Let’s say you have a budget of Rs 40,000 for a new phone. You want a good screen, a battery that lasts the whole day and into the next, and a chip that will not feel slow in two years. That is no longer a hard ask at this price. The harder part is choosing between a handful of very similar phones. Three of the five here run Dimensity 8500 chips. Batteries start at 6,500mAh and go up to 8,000mAh. All of them have 120Hz or 144Hz AMOLED screens. The differences come down to price, cameras and what you care about most, so here is how the five stack up, ranked from five to one.
Vivo’s S-series is back in India after nearly seven years. The Vivo S2 has a 6.83-inch 1.5K curved AMOLED display running at 120Hz with up to 3,000 nits of peak brightness, it is also very sleek at just 7.99mm thin. The chip is a MediaTek Dimensity 7360 Turbo with 8GB RAM and 128GB or 256GB of UFS 3.1 storage. The battery is also good and comes at 7,050mAh with 44W fast charging.
On the back there is a 50MP Sony IMX852 main camera and a 2MP depth sensor. The front camera is 32MP, and both front and rear can shoot 4K video.
The S2 launched at Rs 39,999 but now costs Rs 42,999 for the 8GB + 128GB model after Vivo’s September price hike. However during this festive sale going on you can buy this at Rs 36,000.
The OnePlus Nord CE6 is the one to look at if battery and toughness matter most. It has an 8,000mAh battery with 80W fast charging, and OnePlus lists IP66, IP68, IP69 and IP69K ratings. The display is a 6.78-inch 1.5K AMOLED at 144Hz, and the chip is a Snapdragon 7s Gen 4 with 8GB RAM with 128GB storage.
The main camera is a 50MP sensor with OIS, backed by a 2MP secondary sensor. The selfie camera is 32MP with autofocus, and both front and rear record 4K.
Right now on if you want to buy this phone this festive sale could be the best because right now it is available at Rs 35,999 for the 8GB + 128GB storage variant.
The Poco X8 Pro is the younger sibling of the Redmi Turbo 5 and uses the same Dimensity 8500 Ultra chip. The display is a 6.59-inch 1.5K AMOLED at 120Hz with 3,500 nits of peak brightness. You get up to 12GB of LPDDR5X RAM, 256GB of UFS 4.1 storage and a 6,500mAh battery with 100W fast charging.
The rear cameras are a 50MP Sony IMX882 with OIS and an 8MP ultrawide. The front camera is 20MP.
It launched at Rs 32,999 for the 8GB + 256GB model and has been hiked three times since, to Rs 39,999. With the festive sale and bank offers it effectively comes to Rs 35,999, which makes it one of the best values here.
Same chip, bigger battery. The Redmi Turbo 5 uses the MediaTek Dimensity 8500 Ultra processor and packs a 7,540mAh battery with 100W charging, against 6,500mAh in the Poco. The display is a 6.59-inch 1.5K AMOLED at 120Hz with 3,500 nits of peak brightness and Dolby Vision support.
Cameras are a 50MP main with OIS and an 8MP ultrawide. Redmi claims an Antutu score above 20 lakh.
Redmi Turbo 5 launched at Rs 37,999, and the 8GB + 256GB model now costs Rs 40,999, which is over this list’s limit. During this festive sale you can buy this at Rs 38,999.
The Motorola Edge 70 Pro is first because it has no obvious weak spot. In terms of cameras, it’s a strong pickup, it comes with a dual 50MP camera setup, which includes a 50MP Sony LYTIA 710 main sensor supported by a 50MP ultrawide lens. On the front, you also get a 50MP selfie shooter. The Edge 70 Pro can record 4K HDR10+ video at up to 60fps.
The display is a 6.8-inch 1.5K pOLED at 144Hz with up to 5,200 nits of peak brightness, and it is Pantone validated.
It runs on the MediaTek Dimensity 8500 Extreme chipset with up to 12GB RAM and 256GB of UFS 4.1 storage. The 6,500mAh battery supports 90W fast charging, the body is 6.99mm thick with IP68 and IP69 ratings, and Motorola promises three Android upgrades and five years of security updates.
It launched at Rs 38,999 and now costs Rs 39,999 for the 8GB + 256GB version, so it stays under Rs 40,000 even at the regular price. Festive offers on Flipkart take it to around Rs 35,149.