So the useful question is not which machine is best, but which one is built for what you actually do. All six below have been through our lab on the same benchmark suite and the same battery test, and every number in this guide is ours.

Where they land: the Dell 15 D15260 is the general-purpose pick, the ASUS Vivobook S16 suits professionals, and the ASUS Gaming V16 handles creative work. Gamers want the Lenovo LOQ 15IRX9, travellers want the HP OmniBook 3, and the Apple MacBook Neo is the way into macOS at this price. Updated for July 2026 with the latest testing data and price changes.

A note on pricing: all prices here are what each machine cost at the time we reviewed it. Component costs have pushed laptop prices up sharply through 2026, so several of these have moved since. Check current pricing before you buy.

How we sorted these

Every laptop here ran the same suite: Cinebench 2026, R24 and R23 for processor work, Geekbench 6 across platforms, PCMark 10 and PCMark 10 Extended for productivity, CrossMark for responsiveness, the 3DMark stack for graphics, PugetBench for DaVinci Resolve where creative work matters, and CrystalDiskMark for storage. Battery is the PCMark 10 video loop test at 80% brightness.

At this price, the spread between machines is enormous, and that is the point. Battery runs from 4 hours 24 minutes to 26 hours 18 minutes across these six. Cinebench R23 multi-core runs from 7,331 to 16,663. There is no single best laptop under a lakh, only the right one for a specific job, and the sections below are organised around those jobs rather than a ranking.

Dell 15 D15260 — Best Laptop Under Rs 1,00,000 Overall

Price at time of review: Rs 77,890

Why we picked it

If you want one machine that handles browsing, documents, video calls, streaming and light multitasking without drama, the Dell 15 D15260 (review) is the most straightforward answer here. It is not exciting. It is the one that gets out of the way.

The Core Ultra 5 225H is a 28W Arrow Lake chip, and it delivers the strongest all-round productivity numbers on this page from a non-gaming machine. PCMark 10 came in at 7,975 with 7,025 in Extended, both ahead of the Vivobook S16 and the OmniBook 3. Cinebench R23 multi-core hit 11,013 and Geekbench 6 multi-core 10,829, while Cinebench 2026 multi-core reached 2,398, comfortably the highest here outside the gaming machines. Boot times are quick off the 1TB Gen 4 drive, which posted 5,900MB/s reads and 5,328MB/s writes.

Graphics are respectable for integrated silicon. Time Spy came in at 2,592 and Night Raid at 20,298, roughly double what the ARM-based machines here manage, and GTA V ran at 49fps at 1080p. That is not gaming performance, but it means light photo work and video playback are handled without complaint. Getting 1TB of storage as standard at this price is also unusual and genuinely useful.

The trade-offs are clearly drawn in our review. The chassis is plastic, and the design feels dated next to what else sits at this price. Memory runs single-channel, which holds back some performance. And the 41Wh battery managed only 5 hours 5 minutes in the video loop test, well short of what a modern laptop should deliver, so this is a machine that expects to stay near a socket. It scored 7.5/10.

Key specs:

• Processor: Intel Core Ultra 5 225H (28W)
• Display: 15.6-inch WVA, 60Hz
• RAM/Storage: 16GB DDR5 / 1TB Gen 4 SSD
• Battery: 41Wh, 5 hours 5 minutes (PCMark 10 video loop)
• Rating: 7.5/10

ASUS Vivobook S16 — Best for Professionals

Price at time of review: Rs 76,990

Why we picked it

Twenty-six hours and eighteen minutes. That is what the ASUS Vivobook S16 (review) recorded in our PCMark 10 video loop test, and it remains the highest battery figure we have ever measured on any laptop at any price.

For anyone whose working day involves moving between offices, client sites and airport lounges, that number reshapes the machine's usefulness more than any benchmark could. The Snapdragon X X1-26-100 paired with a 70Wh battery genuinely delivers on it: browsing, documents, calls and streaming across a full day, and often a second one, without the charger leaving the bag.

Performance is honest rather than dominant. It scored 7,497 in Cinebench R23 multi-core and 10,120 in Geekbench 6 multi-core, which places it behind the Dell above on multi-threaded work while feeling essentially identical in everyday use. The 16-inch OLED panel is the other professional argument, delivering the contrast and colour depth that no IPS screen on this page matches, in a 16:10 ratio that helps with documents and spreadsheets. At 1.74kg and 15.9mm it stays portable for its size, and the port selection covers dual USB-A, dual USB-C 4.0, HDMI 2.1 and a headphone jack.

Two things to weigh. This is a Windows-on-ARM machine, so older Win32 software and some niche professional tools run through emulation or not at all. And the 1200p resolution is not especially crisp stretched across 16 inches. A PugetBench DaVinci Resolve score of 1,121 confirms this is a productivity laptop rather than a creative one. It scored 8/10.

Key specs:

• Processor: Qualcomm Snapdragon X X1-26-100
• Display: 16-inch OLED (1920 x 1200), 60Hz, 16:10
• RAM/Storage: 16GB LPDDR5x / 512GB Gen 4 SSD
• Battery: 70Wh, 26 hours 18 minutes (PCMark 10 video loop)
• Build: 1.74kg, 15.9mm
• Rating: 8/10

ASUS Gaming V16 — Best for Creators

Price at time of review: Rs 84,999 

Why we picked it

Creative work at this price usually means choosing between GPU acceleration and everything else. The ASUS Gaming V16 (review) refuses that trade, and its PugetBench DaVinci Resolve score of 4,923 is more than four times what the Vivobook S16 manages.

The V16's RTX 4050 with 6GB of VRAM accelerates timeline scrubbing, effects rendering and exports in a way integrated graphics simply cannot, and the Core 5 210H behind it posted 11,788 in Cinebench R23 multi-core, second only to the LOQ here. In 3DMark, it hit 7,494 in Time Spy and 17,740 in Fire Strike. For editing a client video, running Premiere or Resolve, or exporting a batch of RAW files, this is the machine on this page that finishes fastest.

What makes it unusual is that it does not behave like a gaming laptop elsewhere. Battery ran 10 hours 48 minutes in our video loop test, which is extraordinary for anything carrying a discrete GPU and roughly two and a half times what the LOQ manages. It weighs 1.95kg, the matte chassis skips aggressive gamer styling entirely, and the 16-inch 144Hz panel in a 16:10 ratio suits timeline work as well as games.

One honest caveat: the display covers 45% NTSC, which is not going to be enough for professional colour grading. The recommendation from our testing is to edit on the go and plug into a proper monitor over HDMI 2.1 when colour accuracy matters. There is also no Ethernet port. It scored 7/10.

Key specs:

• Processor: Intel Core 5 210H (45W)
• GPU: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4050, 6GB, 65W TGP
• Display: 16-inch IPS (1920 x 1200), 144Hz, 45% NTSC
• RAM/Storage: 16GB DDR5 / 512GB Gen 4 SSD
• Battery: 63Wh, 10 hours 48 minutes (PCMark 10 video loop)
• Weight: 1.95kg
• Rating: 7/10

Lenovo LOQ 15IRX9 — Best for Gaming

Price at time of review: Rs 92,491

Why we picked it

The Lenovo LOQ 15IRX9 (review) runs its RTX 4050 at 105W rather than the 65W the V16 allows, and that single difference decides the gaming category.

The gap in the numbers is large. Time Spy came in at 9,441 against the V16's 7,494, Fire Strike at 20,047 against 17,740, and Night Raid at 56,790. In real games, the separation is clearer still: GTA V ran at 147fps against 96, Valorant at 349fps against 243, and Cyberpunk 2077 at 67fps native at FHD, climbing to 79fps with DLSS. Forza Horizon 5 held 56fps and Black Myth Wukong 35fps at native settings, so demanding titles need upscaling but remain playable.

The CPU also matters as much as the GPU. The Core i5-13450HX is a 55W HX-series chip, and it posted 16,663 in Cinebench R23 multi-core, the highest figure on this page by a wide margin, alongside 11,813 in Geekbench 6 multi-core and 9,498 in PCMark 10 Extended. Paired with 24GB of DDR5 and a 1TB Gen 4 drive out of the box, this is a machine that will not need upgrading for a while, and the 15.6-inch 144Hz panel keeps competitive titles smooth.

The cost is portability and endurance, with the battery managing 4 hours 24 minutes, the shortest here, so this is a desk machine that travels rather than a laptop you work on unplugged. Our review is also candid that at this price, the arrival of RTX 5050 machines makes the value harder to justify, and that this configuration makes most sense when found discounted. It scored 8/10.

Key specs:

• Processor: Intel Core i5-13450HX (55W)
• GPU: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4050, 6GB, 105W TGP
• Display: 15.6-inch IPS, 144Hz
• RAM/Storage: 24GB DDR5 / 1TB Gen 4 SSD
• Battery: 60Wh, 4 hours 24 minutes (PCMark 10 video loop)
• Rating: 8/10

HP OmniBook 3 — Best Ultrabook

Price at time of review: Rs 79,990

Why we picked it

At 1.4kg with a 1.5cm profile and 18 hours 42 minutes of tested battery, the HP OmniBook 3 (review) is the machine here you can carry all day and never think about the charger.

Apart from the battery life, the laptop's 512GB Gen 4 drive posted 6,995MB/s sequential reads, the fastest among every laptop we compared it against, including the Vivobook S16 at 6,327MB/s, and it took random reads too at 87.17MB/s. The Snapdragon X processor with 16GB of RAM handles productivity workloads without complaining, scoring 1,566 in Cinebench 2026 multi-core, ahead of the MacBook Neo's 1,391, alongside 10,573 in Geekbench 6 multi-core.

The display choice is deliberate rather than cheap. The 14-inch 1920 x 1200 IPS panel runs at 300 nits with an anti-glare coating that cuts reflections effectively in bright offices and outdoors, which our reviewer rates as a genuine productivity gain over glossier screens. The keyboard is the other highlight, with flat, closely packed keys that still offer good travel and two-stage white backlighting. The bundled charger deserves a mention too: a compact 65W Type-C brick barely larger than a phone charger, which also charges your phone.

Know the limits. Screen brightness could be higher, the bottom-firing speakers are adequate for calls rather than music, and colours look muted enough that this is not a machine for graphics work or colour grading. There is no SD card slot and no fingerprint sensor, though Windows Hello face unlock is present. It scored 7.7/10.

Key specs:

• Processor: Qualcomm Snapdragon X X1-26-100 (30W)
• GPU: Adreno X1-45
• Display: 14-inch (1920 x 1200) IPS, 60Hz, 300 nits, anti-glare
• RAM/Storage: 16GB LPDDR5 / 512GB Gen 4 SSD
• Battery: 60Wh, 18 hours 42 minutes (PCMark 10 video loop), 65W compact USB-C charger
• Build: 1.4kg, 1.5cm thin
• Rating: 7.7/10

Apple MacBook Neo — Best MacBook Option

Price at time of review: Rs 69,990

Why we picked it

The Apple MacBook Neo (review) is the cheapest route into macOS, and at Rs 69,990 it is also the highest-rated laptop on this page.

Single-core performance is what separates it. It scored 3,466 in Geekbench 6 single-core, far ahead of everything else here, and 1,717 in CrossMark, again the highest on this page. That advantage shows up in the way the machine feels rather than in export times: app launches, interface responsiveness and general snappiness all sit a tier above the Windows machines at this price. Multi-core is a different story at 8,727 in Geekbench 6, behind both ARM Windows laptops here.

The 13-inch Liquid Retina display runs 2,408 x 1,506 at 500 nits with an anti-reflective coating, and in our testing it held its own against similarly priced Windows machines shipping OLED panels. The aluminium build shows no creak or flex, it runs fanless and silent, and the trackpad remains the class benchmark. Battery scored 8.8/10 in our review, covering a full working day comfortably.

The ceiling is memory. Eight gigabytes is what you get, and it becomes a genuine constraint the moment files get heavy or the tab count climbs. There is no keyboard backlight, which is a real omission at this price. Ports run to two USB-C and a headphone jack, and Touch ID only appears on the 512GB model. Anyone needing raw multi-core throughput or GPU acceleration should look at the Windows machines above. For everything else, it scored 8.5/10, the highest here.

Key specs:

• Chip: Apple A18 Pro
• Display: 13-inch Liquid Retina (2,408 x 1,506), 500 nits, anti-reflective
• RAM/Storage: 8GB unified / 256GB SSD
• Battery: Full working day, 30W charger
• Connectivity: 2x USB-C, 3.5mm jack
• Rating: 8.5/10

Winners at a glance

Prices are as of the time each laptop was reviewed and are subject to change.

FAQs

Which is the best laptop under Rs 1,00,000 in India?

The Dell 15 D15260 at Rs 77,890 is the most versatile all-rounder, with the strongest productivity scores among the non-gaming machines here, including 7,975 in PCMark 10, plus 1TB of storage as standard. If your priority is battery, gaming or creative work specifically, the Vivobook S16, LOQ 15IRX9 and Gaming V16 each beat it in their own category.

Which laptop under Rs 1,00,000 has the best battery life?

The ASUS Vivobook S16, with 26 hours 18 minutes in our PCMark 10 video loop test, the highest figure we have ever recorded. The HP OmniBook 3 is second at 18 hours 42 minutes.

Which is the best gaming laptop under Rs 1,00,000?

The Lenovo LOQ 15IRX9. Its RTX 4050 runs at 105W against the ASUS Gaming V16's 65W, which translates to 147fps in GTA V, 349fps in Valorant and 67fps in Cyberpunk 2077 at native FHD.

Which laptop under Rs 1,00,000 is best for video editing?

The ASUS Gaming V16, which scored 4,923 in PugetBench for DaVinci Resolve, more than four times the Vivobook S16's 1,121. Its RTX 4050 handles GPU-accelerated effects and exports, though the 45% NTSC display means colour grading needs an external monitor.

Is the MacBook Neo worth buying over a Windows laptop at this price?

It depends on the workload. The Neo leads on single-core performance at 3,466 in Geekbench 6 and on build quality, and it is the highest-rated machine here at 8.5/10. But 8GB of memory limits heavy multitasking, and both ARM Windows laptops here beat it on multi-core throughput. Choose it if you want macOS and your work is light to moderate.

Should I buy a Snapdragon (ARM) laptop at this price?

Two of these six run Snapdragon X chips, and both deliver battery life no x86 machine here approaches. Mainstream applications now run well on ARM, but older Win32 software, some professional tools and certain drivers still run through emulation or not at all. If your work depends on legacy software, choose the Dell, the Gaming V16 or the LOQ instead.

Which laptop under Rs 1,00,000 is best for office and business use?

The ASUS Vivobook S16 for anyone who travels, thanks to its 26-hour battery and 16-inch OLED display. For a desk-bound office machine, the Dell 15 D15260 offers stronger multi-core performance and 1TB of storage, though its 5-hour battery means keeping the charger close.

What follows are six convertibles we have run through the same tests, each matched to the thing it genuinely does better than the rest. Some fold, some detach, and the difference matters more than most buyers realise. Every benchmark, battery figure, and thermal reading here comes from our own lab, using the same suite and the same conditions, so these machines are directly comparable to each other rather than to marketing claims.

Here is how our winners stack up: The ASUS ROG Flow Z13 Kojima Edition takes best overall. The HP OmniBook X Flip 14 is our premium pick, the ASUS Vivobook 14 Flip wins on value, and the ASUS ProArt GoPro Edition PX13 is the one for stylus work. The Dell 14 Plus 2-in-1 leads for business, and the ASUS Chromebook CM32 Detachable is the student choice. 

A note on pricing: all prices listed here are what each machine cost at the time we reviewed it. Laptop prices in India have moved sharply over the past few months, driven largely by memory and storage costs, so verify current pricing before you buy. Sale events can swing these numbers by Rs 10,000 or more in either direction.

How do we test 2-in-1 laptops?

Every machine here has spent weeks as a daily driver before being put on this list. For convertibles, that means testing both halves of the promise: how it works as a laptop, and whether the tablet mode is genuinely useful or just a party trick. We use each one in laptop, tent, and tablet orientations, check whether the hinge holds position without wobble, and note how the machine behaves when the keyboard is folded away or detached entirely.

The synthetic suite is identical across every laptop we test, which is what makes these numbers meaningful side by side. We run Cinebench 2026, R24, and R23 for CPU performance, Geekbench 6 for cross-platform comparison, PCMark 10 and PCMark 10 Extended for real-world productivity, CrossMark for responsiveness, and the full 3DMark stack from Night Raid up to Time Spy Extreme for graphics. Battery life comes from the PCMark 10 video loop test at 80% brightness.

Convertibles also live or die on details that benchmarks never capture. Does the stylus feel natural or laggy? Can you actually hold it comfortably in tablet mode, or is it too heavy? Does Windows behave when you flip the screen? Is the display bright enough to use as a tablet near a window? Those questions shape the picks below as much as the charts do.

ASUS ROG Flow Z13 Kojima Edition — Best Overall 2-in-1 Laptop

Price at time of review: Rs 3,79,990

Why we picked it

The ASUS ROG Flow Z13 GZ302EAC Kojima Edition (review) is our best overall 2-in-1 because it does something no other convertible on the market manages: it delivers full desktop-class performance from a detachable 13-inch tablet, with no compromise anywhere in the spec sheet.

The numbers are frankly absurd for the form factor. AMD's Ryzen AI Max+ 395 drives a Radeon 8060S with 128GB of LPDDR5x unified memory, up to 96GB of which can be assigned directly to graphics. In our lab, it scored 30,344 in Cinebench R23 multi-core, 6,643 in Cinebench 2026 multi-core and 19,627 in Geekbench 6 multi-core, alongside 10,992 in PCMark 10 and a CrossMark score of 2,307. Those are the highest CPU figures of any convertible we have tested, and they hold their own against full-size gaming laptops. On the graphics side, 10,346 in 3DMark Time Spy, 23,943 in Fire Strike, and 61,669 in Night Raid put it in the territory dedicated GPUs usually occupy.

Real gaming backs that up. Cyberpunk 2077 ran at 76fps at FHD native and 84fps with DLSS, GTA V hit 158fps at 1080p, and Forza Horizon 5 managed 99fps at FHD native. During testing, we played Baldur's Gate 3, Resident Evil Requiem, and Forza Horizon 5 on battery power for over 90 minutes on an aeroplane tray table, which is simply not possible with any conventional gaming laptop. A PugetBench DaVinci Resolve score of 6,422 means it edits as seriously as it plays.

The versatility is the actual argument, though. Keyboard attached, it is a work machine with a good trackpad and a 13.4-inch 180Hz touchscreen. Keyboard off with the kickstand out, it is a premium Windows tablet for reading or sketching. 

At Rs 3,79,990, it is aggressively expensive, the speakers are merely fine, and the 70Wh battery managed 8 hours 1 minute in our PCMark 10 video loop test, dropping sharply under gaming load. But as a shape-shifting flagship, it has no real competition. It scored 8.3/10 in our review.

Key specs:

• Processor: AMD Ryzen AI Max+ 395 (55W TDP)
• GPU: AMD Radeon 8060S (integrated, up to 96GB assignable memory)
• Display: 13.4-inch IPS touchscreen, 180Hz, detachable keyboard with kickstand
• RAM/Storage: 128GB LPDDR5x unified / 1TB Gen 4 SSD
• Battery: 70Wh, 8 hours 1 minute (PCMark 10 video loop)
• Storage speeds: 6,384MB/s read, 5,658MB/s write
• Rating: 8.3/10

HP OmniBook X Flip 14 — Best Premium 2-in-1 Laptop

Price at time of review: Around Rs 1.5 lakh

Why we picked it

The HP OmniBook X Flip 14 (review) is our best premium convertible because it delivers the complete flagship thin-and-light experience in a body that folds, without asking you to give up anything meaningful to get the hinge.

The 3K OLED panel with a 120Hz refresh rate delivers crisp, sharp visuals in every setting we used it: on a desk with direct light reflecting off it, at an airport, in a cab, and late at night in a pitch-dark room. Movies look especially stunning with no blooming or halo effects, the problem LCD laptop displays have long struggled with, and in dark rooms, lowering the brightness does not wash out the experience the way LCDs do. Our review rated the display 9/10.

Performance holds up its end. With a Core Ultra 7 processor, 32GB of high-speed RAM and one of the fastest SSDs we have tested in this segment, performance was never a bottleneck. It scored 9,130 in Cinebench R23 multi-core, 11,160 in Geekbench 6 multi-core and 1,867 in Cinebench R23 single-core, which was the strongest single-core figure in its comparison group. On the graphics side, it led its price bracket in Fire Strike Ultra at 2,272 and Fire Strike Extreme at 4,250, and it even ran GTA V at an average of 66fps, which is respectable for a thin-and-light.

The build supports the premium positioning. The Atmospheric Blue finish turns heads, the cover, keyboard frame, base, and hinge are all metal, and the hinge itself has almost no wobble despite flipping a full 360 degrees. The keyboard is one of the most comfortable we have typed on recently, with satisfying clicks and ample travel, and the trackpad is almost as smooth as a MacBook's

Two honest limits on this machine, i.e., the two bottom-firing speakers, lack bass and sound underwhelming with action-heavy soundtracks, and Windows still is not fully optimised for a touchscreen-only workflow. Also, there is no fingerprint reader, though the webcam supports Windows Hello and has a physical shutter. It scored 8.5/10.

Key specs:

• Processor: Intel Core Ultra 7 (Series 2)
• Display: 14-inch 3K OLED touchscreen, 120Hz, 360-degree hinge
• RAM/Storage: 32GB / 1TB SSD
• Ports: USB-A x2, HDMI, Thunderbolt, USB-C, headphone/mic combo
• Extras: Poly Studio AI noise cancellation, physical webcam shutter, Windows Hello
• Rating: 8.5/10

ASUS Vivobook 14 Flip — Best Value 2-in-1 Laptop

Price at time of review: Rs 1,11,990 

Why we picked it

The ASUS Vivobook 14 Flip (review) is our best value convertible because it ran 23 hours 25 minutes in our PCMark 10 video loop test, which is the second-highest battery figure we have ever recorded, and it pairs that endurance with an OLED panel at a price well under the premium tier.

The Intel Core Ultra 7 256V is a 15W Lunar Lake chip built for exactly this, and the 70Wh battery gives it room to stretch. For anyone whose convertible spends the day moving between meeting rooms, lectures, or cafés, that endurance changes how you use the machine.

Performance is respectable rather than remarkable, and it is worth being clear about that. It scored 10,820 in Cinebench R23 multi-core, 7,081 in PCMark 10, and 10,940 in Geekbench 6 multi-core, which sits behind the Dell 14 Plus on some CPU measures while pulling ahead where the integrated Arc 140V graphics matter. In 3DMark, it managed 4,356 in Time Spy, 8,895 in Fire Strike, and 36,230 in Night Raid, all comfortably ahead of the Dell's Radeon 860M, and it ran GTA V at 108fps and Valorant at 256fps. Storage came in at 6,353MB/s reads.

Add a 360-degree hinge, 16GB of LPDDR5x, and a 512GB Gen 4 SSD, and the package makes sense at roughly Rs 1.09 lakh, especially against machines costing Rs 40,000 more.

The trade-offs are the ones you would expect at this tier. The panel runs at 60Hz rather than the 120Hz found on the OmniBook X Flip, and the 15W processor means sustained heavy workloads are not what this machine is for. As a flexible, long-lasting daily driver, though, nothing here offers more for the money. It scored 8/10 on our review.

Key specs:

• Processor: Intel Core Ultra 7 256V (15W TDP)
• GPU: Intel Arc 140V
• Display: 14-inch OLED touchscreen, 60Hz, 360-degree hinge
• RAM/Storage: 16GB LPDDR5x / 512GB Gen 4 SSD
• Battery: 70Wh, 23 hours 25 minutes (PCMark 10 video loop)
• Storage speeds: 6,353MB/s read, 4,300MB/s write
• Rating: 8/10

ASUS ProArt GoPro Edition PX13 — Best for Note-Taking and Stylus Work

Price at time of review: Rs 3,34,990

Why we picked it

The ASUS ProArt GoPro Edition PX13 HN7306 (review) is our pick for stylus work because it pairs a factory-calibrated 3K OLED touchscreen with an included ASUS Pen that has genuine haptic feedback and its own charging cradle, in a 1.39kg body that folds flat for sketching.

The display is the meat of the matter with the 13.3-inch OLED panel that runs at 3K (2880 x 1800) in a 16:10 ratio, with 100% DCI-P3 coverage and factory calibration, HDR True Black 500 support, and 500 nits of brightness. For annotation, sketching, and diagramming, that combination of resolution, colour accuracy, and glossy touch response is exactly what you want, and the 360-degree hinge means you can lay it flat or use it in tent mode depending on the task. The included pen offers solid haptic feedback, and unlike most bundled styluses, it gets a dedicated charging cradle rather than a magnetic strip you keep losing.

