67-inch E4 AMOLED screen with MEMC, 120Hz refresh rate, and 360Hz touch sampling rate.
The Mi 11X is powered by Octa Core (1 x 3.2GHz + 3 x 2.42GHz + 4 x 1.8GHz Hexa) Snapdragon 870 7nm Mobile Platform with Adreno 650 GPU.
The Mi 11X packs a 48MP Sony IMX582 sensor, along with the 8MP ultra-wide and 5MP 50mm telephoto macro lens. On the front, we have a 20MP camera with 0.8μm pixel size, f/2.4 aperture. Unlike other smartphones mentioned above, the Mi 11X has a side-mounted fingerprint scanner.
The phone is powered by a 4,520mAh battery which supports up to 33W wired charging that can charge from 0 to 100% in just 52 minutes.
The Mi 11X is priced at Rs. 29,999 for the 6GB RAM with 128GB storage version and the 8GB RAM with 128GB storage version costs Rs. 31,999.
vivo X60
The vivo X60 sports a 6.56-inch (2376×1080 pixels) Full HD+ 19.8:9 aspect ratio E3 AMOLED display with 120Hz refresh rate and HDR10+ support.
The X60 is powered by Octa-Core (1 x 3.2GHz + 3 x 2.42GHz + 4 x 1.8GHz Hexa) Snapdragon 870 7nm Mobile Platform with Adreno 650 GPU under the hood.
On the storage front, the X60 series supports UFS 3.1 and comes with Virtual RAM, a memory management technology similar to iQOO 7’s extended RAM.
The vivo X60 comes with a triple camera setup – 48MP OIS f/1.79, 13MP wide angle and a 13MP Portrait camera. Notably, the company partnered with optics company ZEISS as well. The vivo X60 is powered by 4300mAh with 33W fast charging technology.
The Vivo X60 come in Midnight Black and Shimmer Blue colour variants and priced at Rs. 37,990 for the X60 8GB + 128GB and Rs. 41,990 for the 12GB + 256GB.
Realme X7 Pro
Finally, we have the X7 Pro from realme. The X7 Pro is the latest top-end 5G device from Realme’s stable. It comes with a 6.55-inch (2400 × 1080 pixels) Full HD+ AMOLED display with a 120Hz refresh rate. The device has a 240Hz touch sampling rate too.
The phone is powered by Octa-Core (4×A77 2.6GHz + 4×A55 2.0GHz) Dimensity 1000+ 7nm processor with Mali-G77 MC9 GPU.
The X7 Pro has a 64MP main camera with a Sony IMX686 sensor, an 8MP ultra-wide camera, 2MP retro portrait, and a 2MP macro camera. The phone packs a 4500mAh with 65W Super Dart fast charging that offers 100% charge in 35 minutes.
The realme X7 Pro 5G comes in Fantasy and Mystic black colours, is priced at Rs. 29,999.