Top 10 Best Mobile Phones Under 30000 in India (Flagship Killers)

In the Indian smartphone market, we come across terms like ‘midrange flagship’ or ‘last-gen flagship’. These terms simply mean that it’s a smartphone which does not come with the latest hardware or does not have the latest hardware anymore, since it is a year or two old, but it still performs very well (almost like the latest flagship phones). These smartphones can range anywhere between Rs 20,000 - Rs 30,000 and hence we bring you the best smartphones under 30000 in India.

We are not ranking them in terms of quality and hence the list is on no order. If your budget is slightly on the higher side and you would like to purchase a better flagship smartphone, check out our Best Smartphones Under 40000 segment. Now without wasting any further time, lets check out the phones under 30000 category.

These are the best mobile phones under 30000 in India

1. Honor 8 Pro

Honor 8 Pro is one of the rarest smartphones under 30000 Rs in India that comes with a dual rear camera setup. It is the fourth dual camera smartphone from the house of Huawei, that was launched in the country in July 2017. The Honor 8 Pro is the successor of the Honor 8 and actually is far superior than its predecessor.

Now lets talk about the specifications of the Honor 8 Pro, which is not just about the camera only. It features a 5.7-inch Quad HD IPS LCD display with a pixel density of 515 PPI. According to us, it is the best display under 30000 till now and you’ll love to watch your favorite shows and movies on it. The screen is even VR ready and the Honor 8 Pro’s retail box turns into a VR headset as well.

Under the hood, it comes with an octa-core Kirin 960 chipset that has been manufactured by 16 nanometer process and is clocked at 2.4GHz, for graphics prowess it rocks a Mali G71 MP8 GPU. For multitasking and storage, there is 6GB RAM and 128GB internal storage (further expandable up to 128GB). The Honor 8 Pro runs on EMUI 5.1 based on Android 7.0 Nougat OS and will certainly be updated to the upcoming Android 8.0 Oreo OS in the near future.

Before coming to the camera department, lets talk about the network and connectivity options on board. The Honor 8 Pro supports Dual SIM but comes with a hybrid slot. This smartphone includes 4G VoLTE, WiFi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac (Dual Band), Bluetooth 4.2 LE, GPS, NFC and USB Type-C. We also get a fingerprint sensor at the back that can do a lot of things other than unlocking the phone, and Huawei has thrown in an Infrared sensor as well.

Now coming to the camera, it sports two 12 megapixel cameras at the back - one for color and another for capturing monochrome details. The dual camera setup helps in taking stunning pictures with bokeh effect (depth of field). There is a 8 megapixel selfie camera in this smartphone as well. Under the hood, it packs in a big 4000mAh battery which will last easily last for couple of days with moderate usage and it also supports fast charging.

If you want one of the best camera smartphones under 30000, then go for the Honor 8 Pro. However, it does not only do well in the camera department alone, it is also a beast in all the departments.

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2. OnePlus 5

OnePlus 5, a successor of the OnePlus 3T is the latest smartphone from the house of OnePlus. It was launched in India back in June 2017 and is one of the best Android smartphones with 8GB RAM. It has similar specifications when compared to the OnePlus 3T but comes with solid upgrades such as dual rear cameras. The alert slider button to switch between notification modes is also present.

Starting with the display, there is a 5.5-inch 2.5D curved Optic AMOLED display onboard, which comes with a pixel density of 401 PPI and a resolution of 1920 x 1080 pixels (Full HD). It screen has DCI-P3 color coverage an is protected by Corning Gorilla Glass 5. It is a Dual SIM phone with 4G VoLTE support. Other connectivity options include 3G HSPA+, WiFi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac (Dual Band) MU-MIMO, Bluetooth 5.0 aptX HD, GPS, GLONASS, NFC and USB Type-C.

Under the hood, the OnePlus 5 is powered by the Qualcomm octa-core Snapdragon 835 processor clocked at 2.45GHz along with Adreno 540 GPU. We get options of both 6GB and 8GB of LPDDR4x RAM along with 64GB and 128GB of internal memory. The storage cannot be expanded in this smartphone as it does not have a microSD card slot. The phone runs on Oxygen OS out of the box based on Android 7.1.1 Nougat OS. According to OnePlus, it has the most refined OxygenOS till date and also Android 8.0 Oreo OS update is coming very soon.

