10 Best Smartphones Under 50,000 in India 2021 (Google, OnePlus, and more)

Get ready to choose the right one that fits your budget and needs! Keep an eye out for the processor model, camera setup, and RAM, depending on whether you need it for entertainment, work, or both.

When your budget is about half a lakh, you shouldn't go easy on the features. Keep reading to know the best-in-class features available on smartphones and make sure that your choice offers them or something even better.

Whether you want a smartphone for gaming or watching Netflix, a full HD or 1080p display is a must-have. Pictures and videos will have more clarity and contrast when viewed on a full HD screen. Considering the technology of a screen, check if the phone features an AMOLED display, a better version of OLED displays that can produce brighter colors.

They are known for their superior color reproduction and clarity compared to regular LCDs. You may also come across Super AMOLED displays by Samsung, which are better versions of AMOLEDs with less power consumption and better clarity. Apple's marketing terms for LCD screens are retina and super retina displays.

The latter tend to have more resolution and better visibility under direct sunlight, but consumes more power. If you are a gamer, consider the refresh rate of the screen. Get one with a refresh rate of 90Hz or more for a smoother gaming experience. Higher refresh rates also make app scrolling and animations smoother, giving you a premium user experience.

Have you ever felt like your game is lagging while a download is going on in the background? Or the movie you are watching start getting stuck when you get a WhatsApp or Facebook Messenger notification? Getting a phone with a faster processor will prevent such situations.

You can watch movies or play games without any lag when multiple downloads and app updates are going on in the background. If you are a professional gamer who competes in tournaments, you should never overlook the processor specifications. You can google for "Smartphone processor ranking list" and compare various processors to find out the fastest one for your needs.

You may also consider the number of cores in a processor; more cores mean better performance since each core performs a different task simultaneously. But remember that that's not always the case. For example, Apple's A13 Bionic chipset with six cores performs much better than Samsung's Exynos 990 with eight cores because the former has more advanced technology.

A RAM's duty is to store data temporarily for running applications. Your smartphone's OS, background apps, your media player—everything utilizes this temporary storage. When you are watching a movie and want to switch quickly to a messaging app, you don't have to load it again if it is running in the background.

But if there is not enough memory, your phone automatically shuts down the background apps, and you will need to load them again. You may even lose the work you were doing if certain word processor apps, sketching apps, or photo editors shut down in the background. 

Your phone can perform smoothly with just 4 GB of RAM, but people running heavy apps for gaming, 3D modeling and sketching may go for 6 GB or more. Thus you can prevent device lagging normally seen in phones that used for a long time.

You may find high-end smartphones having the same battery capacity as the low-end ones, maybe even lesser. Since the processor, display, and software are more advanced, their power consumption goes down too. So, even if you find one with a 4000mAH battery, that would be more than enough to last an entire day.

But if you are an extreme user, for example, several hours of 4K video recording or full HD gaming, you may experience a faster battery drain. So, we recommend a battery capacity of at least 4000mAH. Try to find out what the company promises. For example, the Mi 10T Pro offers 26 hours of talk time and 535 hours of standby on a fully charged 5000mAH battery.

Keep in mind that high-end smartphones offer fast charging too. And it varies from one model to another. But on average, 30 minutes of fast charging can get your phone up to 50%. Use fast charging only in case of emergencies, as frequent use can reduce your battery's overall life.

One of the most important features to look for in a smartphone is its camera setup. Almost all high-end smartphones offer 4K video recording at various fps (frames per second denotes the number of frames captured in a second; more frames, smoother video). Quad camera and triple-camera setups are quite common too. Here is how you can compare the camera setup of various phones.

Find out the resolution of the main camera. A 48 MP camera can capture more details than a 32 MP camera, which reduces the loss of details or blurring when you crop your photos. You can also look for dedicated cameras like telephoto, macro, and wide-angle for clicking stunning pictures of nature, people, or vehicles.

High-end devices may also feature superior sensors from reputable companies. The Vivo X50 Pro has a 48 MP Sony sensor, while the Mi 10T Pro captures 8K video using the 108 MP HMX sensor from Samsung. So, find out if the sensor is from companies like Zeiss, Sony, or Samsung as they can capture images with lifelike colors and clarity.

Smartphones are replacing laptops and desktop computers as a device for entertainment. The streaming service Netflix offers a mobile-only plan for watching TV shows, stand-ups, and movies on mobile devices. If you have ample storage space on your phone, you can download everything you want to watch in advance and store it. You don't need a Wi-Fi connection 24/7.

If you are a gamer, you would know that some games take up almost 2 GB of storage for installation. The pictures and videos you capture, especially if they are 4K, fill up the storage really fast. You will usually find phones with 128 GB or 256 GB of internal storage in the under-50,000 segment. If that's not sufficient, check the maximum external memory it supports.

Normally, phones allow you to expand up to 512 GB. But look out for the type of SIM slot. If the phone has a hybrid SIM slot, it means you can use two SIM cards or one SIM and a memory card. This may be an inconvenience for people who have one number for personal use and another for work. You either have to sacrifice one for the other or go for a different smartphone.

2021 will see India upgrading the network infrastructure to support 5G to catch up with the world. You can switch over to the 5G network when the telecommunications companies make it available in your city and enjoy better voice clarity, faster internet, and more network coverage.

For leveraging the benefits of a 5G, you need a phone that supports it. If you plan to use the phone for more than two years, it is wise to buy one that supports 5G.

Some accessories are a necessity for convenience rather than a luxury. If you want to experience the freedom offered by wireless devices, click on the links below to read our articles on Bluetooth earbuds and wireless chargers. 

Even though top-end smartphones are much more power-efficient, you may need a power bank while you are traveling. We have a dedicated article for that too. Don't forget to check out the products in the Top 10 section in every article.

Smartphones have also become a part of the luxury lifestyle. You may need one to capture crystal clear images of the fun times with your family and friends or a faster processor and bigger RAM for rigorous gaming. Smartphones can offer all that and more. Always check the screen size, camera setup and resolution, inbuilt storage, RAM, and processor type, and compare it with other models in the market, so you get the most value for money.

Author - Arun F Xaviour