The performance underneath is the strongest of any conventional convertible here. The Ryzen AI Max+ 395 is a 16-core, 32-thread chip boosting to 5.1GHz with a 50 TOPS NPU, paired with the 40-CU Radeon 8060S and 128GB of unified memory. It scored 28,576 in Cinebench R23 multi-core, up from 16,900 on the previous PX13, alongside 10,313 in PCMark 10, 18,994 in Geekbench 6 multi-core, and 6,231 in PugetBench for DaVinci Resolve. 

The rest is built for people who work outdoors. MIL-STD-810H durability handles drops, vibration, and temperature swings. There is a microSD reader for camera footage, two USB 4.0 Type-C ports, USB-A, full-size HDMI 2.1, and Wi-Fi 7.

Be clear about the compromises, because at Rs 3,34,990 they definitely matter. The panel is limited to 60Hz, which feels thin at this price. The fans get loud under load. The 1080p webcam produces washed-out colours in anything but bright rooms. And the 73Wh battery managed 8 hours 21 minutes in our PCMark 10 video loop test, respectable but behind the efficiency of competing platforms. It scored 7.5/10.

Key specs:

• Processor: AMD Ryzen AI Max+ 395 (16 cores, 32 threads, up to 5.1GHz, 50 TOPS NPU)
• GPU: AMD Radeon 8060S (40 CUs)
• Display: 13.3-inch 3K (2880 x 1800) OLED touchscreen, 60Hz, 100% DCI-P3, HDR True Black 500, 500 nits
• RAM/Storage: 128GB LPDDR5x unified / 1TB Gen 4 SSD
• Battery: 73Wh, 8 hours 21 minutes (PCMark 10 video loop), 200W charger
• Build: 1.39kg, 15.8 to 17.7mm, MIL-STD-810H, ASUS Pen with charging cradle included
• Rating: 7.5/10

Dell 14 Plus 2-in-1 — Best 2-in-1 for Business

Price at time of review: Rs 90,589

Why we picked it

The Dell 14 Plus 2-in-1 (review) is our best business convertible because it combines 13 and a half hours of battery, a genuinely premium aluminium build, and an included active pen at a price that fits a corporate budget rather than a flagship one.

The 64Wh cell paired with AMD's efficient Ryzen AI 7 350 lasted 13 hours 29 minutes in our PCMark 10 video loop test, which is impressive for a 2-in-1, and 10 to 12 hours in typical mixed use across writing, video playback, Zoom calls, and browsing. The bundled 65W USB-C adapter takes it from zero to 50% in roughly 40 to 45 minutes and to full in under two hours, so a short break between meetings is enough to recover most of a working day.

Performance is well judged for the segment thanks to the Ryzen AI 7 350 with Radeon 860M graphics and a dedicated NPU scored 10,600 in Cinebench R23 multi-core, 7,236 in PCMark 10, and 10,732 in Geekbench 6 multi-core, comfortably outperforming most laptops in its bracket. 

The build is where Dell earns the business label. The Midnight Blue aluminium lid and base feel far more premium than the price suggests, with rounded corners and a diamond-cut hinge, while keeping weight to around 1.59kg.

The chassis has minimal flex when twisted, and the 360-degree hinge transitions smoothly through laptop, tent, and tablet modes while maintaining firm resistance. Connectivity is practical rather than minimal: dual USB-C 3.2 Gen 2 with full DisplayPort and Power Delivery, USB-A, HDMI, a headphone jack, Wi-Fi 7, and Bluetooth 5.4. 

The display is the compromise. It is a 14-inch 1920 x 1200 WVA touchscreen rated at 300 nits, sharp and fairly colour-accurate indoors with a helpful 16:10 ratio, but outdoor visibility takes a hit, and it cannot match OLED rivals for vibrancy. The HDMI 1.4 port also caps 4K output at 30Hz. Neither undermines the core proposition. It scored 8.7/10.

Key specs:

• Processor: AMD Ryzen AI 7 350 (28W TDP)
• GPU: AMD Radeon 860M
• Display: 14-inch (1920 x 1200) WVA touchscreen, 60Hz, 300 nits, 16:10
• RAM/Storage: 16GB LPDDR5x / 1TB Gen 4 SSD
• Battery: 64Wh, 13 hours 29 minutes (PCMark 10 video loop), 65W USB-C
• Build: 1.59kg, aluminium lid and base, 360-degree hinge, Dell Active Pen included
• Rating: 8.7/10

ASUS Chromebook CM32 Detachable — Best 2-in-1 for Students

Price at time of review: Rs 48,990

Why we picked it

The ASUS Chromebook CM32 Detachable (review) is our best student convertible because it bundles both the detachable keyboard and a USI 2.0 stylus in the box, wraps them around a genuinely excellent 120Hz display, and weighs about 610g as a tablet.

The display is one of the reasons to buy it. ASUS fitted a 12.1-inch WQXGA (2560 x 1600) IPS touchscreen with a 16:10 ratio, a 120Hz refresh rate, and up to 600 nits of brightness, covering 98% of DCI-P3. At this price, that specification is unusual enough to be the deciding factor on its own. Lecture notes, PDFs and websites will all look crisp and fluid, the extra vertical space means less scrolling through readings, and Gorilla Glass 3 with an anti-fingerprint coating will keep it usable despite constant touch input.

The bundled accessories are the second argument. Many competing detachables charge extra for the keyboard, the stylus, or both. Here you get a keyboard with 1.35mm key travel that feels closer to a real ASUS laptop than a flimsy cover, and a USI 2.0 pen with 4,096 levels of pressure sensitivity that attaches magnetically and charges wirelessly, so it is always ready for notes or diagrams. 

The MediaTek Kompanio 540 deserves more credit than it usually gets. It is built for efficiency rather than raw power, which for a Chromebook is the right call. Browsing, writing assignments, streaming lectures, video calls and multitasking across several tabs all feel smooth, and the chipset sips power when idle, so closing the lid between classes barely dents the battery. The 42Wh cell comfortably lasts nine to ten hours of mixed use, and the included 45W USB-C charger tops it up quickly. The 5MP front camera is one of the best you will find at this price, with sharp video, good HDR against bright windows and little grain, backed by microphones that capture voices naturally.

Know the limits before you commit. The kickstand is rigid and takes practice, and using the machine on your lap is awkward because of the detachable design. There is exactly one USB-C port alongside a headphone jack, so accessories while charging need a hub. There is no fingerprint scanner. And the base variant's 4GB of RAM feels limiting, so spend up to the 8GB model if the budget allows. Students who need desktop Photoshop, CAD or advanced programming tools should buy Windows instead. For everyone else, it scored 8.3/10.

Key specs:

• Processor: MediaTek Kompanio 540 (8 cores, up to 2.6GHz)
• GPU: ARM Mali-G57 MC2
• Display: 12.1-inch WQXGA (2560 x 1600) IPS touchscreen, 120Hz, 600 nits, 98% DCI-P3, Gorilla Glass 3
• RAM/Storage: 8GB LPDDR5X / 128GB eMMC (base: 4GB / 64GB)
• Battery: 42Wh, 9 to 10 hours mixed use, 45W USB-C charger
• Build: Around 610g as a tablet, aluminium chassis, MIL-STD-810H
• Included: Detachable keyboard (1.35mm travel) and USI 2.0 stylus with wireless charging
• Rating: 8.3/10

Winners at a glance

Prices below are as of the time each machine was reviewed and are subject to change.

FAQs

Which is the best 2-in-1 laptop in India?

The ASUS ROG Flow Z13 Kojima Edition is the best 2-in-1 laptop in India overall. It scored 30,344 in Cinebench R23 multi-core and 10,346 in 3DMark Time Spy from a detachable 13-inch tablet, making it the only convertible that delivers genuine desktop-class performance alongside true tablet versatility.

Which 2-in-1 laptop has the best battery life?

The ASUS Vivobook 14 Flip, by an enormous margin. It ran 23 hours 25 minutes in our PCMark 10 video loop test, nearly triple what most convertibles here manage. The Dell 14 Plus 2-in-1 is second at 13 hours 29 minutes.

Which is the best 2-in-1 laptop for students?

The ASUS Chromebook CM32 Detachable at Rs 48,990. It bundles both the detachable keyboard and a USI 2.0 stylus in the box, weighs around 610g as a tablet, and carries a 12.1-inch 2.5K 120Hz display with 600 nits of brightness that is unusually good at this price.

Which 2-in-1 is best for note-taking with a stylus?

The ASUS ProArt GoPro Edition PX13. Its 13.3-inch 3K OLED panel is factory calibrated with 100% DCI-P3 coverage, and the included ASUS Pen offers genuine haptic feedback plus a dedicated charging cradle rather than a magnetic strip.

Which is the best 2-in-1 laptop for business and office work?

The Dell 14 Plus 2-in-1, which scored 8.7/10 in our review. It delivers 13 hours 29 minutes of battery, a premium aluminium build, Wi-Fi 7, a fingerprint reader and an included active pen at around Rs 90,589.

Should I buy a convertible or a detachable 2-in-1?

Convertibles like the OmniBook X Flip, Vivobook 14 Flip, ProArt PX13 and Dell 14 Plus fold their screens back 360 degrees, so the keyboard stays attached and they work better on a lap. Detachables like the ROG Flow Z13 and Chromebook CM32 separate completely, making them lighter and more natural as tablets, but they rely on a kickstand and are awkward to use on your lap.

Are 2-in-1 laptops powerful enough for real work?

Yes, and that has changed considerably. The ROG Flow Z13 and ProArt PX13 both run AMD's Ryzen AI Max+ 395 with 128GB of unified memory, posting Cinebench R23 multi-core scores of 30,344 and 28,576 respectively, which rival full-size performance laptops. Mid-range convertibles handle browsing, documents, video calls and light creative work comfortably.

Can 2-in-1 laptops handle gaming?

At the top end, yes. The ROG Flow Z13 ran Cyberpunk 2077 at 76fps at FHD native and GTA V at 158fps at 1080p, while the ProArt PX13 managed 376fps in Valorant. Mid-range convertibles like the Vivobook 14 Flip handle esports titles well, hitting 256fps in Valorant, but are not built for demanding AAA games.

We have tested all seven machines below. Same benchmark suite, same battery test, same conditions, which means the numbers here can be compared against each other directly rather than against manufacturer claims. Some of these have been daily drivers in our office for a month or more.

A quick map of where they land: the Lenovo ThinkBook 16 is the all-rounder we would buy, the Acer Aspire 3 A324-53 suits students, and the Chuwi CoreBook X Pro is the one for a home desk. If you want a specific chip, the Lenovo ThinkPad E14 leads on AMD and the MSI Modern 15 on Intel. The Acer Aspire 14 AI runs for fifteen hours, and the ASUS Chromebook CM32 Detachable is the pick if you can live without Windows. Updated for July 2026 with the latest testing data and price changes.

A note on pricing: all prices here are what each laptop cost at the time we reviewed it. Prices in this segment move constantly, and memory and storage costs have pushed several models up through 2026. Check current pricing before you buy.

What we look for at this price

Under Rs 50,000, the thing that separates a good laptop from a frustrating one is rarely the headline spec. It is the processor class. Most machines here ship U-series chips built to sip power. A few ship HS-series or H-series parts designed to actually work, and the gap shows up the moment you open a dozen tabs alongside a video call.

Our benchmark suite is the same one we run on Rs 5 lakh workstations: Cinebench R23 and R24, Geekbench 6, PCMark 10 and PCMark 10 Extended, the 3DMark stack, Geekbench AI in ONNX and OpenVINO, and CrystalDiskMark for storage. Battery comes from the PCMark 10 video loop test at 80% brightness.

Beyond the charts, four things decide whether a budget laptop is worth recommending. Can you upgrade it later, or is everything soldered shut? Is the keyboard good enough for three-hour typing sessions? Does the display stay readable away from a desk? And will it still feel usable in year three, or will 8GB of RAM strangle it by year two?

Lenovo ThinkBook 16 — Best Laptop Under Rs 50,000 Overall

Price at time of review: Rs 46,990

Why we picked it

Most laptops at this price run U-series processors. The Lenovo ThinkBook 16 21MWA0AJIN (review) does not, and that single decision is why it tops this list.

The Ryzen 5 7535HS is a 45W HS-series chip, and the difference is not subtle. It scored 9,393 in Cinebench R23 multi-core against the Chuwi's 7,128 and the ThinkPad E14's 8,062, took PCMark 10 at 5,779, and pulled 8,072 in Geekbench 6 multi-core, nearly double what the E14 managed. The integrated Radeon 660M is comfortably the strongest graphics part here too, hitting 3,901 in Fire Strike and 16,305 in Night Raid. In practice, that means heavy browser sessions, spreadsheets and the occasional detour into Photoshop all run without the machine gasping.

Then there is the part that matters over four years. This laptop has dual SO-DIMM RAM slots and two M.2 SSD slots. Almost nothing else at this price does. You can add memory in year two and storage in year three instead of replacing the whole machine, which changes the arithmetic on what Rs 46,990 actually buys you.

The 16-inch WUXGA panel is about workspace rather than wow-factor, with the extra vertical room paying off in split-screen work and long documents. Speakers are clear enough for calls and YouTube without much low end, and the webcam and mics do the job for meetings and classes. Storage held up too, at 5,966MB/s reads and 4,753MB/s writes, and a PugetBench DaVinci Resolve score of 1,278 means light video edits are possible if not pleasant. Battery ran 9 hours in the PCMark 10 video loop test, roughly double what most laptops in this bracket manage, and the 65W USB-C adapter doubles as a phone charger. Ports resist the USB-C-only trend: USB-A, USB-C, HDMI, Ethernet and a headphone jack, plus a physical webcam shutter.

It weighs around 1.7kg, and the display trades brightness and colour accuracy for size. Neither undoes the rest. Our review scored it 8.5/10.

Key specs:

• Processor: AMD Ryzen 5 7535HS (45W)
• GPU: AMD Radeon 660M
• Display: 16-inch WUXGA IPS, 60Hz, 16:10
• RAM/Storage: 16GB DDR5 / 512GB Gen 4 SSD (dual RAM and dual M.2 slots)
• Battery: 45Wh, 9 hours (PCMark 10 video loop), 65W USB-C
• Rating: 8.5/10

Acer Aspire 3 A324-53 — Best for Students

Price at time of review: Rs 40,990

Why we picked it

Students carry their laptop everywhere, so weight and battery matter more than raw speed. The Acer Aspire 3 A324-53 (review) is built around exactly that, at under 1.5kg and 19.4mm thick.

Its real surprise is the storage. The 512GB Gen 4 drive posted 7,039MB/s reads and 5,279MB/s writes in CrystalDiskMark, the fastest of any laptop on this page by a wide margin, and quicker than plenty of machines costing three times more. You notice it every time Windows boots or a large project file opens. The Core i5-1334U behind it is a 15W efficiency chip, so it will not win render contests, but it topped this group in day-to-day responsiveness with 6,342 in PCMark 10 and 8,061 in Geekbench 6 multi-core, both ahead of the ThinkBook.

Battery ran 7 hours 25 minutes in our video loop test from a 45.6Wh cell, which covers a day of lectures. Charging is over USB-C at 65W, so one adapter handles the laptop and the phone. The port selection is complete for a 14-inch machine: two USB-C, two USB-A, HDMI, microSD and a Kensington slot, alongside Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 5.2. RAM is expandable to 32GB.

In the hand, it feels better with the steel grey finish, which carries a subtle grainy texture. The lid sits flush, and the keyboard leans clicky rather than mushy, with enough travel to type on for hours. Graphics are what you would expect from Intel UHD, with 1,390 in Time Spy and 3,709 in Fire Strike, so this is suitable for handling media and light photo work, rather than games.

The display is where the money was saved. It covers 45% NTSC, so colours look flat and creative work needs an external monitor. Audio and the webcam are similarly basic. The trackpad is a touch cramped. It scored 7.5/10.

Key specs:

• Processor: Intel Core i5-1334U (15W)
• GPU: Intel UHD
• Display: 14-inch FHD, 60Hz, 45% NTSC
• RAM/Storage: 16GB DDR4 (expandable to 32GB) / 512GB Gen 4 SSD
• Battery: 45.6Wh, 7 hours 25 minutes (PCMark 10 video loop), 65W USB-C PD
• Build: Under 1.5kg, 19.4mm thin, 180-degree hinge
• Rating: 7.5/10

Chuwi CoreBook X Pro — Best for Work From Home

Price at time of review: Around Rs 30,000

Why we picked it

A home setup does not need portability. It needs a machine that plugs into a monitor, connects over wired Ethernet, and does not choke on a full day of calls and spreadsheets. The Chuwi CoreBook X Pro (review) covers all of that for around Rs 30,000.

The processor is an Intel Core i5-12450H, a full 45W H-series part of the sort that normally appears in laptops costing twice this. It returned 7,128 in Cinebench R23 multi-core and 5,104 in PCMark 10, which puts it ahead of the ThinkPad E14 and the MSI Modern 15 on multi-threaded work despite costing considerably less than either. Multitasking across Chrome tabs, video calls, and productivity apps simply does not stutter.

Connectivity is what seals the work-from-home case thanks to Gigabit Ethernet, which matters when your video calls depend on it, and your Wi-Fi does not cooperate. So is a full SD card slot, HDMI 2.0, two USB 3.0 ports, USB-C with display output, and a physical camera switch. Chuwi also put dedicated flaps on the underside for RAM and SSD access, so upgrading to 32GB or adding a second drive up to 2TB takes minutes rather than a chassis teardown. The keyboard is backlit, and the aluminium lid feels well beyond the price.

Gaming is not the point, and the numbers confirm it: 27fps in GTA V and 112fps in Valorant, so esports titles work, and anything heavier does not. The 720p webcam is basic, though the physical switch beside it is a better privacy solution than most software toggles.

Two real caveats. The 6-bit display shows muted colours and visible banding, so this is a machine to pair with an external monitor rather than grade photos on. And battery managed 4 hours 46 minutes, the weakest here, with a barrel-pin charger rather than USB-C. Neither matters much on a desk. Chuwi's after-sales presence in India is the genuine unknown. It scored 8.5/10.

Key specs:

• Processor: Intel Core i5-12450H (45W)
• GPU: Intel UHD
• Display: 15.6-inch FHD IPS, 60Hz, 6-bit panel
• RAM/Storage: 16GB DDR4 (upgradeable to 32GB) / 512GB Gen 4 SSD, second M.2 slot free
• Battery: 49.08Wh, 4 hours 46 minutes (PCMark 10 video loop)
• Rating: 8.5/10

Lenovo ThinkPad E14 — Best AMD Ryzen Laptop

Price at time of review: Rs 49,990

Why we picked it

Benchmarks are not why anyone buys a ThinkPad. The Lenovo ThinkPad E14 (review) is here for the keyboard, the build, and the ports, and it is the best expression of AMD's Ryzen platform in this segment.

The typing experience is the headline, and in our review we called it one of the best laptop typing experiences, period. Full-size, spill-resistant, smile-shaped keys with generous travel and two levels of backlighting, plus the red TrackPoint nub between the G, H and B keys for anyone who has built the muscle memory. Long emails and long reports stop being a chore.

Around it sits a chassis certified to MIL-STD-810H. The 14-inch IPS panel runs 1920 x 1200 in a 16:10 ratio with 100% sRGB coverage and an anti-glare coating, which handles spreadsheets and PDFs well, even if 300 nits limits outdoor use. Ports are unusually generous: two USB-C, two USB-A, full-size HDMI, RJ45 Ethernet, a headphone jack and a Kensington slot, with Wi-Fi 6E and a physical privacy shutter over the webcam.

The Ryzen 5 7530U is a 6-core, 12-thread Zen 3 chip, and it is honest rather than fast. It scored 8,062 in Cinebench R23 multi-core and 5,500 in PCMark 10, respectable numbers that nonetheless sit behind the ThinkBook above. What it does deliver is endurance: 8 hours 30 minutes in our video loop test from a 57Wh battery, around 7 hours of real screen-on time, and 0 to 80% in about an hour over USB-C.

The internals reward opening up. Our unit shipped with a Samsung drive in the shorter M.2 2242 format, and there is a spare M.2 2280 slot alongside it, so adding a second SSD is straightforward. Bottom-firing speakers tuned by Dolby Audio get loud enough for calls without much depth, and the 720p webcam is serviceable rather than good.

The catch is memory. It ships with 8GB soldered, which is thin in 2026. There is a SO-DIMM slot that takes it to 40GB total, and we would treat that upgrade as mandatory rather than optional. It scored 7/10.

Key specs:

• Processor: AMD Ryzen 5 7530U (15W, 6 cores, 12 threads)
• GPU: AMD Radeon
• Display: 14-inch (1920 x 1200) IPS, 16:10, 300 nits, 100% sRGB, anti-glare
• RAM/Storage: 8GB DDR4 soldered plus SO-DIMM slot (up to 40GB) / 512GB Gen 3 SSD
• Battery: 57Wh, 8 hours 30 minutes (PCMark 10 video loop), 57W USB-C Rapid Charge
• Build: 1.6kg, 17.7mm, MIL-STD-810H, 180-degree hinge
• Rating: 7/10

MSI Modern 15 B12M — Best Intel Laptop

Price at time of review: Rs 36,990 

Why we picked it

The MSI Modern 15 B12M (review) is the Intel pick because it delivers a genuinely capable 15.6-inch work machine at a price that has now fallen close to Rs 30,000, with a backlit keyboard and quick charging that make daily use more pleasant than the price suggests.

The Core i3-1215U is a 6-core, 8-thread Alder Lake chip, and it earns its keep. It scored 6,856 in Cinebench R23 multi-core and 6,320 in Geekbench 6 multi-core, ahead of the ThinkPad E14's 4,537 on the multi-core Geekbench run despite the ThinkPad costing Rs 13,000 more. PCMark 10 came in at 4,803. On graphics, it managed 2,792 in Fire Strike and 11,575 in Night Raid, which is enough for media playback and light photo work but not for gaming.

Battery ran for 6 hours 15 minutes in our video loop test from a modest 39Wh cell, which is mid-pack here, though quick charging softens that. The 15.6-inch IPS panel is large enough to work on comfortably without an external monitor.

A few things to know before buying: The display could be brighter and more colourful, the build could be more robust, and the speakers could use more volume, all compromises that make sense at this price and none of which stopped our reviewer from getting work done across a month of use. Storage is also Gen 3 rather than Gen 4, and it showed 3,421MB/s reads and 1,830MB/s writes, the slowest drive on this page.

At 1.7kg and 19.9mm, it is reasonably portable for a 15.6-inch machine, and the port selection covers the basics with USB-A, USB-C, HDMI, a microSD reader, and a headphone jack, alongside Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 5.2. The keyboard includes a number pad, which is genuinely useful for anyone working in spreadsheets all day.

Worth noting that MSI has refreshed the Modern 15 line since, with newer Intel configurations now selling in India. Our tested unit is the B12M, and the numbers above are the ones we can stand behind. It scored 7.5/10.

Key specs:

• Processor: Intel Core i3-1215U (15W, 6 cores, 8 threads)
• GPU: Intel UHD
• Display: 15.6-inch FHD IPS, 60Hz
• RAM/Storage: 8GB DDR4 / 512GB Gen 3 SSD
• Battery: 39Wh, 6 hours 15 minutes (PCMark 10 video loop)
• Rating: 7.5/10

Acer Aspire 14 AI — Best Battery Life

Price at time of review: Rs 43,999

Why we picked it

Fifteen hours. That is what the Acer Aspire 14 AI (review) managed in our PCMark 10 video loop test, specifically 15 hours 13 minutes, and no other laptop under Rs 50,000 we have tested comes close.

Our reviewer cleared 10-hour workdays at full brightness with multiple tabs open and the display running at 120Hz, still finishing with over 25% left, which stretched to roughly 12 hours total. After a week, he stopped carrying the charger to work entirely. For anyone moving between meeting rooms, lecture halls, or hostel rooms with contested plug points, that is the most useful thing a laptop in this price range can offer.

The enabler is a Snapdragon X X1-26-100, an ARM chip paired with 16GB of LPDDR5x. It is not a performance monster, but it scored 10,514 in Geekbench 6 multi-core, the highest figure on this page, and 704 in Cinebench R24 multi-core. Thirty-plus tabs across two browsers with music playing caused no issues. The 14-inch panel is another strength: 1920 x 1200 at 120Hz with 100% sRGB coverage and around 400 nits, which is unusually good here. At 1.26kg with Wi-Fi 7, a QHD+ webcam and a full port selection including HDMI and microSD, the package is well judged.

The rest of the machine is thought through. There are two USB-A and two USB-C ports, HDMI, and a microSD reader, so no dongle bag. The DTS-tuned speakers get decently loud with reasonable fullness, the hinge opens a full 180 degrees, and the webcam includes a physical shutter alongside Windows Hello face unlock. It even managed 54fps in GTA V, which is more than an ARM ultraportable needs to do.

The compromise is the platform. Windows on ARM handles mainstream apps well now, but After Effects, Premiere Pro, and AutoCAD still lack native versions, and Linux support is absent. Anyone whose coursework or job depends on legacy software should buy x86 instead. The trackpad also registered occasional phantom right-clicks during testing. It scored 8/10.