In the camera department of this smartphone under 30000, we get a dual camera setup at the back - a 16 megapixel primary lens with Sony IMX398 sensor, f/1.7 aperture and a 20 megapixel secondary lens with Sony IMX350 sensor, f/2.6 aperture. These can record 4K videos at 30fps, Full HD at 60fps and slow-motion HD at 120fps. The second lens helps in clicking portraits with depth of field (bokeh) effect and also offers 2x lossless zoom. There is a 16 megapixel selfie camera with Sony IMX371 sensor and f/2.0 aperture on the front. Both the cameras are quite hood but not as flawless as the best flagship smartphones.

One of the most impressive features of the OnePlus 5 is its battery. We get a 3300mAh battery under the hood, that should easily last for one day with heavy usage. Also, there is Dash Charge support onboard that can literally charge the phone from 0-60% in just 30 minutes. There is a fast fingerprint sensor located inside the home button, which can unlock the phone in 0.2 seconds. There is a bottom-facing speaker, Dirac HD Sound and 3 microphones with noise cancellation.

In our opinion, the OnePlus 5 is one of the best smartphone under 30000 in India currently. You should definitely consider it if you’re purchasing a smartphone from this price segment.

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Must Read: Top 10 Mobiles

3. Samsung Galaxy C9 Pro

Samsung Galaxy C9 Pro, one of the best smartphones under 30000, was launched in India back in January 2017. It is a very premium phablet from the house of Samsung in the ‘C series’, that has a very slim profile and is also the company’s first 6GB RAM smartphone. The device is 6.9mm thick and weighs 189 grams. The C9 Pro has a great build quality.

Talking about the display, the Galaxy C9 Pro rocks a 6-inch Super AMOLED display with a pixel density of 267 PPI and resolution of 1920 x 1080 pixels (Full HD). It is a great screen and is tailor-made for consuming a lot of high-definition content. You’ll love to play games and watch movies in this big screen but it is also going to be difficult to use the phone without two hands. The display can be considered bezel-less since the screen-to-body ratio is 75.5%.

In the camera department, the Galaxy C9 pro packs in a 16 megapixel primary rear camera along with another 16 megapixel selfie shooter. Both of them can shoot Full HD videos and come with an aperture of f/1.9. They can click some great pictures and perform really well in low light environments. The phablet runs on TouchWiz UI based on Android 6.0 Marshmallow OS and should get updated to the latest Android version soon.

The Samsung Galaxy C9 Pro is a Dual SIM phone but comes with a hybrid slot. It supports 4G VoLTE, 3G HSPA+, Bluetooth 4.2 LE, NFC, WiFi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac (Dual Band) and USB Type-C in the connectivity department. There is a fingerprint sensor embedded into the home button, which also supports Samsung Pay. Under the hood, we get a 4000mAh battery with fast charging support and it will easily last for couple of days with moderate usage.

The Samsung Galaxy C9 Pro is powered by a Snapdragon 653 octa-core processor from the house of Qualcomm and it is clocked at 2.0GHz. We get 6GB RAM and 64GB internal memory. The chipset is very powerful and can handle most of the games and applications smoothly. The internal memory can be expanded up to 256GB by adding a microSD card and with 6GB RAM you can multitask with ease.

If you want a premium Samsung phablet that offers great hardware, software and build quality along with awesome after sales service, then take a look at the Samsung Galaxy C9 Pro.

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4. LG V20

LG V20, one of the best smartphones under 30000, was unveiled in India back in December 2016. It was the first flagship smartphone in the world to run on Android 7.0 Nougat OS out of the box. It also meets the US Military Standard MIL-STD 810G and can withstand a fall up to 1.2 meters without being damaged, like its predecessor, the LG V10.

The LG V20 phablet comes with dual displays – one 5.7-inch IPS Quantum display with a resolution of 2560 x 1440 pixels (Quad HD) and another 2.1-inch IPS Quantum display with a resolution of 400 x 160 pixels. Both of them has a pixel density of 513 PPI. The secondary ticker display is used to show important notifications, time, date and thus it also always remains on.

The LG V20 is powered by a Snapdragon 820 quad-core processor from the house of Qualcomm clocked at 2.15GHz along with 4GB RAM. It can multitask with ease and you can play the latest games and apps without facing any lag or stuttering. It has 64GB of internal memory but you can extend it up to 2TB by including a microSD card. The V20 runs on LG UX based on Android 7.0 Nougat OS and will get updated to Android 8.0 Oreo OS in the near future.

In the camera department, we have dual cameras at the back – a 16 megapixel primary camera and a 8 megapixel secondary camera. In this system, the second sensor is wide-angle and hence the phone can click wide-angle photos. It supports OIS, Hybrid Auto Focus technology and can also shoot 4K videos. On the front, there is a 5 megapixel selfie camera. In the connectivity department, it includes WiFi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac (Dual Band), DLNA, Bluetooth 4.2 LE, GPS, NFC, GLONASS, USB Type-C and Infrared port.

