Top five budget smartphones that rocked 2016

It is a well-known fact that Indian market is dominated by budget-centric smartphones. Although, we have seen many launches in the premium category, but the year 2016 has been always about the budget offering by different companies. In the year 2016, we saw a complete overhaul in the perception of the budget segment with competition getting intense and companies like Xiaomi, Lenovo, LeEco, and more came up with smartphones that offer a premium design, power-packed hardware at a jaw-dropping price.

But in this ocean of smartphones, only the handful of them did an exceptional job by giving flagship like performance, at a price below Rs 10,000. So without further ado, here is our five pick of the best budget smartphones of 2016.

Xiaomi Redmi 3s Prime
Xiaomi is known for making smartphones that boast flagship-level specs and doesn't dig a big hole in your pocket. Although its Redmi Note 3 is still one of the best-selling phones in India, but with the launch of Redmi 3s Prime, Xiaomi completely changed our perception of a budget smartphone. The company added all the perfect ingredient required to make a perfect smartphone, moulded it with a premium design and crafted the leader of the budget segment. Whether be it aluminium body or a massive 4100mAh non-removable Lithium-ion battery, the smartphone has set a new standard for the budget segment. With some top of the line specs including Qualcomm Snapdragon 430 processor, 3GB RAM, 32GB storage, 13MP and 5MP rear and front camera and a massive 4100mAh battery, the smartphone makes a perfect combination for the best budget smartphone of 2016 for Rs 8,999.

Lenovo Vibe K6 Power
Before the advent of Redmi 3s Prime, it was Lenovo K5 Plus that dominated the budget segment. The smartphone was considered to the best device for media consumption as it came with TheaterMax technology coupled with some respectable specs and performance. But it still had its flaws. But with the K6 Power, the company carried the legacy of the K5 Plus and created a smartphone that comes with specs, which makes it THE phone under Rs 10,000 budget. Starting with the design language, the phone comes with a metal unibody design, which was not present in its predecessor. And under the hood, the company added some top of the line specs including a 5-inch Full HD screen, Qualcomm Snapdragon 430 procesor, 3GB RAM, 32GB storage, 13MP and 8MP rear and front camera and an impressive 4000mAh battery coupled with company Pure UI running on Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow gives a neck-on-neck competition to the Redmi 3s Prime and an edge over its other competitors for Rs 9,999.

Honor 5c
With the launch of 5c, Honor delivered a smartphone that scores high marks in every aspect whether is its design or performance. What made the device stand out of crowd, was its compact form factor coupled with a brushed metal finish at the back, which gives a very distinct and premium look. The device comes with a 5.2-inch full HD display, which makes it even more likeable. The smartphone comes with HiSilicon Kirin 650 octa-core processor with 2GB RAM and 16GB of internal storage, which is sufficient to tackle any task you throw at it. One of the major highlights of the device is it camera performance with 13-megapixel primary camera with f2.0 aperture and a LED flash, coupled with an 8-megapixel is in the front for selfies. The device runs on 3000mAh battery and runs on Android Marshmallow EMUI 4.1.That said, one will not regret buying Honor 5C if the budget is around Rs 10,000.