Amazon has kicked off the Great Indian Festival or “GIF”. Let’s not argue about how to pronounce that and look at the offers. There are some huge discounts and some more subdued discounts, these are the ones that caught our attention.
The Xiaomi 14 has a whopping 40% discount. This phone is technically from last year, but has the current Snapdragon 8 Gen 3. And it’s smaller than most flagships with a 6.36” LTPO OLED display. It has an impressive triple 50MP Leica camera on the back and a relatively large 4,610mAh battery with fast charging (90W wired, 50W wireless). It will receive four OS updates, starting soon with Android 15.
The Xiaomi 14 Civi is 25% off and while we strongly prefer the regular 14, the Civi might interest the selfie-obsessed. It has two 32MP cameras on the front, one with a wide-angle lens and one with an ultra-wide-angle lens (100°). The rear cameras have a 50+50+12 MP configuration, including a 50 MP 50mm portrait camera. The Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 is a little slower, but quite good considering the price. Some will also appreciate the extra real estate on the 6.55” OLED screen.
The OnePlus 12R offers great value for money thanks to the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2. Yes, it’s a generation behind, but for mid-₹30,000 it’s a great chip. And you get a sharp 6.78” LTPO OLED screen. The cameras are quite basic (50+8+2MP), as is the IP64 rating. However, the 5,500mAh battery with 100W charging is nothing to sneeze at.
We’re also including the OnePlus 12 here – the regular discount isn’t great, but with an SBI credit or debit card it gets better. This phone has the current Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 and a real Hasselblad camera with 50 MP main, 64 MP 70 mm tele and 48 MP ultra-wide angle. It also features 50W wireless charging for the 5,400 mAh battery.
The iQOO 12 is a whopping ₹13,000 cheaper (not including the bank offer mentioned above) and also gets you the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3. The camera hardware is quite similar, apart from the Hasselblad name. The battery is smaller (5,000 mAh) and only supports wired charging (120W). There are a few other areas where the OnePlus is slightly better (510ppi screen vs. 453ppi, for example), but the price savings make the iQOO hard to overlook.
Instead of a Xiaomi 14 you can have a Samsung Galaxy S24. Yes, it costs more for less RAM and less storage. Speaking of which, we recommend the 256GB option as it uses faster UFS 4.0 chips (the 128GB version is UFS 3.1). The Samsung is smaller (here’s how size bigger) and receives 7 years of support. Do you prefer OneUI over HyperOS? That’s another consideration.
The Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra is also part of the GIF sale, but it’s only a modest 9% off and only the 512GB model is available. It has solid cameras and the unique advantage of the S Pen, but the price is the only one on this list in the six figures.
The Realme GT 6T is available in different configurations. Make sure to tap the coupon as it will reduce the price by up to ₹4,000! The 6T gives the OnePlus 12R a run for its money with basically the same 6.78-inch LTPO OLED display and similar camera setup, but the Snapdragon 7+ Gen 3 is no match for the 8 Gen 2.
The OnePlus Nord 4 deal is subject to coupons and a small discount for SBI credit and debit cards. This model has a beautiful aluminum unibody like in the good old days. It uses a Snapdragon 7+ Gen 3 like the Realme, but lacks the LTPO panel (the 6.74” 120Hz OLED screen is still quite good, though).
The OnePlus Nord CE4 doesn’t have a cool metal casing and only gets the non-plus Snapdragon 7 Gen 3. The 6.7-inch screen has a lower resolution (1080p+ vs. 1240p+) and the dust and water resistance drops to IP54 (from IP65 to the Nord 4). That said, the camera and battery are more or less the same and you can save some money.
The OnePlus Nord CE4 Lite is hard to recommend – it’s not that much cheaper and the Snapdragon 695 chipset is very old at this point. The rest of the phone isn’t bad, but we prefer the non-lite CE4.
The Samsung Galaxy M35 has a nice discount of 39%. This 5G phone is based on the Exynos 1380 and offers a 6.6-inch OLED display with a 120Hz refresh rate and an FHD+ resolution (keep that in mind when comparing to the phones below). It packs a 50MP main camera and an 8MP ultra-wide angle, plus a massive 6,000mAh battery with 25W charging.
The Tecno Pova 6 Neo 5G only launched a few weeks ago, so an 18% discount is a bigger discount than we can expect for a new phone. While the Dimensity 6300 isn’t a speed demon, it does connect you to 5G networks. We’re more concerned about the 6.7” 120Hz IPS LCD screen – it only has HD+ resolution. And charging at 18W is quite slow for a 5,000 mAh battery. On the plus side, you won’t find another 108MP camera in this price segment.
The Lava Blaze 3 5G is also new and has the same Dimensity 6300 chipset, almost the same 6.56” 90Hz IPS LCD screen with HD+ resolution. The 5,000mAh/18W battery is also basically the same. The Blaze is cheaper, but you lose the 108 MP camera (you get a 50 MP module instead).
The Tecno Pop 9 is so new that it is still on pre-order. If you pre-book now (with a ₹500 deposit), you can buy this phone for ₹9,500 instead of the suggested retail price of ₹12,000. It’s a 5G phone, so we see the Dimensity 6300 again. And another HD+ IPS LCD screen, this time a 6.6” 120Hz screen. The rear camera has a 48 MP Sony sensor. Please note that the sale starts on October 8, so you must complete the purchase before then.
The Samsung Galaxy M15 is worth a look. You don’t get a ton of RAM for the base price, just 4GB, but you can go up to 6GB or 8GB (each is a ₹1,000 upgrade). This is also a 5G phone, but uses the Dimensity 6100+ instead. In any case, you get a screen with FHD+ resolution, a 6.5” 90Hz OLED panel. And the same 6000mAh battery with 25W charging as the M35.
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