The LG V20 is 4G VoLTE enabled and is also a Dual SIM phone. It is one of the best audio smartphones under 30000 since it can capture audio using 24-bit / 48KHz LPCM. The V20 also supports 32-bit Hi-Fi ESS SABRE ES9218 Quad DAC and lossless music formats. We get a 3200mAh battery with Quick Charge 3.0 support under the hood of the phone and it will give about one day of battery life with moderate to heavy usage.

If you want a great flagship smartphone with superb camera and display, then take a look at the LG V20 as it still remains one of the best phones in this price segment.

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5. Apple iPhone 6

Apple iPhone 6, one of the best mobiles under 30000, was launched in India back in October 2014. It is one of the best small smartphones in this price segment as it comes with a 4.7-inch IPS Retina display. The resolution and pixel density is certainly on the lower side but the panel does not feel pixellated as it is quite compact.

The iPhone 6 is powered by the A8 dual-core processor clocked at 1.4GHz, which is also found on the iPhone 6 Plus. It rocks 1GB of RAM but you can still multitask without facing any issue. You will not face any lag or stuttering while playing any games or apps for sure. It is also one of the best slim phones as it is 6.9mm thick and weighs 129 grams only.

The iPhone 6 is available with 32GB storage in India but you cannot expand it further as there is no microSD card slot as usual. The iPhone runs on iOS 10 out of the box and will be upgradable to iOS 11 and later for free. The UI is quite fluid and you can smoothly perform most of the tasks. There is a Touch ID (fingerprint scanner) button embedded into the home button, which supports Apple Pay.

In the camera department, we get a 8 megapixel primary camera at the back along with a 1.2 megapixel selfie camera on the front. The primary camera can click great images and record videos in Full HD (60fps). You can also record 720p slo-mo videos at 240fps or 1080p slo-mo videos at 120fps. The front selfie camera is average in terms of quality.

The Apple iPhone 6 is 4G VoLTE compatible and hence you can use Reliance Jio without any problem but it is a Single SIM phone like any other iPhone. In the connectivity department, it includes 3G HSPA+, WiFi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac (Dual Band) MIMO, Bluetooth 4.0 LE, GPS, NFC (Apple Pay) and GLONASS. Under the hood, we get a 1810mAh battery, which might look very small compared to its Android counterparts but it will give you up to one day of battery life with normal to moderate usage.

If you want a great compact smartphone with awesome build quality and great features, then do have a look at the Apple iPhone 6, which is one of the best smartphones under 30000 currently.

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Must Read: Best Google Smartphones

6. Samsung Galaxy A7 (2017)

Samsung Galaxy A7 (2017), one of the best waterproof phones, was launched in India back in March 2017. It is the successor of the Galaxy A7 (2016), which was not such a great smartphone but the new variant is one of the most gorgeous smartphones under 30000 that is completely made up of glass and metal. It is also IP68 certified and hence is water and dust proof.

The Galaxy A7 features a 5.7-inch Super AMOLED display, that has a resolution of 1920 x 1080 pixels (Full HD), pixel density of 386 PPI and is protected by Corning Gorilla Glass 4. It is a beautiful immersive display where colors pop out. You will love to consume rich content on it. There is a fingerprint sensor onboard, which has been embedded in the home button. It also supports Samsung Pay. It runs on TouchWiz UI based on Android 6.0 Marshmallow OS and should get updated to Android 8.0 Oreo OS in the near future.

There is an octa-core Exynos 7880 chipset under the hood, clocked at 1.9GHz along with Mali-T830 GPU. It may not be a flagship processor but does a very good job. We have 3GB of RAM, 32GB of onboard internal storage that can be further expanded up to 256GB by adding microSD card. 3GB RAM mobiles can do intense multitasking without any issue and thus the Galaxy A7 also is a brilliant multitasker.

In the camera department, we have a 16 megapixel primary rear shooter with features like LED flash, f/1.9 aperture. The image quality of the pictures shot by this camera is one of the best in this segment. It also comes with another 16 megapixel front-facing selfie camera that is good enough for clicking great selfies and making video calls. Both the cameras can also shoot Full HD videos.

The Galaxy A7 (2017) comes with 4G VoLTE. All the modern connectivity options such as WiFi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac (Dual Band), Bluetooth 4.2 LE, NFC, 3G HSPA+ and USB Type-C are also available. We get Dual SIM support and it comes with a dedicated microSD card slot as well.  Under the hood, there is a 3600mAh battery that cannot be removed but will easily last one and half days with moderate usage. It supports adaptive fast charging as well.