Key specs:

• Processor: Qualcomm Snapdragon X X1-26-100
• GPU: Qualcomm Adreno
• Display: 14-inch (1920 x 1200) IPS, 120Hz, 16:10, 100% sRGB, around 400 nits
• RAM/Storage: 16GB LPDDR5x soldered / 512GB Gen 4 SSD
• Battery: 65Wh, 15 hours 13 minutes (PCMark 10 video loop), 65W USB-C PD
• Weight: 1.26kg
• Rating: 8/10

ASUS Chromebook CM32 Detachable — Best Chromebook

Price at time of review: Rs 48,990

Why we picked it

Buying a Chromebook means giving up desktop software. What you get back, in the case of the ASUS Chromebook CM32 Detachable (review), is a display better than anything else on this page and a detachable keyboard and stylus included in the box.

The panel is genuinely pretty good for the price thanks to a 12.1-inch WQXGA screen at 2560 x 1600 in a 16:10 ratio, running at 120Hz with up to 600 nits of brightness and 98% DCI-P3 coverage. Nothing else here at any price gets close on resolution or brightness. Gorilla Glass 3 with an anti-fingerprint coating keeps it usable under constant touch input, and lecture notes, PDFs, and websites all look crisp.

Both accessories come bundled, which competing detachables usually charge extra for. The keyboard has 1.35mm of key travel and feels closer to a real laptop than a flimsy cover, and the USI 2.0 stylus offers 4,096 pressure levels, attaches magnetically and charges wirelessly. As a tablet, it weighs around 610g, and the aluminium chassis is certified to MIL-STD-810H.

The MediaTek Kompanio 540 is built for efficiency rather than power, which suits ChromeOS well. Browsing, writing, streaming lectures, video calls and multitasking across several tabs all run smoothly, and the 42Wh battery covers nine to ten hours of mixed use with a 45W USB-C charger for top-ups. The 5MP front camera is among the best you will find at this price, with sharp video and good handling of bright backgrounds.

ChromeOS deserves a mention here because it shifts automatically to a touch-friendly layout the moment you pull the keyboard off, which makes the tablet mode genuinely usable rather than an afterthought. Audio comes from dual Dolby Atmos speakers, and there is a 5MP rear camera alongside the front one for scanning documents or whiteboards.

Know what you are trading away. There is exactly one USB-C port, so charging and using accessories at once needs a hub. There is no fingerprint scanner. The kickstand takes practice and is awkward on a lap. And the base variant's 4GB of RAM is genuinely limiting, so spend up to the 8GB model. Anyone who needs desktop Photoshop, CAD or serious programming tools should buy Windows. It scored 8.3/10.

Key specs:

• Processor: MediaTek Kompanio 540
• GPU: ARM Mali-G57 MC2
• Display: 12.1-inch WQXGA (2560 x 1600) IPS touchscreen, 120Hz, 600 nits, 98% DCI-P3, Gorilla Glass 3
• RAM/Storage: 8GB LPDDR5X / 128GB eMMC (base: 4GB / 64GB)
• Battery: 42Wh, 9 to 10 hours mixed use, 45W USB-C
• Included: Detachable keyboard and USI 2.0 stylus with wireless charging
• Rating: 8.3/10

Winners at a glance

Prices below are as of the time each laptop was reviewed and are subject to change.

FAQs

Which is the best laptop under Rs 50,000 in India?

The Lenovo ThinkBook 16 at Rs 46,990. Its Ryzen 5 7535HS is a 45W HS-series chip rather than the low-power U-series parts most rivals use, and it scored 9,393 in Cinebench R23 multi-core alongside 9 hours of battery. Dual RAM and dual SSD slots also mean you can upgrade it years later.

Which laptop under Rs 50,000 has the best battery life?

The Acer Aspire 14 AI, and by a wide margin. It ran 15 hours 13 minutes in our PCMark 10 video loop test, roughly double the segment average, and delivered about 12 hours of real-world use in testing.

Is 8GB of RAM enough in 2026?

For browsing, documents and video calls, it works. For anything heavier, it becomes the bottleneck, and two picks here ship with it: the ThinkPad E14 and the MSI Modern 15. The E14 has a spare SO-DIMM slot that takes it to 40GB, which we would treat as a necessary upgrade rather than an optional one. If you want 16GB out of the box, the ThinkBook 16, Aspire 3 and Aspire 14 AI all provide it.

Should I buy an Intel or AMD laptop under Rs 50,000?

Look at the processor class before the brand. An AMD HS-series chip like the ThinkBook's Ryzen 5 7535HS and an Intel H-series chip like the Chuwi's Core i5-12450H both outperform the U-series parts common at this price, regardless of who makes them. Between our two brand picks, the AMD ThinkPad E14 offers a far better keyboard and build, while the Intel MSI Modern 15 costs considerably less.

Which laptop under Rs 50,000 is best for students?

The Acer Aspire 3 A324-53 at Rs 40,990, weighing under 1.5kg with 7 hours 25 minutes of tested battery, the fastest storage on this list at 7,039MB/s reads, and a port selection complete enough to skip dongles entirely.

Is a Chromebook worth buying instead of a Windows laptop?

It depends entirely on your software. The ASUS Chromebook CM32 has the best display here and bundles a keyboard and stylus, which no Windows machine at this price does. But ChromeOS cannot run desktop Photoshop, CAD tools or most programming environments, so check what your work or course actually requires first.

Can you upgrade laptops in this price range?

Some, and it is worth prioritising. The ThinkBook 16 has dual RAM and dual SSD slots, the Chuwi CoreBook X Pro has dedicated access flaps for both, the Aspire 3 takes up to 32GB, and the ThinkPad E14 has a spare SO-DIMM slot plus a second M.2 bay. The Aspire 14 AI's memory is soldered, so what you buy is what you keep.

Note: This hands-on piece is based on the first Nothing OS 5.0 Open Beta update for the Phone (3). Therefore, with future updates, things may change for better or worse. Also, if you're wondering when Nothing OS 5.0 will arrive on your device, feel free to check out our update roundup.

Personalisation is up a notch

Some much-needed hints of blur

After much waiting, Nothing OS sees hints of blur and translucency, something most Android skins have been adapting to deliver a sense of depth to their UI. This comes in the form of the Lucent theme under the 'Theme & Style' setting in the Launcher menu. Once selected, all your widgets, quick settings shortcuts, and folders feature a translucent look, revealing hints of the homescreen wallpaper.

[gallery link="file" columns="2" td_select_gallery_slide="slide" ids="713941,713933"]

Additionally, when pulling down the new separate quick settings panel (more on this later), the background gradually blurs as the panel takes over the screen. Coming from ColorOS and HyperOS, I really liked this implementation for its design complexity. However, I hope Nothing adds similar blur effects in other parts of the UI, especially when opening and closing applications, since most other skins on high-end phones behave similarly.

Homescreen batch editing

To make homescreen customisation and layout changes easier, Nothing OS 5.0 introduces app batch editing, where users can press and hold an empty space and tap the 'Arrange' button to move the apps they wish to another row or page. Established skins like ColorOS and HyperOS have had this feature for a while now, so it's great to see Nothing bringing it to offer convenient homescreen editing.

In fact, Motorola has also added app batch editing to its phones with the Android 17 update.

Lockscreen clock colours (finally!)

By default, Nothing OS flaunts a white coloured lockscreen clock, irrespective of the clock face you choose. This often made the time text illegible when you applied a white or light-shade-dominant wallpaper. Fortunately, Nothing OS 5.0 fixes this by finally introducing colours for the clock, which adapt to your lockscreen's wallpaper and result in a contrasty look.

On top of this, OS 5.0 not only improves depth effect detection, which was introduced with Nothing OS 4.1 on the Phone (4a) series, but also brings two new clock styles: Gooey and Micrographics. While the latter will be available with the stable release, the former is a playful take on a liquid-like text. What I also really liked about the entire lockscreen system on OS 5.0 is that the coloured clocks are displayed on AOD as well, resulting in design cohesion across screens.

[gallery link="file" columns="2" td_select_gallery_slide="slide" ids="713940,713948"]

Improved spacing and new typeface, iconography

NothingOS 5.0 removes unnecessary spacing in first-party apps, such as Settings, and makes menus more compact to fit more items on a single screen. It also gets rid of the 'Inter' font in favour of 'Geist', Nothing's new typeface that was already present on Nothing's platforms like the Playground website. You'll also find refreshed icon menus in the Settings app and status bar, which I feel now closely match Pixel UI.

More and more widgets

Nothing OS has always revolved around widgets to make things easier to access since its inception. The latest update adds even more widgets, including the Away Time widget, which calculates how long you've been away from your phone and prompts you to stay away from your device more. The other two new widgets include Collector, which lets users curate sticker-like images on the homescreen from the Gallery or camera, and the Glyph Timer widget, which lets users set the Glyph timer duration without going into the Settings app.

[gallery link="file" td_select_gallery_slide="slide" columns="5" ids="713944,713936,713935,713937,713938,713934"]

I actually found myself using all three widgets during my time with Nothing OS 5.0. That said, I can see many people who're into homescreen customisation heavily using the Collector widget to display their favourite images or characters. What's more, you can set the widget to refresh the image every time you unlock the phone.

New apps and functionalities

Separate quick settings panel

Apart from Pixel UI, Nothing OS was the last-standing Android skin not to feature a separate quick settings panel, where swiping from the left side of the status bar reveals all your notifications, while the right side summons the quick settings toggle. This changes with NOS 5.0, as you can choose between the Classic (old) and Separate panels.

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The new Separate panel includes all the editing features of the old panel, such as manually resizing the toggles and placing them anywhere, while also introducing vertical brightness and volume sliders for easy access and a minimised music player up top. Since I've been using the separate-style quick setting panel on OxygenOS for almost two years now, this brings a sense of familiarity, making it easier for users to transition from other skins to Nothing OS thanks to the similar approach.

Reworked camera app

The Camera app has received some tweaks, making it not only smoother to operate but also featuring reworked animations. When toggling the aspect ratio, it displays a curtain-opening-like animation. 

Glyph features, all in one place

Despite being essential functionality on Nothing smartphones, all Glyph-related features were previously buried in the Settings app. With Nothing OS 5.0, a new Glyph app has been introduced in which every Glyph function now resides. This includes changing the Essential Notifications settings, selecting the specific Glyph toy (on Nothing Phone (3) and Phone (4a) Pro) to set, starting a Glyph Timer, and toggling Always-on Glyph Toy, Flip to Glyph, Volume indicator, and Glyph progress.

[caption id="attachment_713942" align="alignnone" width="900"] Glyph app[/caption]

But that's not all, since the 'Sounds' section within the Glyph app lets you change the notification and ringtones and their subsequent Glyph styles without needing to open Settings.

Under-the-hood improvements

Since it's a major release, Nothing has also tuned the system for better performance and responsiveness. While I already found Nothing OS 4.1 on Phone (3) to be quite snappy and swift, Nothing claims it's improved everyday interactions by making animations smoother, optimising memory to hold more apps at once, and tuning background resources to offer greater endurance.

Apart from this, the Bluetooth quick settings toggle lets you connect or disconnect an audio source with a single click.

Android 17 goodies

Quick Share to iPhone

Per my testing, while you still can't directly share media using Quick Share to an AirDrop-supported device, such as an iPhone or MacBook, like Google Pixel phones and Samsung Galaxy S26 series, Android 17 on Nothing phones introduces a workaround. All you need to do is select the media file you wish to share and then select the QR code button. Now ask the iPhone user to scan the QR code using the Camera app, which will then initiate the transfer via the browser.

[caption id="attachment_713946" align="aligncenter" width="900"] Quick share QR code[/caption]

Noto 3D Emojis

As part of Google's Android 17 release, Nothing OS 5.0 has revamped the entire emoji collection by giving them a 3D look. These are the same emojis that recently debuted on the Pixel 11 series and have already been rolled out to other Android 17-based skins, such as One UI 9 and Motorola's Android 17 update.

Updated privacy indicators

Previously limited to microphone and camera usage, Nothing OS 5.0 adds more privacy indicators, such as location and AI, to give a sense of what's running in the background. The mic and camera indicators are denoted by green dots, while location usage is indicated by blue dots. And when an Essential AI process is running, it's denoted by a yellow dot with an asterisk.

Enhanced HDR brightness slider

If you feel the default brightness during HDR content playback is too high or too low, an 'Enhanced HDR brightness' setting has been added in Nothing OS 5.0, giving users full control over HDR brightness via a slider.

Some small yet impactful changes

• Torch intensity: Just like in Pixel UI, pressing and holding the 'Torch' quick setting tile brings up an intensity slider, allowing you to adjust the torch's output.
• Smaller navigation bar: The navigation bar at the bottom of the screen is now shorter.
• Status bar icon animations: The status bar has gone dynamic. For instance, when enabling Aeroplane mode, the aeroplane icon flies up from the bottom while the signal and WiFi icons fluently move to the right.
• New wallpaper: In the 'Themes & style' section, there's a new green-shaded wallpaper dedicated to Nothing OS 5.0.
• New screen recording interface: Tapping the screen recording toggle opens a new interface, and recording is indicated by a pill-shaped icon on the left side of the status bar.
• Live Updates: In addition to Google Maps, core functions like the timer and stopwatch now support Live Updates. Several delivery apps, like Swiggy and Zomato, also offer Live Updates.

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Scope for improvement

Nothing OS 5.0, despite being a major release, leaves room for improvement. As things currently stand in the first Open Beta build on the Nothing Phone (3), I feel the icons should also adapt to the new translucent Lucent theme, like the widgets and quick toggles, resulting in a cohesive homescreen look.

Secondly, compared to others like ColorOS and OriginOS, especially on high-end phones and flagship devices, Nothing OS could do with more layering and depth in the interface by integrating more blur details and textures in several places, such as the quick settings panel, like Pixel UI and lock screen clocks, for a more immersive look and feel.

Thirdly, Nothing's midrange phones like the Phone (4a) and even last year's Phone (3a) house a strong X-axis haptics motor, but Nothing OS 5.0 does nothing (no pun intended) to improve haptics integration in the software. Unlike ColorOS and Pixel UI, sliding the brightness or volume slider, scrolling through the Recents page, reaching the end of a page, or locking the phone doesn't offer any haptic feedback. I would, personally, like to see more interactive feedback in future Nothing OS releases.

Thoughts

Overall, Nothing OS 5.0 is a major step up from Nothing 4.1 in several areas, including personalisation, ease of use, and smooth interactivity, even though lingering issues persist. I feel users will have a great time playing around with the new coloured clock faces, while the Lucent theme, new set of widgets, batch app editing, and 3D Noto emojis bring a much-needed freshness to the UI.

The battery is finally showing its age

After 250 charge cycles, my iPhone 17's battery health sits at 95 percent, and you can feel every bit of that five percent drop on a busy day. Mind you, I am very careful not to leave the iPhone on charge overnight and have all the relevant charging optimisations enabled. I also keep the max charging limit to around 90 or 95 percent instead of 100 percent. Those less conscious of this might find their battery health lower than mine after almost a year.

I brought the phone to Berlin specifically to shoot photos of the city and video of the showcases at IFA, expecting the same all-day stamina I got used to when the battery was still at 100 percent. Instead, by 3 or 4 pm, even after a full charge that morning, the phone would be running on fumes. I ended up carrying a power bank everywhere for the second half of each day, something I never had to do with this phone in its first few months.

[caption id="attachment_713815" align="aligncenter" width="287"] iPhone 17's battery health was down to 95% after 250 charge cycles[/caption]

To be fair, a 3,692mAh cell was never going to blow anyone away next to the 5,000mAh-plus batteries on most Android flagships, and I said as much in my original review. What's changed isn't the ceiling; it's how quickly you hit it once the battery has been through the wear of a year's worth of charging. If there's one thing Apple needs to sort out before the iPhone 18 arrives, it's this: either give the base model more battery capacity to begin with by switching to a higher-density silicon-carbonbattery tech, or do more to slow down how visibly performance degrades as the battery ages.

Performance hasn't dropped an inch

The one thing that hasn't let me down is speed. The A19 chip in my iPhone 17 performs exactly as well today as it did when I first reviewed it, with no lag, no stutter, and no sign of the phone slowing down the way iPhones have occasionally been accused of doing right before a new model launches. That urban legend simply hasn't played out here.

Part of that might come down to timing. Reports suggest the iPhone 18 has been pushed to 2027, with Apple reportedly splitting the launch this time around, meaning the September 9 event will only bring the iPhone 18 Pro series and a foldable Ultra model. Whether intentional or not, it's hard to shake the feeling that Apple has less reason to let the base iPhone 17 show its age when its true successor is still a year away.

The cameras and the size still make sense for a trip like this

I deliberately packed the iPhone 17 for this trip instead of the Pro or Pro Max, and a year on, I'd make the same call again. The compact form factor is what sold me on this phone in the first place, and it's exactly what I wanted for long days on foot around Berlin and the IFA show floor: quick to pull out of a pocket, easy to shoot one-handed, and light enough that it never felt like a burden after hours of walking.

Video is still where this phone earns its keep for me, and it handled everything I needed at IFA without hesitation. Stills and portraits are respectable too, and while the Pro models do pull ahead here, it's not a gap I found myself thinking about while I was actually out shooting. For someone who wanted a capable, pocketable everyday phone rather than a telephoto lens, the iPhone 17 still does the job.

Apple should take its time with the iPhone 18

If performance were the concern, I'd say Apple has every reason to slow down. But performance isn't the problem here; battery longevity is. A phone that felt like an easy all-day companion at launch now needs a power bank as backup by the afternoon, and that's the kind of wear that becomes more noticeable, not less, the longer you hold onto a device Apple already expects people to keep for years. If Apple wants buyers to feel comfortable skipping a generation or two, as it clearly does with a seven-plus year software support window, it needs battery longevity to match. Get that right, and the iPhone 18 can afford to be an iterative upgrade. Leave it as is, and a five percent battery health hit twelve months in is starting to feel like the more urgent fix than anything on Apple's usual spec sheet.

India's telecom industry before 2016

Those who experienced India's telecom industry before 2016 would remember a market that was largely voice-driven, with users relying more on voice calls than mobile data. Data, SMS, roaming and other services were often available through separate recharges or add-on packs, forcing users to use each benefit judiciously.

Expensive mobile data also limited how freely people could use the internet on their smartphones. To put things into perspective, 1GB of mobile data cost around Rs 228 at the time. This was often an additional expense on top of voice, SMS and other recharges. Unlike today, recurring all-in-one tariffs were not the norm, with users often having to recharge separately depending on their requirements.

Mobile internet was also significantly slower than it is today, with 3G still more prevalent while 4G was only beginning to gain ground. Average mobile data speeds were around 2.5Mbps. With these connectivity and affordability constraints, smartphones could not be used as extensively for data-heavy activities as they are today. Mobile gaming, video streaming, browsing, social media and navigation existed, but the cost and speed of mobile internet limited their wider use.

What changed

The commercial launch of Jio on September 5th, 2016, revolutionised the telecom industry and, in turn, changed how Indians used smartphones. It put mobile data at the centre of the proposition and introduced VoLTE (Voice over Long-Term Evolution), allowing voice calls to be carried over its high-speed 4G network rather than relying on 2G and 3G. All-in-one recharge packs also became a theme, combining unlimited voice calls with a gigabyte or more of mobile data and SMS benefits.

The telco also offered plans that worked across circles and regions, doing away with separate roaming charges when travelling from one state to another. Although these plans came with a fixed validity, they were significantly more affordable than what users were accustomed to paying for mobile data. The effective cost of 1GB of data fell to around Rs 7.9, a roughly 97 percent drop from the Rs 228 per GB users paid earlier.

This made mobile internet far more accessible and accelerated data consumption across India, thereby increasing the use of smartphones. It increased video streaming, browsing, social media, gaming, and more importantly, digital payments on smartphones. The change also created the conditions for India's creator economy to grow, as cheaper and faster mobile internet made it easier to create, consume and distribute content.

Airtel, Vi prevented monopoly

Airtel, Vodafone and Idea were quick to adapt to the disruption caused by Jio, helping ensure that the market did not become a one-player game. All three telcos had a significant presence in India before 2016, when 2G and 3G networks and separate tariff models were still common. But Jio's success forced them to rethink both their networks and their plans.

Airtel began rolling out VoLTE in 2017, while Vodafone and Idea followed with their own VoLTE services in 2018. At the same time, the operators introduced more competitive plans that bundled voice, data and SMS, with free roaming increasingly becoming part of the proposition.

The competitive pressure also triggered consolidation across the industry. Vodafone India and Idea Cellular completed their merger in 2018 to form Vodafone Idea, now known as Vi. The merger created India's largest telecom operator at the time, with nearly 408 million customers.

Telcos benefited too

The data-driven, all-in-one recharge plans not only benefited consumers but telcos as well. Before 2016, prepaid users could often go for months without recharging if they had sufficient balance and did not need additional services. The all-in-one packs, however, came with a fixed validity, requiring users to recharge once the pack expired to continue using their numbers. This made regular recharges a much more important part of the mobile experience and gave telcos a more predictable source of recurring revenue.

Current situation

In the current scenario, Jio leads with the highest subscriber count of roughly 482.5 million, followed by Airtel with around 410 million users. Vi ranks third with approximately 198 million subscribers. BSNL also remains a significant player in the Indian telecom market, although its subscriber base is considerably smaller than that of the three leading private operators.

[caption id="attachment_678791" align="aligncenter" width="1080"] 5G speeds on compatible smartphones[/caption]

All three telcos have also adopted 5G, offering significantly faster speeds than 4G. Moreover, what started with all-in-one recharge packs has evolved into a wider range of value-added services. Telcos are increasingly adding benefits to their plans to make them more attractive to consumers and differentiate their offerings. These include subscriptions to OTT platforms, cloud storage, AI services and more.

In other words, a telecom plan today is no longer just about calls and data. It increasingly acts as a gateway to a broader ecosystem of digital services. At the same time, the era of ever-cheaper data appears to be changing, with reports suggesting that Airtel, Jio and Vi are preparing to hike their tariffs. This comes two years after the last major tariff revision, when plans became roughly 10 percent to 27 percent more expensive.

Next evolution

While the roadmap remains unclear, voice, data and SMS will likely remain at the centre of telecom services. Furthermore, AI will play a larger role in defining the future of telecom, making networks smarter by predicting congestion, identifying faults and optimising network resources. It could also enhance customer service, personalise plans, and help prevent fraud and spam.

The next major network transition could come with 6G. While the technology is still in the standardisation and development phase, it is expected to go beyond simply offering faster speeds, with greater focus on ultra-low latency, intelligent networks and connecting a much larger number of devices. AI is also expected to be deeply integrated into 6G networks, potentially making them more autonomous and responsive.

Moreover, services will play a key role in defining the sector. Now that data, voice calls, and other benefits have become accessible to a much larger population, the focus will increasingly shift towards ensuring that these services remain accessible not just in cities and open areas, but also in the remotest parts of the country and in congested areas.

The six machines below have all been through our lab on the same benchmark suite and the same battery test. The spread between them is wide: battery runs from 10 hours 10 minutes to 22 hours 8 minutes, and weight from 990 grams to a little over 1.4kg. That range is the point, because a laptop bought for a travelling sales team should not be the same one bought for a finance department.

Here is how our winners stand. The Dell XPS 14 (2026) is the all-round pick, the ASUS ExpertBook Ultra sits at the top of the range, and the ASUS Zenbook S14 offers the most for the money. The HP OmniBook Ultra 14 suits managed fleets, the ASUS ZenBook A14 (2026) is the one to carry, and the Samsung Galaxy Book6 Pro leads on endurance. Updated for July 2026 with the latest testing data and price changes.

A note on pricing: all prices here are what each machine cost at the time we tested it. Component costs have pushed prices up sharply through 2026, so verify current pricing and current configurations before committing to a fleet purchase.

What matters in a business laptop

Our benchmark suite is the same across every laptop we test: Cinebench 2026, R24 and R23 for processor throughput, Geekbench 6 for cross-platform comparison, PCMark 10 and PCMark 10 Extended for productivity, CrossMark for responsiveness, the 3DMark stack for graphics, Geekbench AI in ONNX and OpenVINO for on-device AI, PugetBench for DaVinci Resolve, and CrystalDiskMark for storage. Battery is the PCMark 10 video loop test at 80% brightness.

For business machines specifically, four things carry extra weight. Durability certification, because a fleet laptop gets handled by people who did not pay for it. Keyboard quality, because these machines exist to produce documents. Port selection, because meeting rooms still have HDMI cables and clients still hand over USB drives. And on-device AI performance, because Copilot+ features like live captions, background blur, and local transcription now run on the NPU rather than in the cloud, which matters for anyone handling sensitive material.

Dell XPS 14 (2026) — Best Business Laptop Overall

Price at time of review: Rs 2,57,890

Why we picked it

The Dell XPS 14 (2026) (review) balances the four things a business machine has to get right better than anything else here: performance, display, battery, and build.

