The year 2017 was quite remarkable in so far as the smartphone market in India is concerned. While attempts made to convert the feature phone users in the country to switch to using 4G connectivity reached a kind of frenzy, a lot of players aimed at the Rs 5,000 to Rs 6,000 mark, to position their devices. Probably, this was borne out of some kind of research of customer behaviour or simply following one brand that succeeded in selling maximum phones in this price segment.
A random pick of four such phones are detailed here, which were priced around Rs 6,000 and met with reasonable success, both in critical acclaim as well as in terms of sales volumes achieved.
The Xiaomi Redmi 4A
Xiaomi used the Redmi series phones to effectively capture the market for the lower segments of smartphones, particularly in the Indian context. This phone has a 5inch display and a Qualcomm Snapdragon 425 processor and 2GB RAM. The internal storage is 16GB and the battery is 3120mAh. There are two variants in the internal storage department, 16GB and 32GB.
The 13MP rear camera and 5MP front camera are considered to be quite meeting the expectations of the users and at Rs 5,999, it makes it to this list at the top.
Intex Aqua Supreme Plus
The Indian brand Intex has been trying its hand at launching a series of phones of which the Intex Aqua Supreme Plus with a 5inch display has been selected here. In terms of comparing the specifications, there is very little to choose between the Xiaomi Redmi 4A and this device, since it has the same 5inch display and 2GB RAM, 3000mAh battery and even the camera specs are similar at 13MP and 5MP sensors in the rear and the front respectively. If at all there is a difference, it is in the CPU. The Intex Aqua Supreme Plus has the MediaTek MT 6737 CPU, while the clocking speed of 1.34GHz compares well with the Redmi 4. But when it comes to the pricing, the Intex Aqua Supreme Plus can be bought for just Rs 4,999, a good Rs 1,000 less than the Redmi 4A.
Micromax Bharat 5
Another Indian brand, Micromax, also took some interesting steps in 2017 to regain much of the business it lost in the marketplace and the Micromax Bharat 5 is one model that came in handy. This phone has a 5.2inch display and the same 1.3GHz MediaTek MT6737 processor. However, there are other specs which would rank this device a bit lower. The RAM is just 1GB and the camera section is equipped with identical 5MP sensors in the rear and the front. But the battery on this Micromax Bharat 5 is a mighty 5,000mAh, which appeals to a lot of Indian buyers. The Micromax Bharat 5 can be picked for a price ranging from Rs 5,500 to R 5,900.
Lenovo A6600 Plus
It s is a 5inch smartphone with 2GB RAM and MediaTek MT 6735P processor, with a clock speed of 1GHz. The optics section has an 8MP primary camera with a 5MP front camera for selfies. The battery is a removable 2,300mAh one, which is a little odd since Lenovo generally packs quite powerful batteries on its smartphones. The Lenovo A6600 Plus is sold online at around Rs 5,800.
All these devices fall within the price bracket chosen here; they also tend to serve the same segment of buyers who are looking at entry level smartphones but with some decent specs and features.