The Samsung Galaxy A7 (2017) is one of most beautiful Android phones under 30000 currently, since it packs in awesome hardware integrated with the latest software. If you want to purchase one of the best looking smartphones, then do consider this.

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7. Moto Z2 Play

Moto Z2 Play, one of the most futuristic smartphones, was launched in India back in June 2017. It is a modular phone which supports Moto Mods. They are modular accessories that can be attached to the 12 “magic pins” located at the back (bottom) of the phone. The Moto Mods consist of Moto TurboPower PackMod, Moto Style Shell with Wireless Charging, JBL SoundBoost 2 and Moto GamePad. Also, the old Moto mods of the original Moto Z Play are also supported.

Starting with the hardware features of the Moto Z2 Play, it features a 5.5-inch Full HD Super AMOLED display, which has a pixel density of 401 PPI and is also protected by Corning Gorilla Glass 3. Under the hood, it is being powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 626 processor clocked at 2.0GHz along with Adreno 506 GPU. For multitasking and storage, there is 4GB RAM and 64GB internal memory, that can also be expanded further by adding a microSD card (up to 2TB).

It is rare to see a Dual SIM phone that has a dedicated memory slot for storage expansion but Moto Z2 Play comes with Dual SIM and dedicated microSD card slot. It also comes with the 3.5mm audio jack which is not present on the Moto Z. In the camera department, we get a 12 megapixel primary camera at the back along with a 5 megapixel selfie camera on the front. These cameras perform quite well.

Out of the box, this smartphone under 30000 runs on Android 7.1.1 Nougat OS and will get updated to Android 8.0 Oreo OS in the near future. It is mostly stock Android but does come with some Motorola apps for an enhanced experience. There is a fingerprint sensor located on the front and also has nano-coating which makes it water-repellent, like most other Motorola phones.

In the networking department of this smartphone, we are getting 4G VoLTE, WiFi 802.11 a/b/g/n (Dual Band), Bluetooth 4.2 LE, GPS, NFC and USB 3.1 Type-C. Under its hood, the Moto Z2 Play packs in a 3000mAh battery with fast charging support. It should easily last for one day with moderate to heavy usage.

The Moto Z2 Play is one of the best Android mobiles under 30000 that you should consider purchasing now, if you want to experience stock Android. You can also attach Moto Mods to enhance its performance.

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8. HTC 10 Lifestyle

HTC 10 Lifestyle, one of the best HTC phones under 30000, was launched in India back in April 2016. It is powered by a Snapdragon 652 octa-core processor clocked at 1.8GHz along with Adreno 510 GPU. We get 3GB RAM for multitasking and hence you can play few games and apps simultaneously without any issue. There is 32GB of onboard storage but you can extend it up to 2TB by inserting a microSD card.

The HTC 10 Lifestyle features a 5.2-inch 2.5D curved glass Super LCD5 display, that has a resolution of 2560 x 1440 pixels (Quad HD) and pixel density of 564 PPI along with a unibody metal design. It is surely one of the best displays in this section and you’ll just love to watch high-definition content and play high graphics intensive games on this screen.

In the camera department, we get a 12 megapixel primary camera (HTC Ultrapixel 2) at the back along with a 5 megapixel selfie camera on the front. The cameras perform very well and both of them also support OIS. It is the first smartphone in the world along with the HTC 10 to have dual OIS support. The HTC 10 Lifestyle is one of the best camera smartphones under 30000, if we do not consider the dual camera phones. It has a fingerprint sensor embedded on top of the home button, that can unlock the device very quickly and the accuracy is very high.

The HTC 10 Lifestyle runs on HTC Sense UI based on Android 7.0 Nougat OS out of the box. The user interface looks very clean compared to other skins. We did not face any hiccups in day-to-day usage as well. Hopefully, HTC will update the OS to Android 8.0 Oreo in the future as well. The HTC Sense UI is customizable and offers a lot of new features that are not present on stock Android.

We get a 3000mAh battery under the hood with Qualcomm’s Quick Charge 3.0 support. It should easily for a day with moderate usage. The HTC 10 Lifestyle is a Single SIM smartphone but has 4G VoLTE support. Others include 3G HSPA+, WiFi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac (Dual Band), Bluetooth 4.2 LE, USB Type-C, NFC, GPS and GLONASS. It is also one of the best audio smartphones in this segment as it has HTC BoomSound, Dolby Audio and 24-bit hi-res audio.

The HTC 10 Lifestyle is an incredible smartphone and is currently available in this price range after getting a lot of price drop. If you want to purchase one of the most value for money mobiles from this segment, then take a look at the HTC 10 Lifestyle.

