The smartphone industry is ever expanding with new smartphones being announced and launched left and right some or the other days. The Indian smartphone market if you thought has settled then you are completely wrong because this industry has still a long way to go and it is said smartphones will continue to penetrate in the market for the years to come. The upcoming smartphones in 2021 would play a major role in the same especially the ones under Rs. 20,000.
According to reports, smartphone users in India will likely rise to 83 crore by 2022. Another fact to note is that that 97 per cent of all internet users in India now access internet via mobile devices. Year on year it shows an upward trend in terms of smartphone and internet users thanks to affordable internet packs and low budget smartphone which pack a punch even at low prices. One can imagine the potential the Indian market holds and how brands will cater to the potential customers in the coming years.
The year 2020 saw some amazing set of devices especially in the midrange smartphone segment with innovations and trends never seen in this segment such as high refresh rate displays, flagship grade cameras and many more. This is further going to enhance with the upcoming phones in 2021 which would be all under Rs. 20,000.
Some of the best and exciting smartphones under Rs. 20,000 you should checkout if planning to buy one in 2021 :-
Xiaomi Mi 10i
If you thought that Xiaomi is done with its Mi 10 series then you are absolutely wrong. After announcing several devices in this lineup such as Mi 10 & Mi 10 Pro, Mi 10 Ultra, Mi 10T & Mi 10T Pro here comes Mi 10i
Mi 10i unlike other Mi 10(s) is a budget friendly devices which doesn’t have any bells and whistles as its high end Snapdragon 865 counterparts. This upcoming smartphone in 2021 will be equipped with the Snapdragon 750G and is a 5G capable phone. This becomes one of the highlight of this upcoming smartphone as it could dethrone the Moto G 5G for becoming the cheapest 5G smartphone in India.
Apart from the overrated 5G ability, Mi 10i would have a 120Hz refresh rate display which I believe would be similar to the Poco X3. Moto 5G phone clearly lacks a high refresh rate display plus as it’s a Xiaomi expect it to be cheaper then Moto G 5G.
This upcoming Mi 10i smartphone could be the best under Rs. 20,000 considering Xiaomi is always aggressive with its midrange smartphone. Mi 10i is launching on 5th January 2021 and will sell on Amazon and presumably Mi’s own website too.
- Mi 10i Brief Specifications –
- Display – 6.67″ FullHD+ 120Hz
- Cameras – 108MP (standard) + 8MP (ultra-wide) + 2MP (macro) + 2MP (depth)
- Processor – Snapdragon 750G
- Battery – 4820 mAh + 33W fast charging
Realme X7
Realme will finally launch the highly anticipated Realme X7 series in India probably during January or February. The Realme X7 series includes X7 and the X7 Pro, where we can expect the X7 to be price at around Rs. 20,000 in India meanwhile the Pro variant would be close to Rs. 25,000.
Either of these phones are spectacular in terms of specs and are equipped with Mediatek’s next gen of midrange SoCs i.e. Dimensity 800U and Dimensity 1000+ on Realme X7 and X7 Pro respectively. These are pretty good in terms of performance especially the latter one which would provide a flagship experience. Also these upcoming smartphones in 2021 would be 5G capable similar to the Mi 10i, so yeah 5G has been covered too.
- Realme X7 Brief Specifications –
- Display – 6.4″ FullHD+ 60Hz AMOLED
- Cameras – 64MP (standard) + 8MP (ultra-wide) + 2MP (macro) + 2MP (depth)
- Processor – MediaTek Dimensity 800U
- Battery – 4300 mAh + 65W fast charging
Who is excited for #realmeX7Series?
— Madhav Sheth (@MadhavSheth1) December 30, 2020
An official tweet by the CEO of Realme confirms the X7 is upcoming smartphone series in 2021.