The numbers land in the right places. PCMark 10 came in at 10,365 with 10,487 in Extended, both the highest of any machine on this page, and CrossMark hit 2,204. Those two benchmarks predict everyday responsiveness better than raw Cinebench scores, which is what a business buyer actually feels. Cinebench R23 multi-core reached 12,500 and Geekbench 6 multi-core 16,438. Where it pulls away is graphics: the Intel Arc B390 posted 5,821 in Time Spy and 11,081 in Fire Strike, comfortably ahead of every rival here, so presentations with heavy visuals, multi-monitor setups, and light creative work are handled without strain.

The 14-inch OLED at 120Hz is the other reason it tops the list. Reviewing documents, scrubbing spreadsheets and sitting through video calls all benefit from a panel this good, and the 120Hz refresh makes the machine feel quicker than its spec sheet suggests. Battery ran 11 hours 8 minutes in our video loop test from a 70Wh cell, which covers a working day with margin, and at 1.36kg it travels comfortably.

A PugetBench DaVinci Resolve score of 2,946 means marketing and comms teams can edit short-form video on it without moving to a workstation. The catch is the price: at Rs 2,57,890, this is a premium allocation, and the ExpertBook below offers more raw performance for buyers who need it. It scored 9.2/10.

Key specs:

• Processor: Intel Core Ultra X7 358H (25W)
• GPU: Intel Arc B390
• Display: 14-inch OLED touchscreen, 120Hz
• RAM/Storage: 32GB LPDDR5x / 1TB Gen 4 SSD
• Battery: 70Wh, 11 hours 8 minutes (PCMark 10 video loop)
• Storage speeds: 6,567MB/s read, 5,762MB/s write
• Rating: 9.2/10

ASUS ExpertBook Ultra — Best Premium Business Laptop

Price at time of review: Rs 3,49,990

Why we picked it

The ASUS ExpertBook Ultra (review) is the machine for executives and senior technical staff who need workstation specifications without carrying workstation weight, and at 9.3/10 it is the highest-rated laptop on this page.

The configuration explains the price. Sixty-four gigabytes of LPDDR5x and a 2TB Gen 5 SSD are far beyond what a standard business laptop ships with, and the storage speeds are extraordinary: 11,378MB/s sequential reads and 9,548MB/s writes, roughly 70% faster than the XPS 14 above. For anyone working with large datasets, virtual machines or heavy document repositories, that difference is felt constantly rather than occasionally. Running the same Core Ultra X7 358H as the Dell, it scored 17,199 in Cinebench R23 multi-core against the XPS's 12,500 and 4,246 in Cinebench 2026 multi-core against 3,028, with the higher memory capacity doing the work.

The display is the machine's signature, and it is built for offices specifically. ASUS pairs a Tandem OLED panel with Corning Gorilla Matte coating, and the result is a screen with almost no reflections, whether you sit beside a window or under harsh overhead lighting. Colour accuracy stays excellent, and the 120Hz refresh keeps everything smooth. Gorilla Glass Victus handles durability, the Ceraluminum chassis resists fingerprints, and the whole machine weighs around 1.1kg.

The battery ran for 13 hours 47 minutes, and the 90W charger reached 50% in about 30 minutes. The trade-off our review identifies is that the matte layer softens OLED's inky blacks toward dark grey, so cinematic viewing takes a small hit, and everything is soldered with no upgrade path.

Key specs:

• Processor: Intel Core Ultra X7 358H (25W)
• GPU: Intel Arc B390
• Display: 14-inch Tandem OLED, 120Hz, Gorilla Matte with Gorilla Glass Victus
• RAM/Storage: 64GB LPDDR5x / 2TB Gen 5 SSD
• Battery: 70Wh, 13 hours 47 minutes (PCMark 10 video loop), 90W USB-C PD
• Build: Around 1.1kg, Ceraluminum finish
• Rating: 9.3/10

ASUS Zenbook S14 — Best Value Business Laptop

Price at time of review: Rs 2,49,990 

Why we picked it

The ASUS Zenbook S14 (review) gets the value slot not on the configuration we tested but on the one most businesses should actually buy, and our review is explicit that for most users the Core Ultra 7 variant at Rs 1,79,990 is the smarter choice.

This is because the machine itself is excellent regardless of trim. Our Core Ultra 9 386H unit scored 15,558 in Cinebench R23 multi-core, 9,069 in PCMark 10 and 16,427 in Geekbench 6 multi-core, alongside a CrossMark score of 2,207, the highest here. It also posted 3,380 in PugetBench for DaVinci Resolve, ahead of both the XPS 14 and the ExpertBook, which makes it a genuinely capable machine for marketing teams handling light video.

The 14-inch 3K OLED at 2880 x 1800 with 120Hz and 500 nits is one of the best displays available on a thin-and-light, and our reviewer rated both design and display at 9/10. The Ceraluminum chassis carries military-grade certification, a vapour chamber sits behind a CNC-machined grille above the keyboard, and Thunderbolt sits alongside USB-A and HDMI, which AMD-based rivals frequently omit. The keyboard delivered close to 95 words per minute on the first typing test.

Two things to plan around. There is no SD card reader, and while the laptop supports 100W fast charging, the bundled unit is a 68W charger, with the faster one sold separately. Battery ran 10 hours and 10 minutes. It scored 9/10.

Key specs:

• Processor: Intel Core Ultra 9 386H (16 cores, 25W)
• GPU: Intel Graphics
• Display: 14-inch 3K (2880 x 1800) OLED, 120Hz, 16:10, 500 nits
• RAM/Storage: 32GB LPDDR5x / 1TB Gen 4 SSD
• Battery: 77Wh, 10 hours 10 minutes (PCMark 10 video loop), 68W charger
• Rating: 9/10

HP OmniBook Ultra 14 — Best for Security and IT Fleets

Price at time of review: Rs 2,21,999

Why we picked it

The HP OmniBook Ultra 14-kd0083TU (review) is our pick for managed fleets because it combines Gen 5 storage, strong on-device AI throughput, and 14 hours 39 minutes of battery in a configuration priced sensibly enough to deploy at scale.

At 14 hours 39 minutes in our video loop test, this is the longest-lasting x86 machine on this page, beating the ExpertBook by nearly an hour and the XPS 14 by three and a half. For a distributed workforce, that translates directly into fewer support tickets about chargers and dead machines mid-meeting.

The Core Ultra 7 356H handles a full business workload comfortably, scoring 14,096 in Cinebench R23 multi-core, 8,349 in PCMark 10, and 14,428 in Geekbench 6 multi-core. Storage is Gen 5 rather than Gen 4, and it shows: 10,341MB/s sequential reads and 8,691MB/s writes, second only to the ExpertBook here and well ahead of everything else. On-device AI throughput is solid too, with 8,199 in the OpenVINO quantized test, which matters for Copilot+ features that keep sensitive audio and video processing local rather than sending it to a cloud service.

The 3K OLED with variable refresh keeps the experience premium, and 16GB of memory with a 1TB drive is a sensible standard-issue configuration rather than an expensive one. The bundled 65W GaN charger is compact enough to live in a laptop bag permanently, which matters more for a travelling workforce than it sounds. Graphics are the weak point, with 2,751 in Time Spy against the XPS 14's 5,821, so this is a documents-and-meetings machine rather than a creative one, and the chassis edges are sharp enough to notice against the wrists. It scored 8.5/10.

Key specs:

• Processor: Intel Core Ultra 7 356H (25W)
• Display: 14-inch 3K OLED, 120Hz with variable refresh rate
• RAM/Storage: 16GB LPDDR5x / 1TB Gen 5 SSD
• Battery: 70Wh, 14 hours 39 minutes (PCMark 10 video loop), 65W GaN charger
• Storage speeds: 10,341MB/s read, 8,691MB/s write
• Rating: 8.5/10

ASUS ZenBook A14 (2026) — Best Lightweight Business Laptop

Price at time of review: Rs 1,65,990

Why we picked it

At 990 grams and 13.4mm thick, the ASUS ZenBook A14 (2026) (review) is among the lightest and slimmest 14-inch laptops available, and it is the machine to hand to anyone who lives in airports.

Weight usually costs performance. It does not here. The Snapdragon X2 Elite is an 18-core chip boosting to 4.7GHz, and it posted 19,677 in Geekbench 6 multi-core and 3,722 in single-core, both comfortably ahead of the Core Ultra 9 386H in the Zenbook S14 and the Core Ultra 7 356H in HP's OmniBook X 14. In Cinebench 2026, it led everything on this page at 5,740 multi-core and 631 single-core. The Hexagon NPU is rated at 80 TOPS, roughly 60% more AI throughput than the Intel machines here, which is meaningful for Copilot+ workloads.

Battery is the other headline, with the 70Wh cell running 22 hours 8 minutes in our PCMark 10 video loop test, one of the best results we have seen from a premium Windows ultraportable. ASUS now bundles a 100W USB-C adapter, up from 65W last year, and it charges phones and tablets too. The Ceraluminum chassis meets MIL-STD 810H, and the WUXGA OLED covers 100% of DCI-P3 with Pantone validation and DisplayHDR True Black 600.

Our review is direct about the problems, as they are. The panel runs at 60Hz, which feels dated at this price, and the storage is only 512GB. And at Rs 1,65,990 against a predecessor that started near Rs 99,000, the value case is hard to argue. It scored 7.5/10, the lowest here.

Key specs:

• Processor: Qualcomm Snapdragon X2 Elite X2E-88-100 (18 cores, up to 4.7GHz, 80 TOPS NPU)
• GPU: Qualcomm Adreno X2-90
• Display: 14-inch WUXGA (1920 x 1200) OLED, 60Hz, 100% DCI-P3, 400 nits typical
• RAM/Storage: 16GB LPDDR5x / 512GB Gen 4 SSD
• Battery: 70Wh, 22 hours 8 minutes (PCMark 10 video loop), 100W USB-C
• Build: 990g, 13.4mm, Ceraluminum, MIL-STD 810H
• Rating: 7.5/10

Samsung Galaxy Book6 Pro — Best Battery Life

Price at time of review: Rs 1,90,000

Why we picked it

The Samsung Galaxy Book6 Pro is our battery pick because it delivers close to a full day and a half of unplugged use, the longest of any x86 machine we have tested, without asking an IT department to compromise on anything else to get it.

The combination is unusual. Endurance at this level normally means an ARM chip and the software compatibility questions that come with it. Here it comes from a Core Ultra X7 358H with Intel Arc B390 graphics, so every Windows application, driver, and enterprise management tool works exactly as expected. That makes it the straightforward choice for an organisation that wants long battery life without introducing a second platform into the fleet.

Performance holds up against machines costing considerably more. In our testing, it sat comfortably alongside the Dell XPS 14 across productivity workloads, and its graphics performance is stronger still, which means multiple external monitors and visually heavy work are handled without strain. The Panther Lake silicon is the reason for both the speed and the endurance, and the consensus among reviewers who have spent months with this generation is that Intel's efficiency gains are the real story rather than the peak numbers.

The 14-inch AMOLED panel is the display Samsung is known for, bright and saturated with the contrast that makes long document sessions easier on the eyes, and 32GB of memory with a 1TB drive is a generous standard configuration rather than an upgrade you pay extra for. Consensus is equally consistent on the drawbacks: the volume of pre-installed Samsung software is a genuine irritation on a machine positioned for professionals, the port selection is thinner than rivals offer, and the price has climbed noticeably over the previous generation.

Key specs:

• Processor: Intel Core Ultra X7 358H (25W)
• GPU: Intel Arc B390
• Display: 14-inch AMOLED
• RAM/Storage: 32GB LPDDR5x / 1TB Gen 4 SSD
• Battery: 67Wh, 20 hours 46 minutes (PCMark 10 video loop)

Winners at a glance

Prices are as of the time each machine was tested and are subject to change.

FAQs

Which is the best business laptop in India?

The Dell XPS 14 (2026) is our overall pick, with the highest PCMark 10 score on this page at 10,365, the strongest graphics performance thanks to its Intel Arc B390, a 120Hz OLED display and 11 hours 8 minutes of tested battery life in a 1.36kg body.

Which business laptop has the best battery life?

The ASUS ZenBook A14 (2026) at 22 hours 8 minutes, though it runs on ARM. If you need x86 compatibility, the Samsung Galaxy Book6 Pro managed 20 hours 46 minutes, and the HP OmniBook Ultra 14 managed 14 hours 39 minutes.

Which is the lightest business laptop?

The ASUS ZenBook A14 (2026) at 990 grams and 13.4mm thick, followed by the ASUS ExpertBook Ultra at around 1.1kg. Both carry MIL-STD 810H durability certification despite the weight.

Should businesses buy ARM or Intel laptops?

For most fleets, Intel remains the safer default because every enterprise application, driver and management tool works without question. ARM machines like the ZenBook A14 deliver substantially better battery life and AI throughput, and compatibility has improved to the point where our testing encountered few issues, but any organisation running legacy line-of-business software should verify compatibility before deploying at scale.

Which business laptop is best for large fleet deployments?

The HP OmniBook Ultra 14 at Rs 2,21,999 balances cost against capability well, with 14 hours 39 minutes of battery, Gen 5 storage at 10,341MB/s reads, and enough on-device AI throughput for Copilot+ features to run locally rather than in the cloud.

How much RAM does a business laptop need in 2026?

Sixteen gigabytes handles standard office work comfortably, which is what the OmniBook Ultra 14 and ZenBook A14 provide. Thirty-two is the sensible standard for anyone running virtual machines, large datasets or heavy multitasking. The 64GB in the ExpertBook Ultra is for specialists rather than standard deployment, and memory is soldered on every machine here, so buy what you will need for the laptop's full life.

Do business laptops need an OLED display?

Every machine on this page has one, which reflects where the premium segment has moved. For document work, the practical benefits are contrast and reduced eye strain rather than colour accuracy. The ExpertBook Ultra's matte Tandem OLED is the standout for office environments specifically, because the anti-glare coating removes reflections that plague glossy panels under overhead lighting.

For 2026, ASUS is offering the Vivobook S16 with both Intel and AMD processor options, giving users the choice between the two major x86 platforms. On the Intel side, you get the latest Panther Lake chips, including the Core Ultra 5 325 and Core Ultra 7 355, bringing updated CPU performance and more capable AI processing through an integrated NPU. The rest of the package remains familiar, with a slim 16-inch chassis, a 16:10 OLED display, and a focus on portability and everyday productivity.

But with the Snapdragon-powered version already setting a high bar for efficiency, the big question is whether the switch to Intel makes the Vivobook S16 a more attractive machine without sacrificing its biggest strengths. Here's an in-depth look.

Familiar design that remains portable

The 2026 Vivobook S16 doesn't look dramatically different from last year's model. ASUS has retained the same basic chassis, with a 16-inch display, relatively slim bezels and a clean, understated design. My review unit comes in Cool Silver, and the colour extends across almost the entire laptop, including the lid, keyboard deck and palm rest. It gives the laptop a simple, professional appearance without drawing too much attention to itself.

Despite being a 16-inch laptop, the Vivobook S16 doesn't feel particularly cumbersome. It weighs just 1.70kg and measures 35.70 x 25.06 x 1.59–1.79cm, which is quite reasonable for a laptop of this size. The relatively thin profile is especially noticeable when carrying it around, and I found it easy enough to slip into a backpack without feeling like I was adding too much weight.

The chassis is mostly made out of plastic, although the laptop doesn't feel flimsy in everyday use. There is some flex if you deliberately press down on the keyboard deck or lid, but during regular use the chassis feels sufficiently rigid. The silver finish also does a good job of disguising fingerprints and smudges. As with the previous-gen model, this one also passes MIL-STD 810H testing, which is reassuring if you intend to carry it around on a daily basis. The hinge is another small but useful detail. It feels reasonably sturdy and allows the display to open up to 180 degrees. That isn't something everyone will use regularly, but it can be handy when sharing the screen with someone sitting opposite you.

As for port selection, you get two USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-A ports and two USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-C ports, with the latter supporting both display output and USB Power Delivery. There's also a full-size HDMI 2.1 port and a 3.5mm headphone/microphone combo jack. ASUS also supplies a 68W USB-C power adapter, so charging doesn't require a proprietary connector, allowing you to alternatively use a third-party power brick. The laptop also supports Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 5.4, which is perfectly adequate for everyday browsing, streaming, video calls and wireless accessories.

Vibrant OLED display, but resolution feels conservative

The VivoBook S16 continues to feature a 16-inch OLED panel with a 1920 x 1200 resolution and a 16:10 aspect ratio. As you'd expect from an OLED panel, the image quality is excellent. Colours look rich and vibrant without appearing excessively saturated, while the ability to produce deep blacks results in a punchy viewing experience. Contrast is particularly impressive, with ASUS quoting a 1,000,000:1 contrast ratio, and the panel also covers 95% of the DCI-P3 colour gamut.

I particularly enjoyed using the Vivobook S16 for watching some TV shows and YouTube videos. Dark scenes benefit considerably from the OLED panel's ability to turn individual pixels off, while bright and colourful content has plenty of visual punch. Text also looks crisp enough for everyday work, although the 1920 x 1200 resolution isn't quite as sharp as what you would get from a higher-resolution 2.5K or 3K panel. This was also one of the few criticisms we had of last year's Snapdragon-powered S16, where the 1200p resolution felt slightly underwhelming for such a large 16-inch display.

The panel is also limited to a 60Hz refresh rate, which is perfectly reasonable for a machine that is primarily designed for productivity, entertainment and everyday use. But I would've liked the display even more if it offered at least 120Hz, as it would have made the laptop feel more responsive. ASUS has also added an anti-glare and low-reflection coating, which is particularly useful on an OLED laptop. Glossy OLED panels can be highly reflective, especially when used near windows or under bright indoor lighting, so the reduced reflections make the S16 more practical as an everyday machine.

Brightness is fairly limited too, with a rating of 300 nits, which is adequate for indoor use but not especially impressive by modern laptop standards. I had no major problems using it indoors, but you'll need to be more careful about where you position the laptop when working outdoors or in a particularly bright environment.

Comfortable keyboard, oversized trackpad

The large 16-inch chassis continues to offer a full-size keyboard with a dedicated number pad, which is useful for anyone who regularly works with spreadsheets or enters numbers. The layout is familiar, with well-spaced keys, while the power button sits within the numpad area rather than somewhere close to the Delete key. The only compromise is that ASUS had to squeeze the numpad into the available space, with the resulting layout being a little more cramped than the main keyboard. The arrow keys are also smaller, so it can take a little time to get accustomed to the arrangement.

The keys have 1.7mm of travel and offer a reasonably satisfying amount of feedback. During my time with the laptop, the keyboard felt comfortable for long typing sessions, which is particularly important given that the Vivobook S16 is likely to appeal to students and professionals who spend several hours a day writing or working on documents. The keys aren't loud either, thus it remains fairly quiet in an office or shared workspace. There's also three levels of white backlighting, which provide enough illumination to make the keys easy to see in darker environments.

A standout feature of the Vivobook S16 is its massive trackpad. It measures roughly 150 x 99mm and takes advantage of the generous palm-rest area. The surface is smooth, and cursor movement feels accurate and responsive, although I believe ASUS is not using a glass surface here. Windows gestures work reliably, making it easy to switch between applications, scroll through webpages or navigate around the desktop. ASUS has also added its Smart Gesture functionality, allowing certain gestures along the edges of the touchpad to control functions such as volume and display brightness. Overall, I found the sheer size of the trackpad useful when navigating Windows, although its large footprint does mean that your palm can occasionally come close to the edges while typing.

Capable everyday performer

The ASUS Vivobook S16 S3607AA is powered by Intel's Core Ultra 5 325, part of its latest Core Ultra Series 3 family based on the Panther Lake architecture. The processor features eight cores and eight threads, with four Performance cores and four Low Power Efficient cores. It has a 2.1GHz base frequency which can boost up to 4.5GHz, along with 12MB of cache and a 25W base power rating, with a maximum turbo power of 55W. The Core Ultra 5 325 also brings a capable AI engine to the Vivobook S16, with an Intel NPU rated at up to 47 TOPS.

The review unit sent to me came with 16GB of DDR5 memory, which should be sufficient for most everyday workloads, including several browser tabs and productivity applications open simultaneously. One advantage here is that the memory isn't completely soldered down, as ASUS provides a DDR5 SO-DIMM slot, allowing the total memory to be expanded to 32GB.

Storage is handled by a 512GB PCIe 4.0 NVMe SSD. That's a fairly standard capacity for this segment, although users who maintain a large collection of photos or video files may eventually find themselves reaching for an external drive. It is a speedy drive, though, as the CrystalDiskMark results were quite good. The SSD managed close to 6,700MB/s sequential read and around 5,400MB/s sequential write speeds. These are strong numbers for a laptop SSD, translating to quick boot times, fast data transfers, and a snappy overall system response.

As for synthetic benchmarks, I've included three laptops that provide useful points of reference for the new Vivobook S16. The first is last year's ASUS Vivobook S16 S3607QA with Qualcomm's Snapdragon X1 chip, while the other two are the Dell 15 D15260, powered by Intel's Core Ultra 5 225H, and the Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 3i Gen 11, which uses Intel's new Core Ultra 5 322. All four are non-gaming laptops, have 16GB of memory and use integrated graphics, making them reasonably relevant comparisons for a productivity-focused machine like the Vivobook S16.

Starting with Cinebench 2026, the new Vivobook S16 scored 2,383 in the multi-core test and 444 in single-core. The Dell 15 was slightly ahead in both, with 2,398 and 466 respectively, while the Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 3i recorded 1,792 and 448. In Cinebench R24, the Snapdragon-powered Vivobook S16 comes out ahead in multi-core, scoring 707 versus 579 on the new Intel-powered machine. The Dell 15 is also ahead at 601, while the Lenovo trails at 450. In single-core, however, the new Vivobook's score of 110 puts it ahead of the Snapdragon model and matches the Lenovo, although the Dell remains in front at 118.

Moving on to PCMark 10, the Vivobook S16 managed to score 7,089, compared with 7,975 for the Dell 15 and 6,422 for the Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 3i. The extended test tells a similar story, where the Vivobook scored 7,016, just behind the Dell 15's score of 7,025 but comfortably ahead of the Lenovo IdeaPad. Geekbench 6 again shows the new Core Ultra 5 325 performing competitively rather than dominating the field. Its single-core score of 2,535 sits between Dell's 2,638 and Lenovo's 2,491, while its multi-core score of 9,532 is lower than both the Snapdragon Vivobook's 10,120 and Dell's 10,829.

The AI-focused benchmarks are more complicated as they measure different execution paths. In ONNX single-precision testing, the new S16 scored 3,167, placing it well ahead of the Snapdragon model's 1,466 and Lenovo's 2,208. In the quantized test, ASUS scores 6,206, again behind Dell's 7,152 but ahead of both the Snapdragon and Lenovo machines.

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While the Vivobook S16 is clearly designed as a productivity-focused laptop, I did put it through a quick GTA V test to see how far the integrated graphics could go. At 1080p, the Vivobook S16 averaged 65 FPS in the GTA V benchmark, making the game quite playable at the laptop's native resolution. For comparison, the previous Snapdragon-powered Vivobook S16 S3607QA scored 62 FPS in the same test, while the Dell 15 D15260 managed 49 FPS and the Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 3i Gen 11 reached 63 FPS.

That said, raw benchmark numbers aren't necessarily the entire story. This is a thin-and-light 16-inch productivity laptop, and the combination of an eight-core processor, 16GB of DDR5 memory, and a fast PCIe 4.0 storage is more than sufficient for everyday work, content consumption and moderately demanding productivity workloads.

All day battery life

The Vivobook S16 retains the same 70Wh battery as its predecessor, which continues to deliver solid backup. In my day-to-day usage, which involved web browsing, writing, streaming videos and working with multiple tabs and applications, the Vivobook S16 consistently managed around 14–15 hours on a single charge. That's enough to get through a full workday without having to constantly look for a power outlet.

I also ran PCMark 10's Video Playback battery test, which produced an even more impressive result where the laptop lasted 20 hours. The result should be viewed as a best-case scenario rather than an indication of typical usage, but it nevertheless highlights the efficiency of the new platform. With a compact 68W USB-C charger included in the box, the laptop is also relatively convenient to carry around without adding too much weight to the overall setup.

Final words

The new ASUS Vivobook S16 is a well-rounded large-screen laptop that gets most of the fundamentals right. Some of its strengths are the 16-inch OLED display, enormous trackpad, relatively portable design, strong everyday performance, and excellent battery life. Considering the new Intel platform, it makes the S16 a more versatile machine, particularly for users who may have concerns about ARM software compatibility.

Performance is competitive rather than class-leading, with the Core Ultra 5 325 capable of handling everyday productivity with ease. There are a few areas where ASUS could have gone further. For instance, the 1920 x 1200 resolution feels conservative on a 16-inch OLED panel, and a higher refresh rate would have made the experience feel noticeably more modern. I also would have liked to see faster USB-C connectivity, especially since the previous Snapdragon model offered USB4.

