itel A95 review: a well-balanced budget phone

Every couple of months, we see a new budget 5G phone hit the scene, but over the past year, the spec sheet in this category has started to stabilise. Most devices around the Rs 10,000 mark now offer fairly similar hardware. The itel A95 follows the same trend, with a MediaTek Dimensity 6300 SoC, a tall display, and a standard 5,000mAh battery, among other things. The real question is, does it offer anything that helps it stand out in this crowded segment? That’s exactly what I’ll be discussing in this in-depth review. Let’s get started.

Verdict

The itel A95 is a great budget option if you’re after a reliable everyday phone that also looks good in the hand. It handles basic tasks well, takes decent photos in daylight, and easily lasts a full day on one charge. That said, the screen isn’t the brightest outdoors, charging takes a while, and it only comes with Android 14 for now, which might affect its long-term support. 

Design and display

The itel A95’s design is quite minimalistic, with a matte finished black rear panel paired with a pill-shaped camera module that holds the primary lens, an auxillary lens and a dummy unit. The panel has slightly curved corners that make it comfortable to hold compared to straight edges. 

The USB-C port, the single-speaker and the exceedingly rare 3.5mm jack are on the bottom, while the power and volume rockers are towards the right. The power button also doubles as a fingerprint scanner and works extremely well, although the placement could be a bit lower. 

For display, the phone uses a 6.67-inch HD+ display, 120Hz refresh rate and 480 nits of brightness. The visual experience is good enough for the price bracket, although I found the panel’s colours looked a little washed out in comparison to other phones in this price bracket. The brightness feels lacking, too. While it is sufficient for indoor use, the output isn’t nearly enough for visibility outdoors, especially in summers. 

The single-speaker setup is also a little disappointing, as the sound output feels a bit tinny, but it is fairly loud. 

Cameras

The itel A95 features a 50MP AI rear camera setup alongside an 8MP selfie camera. In daylight, the rear camera delivers visually appealing shots with decent contrast, sharpness, and mostly natural-looking colour reproduction, though some images can appear slightly washed out. The dynamic range is satisfactory, and the 50MP lens preserves a fair amount of detail.

The selfie camera captures satisfactory shots with natural-looking skin colour and a decent level of detail. Low-light photography is a little underwhelming but it is still quite satisfactory for its price. The shots turn out appealing with punchy contrast and good exposure. The selfie camera also performs well in low light, although the details are a lot softer and colours appear slightly muted. The phone is one of the better low-light performers in this price segment. 

I compared the phone’s cameras against one of its key rivals, the POCO M7 (review), to see how it compares, check it out below:

Daylight

Daylight shots from both phones tend to look a bit washed out. The POCO M7 applies warmer colour tones, while the itel A95 leans towards cooler hues. The itel A95 is a little ahead in detail retention, especially when compared to the POCO M7, which loses sharpness towards the edges. Overall, in terms of sharpness and dynamic range, the itel A95 delivers slightly better results.

Portrait

Portrait shots carry forward the same colour science seen in the daylight photos for both phones. The real difference lies in detail — the POCO M7 holds a clear advantage when you zoom in, offering sharper textures. It also does a better job with colour accuracy, producing more natural-looking skin tones and hair shades. The itel A95, on the other hand, struggles slightly with highlight control, as seen in the overexposed white shirt.

Selfie

In selfies, the itel A95 offers more appealing colour reproduction with fairly accurate skin tones. The POCO M7, by contrast, shows a noticeable yellow tint that makes the image look a bit washed out. Both phones are evenly matched in terms of detail, although the POCO M7 adds some artificial sharpness, which introduces a bit of noise into the frame.

Low light

In low light with night mode turned on, the itel A95 delivers better results across the board. It captures more accurate colours, sharper details, improved contrast, and better overall exposure, making for a more pleasing image. The POCO M7, on the other hand, produces a softer, washed-out shot that lacks punch.

Performance and software

The MediaTek Dimensity 6300 SoC powers the smartphone paired with 6GB of LPDDR4X RAM and 128GB of UFS 2.2 storage. Given the chipset is fairly common at this price point, the phone’s performance output is quite satisfactory. While the chipset doesn’t eliminate lag or jitters entirely, it keeps the user experience fairly smooth.

You might notice occasional stutters when multitasking or keeping multiple apps running in the background, which is expected at this price point. The phone can also handle casual gaming, but it’s best to keep expectations in check. You can play demanding titles like COD: Mobile and BGMI at their low graphical presets. 

The phone uses itel’s OS 14.5 based on Android 14 out of the box. There’s not much in the way of pre-installed apps and the phone is fairly clean overall. What is disappointing, however, is the presence of Android 14, which is outdated at this point.

While this problem is not exclusive to the itel A95 in this price bracket, it is still a major deal breaker for some users. There’s also a dynamic island-style feature that pops up for face unlock, call background, charging reminders, low battery, and more. Another surprising but welcome addition is the inclusion of AI features, especially at this price point.

The itel A95 offers you a bunch of special features like Smart Hub, which makes it easy to shar files across the apps, Smart scenes, which delivers real-time payment reminders for apps like Google Pay, Paytm and Smart Touch, which helps extract text from images and files, a particualrly useful tool for anyone who works on their phone.

Ask AI is a Notes app feature which can help optimise your text, fix grammar errors or generate text based on your needs. There’s also an AI image generator that can rework a specific drawing based on your own rough sketches, although it isn’t very accurate. 

Overall, the UI is fairly decent but without the latest Android variant, there are limited customisation options and AI features that have become fairly common. Since the phone will not receive any Android updates, this becomes a significant drawback in the long run. 

Battery and charging

The itel A95 incorporates a standard 5,000mAh battery paired with 18W fast charging support. The phone comes with a 10W charger in the box. In the PCMark battery test, the phone registered a total time of 12 hours and 6 minutes, which is slightly lower than the average result for the price point. During our performance tests, which included roughly 2 hours of gaming and streaming tests, the battery registered a total drain of 21 percent.

The real-world endurance is a notch better than the segment average at 24 percent, so while the benchmark result might be below average, the actual battery backup is pretty decent, and you can easily expect a full day of use out of it. 

The charging time, however, is a major pain point here, with the phone taking over 2 hours to recharge completely from 20 to 100 percent using the paired 10W charger. The charging time feels rather archaic in 2025 and could use some improvements.  

Final Verdict

The itel A95 is priced at Rs 9,599 for the 4GB+128GB variant and Rs 9,999 for the 6GB+128GB model. At this price, it goes up against strong competition like the recently launched POCO M7 and the reliable Moto G35 from last year. If you’re after better performance, a cleaner OS, longer software support, and faster charging, the POCO M7 (review) is the better choice. Similarly, the Moto G35 delivers solid performance, good cameras, and significantly faster charging.

The itel A95’s strength lies in its all-rounder nature. While it doesn’t particularly excel in one area, except maybe its cameras, it does cover all the basics quite well. The issue is that it doesn’t really set itself apart. With capable rivals offering better display brightness, faster charging, and longer software support, the A95 feels like a steady but slightly underwhelming option. If you’re looking for a no-frills phone that gets the job done, it fits the bill.

Editor’s Rating: 7.6 / 10

Reasons to buy:

• The itel A95 has a sleek design and comes with an IP54 rating for added durability. 
• The cameras perform well in daylight and produce good-looking shots.
• Battery life is decent and should easily last you a full day.
• Reliable performance for day-to-day use.

Reasons not to buy: 

• The display isn’t the brightest outdoors, which can affect visibility in harsh sunlight.
• The phone only ships with Android 14 and won’t receive major future Android updates.
• Charging speeds are quite slow.