 "Best phones under Rs 60,000 (Sept 2024): Samsung Galaxy S24 5G, Xiaomi 14 to Apple iPhone 14")
One can comfortably get a premium phone with a handful of flagship features if you have a budget of Rs 60,000. But this month, you can actually get a current generation flagship phone in this budget, and not one but two options to choose from. And the remaining three are no pushovers either; well, they are either Apple iPhones or a Pro variant of Google Pixel. If you are all set to meet our star-studded lineup of phones under Rs 60,000 this month, let’s get the party started.
Best phones to buy under Rs 60,000 in India
Samsung Galaxy S24 5G
The first surprise of the day, the Samsung Galaxy S24 5G is currently selling under 60K. And I thought the festive sales start at the end of this month. The phone is powered by an Exynos 2400 chip which is almost as powerful as Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 SoC. You can score the 8GB RAM and 256GB internal storage variant of the S24 in this budget. This phone is fairly compact and has IP68-rated dust and fluid resistance.
It sports an Armor Aluminium 2 frame and a glass back with a layer of Corning Gorilla Glass Victus 2, which also protects the screen from scratches and cracks. The Samsung Galaxy S24 5G has a 6.2-inch Full HD+ Dynamic LTPO AMOLED 2X display with a peak brightness of 2600 nits, HDR10+ compliance and 120Hz refresh rate. The phone runs the latest Android 14 with Samsung’s One UI 6.1. One can expect more updates going ahead.
Photography department consists of three rear cameras starting with a 50MP primary with dual pixel PDAF and optical image stabilisation (OIS), a 12MP ultra-wide camera with Super Steady video support and a 10MP telephoto camera with OIS for 3X optical zoom. You also get a 12MP front camera with PDAF for selfies and video calls. The camera performance is best in class, and one can record videos in 8K resolution.
Impact Shorts
More ShortsSamsung Galaxy S24 5G price in India: Rs 58,999 for 8GB RAM/256GB storage
Xiaomi 14
Xiaomi 14 is another flagship device going for 10K lower than its usual price. It packs impressive features and comes with an IP68 rating for dust and water resistance. You get a 6.36-inch LTPO AMOLED display with a variable refresh rate up to 120Hz and a resolution of 2670 x 1200 pixels. The Pro HDR display is HDR10+ and Dolby Vision compliant, with a peak brightness of 3000 nits and supports up to 68 billion colour shades. It is protected against scratches by a layer of Corning Gorilla Glass Victus.
This phone is powered by Qualcomm’s current flagship Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 SoC, and you get 12GB RAM along with 512GB UFS 4.0 storage. The cameras on this phone have been designed in collaboration with Leica. You get three 50MP units at the back, with the primary camera flaunting a Light Fusion 900 image sensor, Leica Summilux optics and OIS. Giving it company is an ultra-wide shooter with 115-degrees FOV along with a 75 mm floating telephoto camera with OIS that facilitates 3.2X optical zoom.
The telephoto camera is competent at macro and portrait photography as well. The 32MP front camera is quite good for selfies and video calls. The phone’s 4610 mAh battery comfortably lasts over a day of moderate use, and the bundled 90W fast charger promises to juice it up fully in a little over half an hour. The phone also supports 50W fast wireless charging. The Xiaomi 14 runs the latest Android 14 with the company’s new HyperOS UI.
Xiaomi 14 price in India: Rs 59,999 for 12GB RAM/512GB storage
Google Pixel 7 Pro
Google’s previous flagship smartphone, the Pixel 7 Pro, may be selling way under 50K at the moment, but is still a great option in this budget. The phone is powered by Google’s Tensor G2 processor and offers 12GB RAM and 128GB internal storage. It has a curved 6.7-inch QHD+ AMOLED display with 120Hz refresh rate and 1500 nits peak brightness. The HDR10+ compliant screen is protected against scratches by Corning Gorilla Glass Victus, and the phone sports an IP68-rated ingress protection.
You get a smooth Android experience on this device, thanks to the purest version of Android with the Material You UI. It currently runs Android 14, and one can expect more updates in the future. The Google Pixel 7 Pro is great at photography too courtesy of its three rear cameras. You get a 50MP primary camera with OIS, along with a 48MP telephoto camera with OIS for up to 5X optical zoom and a shockingly good 30X digital zoom. The 12MP ultra-wide camera with auto-focus is equally impressive and doubles up as a quality macro camera. They do a great job in different lighting and modes.
Google Pixel 7 Pro price in India: Rs 44,999 for 12GB RAM/128GB storage
Apple iPhone 14/ Apple iPhone 13
Of course, you can get an Apple iPhone in this budget. With the launch of the iPhone 16, its predecessors have become a lot more affordable, and you can buy either an iPhone 14 with 128GB storage or an iPhone 13 with double the storage just under 60K. Both phones are almost identical in design, features and specifications, with the exception of RAM. Actually, if you wait for another week or so, you might get even better deals on these iPhones in the upcoming online mega sales.
Both phones have 6.1-inch Super Retina XDR OLED displays with a resolution of 2532 x 1170 pixels, and compliant with HDR10 and Dolby Vision. The phones feel great in hand due to their compact size, and have an IP68 rating for dust and water resistance. Both phones are powered by Apple’s former flagship A15 Bionic chip, with the iPhone 14 offering 2GB more RAM.
The processing hardware is still reasonably powerful for most tasks including gaming. There are two 12MP cameras at the back with the primary module offering OIS, and the secondary capable of capturing ultra-wide shots. The performance in photography and videography is still commendable, as one expects from an Apple iPhone. Both phones now run iOS 17, with the iOS 18 update just around the corner and more to follow over the next few years.
Apple iPhone 14 price in India:
Rs 59,900 for 128GB storage
Apple iPhone 13 price in India:
Rs 59,900 for 256GB storage
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