The notebook is suitable for students, professionals, and content consumers who value screen real estate without wanting a bulky machine. However, at its current selling price of Rs 1,37,990, it isn't the most aggressively priced laptop in this segment. In fact, it is much more expensive than its Snapdragon-powered predecessor due to the premium Intel platform and skyrocketing memory prices. If you are in the market for a new 16-inch laptop, consider looking at previous-gen models or even the new AMD Ryzen AI 7 445-powered Vivobook S16 for better value. 

Editor's Rating: 7.5 / 10

Pros:

• Compact and portable 16-inch design
• Solid battery life
• Vivid OLED display
• Expandable memory

Cons:

• Hard to justify the price
• Low display resolution and refresh rate
• Only 512GB storage

Quick verdict

The POVA 8 Pro distinguishes itself through a sci-fi-inspired design that sets it apart from other devices, paired with a vibrant display that delivers an engaging viewing experience. Its primary camera produces images with adequate detail, and the software incorporates stunning-looking glass elements, making it fun to use. However, the device trails rivals in raw processing performance, and the promise of only two OS upgrades constrains its long-term software support compared to others.

Design: easily distinguishes itself from others

Kicking things off with the design, the POVA 8 Pro flaunts a semi-transparent rear panel with multiple elements etched underneath the plastic layer, similar to the POVA 8. POVA calls it an Interstellar Spaceship Design, with subtle hints of a spaceship's exterior by incorporating texture, screw and plate-like patterns. The main highlight, however, remains the triangular camera module and the Alive Matrix Display integrated within it. Since no smartphone ships with such a camera island, it helps in giving the POVA 8 Pro its own identity.

For a smartphone with a 6,500mAh battery and a sizeable 6.78-inch display, the POVA 8 Pro feels relatively light to hold at 189g, while its side profile measures 7.39mm. With an extensive range of IP ratings in tow, including IP66, 68, 69, and 69K, I actually submerged the phone under a running tap after getting it dusty, and yet it remained flawless to use. In fact, the IP69K rating, in particular, allows the phone to withstand pressure from jet sprays in rare instances when you happen to face one.

While the POVA 8 Pro offers a near-premium in-hand feel, its closest rival, the Nothing Phone (4a) (review), features a metal unibody aluminium frame, making it feel even more premium. While we received our unit in the Arc White colourway, it is also available in Tundra Green and Graphite Black.

Display: rich viewing experience

The POVA 8 Pro packs a 6.78-inch HyperLux 1.5K AMOLED display with up to 144Hz refresh rates and up to 4,500-nit peak brightness, while the high-brightness value is 1,600 nits. The panel is protected by Corning Gorilla Glass 7i, and after removing the pre-applied screen protector and using the device, there are no visible scratches or scuffs on the display after a week or so.

Coming to the panel's actual experience, I was completely satisfied with its output. The details are sharp, the colour tuning by default leans towards vibrancy, and the contrast levels are rock solid. During my time, I watched the first two episodes of DCU's Lanterns on JioHotstar, and the panel didn't disappoint. On top of this, the Dolby Atmos-supported stereo speakers deliver crisp sound and don't distort at high volumes.

When comparing the POVA 8 Pro's display with the Redmi Turbo 5 (review) side by side, the former not only offered higher brightness levels indoors and outdoors but also appeared perfectly saturated for my liking. On the other hand, the Turbo 5 features slimmer bezels, giving it a more high-end feel. My only major gripe with the POVA 8 Pro's display is that when you install a new app, it's often limited to 60 or 90Hz. As a result, you'll have to manually set the app's refresh rate to 120Hz, while 144Hz is supported only in certain first-party apps, like Settings.

Performance: trails behind the competition

While the significant rise in smartphone prices is understandable due to the memory crisis, the POVA 8 Pro runs on the MediaTek Dimensity 7400 Ultimate, the same chipset that recently debuted on the Rs 34,999-priced Realme P4s. This puts it significantly behind performance-focused smartphones, such as the OnePlus Nord 6 and POCO X8 Pro Max and lifestyle-oriented phones, like the Motorola Edge 70 Pro+, all of which sell under Rs 50,000 at the point of drafting this review.

The processor is paired with a P1 Graphic chip, a dedicated chip to boost the graphics performance. That said, here are some benchmark results for your reference to assess how the POVA 8 Pro fares against the competition in raw performance:

[comparative-benchmark type="1" title="AnTuTu score" caption="AnTuTu assesses a smartphone's CPU, GPU, memory, and overall user experience (higher is better)" highlight="product_1" products="42030,41555,41931,42053,41523" ][/comparative-benchmark]

[comparative-benchmark type="10" title="Geekbench single-core score" caption="Geekbench assesses the efficiency of the CPU's single and multiple cores (higher is better)" highlight="product_1" products="42030,41555,41931,42053,41523" ][/comparative-benchmark]

[comparative-benchmark type="11" title="Geekbench multi-core score" caption="Geekbench assesses the efficiency of the CPU's single and multiple cores (higher is better)" highlight="product_1" products="42030,41555,41931,42053,41523" ][/comparative-benchmark]

While I duly enjoyed using the HiOS 16.3 software on the POVA 8 Pro, more on this later, there were several instances when I felt the performance was being bogged down due to the midrange-level chipset. While the Dimensity 7400 Ultimate is a skilful chipset for daily use and even for running games at decent graphics settings, I often encountered stutters and scrolling delays when opening or closing apps or navigating social media apps.

Nevertheless, it doesn't hamper the daily usability unless you have a very keen eye and are particular about animations. In Call of Duty: Mobile, the POVA 8 Pro delivered an average of 59.4 frames per second during a 30-minute gaming session at 'Very high' graphics and 'Ultra' frame rates, which is appreciable given the hardware on board. On the other hand, in BGMI, we achieved an average frame rate of 39.6 after playing for 30 minutes straight. In both games, temperatures remained well below 32 degrees Celsius, indicating efficient performance even over long periods.

This could also be attributed to the inclusion of a relatively large 5,000mm2 vapour chamber. Gamers into casual titles such as Clash Royale can expect consistently smooth gameplay with 120FPS support. I played the game every day during the review period for at least an hour and never experienced jarring animations or motions.

Software: incorporates stunning-looking elements

The POVA 8 Pro runs on Android 16 with HiOS 16.3 layered on top. From my experience with the standard POVA 8, the 'Pro' variant features smoother, more detailed animations, which makes sense given the significant price gap of almost Rs 20,000. On top of this, I really adored the real-time frosted-glass effects on HiOS 16.3, scattered throughout the UI. From the lockscreen clock to first-party apps to buttons and menus, POVA has curated the effects excellently.

Apart from the software design, POVA has added a multitude of AI features to the 8 Pro, with the AI Assistant as the major highlight. While I didn't get the chance to use it in depth, the feature can record, transcribe, summarise, and even create to-dos for regular or WhatsApp calls in multiple languages, including English, Hindi, Marathi, and Bengali. Apart from that, Tecno AI offers several AI features, including AI Writing, AI Note, AI Recording, AI Gallery, and more.

What doesn't fall in POVA 8 Pro's favour in terms of software is its update longevity. It's promised just two OS upgrades and three years of security patch updates, falling behind the Motorola Edge 70 Pro+ and Nothing Phone (4a) Pro, both of which are set to get three major Android updates.

[comparative-benchmark type="3000" products="42030,42053,41800,41555," pias="57,46,30,53,"][/comparative-benchmark]

Battery and charging: power-packed to last for days

The POVA 8 Pro runs on a 6,500mAh battery. While the capacity may not seem large by mid-2026's standards, when every other brand is chasing higher numbers, say 7,000mAh or above, POVA claims the battery is tuned to run normally even during extreme conditions. These include places with temperatures ranging from -20 to 60 degrees Celsius.

While we used the POVA 8 Pro in the stable weather conditions of New Delhi and Gurugram, the phone consistently delivered over 1.5 days of battery life on a single charge. On top of that, almost every battery cycle ended with some juice left in the tank. Coming to the real-world battery stats, the phone can easily provide 7.5+ hours of screen time under heavy use within a 24-hour window, while light to medium users can expect around 5 to 6 hours of screen time in a 35+ hour duration with over 20 percent battery remaining.

For an overview of how well the battery performs, you can view the stats from multiple charge cycles below:

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In our in-house PCMark Battery drain test, though, we expected better results from the POVA 8 Pro, as its 6,500mAh cell lasted just over 10 hours. The Vivo V70 with the same battery capacity clocked 15 hours in the same test. With 45W charging support in tow, which is on the lower end for a device priced at Rs 49,999, we were able to fully top it up from 10 percent in under 1 hour and 25 minutes.

[caption id="attachment_713626" align="aligncenter" width="900"] POVA 8 Pro charging test[/caption]

Cameras: lacks flexibility, but gets the job done

In optics, the POVA 8 Pro is equipped with the highly capable Sony LYTIA 700C primary camera with OIS, an 8MP ultrawide lens, and a 13MP selfie shooter. Coming straight to the camera results, the POVA 8 Pro shoots natural-looking images, though it tends to produce cool tones in some instances, such as when the sky occupies a dominant part of the frame. Similarly, while the dynamic range is well portrayed when photographing distant subjects, it can be challenging for the phone to maintain it, as the skies can be blown out or darker areas show heavy blue tones when there's a prominent subject in the foreground.

While the POVA 8 Pro doesn't have a telephoto lens, you'd have to resort to a 2x digital crop to take close-up photos. Fortunately, the results are quite usable, with the images retaining adequate detail unless you zoom in to examine specific parts.

While the LYTIA 700C sensor delivers adequate detail, the daylight results aren't as sharp as those of the Redmi Turbo 5 and Motorola Edge 70 Pro+, both of which have a similarly sized or smaller main camera sensor. Despite that, shots taken indoors with good lighting turn out quite decent, as the images pop and are finely detailed with no signs of heavy smoothing or noise. Similarly, in low light, you can make out individual leaves when capturing trees or plants, while the exposure control is balanced, so the scene isn't too bright or too dull. However, the details can be improved in low light.

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In order to assess how well the cameras of the POVA 8 Pro fare against the competition, I compared it against the Motorola Edge 70 Pro+:

Daylight

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While both smartphones have done their best to deliver natural results, the Motorola Edge 70 Pro+'s shot is closer to reality, retaining the building's dark red shade. Similarly, with higher contrast levels, the image pops out more. Upon zooming in, Motorola's output is slightly sharper, while the POVA 8 Pro handles dynamic range better, though the darker areas show a bit of noise.

Ultrawide

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Right off the bat, it's evident that the Moto Edge 70 Pro+'s ultrawide lens has a noticeably wider field of view, allowing it to fit in more of the landscape. Since it's equipped with a 50MP sensor, the details are better than those of the POVA 8 Pro's 8MP ultrawide camera. However, an area where the POVA 8 Pro's ultrawide comes out on top is colour consistency compared to the main camera, an area where the Moto phone struggles.

Portrait

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In portrait mode, the POVA 8 Pro has overexposed the subject's clothes and face, which has also resulted in crushing the shadows in various parts of the image. On the other hand, while the Moto Edge 70 Pro+ adds high levels of warmth, the exposure and highlights are well maintained, and the detail levels are also better than those of the POVA 8 Pro. It's also worth noting that the portrait images from both phones were captured with the primary cameras at around 50mm to keep things fair and square.

Selfie

[twenty20 img1="https://static.hub.91mobiles.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/9/2026/09/POVA-8-Pro-selfie-scaled.jpg" img2="https://static.hub.91mobiles.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/9/2026/09/Moto-Edge-70-Pro-selfie-scaled.jpg" offset="0.5" before="POVA 8 Pro" after="Moto Edge 70 Pro+"]

Even though the POVA 8 Pro captures selfies with a wider field of view, the reddish tones make the image less appealing than the Motorola Edge 70 Pro+. The Moto phone's image also carries balanced contrast tones and sharpness.

Low light

[twenty20 img1="https://static.hub.91mobiles.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/9/2026/09/pova-8-pro-low-light-scaled.jpg" img2="https://static.hub.91mobiles.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/9/2026/09/Moto-Edge-70-Pro-low-light-scaled.jpg" offset="0.5" before="POVA 8 Pro" after="Moto Edge 70 Pro+"]

In low-light conditions, the POVA 8 Pro gathers sufficient light by default and renders the scene naturally, whereas the Moto Edge 70 Pro+ introduces a reddish tint. As in previous scenarios, the POVA 8 Pro's primary camera doesn't match the Moto Edge 70 Pro+ in detail.

Night mode

[twenty20 img1="https://static.hub.91mobiles.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/9/2026/09/pova-8-pro-night-mode-scaled.jpg" img2="https://static.hub.91mobiles.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/9/2026/09/Moto-Edge-70-Pro-night-mode-scaled.jpg" offset="0.5" before="POVA 8 Pro" after="Moto Edge 70 Pro+"]

With night mode enabled, the differences remain the same: the POVA 8 Pro delivers better exposure and more natural colours, with accurate red tones on the signboard, while the Moto Edge 70 Pro+ offers sharper details.

The extras worth knowing

Haptic feedback: The POVA 8 Pro is equipped with a strong haptic motor that delivers tight feedback, though it isn't as good as the one on the Nothing Phone (4a) Pro.

Active Matrix Display: The small display within the camera module comprises 177 LEDs that work in tandem to display symbols, animations, and custom styles during various scenarios, such as incoming calls, music, charging, and more. During my use, I figured that only those who keep their phones facing down can take advantage of the Active Matrix Display, and I am clearly not one of them. Therefore, while there's a lot to play around with, it didn't suit my phone usage patterns.

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SGS 5-Star drop resistance: Along with multiple IP ratings, the POVA 8 Pro is SGS 5-Star drop-resistant, meaning it can withstand the shocks from drops or bumps on hard surfaces to a certain extent.

One-Tap Button: The POVA 8 Pro features a dedicated button on the right side of the frame that lets users trigger actions such as turning on the flashlight, capturing screenshots, switching sound profiles, and more. During my use, I used the One-Tap Button to turn on the torch, and it never failed on my end.

Final verdict

Much like the POVA Curve 2 and POVA 8, the POVA 8 Pro strikes its own identity with a spaceship-inspired design that's unique, tasteful, and visually appealing. The 6.78-inch AMOLED display is equally impressive, outputting sharp details and punchy colours in all sorts of content. While the cameras aren't the phone's strongest suits and lack the versatility many photography enthusiasts may seek at this price, they deliver usable, social media-ready photos.

On to the deal breakers, at a price of Rs 49,999, the MediaTek Dimensity 7400 Ultimate falls short of the performance delivered by close rivals such as the Motorola Edge 70 Pro+ and POCO X8 Pro Max, whether in everyday use or gaming. Minor hiccups and stutters during regular operation indicate that the POVA 8 Pro would benefit from one or two software updates to refine its responsiveness. The update cycle (2+3) of the smartphone also feels limited compared to other similarly priced phones in the segment.

Moreover, users seeking flexible cameras with a telephoto lens, better everyday and gaming performance, and more software upgrades may consider alternatives such as the Motorola Edge 70 Pro+ and the Nothing Phone (4a) Pro.

Having said that, the POVA 8 Pro at Rs 49,999 is a viable option for its striking design, rich display experience, comprehensive software design and features, and decent primary camera output. 

Editor's ratings: 8/10

Reasons to buy

• A design that stands out and integrates fun, nifty additions such as an LED display on the rear and a side button to trigger actions.
• Display outputs detailed and vibrant tones for enjoying content.
• Primary camera offers usable and social media-worthy results.
• Great attention to detail in software, while offering loads of AI and customisation features.

Reasons not to buy

• Gaming and raw performance aren't on par with its close rivals.
• It promises only two OS upgrades, whereas four OS upgrades have become standard in the segment.

The design of the Xiaomi 18 Fold is similar to the leaked images that surfaced a few days ago. It is Xiaomi's passport-style foldable, similar to Samsung's Galaxy Fold8. The foldable showcased at IFA 2026 today was housed in a deep maroon-red glass box, so I couldn't hold the device to get a feel for its size and weight. Suffice it to say that it looks compact even from a distance. 

Folded shut, the Xiaomi 18 Fold has a single circular punch-hole camera, while the inner display tucks the camera into the top corner, which I feel is the right place to keep the sensor so it doesn't get in the way of your content. There was also no visible crease on the inner display, but then again I was looking at it from a distance, so it's too early to tell exactly how creaseless Xiaomi has managed to keep it.

While Xiaomi hasn't confirmed the specifications yet, reports so far suggest the Xiaomi 18 Fold features a 5.38-inch cover display and a 7.58-inch main display when unfolded. It is also expected to be the first wide foldable to house a 6,000mAh battery, which would be impressive for a foldable this compact. The phone is also tipped to come with an IP68 rating for dust and water resistance, making it the second foldable to have this rating after the Pixel 11 Pro Fold. 

The horizontal camera strip houses three sensors, an LED flash, and Leica branding. The camera system includes a telephoto lens, but the megapixel count hasn't been officially revealed yet. 

What Xiaomi was able to officially announce today at IFA 2026 is that the Xiaomi 18 Fold is its first smartphone powered by the company's in-house XRING O3 chip, a 3nm deca-core chipset said to deliver impressive benchmark scores and raw performance. Xiaomi's adoption of an in-house chip places it firmly within a growing industry trend where major players like Apple and Google are seeking greater control over their hardware and software integration, potentially leading to optimised performance and unique features.

The foldable should launch with up to 16GB of RAM. Speaking of its launch, the foldable will be announced in China on September 7th, which is when we will have the official specifications and China pricing. As for its India launch, it's still unclear if Xiaomi plans to bring this foldable to the country.

Disclosure: The writer is attending Xiaomi's debut IFA 2026 showcase in Berlin on Xiaomi India's invitation.

Big build but lightweight

The Galaxy S26 FE has a relatively large footprint, but it manages to remain slim and lightweight. At 193g, the handset feels surprisingly light in the hand and is comfortable to carry around despite its size. The in-hand feel is good, and you can still get most things done one-handed, thanks in part to One UI's well-placed controls.

The power button and volume keys are positioned on the right side and are easy to reach. I also appreciate that Samsung hasn't added any extra AI or camera keys, which can sometimes feel more like an inconvenience than a useful addition. The Galaxy S26 FE shares the same form factor as the Galaxy S26+, so if you prefer a larger screen for watching movies, TV shows, or other content, you'll likely appreciate the extra real estate.

The handset also features a dual-speaker setup, with the earpiece doubling as the second speaker. Dolby Atmos support further enhances the experience, delivering a more immersive soundstage when watching movies or TV shows. Combined with the large 6.7-inch display and slim bezels, the Galaxy S26 FE offers an immersive viewing experience.

Design-wise, the phone gets a flat frame with slim bezels and an aluminium construction that gives it a distinctly flagship look and feel. You also get an IP68 rating for dust and water resistance. Samsung offers the Galaxy S26 FE in Graphite, Pistachio, and Blueberry. We have the Pistachio variant, which has a light aquamarine-like shade and feels very much in line with Samsung's colour palette. If you prefer something more understated or bold, the Graphite and Blueberry options should be worth considering.

Display goodness

Further adding to its appeal is the 6.7-inch FHD+ (1080 x 2340) AMOLED display, which supports a 120Hz refresh rate. The panel is protected by Gorilla Glass Victus+, offering a good level of durability for a phone in this segment. In comparison, the Galaxy S25 FE also offers the same display specs. As you'd expect from Samsung, the screen delivers vibrant colours, deep contrast, and plenty of visual punch, which should make everything from scrolling through social media to watching videos look engaging.

The 120Hz refresh rate also makes animations and scrolling feel fluid, while One UI's feature-rich and intuitive interface complements the panel well. So far, the combination makes the Galaxy S26 FE feel responsive and snappy during everyday use. Peak brightness is rated at 1,900 nits, which may not be the most impressive figure for direct sunlight, but it is more than adequate for indoor use and most everyday scenarios.

Based on our early experience, the Galaxy S26 FE's screen should be a strong draw for users who spend a lot of time watching videos, browsing, or consuming other content on their phones. The high refresh rate and responsive touch experience should also make it appealing to mobile gamers.

What else to expect

As for the rest of the experience, we'll be able to dive deeper into these aspects in our detailed review. The Galaxy S26 FE is powered by Samsung's in-house Exynos 2500 SoC, a 3nm deca-core chipset. It's a generational upgrade over the Exynos 2400 found in the
, so we expect to see improvements in overall performance, although that's something we'll need to assess through real-world usage.

For photography, the device features a 50MP primary sensor, a 12MP ultra-wide camera, and an 8MP telephoto lens with 3x optical and up to 30x digital zoom. Selfies are handled by a 12MP front-facing camera. The combination offers a versatile setup, allowing you to capture everything from wider landscapes and group shots to subjects at a distance.

Powering the phone is a 4,900mAh battery with support for 45W wired charging. While the capacity may seem modest compared with some competing devices that are increasingly opting for much larger batteries, its real-world endurance will ultimately depend on how well the hardware and software are optimised. We'll put this to the test as part of our full review.

On the software front, the Galaxy S26 FE runs One UI 9 based on Android 17 out of the box. Samsung is also promising seven generations of Android OS upgrades alongside security updates, giving the phone one of the longest software-support commitments in the segment.

Whether the Galaxy S26 FE represents a meaningful upgrade over its predecessor, the Galaxy S25 FE, is something we'll determine in our full review. We'll also put it through different usage scenarios to see how it performs in everyday conditions and how it stacks up against its competition. While we await pricing, if the S26 FE lands in the Rs 70,000 price bracket, it could be a strong contender for users prioritising a large, vibrant display and long software support over raw performance or a large battery. However, current S25 FE users might consider waiting for the full review to assess the performance jump.

Then there is the newer question, the one that did not exist three years ago: can it run a model locally, or are you renting a GPU by the hour?

Seven machines below, all tested in our lab on the same suite. They cover very different kinds of developers, from someone shipping React on a train to someone training models in a studio. Every number here is ours.

The ASUS ExpertBook Ultra is the overall pick, the ASUS Zenbook Duo suits web and app work, the Dell Pro Max 16 Plus handles data science, and the Apple MacBook Pro M5 Max is built for LLM work. The MacBook Pro M5 is the sensible Mac, the Samsung Galaxy Book6 Pro is the value pick, and the HP OmniBook Ultra 14 is the one to put Linux on. Updated for July 2026.

A note on pricing: all prices are what each machine cost when we tested it. Memory and storage costs have moved sharply through 2026, so check before buying.

How we tested

The suite is the same across every laptop we review. Cinebench 2026, R24 and R23 for multi-threaded throughput, which is the closest synthetic proxy for compile and build times. Geekbench 6 for cross-platform comparison. PCMark 10 and PCMark 10 Extended for real productivity, CrossMark for responsiveness, the 3DMark stack for graphics, PugetBench for DaVinci Resolve, and CrystalDiskMark for storage speeds, which decide how quickly a large repository indexes or a Docker image builds. Battery is the PCMark 10 video loop test at 80% brightness.

Benchmarks do not cover the rest of it, so every machine here spent weeks being worked on. Long typing sessions to judge the keyboard. Twenty-plus browser tabs alongside an IDE, a terminal and a video call, because that is the actual load. Sustained builds to see whether clocks hold or the fans give up first. Where a machine felt different in daily use, we have said so.

ASUS ExpertBook Ultra — Best Laptop for Programming Overall

Price at time of review: Rs 3,49,990

Why we picked it

The ASUS ExpertBook Ultra (review) gets more of the developer checklist right than anything else we have tested, and it does it in a machine that weighs roughly 1.1kg.

Storage is the part that will surprise you thanks to the 2TB Gen 5 drive, which posted 11,378MB/s sequential reads and 9,548MB/s writes, and that number could resonate more to a developer than almost anything else on the spec sheet. Cloning a large monorepo, indexing it in your IDE, building a container image, restoring a database dump: all of it is storage-bound before it is CPU-bound. Nothing else on this list except the Dell workstation comes close.

The 64GB of memory is the other half of it. Running Docker alongside a language server, a local database, a browser with thirty tabs, and a couple of VMs is where 16GB machines start swapping, and 32GB machines get tight. This does not. Behind it, the Core Ultra X7 358H scored 17,199 in Cinebench R23 multi-core, 4,246 in Cinebench 2026 multi-core and 10,105 in PCMark 10, consistently ahead of the Dell XPS 14 running the identical processor because the extra memory and faster drive do real work.

Then there is the display, which is the reason to buy this over rivals. It is a Tandem OLED with Corning Gorilla Matte coating, and the anti-glare finish means you can read code beside a window or under overhead office lighting without hunting for an angle. Text stays sharp, the 120Hz refresh keeps scrolling smooth, and the keyboard is genuinely comfortable across a long session. Battery ran 13 hours 47 minutes.

The trade is that everything is soldered, and the matte layer softens OLED's blacks a little. Neither is likely to bother you. It scored 9.3/10.

