With the boom of mobile gaming, thanks to games such as PUBG Mobile, Asphalt 9, and Call of Duty Mobile, the gaming smartphone niche took birth. Now, the craving for Chicken Dinners has pushed companies to build smartphones with a special focus on gaming. Chipmakers like Qualcomm and MediaTek are putting out gaming-centric SoCs and phone makers are rushing to provide you the best budget gaming smartphone.
Before we dive in and take a look at the best budget gaming smartphones, you need to familiarize yourself with a few terms that define a good gaming smartphone in 2020. You might have seen terms such as refresh rate, touch sampling rate, thermals, and others pop up in reviews online. Let me define each of these terms to help you make a better buying decision:
Now that we know what features you should be on the lookout for, let’s take a look at the 10 best budget gaming smartphones under Rs. 20,000:
- Poco X3
- Realme Narzo 20 Pro
- Realme 6
- Poco M2 Pro
- Infinix Zero 8i
- Redmi Note 9 Pro Max
- Motorola One Fusion+
- Micromax IN Note 1
- Galaxy F41
- Poco M2
Best Budget Gaming Smartphones Under Rs. 20,000
1. Poco X3
The Poco X3 will be my primary pick when looking for a budget smartphone under Rs. 20,000 in India. It is because of two key reasons. One, the smartphone boasts a 6.67-inch LCD display with a 120Hz refresh rate and a 240Hz touch sampling rate. The latter gives you an edge in FPS games, making it the best for PUBG Mobile and Call of Duty. The second reason is the gaming-centric Snapdragon 732G chipset under the hood. It’s probably the best Snapdragon processor to play PUBG under Rs. 20,000 in India.
The Narzo 20 Pro by Realme is another great gaming phone, powered by the newest MediaTek Helio G95 chipset. It is a gaming-centric chipset with add-on features like MediaTek HyperEngine, low latency, and up to 8GB of RAM. You also have a 6.5-inch 90Hz Full-HD+ LCD display with a 120Hz touch sampling rate. This should give you an edge over standard 60Hz display gamers in one-on-one fights.
In addition, this smartphone includes a 48MP quad-camera module, a side-mounted fingerprint scanner, and a 4,500mAh battery pack with 65W super-fast charging support. This is yet another selling point for the Narzo 20 Pro. Even if you run out of juice while gaming all day, you can fully charge it up within just 30 minutes.
An equally good budget gaming smartphone is Realme 6. It is not much different from the Narzo 20 Pro and is available for 1,000 bucks cheaper in India. The smartphone has a tall 6.5-inch Full-HD+ LCD display with a 90Hz refresh rate and a 120Hz touch response rate. Realme 6 is powered by the gaming-centric MediaTek Helio G90T, coupled with up to 8GB RAM and 128GB built-in storage.
Buy Realme 6 from Flipkart (starts at Rs. 12,999)
While the Poco X3 is the best gaming phone above Rs. 15,000 in India, the Poco M2 Pro could be a great option for those looking to save a few bucks. The Poco M2 Pro boasts a 6.67-inch Full-HD+ LCD display with a 60Hz refresh rate. The panel here doesn’t have a higher refresh rate but the 120Hz touch sampling rate makes it a suitable pick for one of the worthy budget gaming smartphones.
5. Infinix Zero 8i
The latest addition to Infinix’s portfolio, Infinix Zero 8i, arrives with all of the major ingredients that make a gaming phone. The smartphone features a massive 6.85-inch Full-HD+ LCD panel with a dual 16MP+8MP punch-hole selfie camera. The display boasts a 90Hz refresh rate and a 180Hz touch response rate, which means your taps will be registered quicker. Thus, you will have an edge in FPS games if your opponent doesn’t have similar hardware.
If the cameras are an equally big deal for you as gaming on your smartphone then I suggest you pick the Redmi Note 9 Pro Max over the Poco M2 Pro. Both phones have almost identical specifications. It’s just that the Redmi Note 9 Pro Max swaps out the 48MP primary camera for a 64MP sensor on the rear. A 32MP selfie sensor replaces the 16MP sensor on the front.
This is one of the two stock Android gaming smartphones on this list. Motorola One Fusion+ is perfect for gamers looking for top-notch performance and a clean vanilla software experience. The smartphone features a 6.5-inch Full-HD+ LCD display with a standard 60Hz refresh and touch response rate. This may look disappointing to many, but the lack of a notch or punch-hole is a big plus for immersive gaming.
Motorola One Fusion+ is powered by the gaming-centric Snapdragon 730G chipset, coupled with up to 6GB of RAM, and a massive 5,000mAh battery with 15W fast-charging support. Also, you will find a 64MP quad-camera system on the rear and a 16MP pop-up camera on the front.
Micromax made its return to the smartphone market with IN Note 1 and it has already garnered praise for its performance. It is decent but there’s room for improvement. The Micromax IN Note 1 will offer you good gaming performance at its price point. It comes equipped with a gamer-centric MediaTek Helio G85 chipset and a massive 5,000mAh battery with 18W fast-charging. The display, a 6.67-inch 60Hz Full-HD+ LCD panel, does not meet the highest standards but is a decent budget gaming smartphone for the Rs. 11,000 asking price.
Buy Micromax IN Note 1 from Flipkart (starts at Rs. 10,999)
Again, if you want good gaming performance and an excellent set of cameras, then you should pick up the Samsung Galaxy F41. This is the only smartphone on the list to come equipped with an AMOLED display. You have a 6.4-inch full-HD+ AMOLED panel with a 60Hz refresh rate. The company did not disclose the touch sampling rate so we believe it is set at the standard 60Hz.
10. Poco M2
Now, if the aforementioned phones look steeply-priced to you, the Poco M2 is the best cheap gaming smartphone you can get right now. It starts at Rs. 10,999 in India and brings you a large screen, a powerful gaming chipset, and a large battery pack. Poco M2 features a 6.53-inch Full-HD+ display (as compared to a sea of HD+ displays in this price bracket) with a standard 60Hz refresh rate. It is powered by the MediaTek Helio G80 chipset, coupled with a 5,000mAh battery that should be able to handle your long gaming sessions.
