OnePlus 11 5G, Apple iPhone 14 to Samsung Galaxy S23 FE 5G – Firstpost

Are you looking to buy a flagship smartphone but do not want to overspend on one? You are at the right place. A budget of Rs 60,000 offers you premium smartphones with flagship features like powerful processing hardware, high-quality cameras and excellent displays. But which one should you buy? We have shortlisted the top 5 options available in that budget at the moment, ranging from last generation to current flagship phones. Take a look.

Best phones to buy under Rs 60,000 in India

OnePlus 11 5G
The arrival of the OnePlus 12 hasn’t directly caused a drop in the official price of the OnePlus 11 5G, but Amazon is currently offering a flat Rs 4,000 instant discount on both variants of the latter. Thanks to that, you can score the top variant of the 11 with 16GB RAM and faster 256GB UFS 4.0 storage within this budget. The phone is packed with impressive features starting with Qualcomm’s previous flagship Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chip, which is still very powerful.

The phone feels sturdy and great in hand courtesy of its aluminium body and curved edges. It has a 6.7-inch curved LTPO3 AMOLED display with a resolution of 3216 x 1440 pixels and 1300 nits peak brightness. This HDR10+ and Dolby Vision-compliant screen supports 10-bit colour depth and up to 120 Hz variable refresh rate. The phone’s 5000 mAh battery easily lasts for a day and a half of moderate use, and the bundled 100W charger juices it up in under half an hour.

At the back, you get a 50MP primary camera with OIS and Hasselblad’s colour tuning. The supporting cast is equally impressive with a 48MP ultrawide camera with auto-focus that also doubles up as a quality macro camera and a 32MP telephoto camera with 2X optical zoom that’s great with portrait photography too. The OnePlus 11 5G debuted with OxygenOS 13 based on Android 13 and is upgradeable to Android 14 currently, and then some over the next few years.

OnePlus 11 5G price in India:
Rs 59,990 for 16GB RAM/256GB storage

iQOO 12 5G
The iQOO 12 5G is one loaded smartphone and easily the most powerful of this lot. It is powered by Qualcomm’s current flagship Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chip, and you can choose between its 12GB RAM and 256GB storage variant or the one with 16GB RAM and 512GB storage. Just like the OnePlus 11, you get the fast UFS 4.0 storage here too. This phone has a 10-bit 6.78-inch HDR10+ compliant LTPO AMOLED display with a resolution of 2800 x 1260 pixels and 144 Hz refresh rate. It can get up to 3000 nits bright. The phone runs Android 14 with FunTouch OS 14.

The rear camera department is packed with an excellent trio. It is helmed by a 50MP primary camera with OIS, and accompanied by a 50MP ultra-wide camera with auto-focus that provides macro photography capabilities too. And then you also have a 64MP periscope telephoto camera with OIS that gives you 3X optical zoom and also doubles up as a quality portrait camera. The 16MP front camera handles selfies and video calls quite well. The iQOO 12 5G’s 5000 mAh battery lasts for a day and a half of moderate use, and the bundled 120W fast charger can charge it fully in less than 30 minutes.

iQOO 12 5G price in India:
Rs 52,999 for 12GB RAM/256GB storage
;
Rs 57,999 for 16GB RAM/512GB storage

Apple iPhone 14/ Apple iPhone 13
With the launch of the iPhone 15, its predecessors have become a lot more affordable. It is sort of a fact that Apple devices offer better value for money a year or two after their release, and by that logic, it’s a good time to buy either the Apple iPhone 14 or the iPhone 13 now. Both phones are almost identical in design, features and specifications. Don’t ask me why, ask Apple! Given that the iPhone 13 has a lower price tag, it is understandably a better deal of the two, unless number 13 gives you the creeps.

In this budget, you can choose between the newer Apple iPhone 14 or the older iPhone 13, both with 128GB storage. Both phones have 6.1-inch Super Retina XDR OLED displays with a resolution of 2532 x 1170 pixels, and are 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 previous 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 unit offering OIS, and the secondary capable of capturing ultra-wide shots. The performance in photography and videography is excellent, as one expects from an iPhone. Both phones now run iOS 17, with more OS updates to follow over the next three to four years.

Apple iPhone 14 price in India:
Rs 57,999 for 128GB storage
Apple iPhone 13 price in India:
Rs 52,499 for 128GB storage

Samsung Galaxy S23 FE 5G
Samsung Galaxy S23 FE 5G is another great option in this budget, and you can now get its 256GB storage variant under 50K. This phone too has an IP68 rated ingress protection along with a compact design. It sports an aluminium frame and glass back with Corning Gorilla Glass 5 protection at the front and back. It has a 6.4-inch Full HD+ Dynamic AMOLED 2X display with a peak brightness of 1450 nits, HDR10+ compliance and 120 Hz refresh rate.

The photography department on the Samsung Galaxy S23 FE 5G is quite versatile too. You get a 50MP primary camera with PDAF and OIS, a 12MP ultra-wide camera with 123-degrees FOV and an 8MP telephoto camera with OIS that facilitates 3X optical zoom. The camera performance is highly impressive as expected, and it can record videos in up to 8K resolution. A 10MP front camera takes care of selfies and video calls.

This Samsung phone is powered by a fairly powerful Exynos 2200 chip and is accompanied by 8GB RAM and 256GB internal storage. A 4500 mAh battery keeps it powered for over a day of moderate use and supports 25W fast charging as well as 15W wireless charging. It launched with Android 13 and is upgradeable to Android 14 with Samsung’s One UI 6.

Samsung Galaxy S23 FE 5G price in India:
Rs 46,999 for 8GB RAM/256GB storage