- Realme X7 Pro Brief Specifications –
- Display – 6.55″ FullHD+ 120Hz Super AMOLED
- Cameras – 64MP (standard) + 8MP (ultra-wide) + 2MP (macro) + 2MP (depth)
- Processor – MediaTek Dimensity 1000+
- Battery – 4500 mAh + 65W fast charging
Redmi Note 10 series
The Redmi Note series is the signature lineup of phones from Xiaomi. The brand will continue to strive and rule the Rs. 20,000 segment even in 2021.
Redmi Note 9 series had a plethora of devices and the same goes for the upcoming Redmi Note 10 series whenever that comes up. Though currently Xiaomi is preparing for the launch of Mi 10i thus the Redmi side is on a hold for a couple of weeks. Also as per reports, it’s being said that the Redmi Note 10 Pro will have 5G under Rs. 20,000 in India.
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Realme 8 series
What is a year for Realme without launching its number series phone atleast twice a year. The year 2020 witnessed 2 back to back number series launches i.e. Realme 6 and Realme 7 series. This year’s no different and expect Realme to launch Realme 8 and Realme 9 series upcoming in 2021 itself.
Just like the Realme X7 series the upcoming 8 series will most likely have Mediatek SoCs. It is rumored that either of the 8 or 8 Pro will have Dimensity 720. The number series from Realme is iconic in the Indian market after all, with Realme 1 the brand has stand its foot in the market.
Personally I don’t think there’s going to be much improvement over its predecessor apart from new chips and maybe AMOLED displays. This is also due to the fact that Realme midrange smartphones like Realme 7, 7 Pro, Narzo 20 Pro already have pretty advanced features like 90Hz displays, 65W fast charging which is not likely found with other brands’ smartphones.
The launch of the Realme 8 series depends on the launch on X7 series. Because the launches would be just one after the another and that time will tell. My assumption is Realme 8 series launch event would be held around March or April.
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Realme Narzo 30 series
Realme is not done with the Narzo series either and expect the Narzo 30 series to be announced soon as in the 3 to 4 months. Ideally the specifications will be pretty similar to the Realme 8 series.
The phones in thsi lineup would be Narzo 30, Narzo 30A and Narzo 30 Pro
It seems like Realme will launch even more phones then 2020 this year.
New Micromax Phone
Micromax re-entered the Indian smartphone market in 2020 with its two low end offerings – In 1B and In Note 1. Both were below the Rs. 13,000 price point.
Some new Micromax phones are indeed coming with high refresh rates and a cooling system mechanism to prevent throttling in the long term usage. The unique points of the new phone would once again be marketed as “Indian brand smartphone” to keep up with the sentiments and pure and clean software experience. Personally I don’t think Micromax’s stock UI is even close to stock Android due to the fact status bar and notification panel doesn’t resembles the one of an Android One or Pixel phone.
Expect the upcoming Micromax smartphone to be announced in the next 3-4 months or so and would be priced around Rs. 15,000.
A Dank Moto phone
Motorola unlike Realme and Xiaomi had launched only a couple of devices namely Moto E7, G9, G9 Power, Moto One Fusion Plus, Moto G 5G among others. Only the pricier ones like One Fusion and Moto G 5G offered some decent specs for its price.
Moto will likely come up with that just one phone which would be actually according to the competitors specs, latest hardware and aggressively priced.
The upcoming smartphone from Motorola will take a while to launch.
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Thoughts on Upcoming Smartphones in 2021
The midrange segment is set to get more fearsome and the upcoming devices under Rs. 20,000 will finally see the inclusion of 5G. Other innovations should also be implemented in midrange smartphones such as indisplay fingerprint scanners in LCDs and large batteries should be the norm. One the other hand it is being said that POCO F2 would finally make it debut in 2021 and will be equipped with SD732G so more or less it’s a midrange smartphone that would be possibly under Rs. 20,000 and quiet similar to POCO X3. Also brands should try and limit the number of devices and provide software updates to the existing ones in due time.
Which phone are you looking forward to buy?
