With the onset of social media services like Instagram and Snapchat, along with the recent video-calling boom, a smartphone’s selfie camera no longer plays second fiddle to the device’s primary sensor. Interestingly, while there is no shortage of selfie-centric flagships, this year saw some stellar selfie-first device launches in the affordable segment too.
That’s where the Best Selfie Phone of 2021 – Mainstream title of the Indian Gadget Awards 2021 comes into play, which sheds light on devices priced under Rs 20,000 that excel in taking self-portraits. As the country’s largest tech awards, nearly 40 experts from the Indian tech media fraternity judged our five nominees competing for this award. Here’s the winner of the Best Mainstream Selfie Phone of 2021 award.
Winner: Redmi Note 10 Pro Max
Runner-up: iQOO Z3
Check out the full list of nominees for the Best Mainstream Selfie Phone of 2021 award:
Despite featuring a capable set of cameras on the back, the Realme 8 Pro’s selfie-shooter managed to hog all the limelight. The 16MP selfie camera positioned to the phone’s top-left captures great, Instagram-ready shots that require little to no editing. The edge-detection capabilities of this phone’s portrait mode are worth appreciating as well. Plus, Realme’s Super Nightscape feature is available for the front camera too, ensuring the quality of the selfies doesn’t take a hit after the sun has set.
The Redmi Note 10 Pro Max blitzed through the competition at the time of its launch and for good reason. In fact, the phone comes equipped with a 108MP camera, a 120Hz display, a Snapdragon 732G chip, and a 5,020mAh battery whilst costing less than Rs 20,000. As if that wasn’t enough, the device even gets a 16MP selfie camera that captures stellar selfies in all lighting conditions and touts enticing features like a dedicated night mode, a panorama mode, and of course, a portrait mode. The phone is a delight for any selfie lover, simply because it snaps clear, detailed, and vivid selfies every time.
The iQOO Z3 is considered by many to be a performance-focused phone. However, the device offers a dependable camera setup too and is backed by a trio of sensors towards the rear comprising a 64MP main sensor, an 8MP ultra-wide angle lens, and a 2MP macro unit. That said, a big part of the smartphone’s camera chops can be accredited to its 16MP selfie camera, which snaps natural-looking self-portraits with attractive details. Its portrait mode works great as well and in a nutshell, the smartphone is a godsend for selfie enthusiasts and vloggers.
The Tecno Camon 17 Pro’s selfie game is on point. So much so, the smartphone ships with not one, but two high-resolution cameras including a 64MP main sensor and a 48MP selfie shooter. Unsurprisingly, the device captures bountifully detailed selfies and the front camera’s colour science has been fine-tuned to bring out a user’s best features. Moreover, the phone’s camera also employs AI to identify environmental light and makes ample adjustments to ensure the face is the highlight of the shot.
The Realme X7 ships with a 16MP selfie shooter with an f/2.5 aperture lens. The phone’s camera manages to take detailed and feature-rich selfies with accurate skin tones. Its AI Beauty mode is subtle and there’s even an HDR mode that captures great details in the background. A dedicated portrait mode and Realme’s Super Nightscape mode round off this phone’s selfie features.