Key specs:

• Processor: Intel Core Ultra X7 358H (25W)
• GPU: Intel Arc B390
• Display: 14-inch Tandem OLED, 120Hz, Gorilla Matte with Gorilla Glass Victus
• RAM/Storage: 64GB LPDDR5x / 2TB Gen 5 SSD
• Battery: 70Wh, 13 hours 47 minutes (PCMark 10 video loop), 90W USB-C PD
• Build: Around 1.1kg, Ceraluminum finish
• Rating: 9.3/10

ASUS Zenbook Duo — Best for Web and App Development

Price at time of review: Rs 2,39,990 (currently around Rs 2,29,990)

Why we picked it

Two screens, no monitor, no desk. That is the entire pitch of the ASUS Zenbook Duo UX8406MA-QL971WS (review), and for front-end work it lands better than any accessory ever has.

The workflow is something very few, if any, can offer. Editor on the top panel, browser and dev tools on the bottom. Or terminal below, code above. Or a running app on one screen while you edit the source on the other, watching it hot-reload in real time without alt-tabbing. Both panels are 14-inch OLEDs, and the Bluetooth keyboard detaches and sits over the lower screen when you want a conventional laptop, or comes off entirely when you want the full stacked layout with the kickstand out. It is the rare gimmick that survives contact with actual work.

Both panels are 2,880 x 1,800 OLEDs at 120Hz, and they are vibrant enough that dense text stays comfortable across a long session. The detachable keyboard runs over Bluetooth when it is off the machine and reattaches magnetically over the lower screen, charging through pogo pins, with a separate Type-C port if you want to top it up directly. The keys are backlit, spacious and have ample travel, which makes for genuinely comfortable typing rather than the compromise these designs usually force. A bundled ASUS Pen 2.0 with 4,096 pressure levels handles diagramming and design markup.

The internals hold up. The Core Ultra 9 285H scored 18,699 in Cinebench R23 multi-core and 16,038 in Geekbench 6 multi-core, with 7,893 in PCMark 10 and 8,281 in Extended, which comfortably covers the Node, Python and JavaScript toolchains most web and app developers live in. Storage runs 6,385MB/s reads on a 1TB Gen 4 drive, and 32GB of memory holds a dev server, a database and a full browser without swapping. Battery is the real surprise for a dual-OLED machine: 13 hours 38 minutes in our video loop test from a 75Whr cell, with a compact 65W Type-C charger barely bigger than a phone brick.

Ports are the weak spot, with two Thunderbolt 4 Type-C, one USB-A, HDMI and an audio jack but no Ethernet. It is also a tad heavy, and Intel Arc graphics mean this is not a machine for serious gaming. Our review scored it 7.5/10 and framed it clearly: this is for serious multitaskers and creative users who genuinely want a dual-monitor setup everywhere they work.

Key specs:

• Processor: Intel Core Ultra 9 185H (35W)
• GPU: Intel Arc
• Display: Dual 14-inch OLED, 60Hz, touchscreen with detachable Bluetooth keyboard
• RAM/Storage: 32GB LPDDR5x / 2TB Gen 4 SSD
• Battery: 75Wh, 8 hours 13 minutes (PCMark 10 video loop)
• Review: 7.5

Dell Pro Max 16 Plus — Best for Data Science and ML

Price at time of review: Rs 9,00,000

Why we picked it

Data science hits a wall that other development work does not. Your notebook runs fine until the dataset does not fit in memory, and then nothing runs at all. The Dell Pro Max 16 Plus MB16250 (review) is built specifically so you do not hit it.

There is 128GB of CAMM2 memory here, and unusually for 2026, it is upgradeable rather than soldered. Behind that sits an RTX Pro 5000 Blackwell with 24GB of VRAM and full CUDA support, which is what actually matters when you move from exploratory analysis to training. Model training, batch inference, and GPU-accelerated libraries like RAPIDS all want VRAM, and 24GB is enough to work with real models rather than toy ones.

The raw throughput backs it. Cinebench R23 multi-core came in at 36,274, Geekbench 6 multi-core at 20,962, and Geekbench OpenCL at 239,234. On the AI runs, it scored 15,678 in OpenVINO quantized and 11,368 in ONNX quantized. Storage hit 16,037MB/s sequential reads, so loading a hundred-gigabyte dataset off local disk stops being the bottleneck it usually is. The 16-inch 4K Tandem OLED gives you room for a notebook, a terminal and a visualisation side by side.

Worth noting is the CPU side too, since a lot of data work never touches the GPU at all. The 24-core Core Ultra 9 285HX handles parallel preprocessing, feature engineering and anything scikit-learn throws at it, and 128GB means you can hold a dataset in memory while a training run occupies the GPU.

It is also serviceable in a way almost nothing is now, i.e. memory, storage, even the GPU on a modular DGFF board and the USB-C ports individually, all replaceable. The chassis meets MIL-STD-810H for durability, and the battery ran 7 hours 7 minutes.

Rs 9 lakh puts this in lab and studio territory, and it runs hot under sustained load. It scored 9.5/10.

Key specs:

• Processor: Intel Core Ultra 9 285HX (55W)
• GPU: NVIDIA RTX Pro 5000 Blackwell, 24GB
• Display: 16-inch 4K Tandem OLED, 120Hz
• RAM/Storage: 128GB CAMM2 / 2TB Gen 5 SSD
• Battery: 96Wh, 7 hours 7 minutes (PCMark 10 video loop)
• Rating: 9.5/10

Apple MacBook Pro M5 Max — Best for LLM and AI Development

Why we picked it

Configure a MacBook Pro M5 Max with 64GB of unified memory, and you get something no Windows laptop can currently offer: a single memory pool that both the CPU and GPU address directly, with nothing to copy between them.

For anyone running large language models locally, that architecture can become the whole argument. A discrete GPU with 24GB of VRAM hits a hard ceiling on model size regardless of how much system memory sits alongside it, because weights have to fit in VRAM. Unified memory removes that boundary, and the consensus among developers working with local models on Apple silicon has been consistent for two generations now: the memory pool is what determines which models you can run, and Apple sells the largest one available in a laptop.

The M5 Max pairs an 18-core CPU with a 32-core GPU, and a 40-core version sits above it. This generation puts a Neural Accelerator inside every GPU core, so inference scales with graphics horsepower rather than competing with it. Reviewers who have run extended workloads on these chips report the same thing about the 16-inch chassis specifically: it has the thermal headroom to hold clocks through multi-hour jobs rather than tapering after twenty minutes.

The supporting hardware is Apple's best. Liquid Retina XDR with 120Hz ProMotion, Thunderbolt 5, Wi-Fi 7, up to 4TB of storage, and up to a 100Wh battery with 96W charging.

The friction is tooling. A great deal of the ML ecosystem still assumes CUDA, and while MLX and Metal have improved fast, anyone whose stack depends on NVIDIA-specific libraries will spend time working around it. It is also very expensive, and the M5 Pro finishes most jobs for considerably less.

Key specs:

• Chip: Apple M5 Max (18-core CPU, 32-core or 40-core GPU with per-core Neural Accelerators)
• Display: 14.2-inch or 16.2-inch Liquid Retina XDR, up to 120Hz ProMotion
• Memory/Storage: 36GB unified, up to 64GB / 2TB SSD, up to 4TB
• Battery: Up to 100Wh, up to 96W charging
• Connectivity: Thunderbolt 5, Wi-Fi 7

Apple MacBook Pro M5 — Best MacBook for Developers

Why we picked it

Most developers who want a Mac do not need an M5 Max. They need a Unix-based machine that compiles quickly, runs all day, and does not sound like a hairdryer during a build. The 14-inch MacBook Pro with M5 is that machine, and it costs less than half what the Max does.

The base M5 is a 10-core CPU and 10-core GPU with Neural Accelerators built into each graphics core, and Apple quotes roughly double the SSD speed of the previous generation, which shows up in package installs and build times more than in benchmark charts. Sixteen gigabytes of unified memory is the entry configuration, and for iOS and macOS development specifically, Xcode, a simulator, and a browser all run comfortably within it. Anyone running heavier container workloads should step to 24GB or 32GB.

What makes it the sensible developer Mac is the fundamentals. The 14.2-inch Liquid Retina XDR panel with 120Hz ProMotion is easy to read code on for long stretches. The battery is rated up to 24 hours. The keyboard is good, the six-speaker system handles calls, and the port selection covers HDMI, SDXC, MagSafe and Thunderbolt without a dongle. If your work is native Apple development, this is not a compromise pick, it is the correct one.

The limits are worth knowing. This model gets Thunderbolt 4 rather than the Thunderbolt 5 on the Pro and Max chips, wireless trails the newer models, and the fans do become audible under sustained full load. Nothing is upgradeable, so buy the memory you will need for the machine's whole life.

Key specs:

• Chip: Apple M5 (10-core CPU, 10-core GPU with Neural Accelerator per core)
• Display: 14.2-inch Liquid Retina XDR, 120Hz ProMotion, nano-texture option
• Memory/Storage: 16GB unified, up to 32GB / 512GB SSD, up to 4TB
• Battery: Rated up to 24 hours
• Ports: Thunderbolt 4, HDMI, SDXC, MagSafe 3

Samsung Galaxy Book6 Pro — Best Value

Price at time of review: Rs 1,90,000

Why we picked it

The Galaxy Book6 Pro is the cheapest machine on this list and the one that lasts longest away from a socket, which for a developer who codes on trains and in coffee shops is a combination worth more than another few thousand points in Cinebench.

It runs close to a day and a half unplugged, the longest of any x86 machine we have tested. That comes from a Core Ultra X7 358H, the same Panther Lake silicon Dell puts in the XPS 14 at Rs 67,000 more, paired with Intel Arc B390 graphics and 32GB of memory with a 1TB drive. In our testing, it sat comfortably alongside the XPS across productivity workloads and pulled ahead on graphics, which matters if you are doing anything with GPU-accelerated tooling or driving external monitors.

32GB is the right amount of memory for most development work. It holds a container stack, a language server and a browser without swapping, and it is what the machines costing Rs 3 lakh and up on this list ship with too. The 14-inch AMOLED panel is bright and high contrast, which makes small text easier to live with across a long day, and the whole thing stays slim enough to carry without thinking about it.

The known irritations are consistent: Samsung ships a lot of pre-installed software you will want to remove, the port selection is thinner than rivals offer, and pricing has climbed noticeably over the previous generation.

Key specs:

• Processor: Intel Core Ultra X7 358H (25W, Panther Lake)
• GPU: Intel Arc B390
• Display: 14-inch AMOLED
• RAM/Storage: 32GB LPDDR5x / 1TB Gen 4 SSD
• Battery: 67Wh, longest-running x86 laptop we have tested

HP OmniBook Ultra 14 — Best Linux-Friendly Laptop

Price at time of review: Rs 2,21,999

Why we picked it

If you are going to wipe Windows and install Fedora or Ubuntu, the hardware underneath needs to support the software on top. The HP OmniBook Ultra 14 (review) is a straightforward Intel machine with no exotic silicon to fight, which is exactly what you want.

ARM-based Windows laptops still have patchy Linux support, and machines with discrete NVIDIA graphics bring their own driver questions. An Intel processor with Intel Arc graphics runs on mainline kernel drivers that have been maintained for years, which means Wi-Fi, sleep, brightness keys and external displays tend to work on first boot rather than after a weekend of forum posts.

The hardware itself is well suited to development. Storage is Gen 5 rather than Gen 4, posting 10,341MB/s sequential reads and 8,691MB/s writes, second only to the ExpertBook here, so package installs and repository operations are quick. The Core Ultra 7 356H scored 14,096 in Cinebench R23 multi-core, 8,349 in PCMark 10 and 14,428 in Geekbench 6 multi-core, which handles builds and containers comfortably. Battery ran 14 hours 39 minutes, the longest of any Intel machine here with a published review.

The 3K OLED at 120Hz with variable refresh gives you real estate and sharpness for dense text, and the 65W GaN charger is small enough to leave in a bag permanently. Sixteen gigabytes of memory is the one specification to think about: fine for most work, tight if you run several containers at once.

The chassis edges are sharp enough to notice against your wrists during long sessions, and the port selection is limited. It scored 8.5/10.

Key specs:

• Processor: Intel Core Ultra 7 356H (25W)
• Display: 14-inch 3K OLED, 120Hz with variable refresh rate
• RAM/Storage: 16GB LPDDR5x / 1TB Gen 5 SSD
• Battery: 70Wh, 14 hours 39 minutes (PCMark 10 video loop), 65W GaN charger
• Storage speeds: 10,341MB/s read, 8,691MB/s write
• Rating: 8.5/10

Winners at a glance

Prices are as of the time each machine was tested and are subject to change.

FAQs

Which is the best laptop for programming in India?

The ASUS ExpertBook Ultra. It combines 64GB of memory, the second-fastest storage we have tested at 11,378MB/s reads, a matte OLED display that stays readable in bright rooms, and 13 hours 47 minutes of battery in a 1.1kg body. It scored 9.3/10 in our review.

How much RAM do I need for coding?

Sixteen gigabytes handles most web development, scripting and general programming comfortably. Thirty-two is the sensible target if you run Docker containers, virtual machines or heavy IDEs alongside a browser, which is what the Galaxy Book6 Pro and Zenbook Duo provide. Sixty-four and above, as on the ExpertBook Ultra, is for data science and large-scale work.

Is a MacBook good for programming?

Yes, particularly for anything Unix-based, and it is the only option for native iOS and macOS development. The MacBook Pro M5 at Rs 1,69,900 covers most development work with excellent single-core performance and a rated 24 hours of battery. Step up to the M5 Max only if you are running large models locally.

Which laptop is best for machine learning and data science?

The Dell Pro Max 16 Plus, with 128GB of upgradeable memory and an RTX Pro 5000 carrying 24GB of VRAM with full CUDA support. Dataset size and VRAM are the constraints in this work far more often than processor speed.

Do I need a dedicated GPU for programming?

For most development, no. Web, app, backend and general software work are bound by memory, storage speed and single-core performance. A dedicated GPU becomes necessary for machine learning, local model inference, game development and GPU-accelerated data work.

Which laptop is best for running Linux?

The HP OmniBook Ultra 14. Its Intel processor and Intel Arc graphics run on long-maintained mainline kernel drivers, so Wi-Fi, sleep, display brightness and external monitors tend to work without configuration. ARM Windows machines and laptops with discrete NVIDIA graphics both require more setup.

Which programming laptop has the best battery life?

The Samsung Galaxy Book6 Pro is the longest-running x86 machine we have tested. The HP OmniBook Ultra 14 managed 14 hours 39 minutes and the ASUS ExpertBook Ultra 13 hours 47 minutes, both enough for a full day away from a socket.

Are dual-screen laptops worth it for developers?

For front-end and full-stack work, genuinely yes. The ASUS Zenbook Duo lets you keep an editor on one panel and a browser with dev tools on the other, watching changes hot-reload without switching windows. The cost is battery life, which drops considerably with both screens running.

What has not caught up is the buying advice. Every laptop on a shelf in India right now has AI somewhere on the box, and the spec sheets are a mess of TOPS figures, NPU generations, and platform names that change every nine months.

So we tested. Eight machines, same benchmark suite, same battery test, including Geekbench AI in both the ONNX and OpenVINO runtimes, which is the closest thing there is to a portable measure of on-device AI throughput. The numbers below are all ours.

Where they land: the Dell Pro Max 16 Plus is the outright pick, the HP EliteBook X G2q 14 AI leads on Snapdragon, the Dell XPS 14 (2026) on Intel, and the ASUS ROG Flow Z13 on AMD. The Apple MacBook Pro M5 Max is the Mac to buy, the Samsung Galaxy Book6 Ultra is the value play, the Galaxy Book6 Pro runs longest, and the MSI Titan 18 HX AI is the flagship. Updated for July 2026.

A note on pricing: all prices are what each machine cost when we tested it. Memory and storage costs have pushed this category up sharply through 2026, so verify before buying.

How we tested

Every machine here ran the same set. Geekbench AI in ONNX and OpenVINO for on-device inference throughput, Cinebench 2026, R24 and R23 for processor work, Geekbench 6 across platforms, PCMark 10 and PCMark 10 Extended for productivity, CrossMark for responsiveness, the full 3DMark stack, PugetBench for DaVinci Resolve where creative work matters, and CrystalDiskMark for storage. Battery is the PCMark 10 video loop test at 80% brightness.

Benchmarks only take you so far with these machines, though. AI features are the sort of thing you either notice or you do not, so every laptop here spent weeks doing actual work: live transcription in meetings, local image generation, background processing during calls, and the usual grind of tabs, documents and video. Where a machine felt different, we have said so.

Dell Pro Max 16 Plus — Best AI Laptop Overall

Price at time of review: Rs 9,00,000

Why we picked it

The Dell Pro Max 16 Plus MB16250 (review) is the most capable AI machine we have tested, and it is not close.

The specification reads like a desktop that lost an argument with a suitcase. A Core Ultra 9 285HX, an RTX Pro 5000 Blackwell with 24GB of VRAM, and 128GB of upgradeable CAMM2 memory. In our AI runs, it posted 15,678 in the OpenVINO quantized test and 11,368 in ONNX quantized, alongside a Geekbench OpenCL score of 239,234 that only the Titan beats. Running Llama locally, generating in Stable Diffusion, working through PyTorch: this is the machine on this list that finishes the job while the others are still loading.

The rest is workstation-grade. Cinebench R23 multi-core came in at 36,274, PCMark 10 Extended at 11,599, and PugetBench for DaVinci Resolve at 9,179. Storage runs 16,037MB/s sequential reads. The 16-inch 4K Tandem OLED at 120Hz is accurate enough to grade on, the chassis meets MIL-STD-810H, and almost everything inside is serviceable: memory, storage, even the GPU on a modular DGFF board and the USB-C ports individually.

Battery ran 7 hours 7 minutes, which is respectable for the hardware. The price is not: at Rs 9 lakh, this is a studio or lab purchase, and it also runs hot under sustained load. It scored 9.5/10.

Key specs:

• Processor: Intel Core Ultra 9 285HX (55W)
• GPU: NVIDIA RTX Pro 5000 Blackwell, 24GB
• Display: 16-inch 4K Tandem OLED, 120Hz
• RAM/Storage: 128GB CAMM2 / 2TB Gen 5 SSD
• Battery: 96Wh, 7 hours 7 minutes (PCMark 10 video loop)
• Rating: 9.5/10

HP EliteBook X G2q 14 AI — Best Snapdragon X Laptop

Price at time of review: Rs 2,88,116

Why we picked it

Qualcomm has spent two years insisting ARM belongs on Windows. The HP EliteBook X G2q 14 AI (review) can arguably be considered one of the few machines that can make the argument without asterisks.

The Snapdragon X2 Elite X2E-90-100 has the biggest NPU in this guide at 85 TOPS, and it backs that up with the best CPU numbers of any thin-and-light here. Geekbench 6 single-core hit 4,042 and multi-core 21,041, both the highest on this page, ahead of every Intel machine we put against it. Cinebench 2026 multi-core reached 3,723. This is the generational leap Qualcomm has been promising since the first Snapdragon X laptops landed, and this time it arrives.

Graphics are where it gives ground. Time Spy came in at 4,284 against the XPS 14's 5,821, and the ONNX quantized score of 7,690 sits below the Intel and AMD machines. It still runs GTA V at 116fps through Microsoft's Prism emulator, which nobody expected from an enterprise ultrabook.

For its intended buyer, none of that matters much. Battery ran 11 hours 52 minutes, the 14-inch WUXGA IPS touch panel is easy on the eyes over a long day, MIL-STD 810H handles travel, and 32GB with a 1TB drive is a sensible enterprise configuration. Our reviewer noted that the only hiccups encountered traced to ARM-on-Windows translation rather than anything HP built. It scored 8.3/10.

Key specs:

• Processor: Qualcomm Snapdragon X2 Elite X2E-90-100 (18 cores, 85 TOPS Hexagon NPU)
• GPU: Qualcomm Adreno X2-90
• Display: 14-inch WUXGA IPS touch, 60Hz
• RAM/Storage: 32GB LPDDR5x / 1TB Gen 4 SSD
• Battery: 56Wh, 11 hours 52 minutes (PCMark 10 video loop)
• Build: MIL-STD 810H certified
• Rating: 8.3/10

Dell XPS 14 (2026) — Best Intel Laptop

Price at time of review: Rs 2,57,890

Why we picked it

Dell killed the XPS line in 2025 and revived it back a year later on Panther Lake. The Dell XPS 14 (2026) (review) is the best version of Intel's new silicon you can buy in India, and it seems the year off did it good.

The Core Ultra X7 358H brings a 50 TOPS NPU, with Intel quoting 180 TOPS across the whole platform once the Arc B390 graphics are counted. In our AI runs, it scored 8,330 in OpenVINO-quantized and 8,303 in ONNX-quantized, near-identical across both runtimes, which is exactly what you want: AI tools behave the same regardless of which backend they were built against.

Elsewhere, it is the most balanced machine in this guide. PCMark 10 came in at 10,365 with 10,487 in Extended, both the highest of any non-gaming laptop here, and CrossMark hit 2,204. The Arc B390 posted 5,821 in Time Spy and 11,081 in Fire Strike, well ahead of every other integrated-graphics machine on this page, so external monitors and GPU-accelerated effects are handled without complaint. Cinebench R23 multi-core reached 12,500 and Geekbench 6 multi-core 16,438.

The 14-inch OLED touchscreen at 120Hz remains the reason people buy an XPS, battery ran 11 hours 8 minutes, and at 1.36kg it travels well. The glossy panel gets reflective with a light source behind you, and there is no physical webcam shutter. It scored 9.2/10.

Key specs:

• Processor: Intel Core Ultra X7 358H (25W, Panther Lake, 50 TOPS NPU)
• GPU: Intel Arc B390
• Display: 14-inch OLED touchscreen, 120Hz
• RAM/Storage: 32GB LPDDR5x / 1TB Gen 4 SSD
• Battery: 70Wh, 11 hours 8 minutes (PCMark 10 video loop)
• Rating: 9.2/10

ASUS ROG Flow Z13 Kojima Edition — Best AMD Ryzen AI Laptop

Price at time of review: Rs 3,79,990

Why we picked it

AMD's answer to the AI laptop is unified memory, and the ASUS ROG Flow Z13 Kojima Edition (review) pushes the idea further than anything else running Windows.

The Ryzen AI Max+ 395 pairs a 50 TOPS XDNA 2 NPU with 128GB of LPDDR5x, and up to 96GB of that pool can be handed straight to the Radeon 8060S graphics. It returned 18,179 in the OpenVINO quantized run, the highest number on this page including the two workstations, alongside 10,032 in ONNX quantized. 

The conventional numbers are absurd for a 13-inch detachable tablet. Cinebench R23 multi-core hit 30,344, Cinebench 2026 multi-core 6,643, PCMark 10 10,992 with 13,458 in Extended, and CrossMark 2,307, the highest here. Graphics land at 10,346 in Time Spy and 23,943 in Fire Strike, so Cyberpunk 2077 runs at 76fps at FHD native, and a PugetBench DaVinci Resolve score of 6,422 makes it a real creative tool.

Then you pull the keyboard off, and it becomes a Windows tablet, or plug it into a TV with a controller, and it becomes a console. The Kojima Productions finish makes it a collector's item that benchmarks like a workstation. Battery ran 8 hours 1 minute and drops sharply under load, the speakers are ordinary, and the Rs 3,79,990 price is a lot. It scored 8.3/10.

Key specs:

• Processor: AMD Ryzen AI Max+ 395 (55W, 50 TOPS XDNA 2 NPU)
• GPU: AMD Radeon 8060S, up to 96GB assignable memory
• Display: 13.4-inch IPS touchscreen, 180Hz, detachable keyboard
• RAM/Storage: 128GB LPDDR5x unified / 1TB Gen 4 SSD
• Battery: 70Wh, 8 hours 1 minute (PCMark 10 video loop)
• Rating: 8.3/10

Apple MacBook Pro M5 Max — Best Apple Laptop for AI

Price at time of review: From Rs 3,66,900

Why we picked it

Apple took a different route to on-device AI, and the M5 Max is the most complete expression of it.

Rather than bolting a separate NPU onto the die, Apple puts a Neural Accelerator inside every GPU core, so AI work scales with graphics horsepower instead of competing with it. The standard M5 Max pairs an 18-core CPU with a 32-core GPU, and a 40-core GPU version sits above it. The consensus among developers running local models on this generation is consistent on one point: unified memory is the deciding factor. Configure it to 64GB, and the machine holds models in memory that a 24GB discrete GPU cannot, with no transfer penalty between CPU and GPU because there is nothing to transfer.

The supporting hardware is the best in Apple's range. Liquid Retina XDR with 120Hz ProMotion, Thunderbolt 5, Wi-Fi 7, up to a 100Wh battery with 96W charging, and up to 4TB of storage. The 16-inch chassis has the most thermal headroom Apple offers, which is why sustained multi-hour inference and render workloads hold their clocks rather than tapering.

The catch is the ecosystem. A great deal of AI tooling still assumes CUDA, and while MLX and Metal support have improved rapidly, anyone whose workflow depends on NVIDIA-specific libraries will hit friction that no amount of unified memory solves. It is also very expensive, and the M5 Pro below it will finish most jobs for considerably less.

