7 inexpensive smartphones as a gift for the New Year

New Year’s Eve is one of the best occasions to get someone a new phone. There are plenty of reasons – from the usefulness of the gift, to the desire to capture life’s highlights on the new smartphone’s better camera. In this selection we will consider devices costing up to 25,000 rubles. For the recipient of the gift, it will be a pleasant surprise with good value for money.

Note that there are some great discounts on devices in the run-up to the New Year!

Tecno CAMON 30

Cost – about 20,999 rubles

The Tecno CAMON 30 is certainly not a flagship, but it’s pretty good in its segment. It has a great balance of price and quality, and the specifications are sure to please the future user. The smartphone has a bright 120Hz screen for watching videos or playing games. Now for the cameras – the main camera is 50MP as well as the front camera. Both have inaccuracies, only if you compare them with flagship models. However, for this price, the photo quality is excellent.

The smartphone supports fast charging, and it has a pretty aesthetically pleasing look overall. The Tecno runs HiOS based on Android 14

Realme Note 50

Cost – about 8,999 rubles

The smartphone is fresh, having been released only in late January 2024, and hence you should look out for it if you’re going to give someone a New Year’s gift. It has a 13MP main camera and a 5MP front camera, but it’s not bad for its price segment. It’s always worth remembering how much it costs.

The smartphone has a nice design and a 5000mAh battery, so it holds a good charge and lasts all day. The Note 50’s processor is a Unisoc T612, and the screen refresh rate is 90Hz, which is good but somewhat outdated. For simple games or watching videos, it will do fine. But if your gift recipient prefers to play more thorough mobile games, then their smartphone may not be able to pull (again, pay attention to the price tag). Otherwise, the smartphone performs its functions perfectly and can handle basic tasks just fine.

Xiaomi Redmi Note 13

Cost – about 20,999 rubles

A nice modern smartphone with a simple and minimalistic design is great as a gift for a recipient of any age. The screen has a refresh rate of 120Hz and a resolution of 2400×1080. So it will be convenient to watch videos/movies and play games on it. Speaking of the latter, the smartphone has a Snapdragon 685 processor, so you can play many games without any problems.

Photography and video shooting are pretty good too for such a class of device. The main camera is 108MP and the front camera is 16MP, so the Redmi Note 13 does well in photos and even at night. As for video shooting, there is a weakness – when shooting while walking fast, the picture can be a bit blurry.

HONOR X8b

Cost – 17,999 rubles

A good low-cost smartphone that offers, for less than 20,000 rubles, a bright AMOLED screen with a 90Hz refresh rate and 1080×2412 resolution. Yes, it’s slightly worse than the same Redmi Note 13, but the HONOR’s price is still lower. It has a simple, attractive design and the device itself is lightweight, which will be comfortable for users of any age.

The smartphone’s main camera is claimed to be 108MP, while the front camera is claimed to be 50MP. In fact, whatever numbers the manufacturer specifies, the quality of photos depends on the software. In this case, from 108 MP and 50 MP should not expect space pictures. At a normal distance without a strong magnification, the smartphone shoots decently, but if you want to zoom in on some distant object, you will get a blurred silhouette. Still, it’s a pretty good camera in this price range.

One of the biggest advantages is battery life. With a 4500 mAh battery, the battery life is 23-20 hours, and 8 hours if you’re actively playing costly toys. So if your recipient cares about battery life first and foremost, this smartphone is a great candidate for a gift.

POCO C61

Cost – 6,999 rubles

The stylish and cheapest smartphone in our selection isn’t as bad as you might think when you see its price. It has a big screen – 6.71 inches, with a 90Hz refresh rate, 1920×1080 resolution and 500 nits of brightness. That’s not the top of the line in screen quality, but for the price, it’s not at all inferior to competitors that are twice as expensive as it.

It has an 8MP main camera and a 5MP front camera. So you can judge the quality of photos yourself, but phones in this price segment are usually chosen not because of future cool photos. Its battery capacity is decent – 5 000 mAh. The charge, as the manufacturer promises, should be enough for 26 days of standby time, 29 hours of voice calls, 130 hours of listening to music and 17 hours of watching videos. That sounds pretty cool for such a budget device.

So far, it’s a great deal.

Xiaomi Redmi 14C

Cost – 13,999 rubles

A good-looking phone with an interesting design is great for those who prefer to carry their smartphone without a case or use a transparent case to enjoy the design of the smartphone throughout its use. The Redmi 14C has a large 6.88-inch screen with 1640×720 resolution and 120Hz refresh rate.

The cameras are not weak: 50MP main camera and 13MP front camera. So you’ll get good photos. The weak point of the device is the performance. Compared to its predecessor Redmi 13C, this smartphone is a bit slower. However, the recipient of the gift will notice it only if he is going to play some costly games. The battery capacity is 5160 mAh, which is quite impressive.

If you’re also not intimidated by the lack of 5G support, it’s a great choice in this price segment.

Samsung Galaxy A25 5G

Cost – 20,999 rubles

The Galaxy A25 5G is probably one of the most popular smartphones in this price range and justifiably so. An Exynos 1280 processor, an AMOLED screen with 120Hz refresh rate, Dolby Atmos sound, a 5,000mAh battery, a 50MP main camera and a 13MP front camera – sounds like a combination of the main features of this class of device that should appeal to the gift recipient, no matter what the phone is for.

For basic functions it’ll do fine, but at the same time it’s a pleasure to play games on, watch movies/listen to music on, and even photos should please with their quality. Of course, you shouldn’t expect anything extraordinary or super high quality, given the price segment it’s sold in, but it’s a good device for the money.