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Must Read: Best Upcoming Smartphones

9. Apple iPhone SE

iPhone SE from the house of Apple Inc. is a refreshed variant of the iPhone 5S. It was launched in India back in April 2016. It is one of best compact smartphones under 30000 in India. Jumping straight to its features and specifications, it comes with a 4-inch Retina HD IPS display, that has a resolution of 1136 x 640 pixels and a pixel density of 326 PPI. Do not get fooled by the numbers here, it is great display but it’s very tiny and hence you may not be able to enjoy your favourite TV series or movies on it.

The iPhone SE runs on iOS 10 out of the box, which is the most refined and open iOS ever. It can be updated to iOS 11 or later for free. There is an Apple A9 dual-core chipset onboard clocked at 1.84GHz along with PowerVR GT7600 GPU. Again, do not get fooled by numbers here as it is a great performer. You can run all the apps and games without any lag or stuttering issues.

We get 2GB of RAM and both 16GB and 32GB of internal memory, however it cannot be expanded further since iPhones do not support microSD card. 2GB RAM is enough for high-end multitasking. The iPhone SE, one of the best phones below 30000, is a Single SIM phone like all other iPhones and supports 4G VoLTE as well, hence the Reliance Jio network will world flawlessly with the device. Other connectivity options include 3G HSPA+, WiFi, Bluetooth, NFC (Apple Pay) and GPS.

In the camera department, we are getting a 12 megapixel primary camera at the back along with a 1.2 megapixel secondary selfie camera at the front. The selfie camera is average but the rear primary camera is class leading. We can say it is one of the best camera smartphone in this price range. The primary camera can record 4K (30fps), Full HD (60fps) and slo-mo (720p at 240fps and 1080p at 120fps) as well.

There is a fingerprint sensor embedded into its home button as well. Under the hood, we get a 1624mAh battery which sounds very tiny on paper but due to great optimization between the hardware and software, you can get one day of battery life easily with moderate usage.

The iPhone SE is one of the best smartphones under 30000 in India at the moment. If you would like to jump on the iOS bandwagon and do not want to spend a fortune by purchasing the latest iPhone, then do check out the iPhone SE, which is also one of the best small smartphones.

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10. OPPO F3 Plus

OPPO F3 Plus, a smartphone under 30000, was announced in India back in March 2017. The main USP of this phone is its dual selfie cameras on the front, which makes it one of the best selfie smartphones in the world right now.

In the camera department, we get a 16 megapixel primary lens and a 8 megapixel secondary lens on the front. The primary sensor with 76.4-degree lens is used for clicking selfies with depth of field (bokeh) effect while the secondary sensor with 120-degree wide-angle lens is used for clicking group selfies. We also get a 16 megapixel primary camera at the back, which can shoot 4K videos as well. The selfie cameras perform amazingly well and the primary camera is also good.

The OPPO F3 Plus, one of the best mobiles under 30000, runs on Android 6.0 Marshmallow OS with ColorOS 3.0 on top of it. However, it will not get upgraded to Android 7.0 Nougat OS since OPPO has not done it with their previous devices as well. It is a Dual SIM smartphone with 4G VoLTE support. Other connectivity options include 3G HSPA+, WiFi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac (Dual Band), Bluetooth 4.1 LE and GPS. We get a 4000mAh battery with VOOC Flash Charge technology under the hood. It will easily last for couple of days with normal to moderate usage.

The F3 Plus from the house of OPPO is being powered by a Snapdragon 653 octa-core processor. We get 4GB RAM for intense multitasking as well as gaming and there is 64GB of internal memory for storage of images, videos and files. The internal storage can also be bumped up by adding a microSD card (up to 256GB). There is a fingerprint sensor embedded into the home button, which can unlock the phone in just 0.22 seconds.

The OPPO F3 Plus rocks of a 6-inch 2.5D curved glass IPS display, which has a pixel density of 367 PPI and resolution of 1920 x 1080 pixels (Full HD). It is one of big screen smartphones in its price range and you’ll surely love to watch videos and play your favorite games on it. The display is protected by Corning Gorilla Glass 5 as well. The body is made up of metal, weighs 185 grams and is 7.35mm thick.

The OPPO F3 Plus is one of the best Android smartphone under 30000, if you want a great selfie camera that can shoot portrait images like DSLRs with background blur effect.

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Must Read: Best Phone Deals in India

Hope you have liked our listicle of Best Smartphones under 30000 in India. The list will be updated every month so that we can bring you the latest smartphones to you, hence feel free to comment down below to let us know about the smartphones you would like to see in this mobiles under 30000 segment. Also, check out the other listicles below.