Rs 40,000 smartphone vs Rs 10,000 smartphone: What’s the difference and everything you might miss out on

Rs 40,000 smartphone vs Rs 10,000 smartphone: After over a month’s silence, the Indian smartphone industry has come to life again with Xiaomi launching its flagship level smartphone Mi 10 in India on Friday afternoon and several other launches planned over the coming week. Few others which were launched before or during lockdown, have now gone on sale with government relaxing the guidelines. 

The market today is full of exciting smartphones with prices starting from as low as Rs 5000 and going well over Rs 1 lakh. But, The customers need to decide how much they are actually willing to spend on a smartphone. Of course, you will miss out on a few things, but are they actually that important? We try to pen down the major differences between a Rs 40,000 smartphone and a Rs 10,000 smartphone.

Rs 40,000 smartphone vs Rs 10,000 smartphone: Display

The biggest difference between a premium and budget smartphone can be seen in terms of the display used. This involves several factors. To begin with, a budget smartphone would always come with bezels and a thick chin. However, the premium smartphones these days are giving you an edge-to-edge display, with almost no bezels. Yes, very sharp, very 'chic' looks. 

The difference in quality can be broken into two parts – resolution and refresh rate. Most budget smartphones will offer you LCD displays with 720p video quality. But, in premium segment makers like OnePlus and Samsung are offering UHD displays. 

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The screen refresh rate is the number of times your phone refreshes per second. While most premium smartphones continue to run on 90Hz displays, it is slowly making its way to the budget segment too.

Rs 40,000 smartphone vs Rs 10,000 smartphone: Performance 

As you move up the ladder, performance also improves with top-end chipsets inside the device. The latest to make its way to India is Qualcomm Snapdragon 865 SoC which has been used in sub-Rs 45,000 segment phones like iQOO 3 and Realme X50 Pro, making them 5G ready. 

Yet, the budget segment today also features capable chipsets that are enough to pull off daily tasks. However, they surrender during heavy gaming.

Rs 40,000 smartphone vs Rs 10,000 smartphone: Camera

Smartphone offers often associate camera performance to number of pixels on offer or lenses used. Going by that logic, almost every phone in the budget segment today has at least three to four lenses offering 48MP or 64MP primary camera. Yet, there is a clear difference in the image quality. 

This is where image processing and software comes into place. A better processor enhances your camera performance, taking your images to next level. Yes, they are very pleasing to the eye. 

Rs 40,000 smartphone vs Rs 10,000 smartphone: Battery 

This is where the smartphone makers have come a long way. Most budget smartphones these days have bigger batteries than those on premium devices! Samsung M30s and M31, for example, come equipped with a massive 6000 mAh battery. 

The difference, however, remains in the charging technologies. Most premium smartphones have support for faster charging allowing you to juice up the device within minutes – something that is missing in the budget segment.