Best 2024 Phones Under Rs 20,000: CMF Phone 1, iQoo Z9x, OnePlus Nord CE4 Lite, More

Best Smartphones Under Rs 20,000: Samsung Galaxy M35, Redmi A4 5G are also on the lineup.

From segment veterans like OnePlus to new entrants like CMF, there is a lot to choose from.

Source : OnePlus, Nothing

Best Smartphones Under Rs 20,000: 2024 was a big year for budget smartphones. It saw many launches which made the market buzz and competition soar. The year started with phones below Rs 20,000 largely driving the 5G revolution in the country, and beginning to emerge as AI warriors even as it ended. Displays got bigger and better, camera megapixel counts went up, and batteries bulked up (in capacity)...with so many budget phones around, making one's mark became a very hard task. 

While many phones priced below Rs 20,000 delivered plenty of value to consumers, these five stood as being truly exceptional in 2024: 

CMF Phone 1: Edgy Looks Bundled With Strong Specs

Price: Rs 15,499 onwards

To cater to audiences on a slightly tighter budget, Nothing introduced its sub-brand CMF and under that name, it launched its first budget phone, the CMF Phone 1. Much like the Nothing Phones, the CMF Phone 1 also came with a design that helped it stand out from the usual crowd. 

There were no LEDs here but screws. Yes, you read that right. The CMF Phone 1 came with screws on the back along with a huge circular dial. With the help of a special screwdriver, you could change the back panel and replace it with a selection of panels. 

This gave the CMF Phone 1 a very industrial yet modular look. Apart from its looks, the phone also came with some very impressive specs. 

Its 6.67-inch full HD+ AMOLED display with 120 Hz refresh rate reproduced punchy, vibrant colours. Another highlight was its 50-megapixel main camera that delivered impressive details, good albeit slightly saturated colours and steady videos. 

The phone’s 5,000 mAh battery may not come with a charger in the box or super fast charging support (it charges at a relatively slow-for-these-days 33W) but can easily see you through a day of heavy usage. To top it all off, the CMF Phone 1 runs clean and uncomplicated NothingOS on top of Android 14, something that is altogether missing in the budget segment. 

Samsung Galaxy M35: Galaxy Budget Boss 

Price: Rs 14,999 onwards

The Samsung Galaxy M series has been a serial number maker for Samsung in the budget segment and the Samsung Galaxy M35 was no different. Samsung bundled it with the M series staples: a beautiful tall display + a big battery + promised Android updates and did not leave it at that, making the Galaxy M35 a proper budget boss. 

As with most Samsung devices, it came with a gorgeous 6.6 inch Super AMOLED full HD+ display with a 120 Hz refresh rate, which reproduced deep blacks and vivid colours, and also came with Gorilla Glass Victus+  protection which is rare in this segment. 

Its huge 6,000 mAh battery could see us through close to two days of every day,  although it did not come with super fast charging (capped at 25W) and there was no charger in the box either. 

The phone’s main 50-megapixel camera came with OIS and turned in a dazzling performance, serving up good details and colours in sufficient light conditions, and performing very well in low light thanks to Samsung’s Nightography feature. 

Samsung’s OneUI can overwhelm a few people but the phone comes with a promise of four years of Android updates and one also has stereo speakers with Dolby Atmos support. All of which made the Galaxy M55 one of the best phones in the segment this year. 

Redmi A4 5G: Most Affordable One On The List

Price: Rs 8,499 Onwards

This is the most affordable smartphone in this list and if you are on a shoestring budget but do not want to compromise on a budget-level performance, this is the smartphone you should be eyeing. While it does not come with the kind of specs that other phones in this list have, a different set of numbers is the USP of the device - in its price. 

Starting at just Rs 8,499 for 4GB RAM + 64GB storage, the Redmi A4 helps in democratising the 5G experience in the country. 

It has a tall 6.88-inch LCD HD+ display and has 120 Hz refresh rate which makes it a great smartphone for speedy scrolling. It brings glass on both front and back, a rarity in the sub-Rs. 20,000 segment, let alone sub Rs 10,000, and is powered by the very able Qualcomm Snapdragon 4s Gen 2 chip which is again quite impressive at this price.

Its 50-megapixel main camera lens can easily stand on its own amongst devices twice as expensive as the Redmi A4, delivering realistic colours and good details. Its 5,160 mAh battery can see one through a day and then some on heavy usage, although it charges at a relatively slow 18W charging (Xiaomi bundles a 33W adapter with it).  

You get Android 14 out of the box with HyperOS on top and there is also an IP52 rating, a 3.5 mm audio jack and support for expandable storage. 

A complete budget 5G package? You bet!

iQoo Z9x: Budget Multimedia Master

Price: Rs 12,487 onwards

Another phone that left a remarkable mark in the budget segment in 2024 is the iQoo Z9x. The phone brought along a very premium look and feel to this price zone, with a flat back, flat display and sides. It had a plastic back and frame but did not look cheap at all, and was quite solid with an IP64 rating. 

While being quite tall at 165.7 mm, the iQoo Z9x was an impressively thin 7.99 mm and at 199 grams, light for its size. But the iQoo Z9x was not just about looks. The phone's IPS LCD display was a large one at 6.72 inches, comes with 120 Hz refresh rate and has an impressive (for the segment) peak brightness of 1,000 nits. 

The 50-megapixel main camera takes great snaps in good light conditions, and its 6,000 mAh battery can easily see you through a day and a half on a single charge even when pushed. 

And thanks to 44W charging support, the battery gets charged quite quickly too. Round this off with stereo speakers and the iQoo Z9x easily emerges as a multimedia master of the budget segment. 

OnePlus Nord CE4 Lite: Typically Dependable 

Price: Rs 17,999 onwards

The Nord series from OnePlus has been quite disruptive in the mid-segment, with its CE Lite versions redefining value in the sub-Rs 20,000 regions.  

The OnePlus Nord CE4 Lite kept that tradition going in 2024. The phone’s 6.67-inch full HD+ AMOLED display with 120 Hz refresh rate was downright gorgeous and scrolled smoothly. Its 50-megapixel Sony LYT-600 sensor with OIS took beautiful daylight shots with plenty of detail and performs nicely enough in low light situations too. 

It has a big 5,500 mAh battery, which is paired with a staggering 80W fast charging support, the fastest in the list, enabling the to not only see you through a day of heavy usage but also get charged back up in no time as well. 

It comes with a slightly old but still very dependable Qualcomm Snapdragon 695G processor and while OxygenOS on the OnePlus Nord CE4 Lite may have some bloatware now, it works smoothly. 

There is also a 3.5 mm audio jack and stereo speakers, making it a typically dependable device for those who would Never Settle for anything other than a device that does most things well.