Key specs:

• Chip: Apple M5 Max (18-core CPU, 32-core or 40-core GPU with per-core Neural Accelerators)
• Display: 14.2-inch or 16.2-inch Liquid Retina XDR, up to 120Hz ProMotion
• Memory/Storage: 36GB unified (up to 64GB) / 2TB SSD (up to 4TB)
• Battery: Up to 100Wh, up to 96W charging
• Connectivity: Thunderbolt 5, Wi-Fi 7

Samsung Galaxy Book6 Ultra — Best Value AI PC

Price at time of review: Rs 3,10,990

Why we picked it

Value at Rs 3.1 lakh sounds like a stretch until you count what it replaces. The Samsung Galaxy Book6 Ultra (review) is the only laptop here that pairs a Panther Lake NPU with a discrete RTX GPU and still runs for almost 13 hours.

The Core Ultra 7 356H brings a 50 TOPS NPU, and behind it sits an RTX 5070 with 8GB of VRAM, enough to run mid-sized quantised models and accelerate Stable Diffusion properly rather than nominally. Nothing else under Rs 6 lakh on this page offers both. It scored 8,798 in OpenVINO quantized, and 8,263 in ONNX quantized, with a Geekbench OpenCL result of 133,134.

The conventional performance is strong too. Cinebench R23 multi-core hit 19,170, PCMark 10 9,579 with 11,691 in Extended, and PugetBench for DaVinci Resolve 7,130, second only to the Pro Max among non-gaming machines. Time Spy came in at 11,194, and Cyberpunk 2077 ran at 79fps at FHD native.

What seals it is restraint. The vapour chamber keeps throttling out of the picture, and the fans stay quiet even in Turbo, which matters if you record audio near the machine. The 16-inch AMOLED at 120Hz is excellent, the six-speaker array is genuinely good, and the 80.2Whr battery ran 12 hours 57 minutes. The keyboard's shallow travel divides opinion, and the GPU is deliberately held at 90W. It scored 9/10.

Key specs:

• Processor: Intel Core Ultra 7 356H (25W, Panther Lake, 50 TOPS NPU)
• GPU: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070, 8GB, 90W TGP
• Display: 16-inch AMOLED, 120Hz
• RAM/Storage: 32GB LPDDR5x / 2TB Gen 4 SSD
• Battery: 80.2Whr, 12 hours 57 minutes (PCMark 10 video loop)
• Rating: 9/10

Samsung Galaxy Book6 Pro — Best Battery Life

Price at time of review: Rs 1,78,990

Why we picked it

The Galaxy Book6 Pro runs for close to a day and a half unplugged, the longest of any x86 machine we have tested, and it does that without giving anything up in return.

Endurance at this level normally means an ARM chip and the software questions that follow. Here it comes from a Core Ultra X7 358H, the same Panther Lake silicon in the XPS 14, with a 50 TOPS NPU and Intel Arc B390 graphics. Every application, driver and management tool behaves exactly as expected, and transcription and background processing stay on the machine, which matters when you are handling material that cannot go to a cloud service.

In our testing, it sat comfortably alongside the XPS 14 across productivity and AI workloads, and its graphics performance is stronger still. The Panther Lake efficiency gains are the real story of this generation, and the consensus among reviewers who have spent months with these chips lands in the same place: the peak numbers are respectable, but the performance-per-watt is what changes how you use the machine.

The 14-inch AMOLED panel is bright and saturated with the contrast that makes long document sessions easier, and 32GB of memory with a 1TB drive is a generous standard configuration. Consensus is equally consistent on the drawbacks: the volume of pre-installed Samsung software is an irritation on a machine positioned for professionals, the port selection is thinner than rivals offer, and the price has climbed noticeably over the previous generation.

Key specs:

• Processor: Intel Core Ultra X7 358H (25W, Panther Lake, 50 TOPS NPU)
• GPU: Intel Arc B390
• Display: 14-inch AMOLED
• RAM/Storage: 32GB LPDDR5x / 1TB Gen 4 SSD
• Battery: 67Wh, longest-running x86 laptop we have tested

MSI Titan 18 HX AI — Best for Gaming

Price at time of review: Rs 6,20,990

Why we picked it

Calling the MSI Titan 18 HX AI (review) a laptop feels like an understatement. It is a desktop that agreed to fold in half.

A Core Ultra 9 285HX sits alongside an RTX 5090 with 24GB of GDDR7, and for AI work that means image generation, video upscaling and model inference running alongside whatever else you have open. It scored 16,151 in OpenVINO quantized and 10,598 in ONNX quantized, with a Geekbench OpenCL result of 241,274, the highest number on this page.

As a gaming machine, it is simply the fastest thing here. Cyberpunk 2077 ran at 162fps at FHD native and 354fps with DLSS, ray tracing and frame generation, Valorant hit 506fps, and Black Myth Wukong held 83fps at native settings. Time Spy came in at 22,823 and Cinebench R23 multi-core at 35,617. Storage is a trio of 2TB Gen 5 drives in RAID 0 averaging 16,475MB/s reads, the fastest we have tested.

The 18-inch 4K Mini-LED at 120Hz clears 1,000 nits in HDR with full DCI-P3 coverage, close enough to reference that HDR grading on it is legitimate. Cooler Boost Titan keeps throttling out of the equation. At 3.7kg with 3 hours 39 minutes of battery, this moves between rooms rather than cities. It scored 9.5/10.

Key specs:

• Processor: Intel Core Ultra 9 285HX (55W)
• GPU: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090, 24GB GDDR7, 175W TGP
• Display: 18-inch 4K Mini-LED, 120Hz, DisplayHDR 1000
• RAM/Storage: 64GB DDR5-6400 / 6TB Gen 5 RAID 0
• Battery: 99Wh, 3 hours 39 minutes (PCMark 10 video loop)
• Rating: 9.5/10

Winners at a glance

Prices are as of the time each machine was tested and are subject to change.

FAQs

Which is the best AI laptop in India?

The Dell Pro Max 16 Plus. Its RTX Pro 5000 with 24GB of VRAM and 128GB of CAMM2 memory took the top OpenVINO quantized score on test at 15,678, and it runs large local models the thin-and-lights on this list cannot load. For something more portable, the Dell XPS 14 (2026) is the pick.

What is a Copilot+ PC?

A Copilot+ PC is a Windows laptop built to run AI features like Recall, Live Captions and Cocreator on the device itself rather than in the cloud, using a dedicated neural processing unit. Qualcomm's Snapdragon X2 Elite, Intel's Panther Lake and AMD's Ryzen AI Max chips all power Copilot+ machines.

Which laptop has the most powerful NPU?

The HP EliteBook X G2q 14 AI, whose Snapdragon X2 Elite carries an 85 TOPS Hexagon NPU, comfortably the largest here. Intel's Panther Lake and AMD's Ryzen AI Max both sit at 50 TOPS.

Which AI laptop is best for running local language models?

The ASUS ROG Flow Z13, with 128GB of unified memory and up to 96GB assignable to graphics, or the Dell Pro Max 16 Plus with 24GB of dedicated VRAM and CUDA support. Model size is limited by available memory long before it is limited by raw compute, so memory capacity is the specification to prioritise.

Which AI laptop has the best battery life?

The Samsung Galaxy Book6 Pro is the longest-running x86 machine we have tested. Behind it, the Galaxy Book6 Ultra managed 12 hours 57 minutes and the HP EliteBook X G2q 11 hours 52 minutes, both strong figures for machines with this much silicon inside.

Is ARM or Intel better for an AI laptop?

ARM chips like the Snapdragon X2 Elite offer the largest NPUs and the best efficiency, which suits Windows AI features and long unplugged sessions. Intel and AMD machines pair smaller NPUs with stronger graphics and broader software support, which suits creative work and anything that leans on the GPU.

Do AI laptops need an internet connection?

Not for on-device features. Transcription, live captions, background blur and image generation all run locally on these machines, which is the point of the hardware. Cloud services still need a connection, but the AI features built into Windows do not.

Which AI laptop is best value for money?

The Samsung Galaxy Book6 Ultra at Rs 3,10,990. It is the only laptop here combining a Panther Lake NPU with a discrete RTX 5070, a 16-inch AMOLED panel and nearly 13 hours of battery, and it scored 9/10 in our review.

Priced at Rs 1,34,999 for the base 12GB/256GB variant, the Pixel 11 Pro XL is Rs 10,000 more expensive than what the Pixel 10 Pro XL (review) launched at last year, and the base RAM hasn't moved up to compensate. That puts it squarely against the iPhone 17 Pro Max and Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra, and once again, Google isn't trying to win the spec sheet war. The idea remains the same as always: AI features and software polish over raw numbers. The question this year is whether that idea still holds when the hardware trade-offs, a smaller battery and slower charging among them, are harder to ignore than before.

Same design, smaller battery

If you owned last year's Pixel, you'd be forgiven for not spotting the Pixel 11 Pro XL from across a room. The camera bar, the two-button layout, and the overall silhouette are unchanged, with the new colours and the HiLight strip being the only real giveaways. The display stays at 6.8 inches with the same 120Hz LTPO panel, now pushed to a brighter 3,600 nits peak, and outdoor visibility remains excellent. The bezels around the screen look slightly slimmer than before, which is nice to see.

Battery is where this generation actually takes a step back. Capacity has dropped slightly to 5,115mAh from last year's 5,200mAh, and despite Google's efficiency claims for the Tensor G6, real-world battery life ends up nearly identical to that of the Pixel 10 Pro XL rather than better. The 45W wired charging speed remains the same as last year, taking between 80 and 85 minutes to charge from 20 to 100 percent.

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HiLight: a light that doesn't do much yet

Google's other headline addition this year is HiLight, an LED strip on the back of the phone that replaces last year's temperature sensor. The idea is that it lets you keep your phone face down and still get alerts without picking it up, lighting up in different colours depending on what's happening. In practice, its usefulness is limited. It only activates for phone calls from favourite contacts and when Gemini is listening or thinking, not for regular texts or notifications from other apps, which is where most people would actually want a glanceable alert.

There's no way to customise colours per app or contact either, which makes it feel more like a proof of concept than a finished feature. It's a reasonable start, but as it stands, a custom ringtone for your favourite contacts does the same job with less hardware involved.

Performance and software: Tensor G6 is quicker, but AI is the real headline

Google's claims for the Tensor G6 read well on paper: up to 25 percent faster web browsing, 15 percent quicker app launches, and 50 percent more TPU compute, which Google says lets on-device AI tasks run up to 3.5 times faster while using up to 3.5 times less power than older Tensor chips. In day-to-day use, the improvement shows up mostly as a snappier, less laggy phone rather than anything you'd notice in isolation: apps open a touch quicker, and the phone doesn't bog down as easily when you're juggling several AI features at once.

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[comparative-benchmark type="11" title="Geekbench multi-core score" caption="Geekbench assesses the efficiency of the CPU's single and multiple cores (higher is better)" highlight="product_1" products="42360,41172,41205,38703," ][/comparative-benchmark]

What it still doesn't do is close the gap with Qualcomm and Apple on raw performance. Tensor G6 is comfortably the fastest chip Google has built, but it remains behind the competition on synthetic benchmarks, the same asterisk that's followed every Tensor chip so far. Paired with the G6 is Google's Titan M3 security chip, which now supports quantum-safe secure boot, a forward-looking addition that most people won't notice but is a sensible thing to have baked in for a phone you're meant to keep for years.

The Pixel 11 Pro XL ships with Android 17 out of the box and carries Google's now-standard promise of seven years of OS, security, and Pixel Drop updates, matching what the Pixel 10 Pro XL offered and continuing to be one of the strongest software support commitments on any Android phone.

Every Pixel launch also comes with a list of new AI features, and most of them fade into the background within a week. That isn't true of Rambler, though, Google's new AI dictation tool, and it's the standout addition on the Pixel 11 Pro XL. Rambler cleans up your speech as you talk, stripping filler words like "um" and "ah" and formatting the output properly, and it handles switching languages mid-sentence and noisy environments better than I expected from a first-generation feature. This isn't the first time we're seeing such a feature, though. Nothing introduced Essential Voice, which is essentially (pun intended) the same as Rambler and is also based on Google's Gemini 3 Flash.

[caption id="attachment_713391" align="aligncenter" width="306"] Rambler does a fantastic job removing "ums" and "ahs" during natural speech to deliver a clean output in messages.[/caption]

Much like Essential Voice on Nothing phones, Rambler on the Pixel 11 Pro XL is genuinely useful, and it's the kind of tool you'll find yourself reaching for daily rather than opening once out of curiosity.

The rest of the Gemini additions are more of a mixed bag. Proactive Suggestions, which is meant to surface context-aware information from your apps without you asking, sometimes works and sometimes doesn't. It automatically opened a location in Google Maps if a friend mentions it in a chat, but failed to resolve something as simple as pulling an address from email when asked directly - the same inconsistency that plagued Magic Cue on last year's phone. Gemini's newer agentic capabilities, which can complete tasks like placing an order on your behalf, remain a US-only feature for now, so Indian buyers won't get to test that part yet. Live Translate, which overlays translated captions on videos and livestreams, works well once you've downloaded the relevant language pack, and is a genuinely handy addition if you consume a lot of non-English content.

The camera is the real upgrade this year

Camera hardware largely carries over the same megapixel counts as before: a 50MP primary, a 48MP ultrawide with macro focus, and a 48MP 5x telephoto. But Google says both the main and telephoto sensors are physically larger this generation, which should mean more light and better detail in theory. What's more noticeable day-to-day is how much snappier the whole experience feels, thanks to the new processor and software tuning. Shot-to-shot times are quicker, and Night Sight captures low-light photos faster too, so you don't need to hold the phone as steady for as long to avoid blur.

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The bigger addition is Magic Capture, a new mode (added as a quick toggle button at the bottom next to stills and videos) that records a short video clip and uses AI to pick out the best moments as standalone photos. It's built for exactly the kind of subjects that are hard to photograph normally - kids, pets, and moving objects - and when it nails the moment, the results feel closer to actual magic than most AI camera gimmicks manage. The catch is that it doesn't always handle fast-moving subjects gracefully, and the output caps out at 12MP, so it's better suited to social posts than large prints.

[caption id="attachment_713388" align="aligncenter" width="1200"] Camera Looks allows you to swipe between stylised filters, such as Classic and Digi, in the viewfinder to adjust warmth, shadows, or aesthetic style in real-time.[/caption]

Google has also added Camera Looks, a set of colour and processing profiles that go beyond simple filters and change how the computational photography pipeline itself renders a shot. There are ten to choose from, ranging from a natural, true-to-life look to a grainier "classic" profile that leans into a film-like aesthetic. It's a nice way to add some personality to shots without reaching for a third-party editing app afterwards. Pro Res Zoom, Google's AI-assisted zoom beyond the optical range, now goes up to 120x instead of last year's 100x, and while keeping the phone steady enough for a clear shot at that range is still a challenge, results at more usable zoom levels are sharper than before. The 42MP front camera is also a big jump on paper from last year's sensor, and selfies hold up noticeably better in tricky light.

Verdict

The Pixel 11 Pro XL is a predictable successor. It won't surprise you with brand new features, but it will comfort you with its dependable hardware and software. The AI and camera additions, Rambler especially, and Camera Looks to a slightly lesser extent, are genuinely useful upgrades that make daily use better.

But the hardware trade-offs this year are hard to ignore: a smaller battery, slower charging, 12GB base RAM despite a higher price, among other things. If you're coming from a Pixel 9 Pro XL or older, the jump is easy to justify. If you already own last year's Pixel 10 Pro XL, this is a much harder sell.

Editor's rating: 8.3 / 10

Pros:

• Genuinely useful AI features, such as Rambler
• Magic Capture makes candid, fast-moving subjects easier to shoot well
• Seven years of software support makes it future-proof
• Respectable cameras and features like Camera Looks

Cons:

• Battery capacity and charging speeds have both gone down from last year
• 12GB base RAM despite the price increase
• HiLight is limited in scope and can't be customised yet

In 2025, you could expect a phone at this price to come with a powerful triple rear camera setup and a decent selfie lens, without significant performance compromises. That's not the case anymore, and you have to choose between performance or camera capabilities. Even so, in this current situation, we've brought you a list of some great camera phones launched in 2026, available under Rs 40,000 currently.

If you want a good versatile camera phone, the Motorola Edge 70 Pro is the one to go for. If you enjoy human shots and portraits more, the Tecno Camon 50 Ultra is worth looking at, thanks to its telephoto lens. Want great selfies? The Realme 16 offers a great front camera. The Samsung Galaxy A27 is very capable for static shots in good lighting. If you shoot in the dark or at night often, the Vivo T5 Pro's camera setup won't disappoint you.

Let's now take a closer look at each phone's camera setup and its key strengths below.

Motorola Edge 70 Pro — Best cameras overall

Price: Starting at Rs 39,999

Camera specs: 50MP OIS main + 50MP ultrawide, 50MP selfie with AF

Why we chose it

The Motorola Edge 70 Pro's (review) camera setup remains one of its biggest strengths this year. Its cameras performed consistently well in most of our tests, making it the most versatile camera phone on this list. Its primary camera takes excellent shots in both daylight and low light, with punchy colours and good contrast.

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The 50MP ultrawide camera outputs images consistent in style and colours to the primary camera, with a great level of detail and minimal distortion. Finally, the selfie camera comes with autofocus and takes very appealing selfies in almost every scenario. You'll like the phone's cameras in most situations you use it in.

Tecno Camon 50 Ultra — Best portraits and human shots

Price: Starting at Rs 39,999

Camera specs: 50MP OIS main + 50MP OIS telephoto + 8MP ultrawide, 50MP selfie

Why we chose it

The Tecno Camon 50 Ultra (review) brings with it a telephoto lens and is the only device currently under Rs 40,000 to offer one. You get a 50MP front camera, and at the back there is a 50MP 1/1.56-inch main camera with OIS, a 50MP 3x telephoto lens, and an 8MP ultrawide camera. The telephoto lens is what immediately gives it a big advantage in this segment.

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The telephoto lens is very useful for zoom and portraits, with believable skin tones and great detail. The lens has a mixed output at night, with softer and less consistent results, but the shots are still very likeable. If you take a lot of human and portrait shots, it's hard to match the Tecno's output without a telephoto lens, which is why it's positioned this low.

Realme 16 — Best selfies

Price: Starting at Rs 35,999

Camera specs: 50MP main + 2MP auxiliary, 50MP selfie

Why we chose it

While the Realme 16 (review) has a slightly downgraded rear camera system compared to its predecessor, its selfie lens remains one of the best in the segment. It's a 50MP sensor that outputs some exceptional results, particularly in good lighting conditions.

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Selfies captured on the Realme 16 deliver accurate colours, natural-looking skin tones, and the subject's details come out sharp and better defined. If you enjoy taking selfies, this device is worth looking out for.

Samsung Galaxy A27 — Best daylight

Price: Starting at Rs 31,999

Camera specs: 50MP OIS main + 5MP ultrawide + 2MP macro, 12MP selfie

Why we chose it

The Samsung Galaxy A27 (review) takes the top spot here because it outputs extremely likeable results in good lighting conditions. Its primary camera is a 50MP sensor with OIS, and its images come out rich, detailed and very authentic to the actual scene.

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If you primarily use the camera to take static shots in the day, you'll be pleased with the Galaxy A27's output.

Vivo T5 Pro — Best lowlight

Price: Starting at Rs 35,999

Camera specs: 50MP OIS main + 2MP depth sensor, 32MP selfie

Why we chose it

Vivo toned down the camera system in the T5 Pro (review) this year, but you still get the 50MP Sony IMX882 primary camera with OIS, paired with a 2MP depth sensor and a 32MP selfie camera. The primary camera is no slouch, however, and still outputs some pretty good results in daylight and low light both.

The Vivo T5 Pro and Motorola Edge 70 Pro are both extremely capable low-light shooters with different strengths. The Edge 70 Pro's images come out closer to the actual scene with good contrast and sharp details. It's good for users who prefer a more realistic output.

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If you enjoy more stylised night shots with excellent detail levels and lively colours, the Vivo T5 Pro's cameras do that better. There's minimal loss of detail, the frame remains sharp throughout, and it controls exposure and lens flares excellently, meaning no ambient light to make your images hazy.

FAQs

Will the global memory shortage continue to drive up phone prices?

Rising memory costs have already pushed smartphone prices up by 30–40 percent. Because production costs remain high in 2026, manufacturers are cutting back on secondary camera sensors, so buyers have to choose between raw processing power and specialised camera setups at these multiple price points.

Do I really need a dedicated telephoto lens for good portraits?

Digital crop will work just fine for slightly zoomed shots (think 2x, 3x), but it cannot recreate the realistic depth and blur of an optical lens. The Tecno Camon 50 Ultra is the only phone under Rs 40,000 with a physical telephoto camera with 3x optical zoom, giving you much sharper human shots and natural skin tones.

How much does Optical Image Stabilisation (OIS) actually matter?

OIS helps physically offset hand movements to keep shots steady. It prevents blurry photos in low light and keeps videos smooth, giving phones a massive advantage in dim environments and videography.

Which phone works best if I create video content or vlogs?

Choose the Motorola Edge 70 Pro for vlogging since it offers 4k support on both rear and front cameras. Its 50MP front camera also includes autofocus to keep your face sharp on the move, while its main rear camera records clear, stabilised footage across most lighting conditions.

How should I decide between the sub-Rs 36,000 options?

Pick the Samsung Galaxy A27 for Rs 31,999 if you want detailed, true-to-life daylight photos. Grab the Vivo T5 Pro for Rs 35,999 if you frequently take pictures in dark or nighttime settings. Choose the Realme 16 for Rs 35,999 if high-quality front-camera selfies are your main priority.

Reasons to buy Google Pixel 11

Compact and premium design

The Pixel 11 continues to stand out for its compact form factor. The 6.3-inch display makes it considerably easier to handle than larger flagship phones, while the 197-gram weight keeps it comfortable to use for extended periods. The phone also feels suitably premium, thanks to its glass-and-metal construction. An IP68 rating and Gorilla Glass Victus 2 protection on the front and back add further reassurance for everyday use.

Excellent battery life

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Battery life is one of the Pixel 11's biggest strengths. Despite its 4,985mAh battery, which is not particularly large by current flagship standards, the phone managed an impressive 18.7 hours in the PCMark battery test. More importantly, its real-world battery performance is equally convincing, with the phone comfortably lasting through a full day of fairly heavy usage. This makes the Pixel 11 a good option for users who want a compact flagship without having to compromise significantly on endurance.

Useful AI and creator-focused features

Google continues to differentiate the Pixel experience through AI, and the Pixel 11 takes this further with deeper Gemini integration and faster on-device AI processing. Some of these features are genuinely useful rather than simply being added for the sake of AI. The phone also introduces several creator-focused tools, including a teleprompter, Social Media Grid, Audio Visualiser and Camera Coach. These additions make the Pixel 11 particularly appealing to users who frequently shoot photos and videos or are getting started with content creation.

Dependable cameras

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The Pixel 11's cameras remain one of its strongest reasons to consider the phone. Images generally offer good exposure, contrast and dynamic range, while the phone maintains consistent colours between the primary and ultrawide cameras. This makes the camera system reliable across different shooting conditions, without requiring users to spend time tweaking settings. Google's AI-powered camera and editing features further add to the experience, giving users more creative flexibility after taking a shot.

Reasons not to buy Google Pixel 11

Thick display bezels

The Pixel 11's display itself is good, with a vibrant OLED panel and a 120Hz refresh rate, but the thick bezels take away some of the premium appeal. At a time when several flagship smartphones offer slimmer and more uniform bezels, the Pixel 11's display looks somewhat dated by comparison. The adaptive brightness also isn't as responsive as we'd have liked, particularly when moving between different lighting conditions.

Charging is relatively slow

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Charging remains one of the Pixel 11's biggest shortcomings. The phone supports only 30W wired charging, which feels particularly underwhelming at its Rs 89,999 starting price. In our testing, it took almost an hour and a half to go from 20 to 100 percent. The fact that Google does not bundle a compatible charger in the box adds to the inconvenience, especially when competing flagships offer significantly faster charging.

Lacks raw performance

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The Tensor G6-powered Pixel 11 delivers a smooth experience for everyday tasks and can handle gaming reasonably well, but outright performance isn't its biggest strength. It falls behind flagship phones powered by Qualcomm's Snapdragon 8-series and MediaTek's Dimensity 9500-series chipsets in benchmark performance. Sustained performance is also not as strong, which means users looking for the highest possible performance for demanding gaming or heavy workloads will find better alternatives at this price.

Verdict

The Google Pixel 11 is priced in India at Rs 89,999 for the base 12GB + 256GB variant, while the 12GB + 512GB option costs Rs 1,04,999. That's a steep asking price for a phone that aims to provide a flagship experience but lacks raw performance. At this price, buyers have alternatives such as the OnePlus 15 (review), OPPO Find X9 (review), and Vivo X300 FE (review). The OnePlus 15 is more performance-oriented, the OPPO Find X9 focuses heavily on photography, while the Vivo X300 FE is a compact flagship with reliable cameras.

