Budget smartphones are disappointing now and will remain a bad deal in the near future

Byhassanhosting531@gmail.com

Buying a good budget smartphone is no longer as easy as it used to be. The value-for-money segment has steadily lost its appeal, with prices climbing while meaningful upgrades become harder to find.

Phones that once comfortably fit the ₹20,000 to ₹30,000 range are now inching closer to ₹40,000, leaving buyers with fewer worthwhile choices. Unless the market changes, affordable smartphones are likely to offer even less value over the next few years.

Note: The article reflects the writer’s opinion.

Why budget smartphones no longer offer great value, explored

Budget smartphones are no longer delivering the value they once did. The biggest reason is the ongoing RAM and storage crisis, which has significantly increased production costs.

Memory now accounts for a major share of the manufacturing cost of sub-$400 smartphones, forcing brands to either increase prices or make compromises elsewhere. To be fair, manufacturers are dealing with soaring DRAM and NAND prices, leaving them with little choice but to raise prices or reduce specifications.

Those compromises are becoming increasingly obvious. The newly launched Nothing Phone (4b), priced at ₹34,999, uses the Snapdragon 6 Gen 4 chipset, a processor that struggles to justify its price against older phones that offered flagship-class performance for less.

Similarly, the OnePlus N6 starts at ₹19,999 but still relies on a single functional rear sensor and UFS 2.2 storage, even though faster UFS 3.1 storage had become common in this price segment last year. The OnePlus Nord CE 6, now priced at ₹33,999 after multiple hikes, also ships with only a single usable rear camera, while the second lens serves as an auxiliary sensor rather than a true ultrawide or telephoto camera.

There was a time when phones like the CMF Phone 2 Pro, realme P4, and OPPO K13 were available for around 17K…​Now, in a few days:​Dimensity 7300 is going to launch at 50K​Snapdragon 7 Gen 4 is going to launch at 60K​Already, the Dimensity 6400 is selling for 35K.​And this kind of trend is going to continue until at least the beginning of 2028.

The situation becomes even more disappointing when compared to last year’s devices. Phones like the Realme P4, OPPO K13, and CMF Phone 2 still offer faster chipsets, better storage, and a more balanced overall package than many recent launches.

However, repeated price hikes have made them far less attractive than they were at launch. Several smartphones from Vivo, OnePlus, Realme, Xiaomi, and Nothing have already become ₹2,000 to ₹5,000 more expensive over the past few months because of rising memory costs.

The result is a budget smartphone market where ₹20,000 to ₹30,000 phones have gradually shifted into the ₹30,000 to ₹40,000 bracket. Buyers are now paying more while receiving older hardware, fewer features, and smaller upgrades. Unless memory prices stabilize, budget smartphones are unlikely to regain the value-for-money reputation they once had.

Also read: Vivo T5 Lite India launch confirmed: Should you wait?