The Pixel 11's value lies in delivering a clean, software-focused experience, with AI deeply integrated for productivity and creativity. Combined with capable cameras, reliable battery life, smooth performance for most tasks, and a relatively compact form factor, the smartphone makes a strong case for itself.

The Pixel 11 now costs almost Rs 90,000. So, who is it really for, and what makes it worth considering at this price? We answer these questions and more in our Google Pixel 11 review. Read on.

Verdict

The Google Pixel 11 is a refinement rather than a major generational upgrade. The handset delivers a polished software experience, useful AI features, reliable cameras and respectable battery life, while the compact design and seven years of updates add to its appeal.

Performance: AI smarts over raw power

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The Pixel 11, powered by the latest Tensor G6, delivers a noticeable upgrade in AI and everyday performance, with faster image processing, smooth multitasking and reliable gaming. While it may trail flagship Snapdragon and Dimensity-powered rivals in raw and sustained performance, its real strength lies in AI optimisation and Google's software-driven experience rather than benchmark scores.
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It's one of the biggest upgrades on the Google Pixel 11. The handset is powered by the latest 2nm Tensor G6 chipset, which comes with seven cores as opposed to eight on the 3nm's Tensor G5 SoC, but all its cores deliver superior clock speeds - up to 4.11GHz. That said, the Pixel still lags behind the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8-series and MediaTek Dimensity 9500-series SoC phones in raw performance. Its AnTuTu benchmark and Geekbench scores remain close to mid-range smartphones, while the performance is throttled to less than 20 percent in the Burnout CPU Throttle test.

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But performance is not the Pixel 11's core USP; its key strengths lie in its AI capabilities and cameras. Google says it has optimised the chipset to deliver 50 percent more processing power for AI tasks than last year, allowing it to run Gemini Nano 3.5 times faster while consuming 3.5 times less energy. The phone is also claimed to support 4K Portrait Video and process Instant Night Sight 4.5 times faster.

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Unfortunately, I didn't have the Google Pixel 10 at my disposal for a direct performance comparison. However, the Geekbench AI scores show that the Pixel 11 delivers higher Half-precision and Quantised scores, which should translate to faster performance in tasks such as photo editing, voice recognition, and running on-device LLMs. I also tried several AI tasks on the phone, and in my experience, they were completed noticeably faster than before.

Moving on, the Pixel 11 feels snappier when capturing multiple shots at once, processing images, and more. The everyday tasks, multitasking, and animations also appear buttery smooth. Turns out the gaming is reliable, too, with FPS and thermal performance while playing BGMI and COD: Mobile on par with competitors during our internal testing.

Battery: efficient

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The Pixel 11's relatively small 4,985mAh battery offers respectable backup, with the Tensor G6's efficiency helping it outperform some phones with much larger batteries. In real-world use, it can comfortably last over a day with moderate to heavy usage, delivering around five hours of screen-on time. However, the charging speeds could have been better.
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The Google Pixel 11 houses a 4,985mAh battery, only marginally bigger than its predecessor (15mAh to be exact) and significantly behind other Android smartphones from the Chinese makers. However, the efficiency claims of the Tensor G6 seem to be paying off, with the Pixel 11 outperforming other smartphones with 7,000mAh and more within the segment.

[comparative-benchmark type="3" title="PCMark Battery score (in hours)" caption="PCMark battery test measures phone battery life from 100% to 20% (higher is better)" highlight="product_1" products="42006,41312,38768,41626,40420" ][/comparative-benchmark]

The Pixel 11's real-world efficiency, meanwhile, remains on par with its competitors, with the battery draining by around 6 percent on average after an hour of video streaming and gaming. While that may sound impressive, the smaller battery could still mean more frequent charging for some users. Speaking of which, the Pixel 11 takes almost an hour and a half to go from 20 to 100 percent. This is largely down to its 30W wired charging support, which feels underwhelming for a phone at this price. A compatible charger has to be purchased separately. The Pixel 11 additionally supports 25W Qi2.5 magnetic wireless charging.

A full charge can easily last a little more than a day on moderate to heavy usage. I was averaging around 5 hours of screen time, which is respectable for a phone with close to a 5,000mAh battery. This is with social media scrolling, browsing, streaming, calling, messaging, and testing out all the AI features the Pixel 11 has to offer.

Software: smarter than ever

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The Pixel 11 offers one of the more feature-rich software experiences in its segment, with Android 17, seven years of updates and deeper Gemini integration. Its AI features extend across apps, while tools such as Camera Coach, Nano Banana and Magic Capture add useful functionality. Content creators also get dedicated tools such as a teleprompter, Social Media Grid and Audio Visualiser, making the Pixel 11 an appealing prospect.
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The Google Pixel 11 runs Android 17 out of the box and is promised seven years of software and security updates, along with Pixel Drops. You get deeper integration of Gemini across apps, with the required permissions. The AI can perform tasks across apps, such as launching Google Maps when it detects a location name, opening the Photos app to share images, saving calendar invites, and more. Most of these features currently seem exclusive to Google's suite of apps, as similar suggestions did not appear on popular third-party platforms like WhatsApp.

The Pixel 11 lets you Circle to Search directly via the camera app, instead of first capturing the shot and then doing the same, and generate images using Nano Banana. Additionally, the phone gets the latest Google Maps' power-saving mode, which turns the route black and white to save battery while still keeping you updated with directions on the lock screen.

While many of these features could make their way to other smartphones running Android 17, the content creator-focused tools may remain exclusive. Most of these are built into the camera app, including a teleprompter that displays your script while recording and scrolls as you speak. Moreover, the OEM has added a Social Media Grid, which provides a safe area less likely to be cropped when posting content on platforms such as Instagram, along with an Audio Visualiser that displays audio levels during recordings. These could be super useful for someone just starting their creator journey.

Camera Coach on Google Pixel 11 can guide users to capture the best possible shot, with assistance for aspects such as angle, framing, exposure, and more. The process feels fractionally faster than the Pixel 10's Camera Coach. There are plenty of AI-powered photo editing tools as well, and if you don't want to go through the hassle of editing images manually, you can use the Magic Capture mode within the camera app. Head to the camera section to learn more about the mode and the Google Pixel 11's image performance.

Cameras: capable and useful AI features

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The Pixel 11 is a capable camera phone with strong contrast, exposure, dynamic range and colour consistency. It performs particularly well in challenging lighting, but isn't a segment winner with relatively underwhelming fine detail, portraits and skin tones. The new Magic Capture mode is a useful addition, combining photo and video capture with AI-powered enhancements, although it is currently limited to the rear cameras.
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The Google Pixel 11 camera setup includes a bigger 1/1.56-inch 48MP f/1.7 OIS main sensor as opposed to a 1/1.2-inch 48MP sensor on its predecessor. This is paired with an unchanged 13MP f/2.2 ultrawide lens and a 10.8MP 5x optical zoom unit. Up front, the smartphone sports a 10.5MP sensor in the punch-hole setup for selfies and video calling. The handset produces images with impressive contrast, exposure, and dynamic range, resulting in punchy, vibrant colours and sufficient detail even in shadowy areas.

There is also reliable colour consistency between the phone's primary and ultrawide lenses, even though the telephoto lens might oversaturate the tones. However, it falls short at capturing fine details, as observed in the comparison with the iPhone 17 (review). The latter also excels with superior edge detection and accurate skin tones in portraits and selfies.

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These drawbacks put the Pixel 11 behind some of its rivals in this segment. However, it remains a reliable camera phone that excels in challenging lighting conditions and delivers consistent results across a range of shooting scenarios. The phone supports up to 4K video recording at 30fps from all four cameras, although it records in standard dynamic range rather than 10-bit HDR. For social media content creators, this should not be a major concern, as the footage should still look sharp and detailed for most platforms.

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Next to the video mode on the camera app is a new button called 'Magic Capture'. The feature is just as fancy as it may sound, capturing videos and photos at the same time. You just hit the shutter button, and the phone records a video of the entire moment, then processes it and picks the best moments. It's backed by Google's AI, which automatically stylises the photos, unblurs them, and more, so that you don't have to.

The Magic Capture on the Pixel 11 is currently exclusive to the primary camera; not even the front camera is covered, save for the ultrawide and telephoto. The feature works best at capturing moments in motion, similar to Live Photos, but giving it a separate mode and adding AI could make it more useful.

Design: premium, compact but not flawless

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The Pixel 11 retains the familiar design of the Pixel 10, with the main changes being its slimmer camera visor and new colour options. Moreover, its compact form factor, premium build, IP68 rating and Gorilla Glass Victus 2 protection make it comfortable and durable for everyday use.
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These are pretty identical to the Google Pixel 10. The only notable differences are the camera visor and, of course, the colour options. The Pixel 11 comes in all-new Frost, Hibiscus, and Pistachio shades, other than the standard Obsidian. While not as standout as the Hibiscus (Pink), the Frost variant we received for review features a light lavender shade that adds a sense of calm.

Moving on, the Pixel 11's camera visor ditches the dual-tone finish of its predecessor for a standard black shade with colour-matched borders across variants. However, I noticed the border colour starting to chip despite the phone never being dropped or hitting any surface. The visor tends to accumulate dust around the edges, which can be difficult to clean. I recommend using a case with a raised lip around the visor for added protection. On the bright side, the visor is 30 percent thinner than ever before, ensuring a relatively seamless finish.

I wish Google had used the same matte finish as the aluminium frame on the back of the Pixel 11, instead of the glossy glass finish, for better grip, especially when using the phone without a case. The handset also misses out on the HiLight feature of the Pro models, which uses a multicoloured LED to alert you when speaking to Gemini or when receiving an incoming call.

Leaving these quirks aside, many will appreciate the Pixel 11's relatively compact form factor and premium build, backed by an IP68 rating and Corning Gorilla Glass Victus 2 protection on both the front and back. The handset weighs 197 grams, making it lighter than last year's Pixel 10 and comfortable to hold for prolonged hours.

Display: vibrant visuals with a few compromises

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The Pixel 11's 6.3-inch OLED display delivers punchy colours, HDR support, a 120Hz refresh rate and up to 3,000 nits of peak brightness. However, the LTPS panel, relatively thick bezels and inconsistent adaptive brightness hold it back against some rivals.
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The Google Pixel 11 sports a 6.3-inch ‘Actua' OLED display with FHD+ (1,080 x 2,424 pixels) resolution, an adaptive 120Hz refresh rate, and up to 3,000 nits of peak brightness. However, Google continues to use an LTPS panel instead of the more power-efficient LTPO technology, which remains exclusive to the Pro models. The bezels don't feel as slim as they should for a phone at this price point, making content feel slightly less immersive compared to smartphones with razor-thin bezels.

I also found the Pixel 11's adaptive brightness could do a better job of adjusting to the ambient lighting. The screen often remained a notch dimmer than expected, making text and other content less legible than they should be. The display is otherwise amply bright and supports HDR and Widevine L1 for high-resolution multimedia playback on platforms such as Netflix and YouTube. Colours appear punchy and vibrant, with minimal loss in quality when viewed from different angles.

The display houses an ultrasonic fingerprint scanner, positioned where the thumb naturally rests. While it isn't the fastest I've used, the scanner is accurate and reliably unlocks the smartphone. The Pixel 11 also delivers excellent haptic feedback, while its dual stereo speakers remain sufficiently loud and clear for an enjoyable multimedia experience indoors.

Final verdict

Back when reviewing the Pixel 10 (review), I said it had Pro-level ambitions. The Google Pixel 11 continues to chase that goal with incremental upgrades, bringing faster AI processing, deeper Gemini integration, improved image processing and better battery efficiency. However, it still misses several features that you get with its 'Pro' models and have become fairly standard even for regular flagships. These include a more power-efficient LTPO display, a larger ultrawide sensor and a telephoto camera capable of more than 30x zoom.

The Pixel 11 also misses the new HiLight feature found on the Pro models, which alerts you to incoming calls and Gemini interactions. However, given the feature's current limitations, its absence isn't as significant as the hardware compromises. For camera enthusiasts, phones such as the OPPO Find X9 (review), Vivo X300 FE (review) and Xiaomi 17 (review), all of which are due for a refresh later this year, offer stronger value.

The Pixel 11's appeal lies elsewhere: it is primarily about Google's clean, feature-rich software experience, with AI deeply integrated to make everyday usage more convenient.
If you already own a Pixel 10, or even a Pixel 9, there is little reason to upgrade. However, those coming from an older Pixel or another smartphone can consider the Pixel 11 for its software longevity, AI capabilities, and compact design. At Rs 89,999 in India, though, it is a phone that makes more sense for those specifically seeking the Pixel experience than for buyers simply looking for the best hardware at this price.

Editor's rating: 8.3/10

Reasons to buy

• Compact, premium design with a comfortable form factor and durable build.
• Efficient battery life that can comfortably last over a day with moderate to heavy usage.
• Useful AI features and creator-focused tools that enhance everyday usage and content creation.
• Reliable cameras that deliver consistent results across different lighting conditions.

Reasons not to buy

• Relatively thick bezels make the display feel less immersive than some rivals.
• Slow 30W charging speeds feel underwhelming for a flagship at this price.
• Lacks the raw performance offered by competing Snapdragon- and Dimensity-powered flagships.

Today, we are focusing on the main event: what the larger 31.5-inch screen and upgraded internals bring to your desk, and whether it's worth the step up.

Big Screen Productivity

The move to a 31.5-inch canvas fundamentally changes how you interact with your PC. Being a larger screen, I found myself much more comfortable sitting a bit further back. While I've used and understand the appeal of multi-monitor setups or massive ultrawides, the "traditional" 16:9 form factor remains the undisputed king if you have limited desk space but still need one display to do it all.

Having multiple tabs, heavy documents, and video calls open side-by-side feels completely seamless on a screen of this scale. When it comes to actual work, the 4th-gen QD-OLED panel is a revelation. Historically, OLEDs struggled with text clarity due to unconventional subpixel layouts, but text on the EX321UZ looks incredibly crisp, easy to read, and entirely free of colour fringing or shimmering.

While the monitor can get blindingly bright for gaming, I kept the brightness relatively low for daily productivity. Even then, documents and images remained perfectly legible without causing any eye strain. If you type or code heavily but still want to jump on the OLED bandwagon for after-hours gaming, this monitor is easy to recommend. Furthermore, normal desktop usage shouldn't spark any burn-in anxiety that's generally a concern reserved only for the most extreme, static use cases, and BenQ's built-in OLED protection features handle the rest.

Cinematic Entertainment

Giving a high-end OLED TV a genuine run for its money is the best way to describe this display's media capabilities. It fully supports HDR, and if you consume content through a dedicated streaming stick like an Apple TV box, the experience is phenomenal.

OLED's signature inky, perfect blacks combined with bright, punchy highlights make HDR content sing. Watching visually explosive movies like Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse is a treat, with colours popping right off the 32-inch panel.

Uncompromised Gaming Performance

Gaming is where the EX321UZ justifies its existence. The marquee difference between this monitor and the smaller EX271UZ is connectivity. Paired with a high-end GPU, you can take full advantage of the EX321UZ's DisplayPort 2.1 connection. This delivers completely uncompressed 4K visuals at a blisteringly fast 240Hz. By contrast, the EX271UZ relies on DP 1.4, which requires Display Stream Compression (DSC) to hit the same targets.

And the games look absolutely phenomenal. If you read my recent review of Resident Evil Requiem, you'll know I praised its next-gen lighting mechanics and pitch-black corridors. Playing that game on this 32-inch OLED elevates the fear factor completely. When playing as Grace in the first-person segments, relying purely on a lighter to illuminate the flawless, true-black environment is deeply terrifying. Conversely, when the perspective shifts to Leon, seeing his buttery-smooth melee animations rendered at 240Hz feels incredible. Requiem is a staple for highlighting why modern survival horror must be played on an OLED.

It's not just dark games that benefit. Vibrant titles like Ori and the Will of the Wisps feature Ori shining brilliantly in the centre of the screen against lush, dark forest backdrops. Even Marvel's Spider-Man 2 looks incredibly natural.

One of my favourite features is that you rarely need to tweak complex HDR settings in Windows or in-game menus. BenQ includes hardware-level colour presets like Sci-Fi, Realistic, and Fantasy. I found the "Fantasy" mode provided the perfect amount of vivid punch to game environments without compromising overall colour accuracy.

(Note: Just like the EX271UZ, you also get two HDMI 2.1 ports, one supporting eARC, making it incredibly easy to hook up a high-quality soundbar directly to the monitor).

The Verdict

Both the EX321UZ and EX271UZ are phenomenal monitors featuring exceptional OLED panel performance, premium build quality, and the sheer convenience of a remote control.

If you aren't sure which to buy, I lean toward the EX321UZ. The uncompressed DP 2.1 bandwidth, larger 32-inch screen size, and punchier gaming experience make it a true endgame display. However, if space is limited, the EX271UZ remains a phenomenal choice. While Dell and ASUS are strong contenders in the Indian OLED market, BenQ's strength lies in its factory colour accuracy, unmatched port selection, and an immersive, hassle-free HDR experience.

When it comes to the price, the EX321UZ has an MRP of Rs 1,24,998 while the smaller EX271UZ has an MRP of Rs 90,998. If you look for deals or offline, you could get it at a cheaper price point.

Editor's Rating: 9 / 10

Pros:

• Stunning 4th-gen 4K QD-OLED panel
• Future-proof DisplayPort 2.1
• Great connectivity
• Handy remote control for easy menu navigation

Cons:

• Larger footprint requires adequate space on a desk

To be fair, charging accessories rarely excite anyone. Looking for a new one is the tech equivalent of buying a new toothbrush. So when the URBN 200W GaN Power Hub landed on my desk, my first thought had nothing to do with charging speeds. It was simply about how many of those bricks I could finally shove into a drawer. The answer, after a couple of weeks of daily use, turned out to be all of them.

The pitch from the brand is pretty straightforward. Four USB-C ports, two USB-A ports, 200W of total output, and a form factor designed to sit on your desk rather than dangle off a wall socket. At Rs 6,999 (against an MRP of Rs 12,999), this is not an impulse buy. But if you're the sort of person who has three or four devices plugged in at any given moment, I believe there's a genuinely strong case here. Let me explain why.

Features that offer versatility

Here's a quick look at what the URBN 200W GaN Power Hub brings to the table.

• Six ports in total: four USB-C and two USB-A
• 200W maximum combined output
• Up to 100W on a single USB-C port, up to 18W on a single USB-A port
• PPS support (3.3-21V/5A) alongside standard PD voltage profiles
• Wide input range of AC 110-240V, 50/60Hz, 3A (max)
• GaN internals to keep size and heat in check
• Bundled desk stand
• 1-year warranty
• Currently bundled with a free 240W Flex Cord USB-C to C cable (1.2m) worth Rs 1,999

Design and everyday convenience

Let's get the obvious out of the way first. This is not a compact travel charger, and URBN isn't pretending otherwise. The Power Hub is a tall, slab-like unit, and it feels even bigger once you slot it into the bundled stand. If you're used to the palm-sized GaN bricks that have become the norm, the first impression is that this thing is considerably large in size.

That said, I'd argue the size is entirely justified. Squeezing six ports and 200W of headroom into something pocketable simply isn't happening with today's technology, and I'd much rather have the ports. What did surprise me is how light it is for its footprint. Picking it up, it feels closer to a hollow shell than the dense, weighty bricks I'm used to, which is very much a GaN (Gallium Nitride) benefit.

The stand is a smart inclusion, and it solves the single biggest problem with high-wattage multi-port chargers, which is that six taut cables will drag a loose brick around your desk all day. With the stand, the hub stays upright and planted. My one gripe is that the fit isn't snug. There's noticeable wiggle room between the charger and the stand, which makes it easy to lift out when you need to, but also means it never feels properly locked in. A slightly better fit would have made this setup feel a lot more premium.

Now, the part that genuinely changed my routine. Because the hub sits on your desk rather than at the socket, the ports come to you instead of the other way around. This sounds like a small thing. In practice, it was the single most useful aspect of living with this charger. I have a couple of shorter cables that simply could not reach my usual wall socket, and they had been sitting unused in a drawer for months. With the Power Hub parked next to my laptop, every one of them suddenly became viable again. In effect, it works as an extender as much as a charger, and I could keep all my devices on the desk surface where I actually use them.

The second quality-of-life win is the end of cable swapping. My previous routine involved unplugging a Type-C to Type-C cable from one device so I could free up the port for my MacBook's Type-C to MagSafe cable, or switching to a Type-C to Type-A cable depending on what needed juice. With four Type-C ports live at once, every cable now has a permanent home. In my experience, this is the sort of tiny friction you don't notice until it's gone.

How 200W actually gets divided

This is one of the important aspects worth understanding before you buy, because "200W" is a ceiling, and crucially not a promise for every port at once. URBN has published the full breakdown, and I'd recommend reading it carefully. Here's how the combinations work out.

The takeaway from all this is that two-port and three-port usage is where this hub is at its best. Dual 100W means you can run two laptops at full pelt, which is rare at this price. And the three-port split of 100W, 65W and 30W maps almost perfectly onto a laptop, tablet and phone, which is exactly the combination most of us are dealing with. If you push the usage to five or six ports, the charger would still give a decent performance but the top-end numbers drop considerably. So if you regularly need a laptop charging fast while five other things are plugged in, temper your expectations.

Charging performance

I ran two sets of tests. First, each device on its own from zero, and then all three together to see what simultaneous charging actually costs you.

Individual charging, 0 to 100 percent

The iPhone 16 also crossed the 50 percent mark in 24 minutes and hit 80 percent at the 50-minute mark, which is right in line with what I'd expect from a good 30W-class charge. The MacBook going from empty to full in an hour and 25 minutes is the number that impressed me most here, and the iPad's slightly slower run to 100 percent is most likely down to the usual trickle behaviour in the last few percent rather than anything the hub is doing wrong.

All three charging together

This is the result that sold me on the product. Compare the two tables and the simultaneous numbers land within a few percentage points of the solo runs, and in a couple of cases (only for iPhone) they're marginally ahead, which I'd put down to run-to-run variance and iPhone charging speed limit rather than the hub somehow going faster. Either way, there is no meaningful penalty for charging all three at once.

There's a logical reason for it, and it goes back to that three-port split. With 100W available to the MacBook, 65W to the iPad and 30W to the iPhone, none of my three devices were ever hitting their allocated ceiling, because none of them can draw those figures in the first place. The hub isn't rationing power so much as it is comfortably over-provisioned for a typical Apple trio. That's precisely the scenario URBN seems to have designed this for, and it delivers. The unit did get slightly warm during the three-device runs, which is far from unusual, but crucially it never got anywhere close to worrying.

Verdict

The URBN 200W GaN Power Hub is not a charger for everyone, and I want to be clear about that. If you carry one laptop and one phone, a good 65W or 100W dual-port brick will serve you better and cost a third of this product. This is a desk product, aimed squarely at people whose workstation looks like mine did.

For that audience, though, I think it's an easy recommendation. Six ports, dual 100W output, near-zero performance penalty when everything is plugged in at once, and the underrated benefit of bringing the ports up to desk level. Add up what you'd spend on a 100W laptop charger plus a couple of decent multi-port adapters bought separately, and you land in a similar ballpark anyway, but without the tidiness.

The complaints I have with the product are fairly minor. It's big, and even bigger with the stand, and it rattles around a little in that stand. The 1-year warranty is also on the short side for something at this price, especially when some competitors in the charging space offer two years.

None of that changes the fundamentals. In my experience, the best accessories are the ones you stop noticing because they've quietly removed a daily annoyance, and this one cleared four bricks off my desk. At Rs 6,999, if you're charging three or more devices every day, this is worth your money.

Editor's Rating: 8.4 / 10

Pros:

• Six charging ports (4 USB Type-C)
• Effortless simultaneous charging
• Lightweight for its size
• Eliminates cable-swapping routine

Cons:

• Large, especially with the stand
• Loose fit in the stand
• 1-year warranty

At Rs 1,999, the Buds Neo pack a surprising number of features for the price, with ANC and dual connectivity being the key highlights. Several competitors at this price also offer active noise cancellation; however, it is rare when the feature works as intended. I've been using the Buds Neo to see how well the ANC works, along with how they handle audio, calls and connectivity in everyday use. Here's my experience with them so far.

Audio: quality sound with a bass emphasis

The Buds Neo come with 12.4mm dynamic drivers that follow similar tuning to most budget earbuds, with an emphasis on bass that makes them sound pleasing right out of the box. I don't consider that a bad thing, and there's a reason why it works. The mids remain clear, and the overall sound has a warm character. Basically, the output is bass-forward, with a slightly boosted mid-range and somewhat recessed treble.

The Buds Neo offers six EQ presets in the Nothing X app, giving you some room to adjust the sound to your liking. As a side note, the earbuds can also get extremely loud. I usually listen at around 35-40 percent volume, and I found 30 percent more than sufficient with the Buds Neo. At around 70 percent and above, I noticed some distortion, although that isn't a safe space to listen anyway.

My favourite preset was Pop, which tones down the bass slightly. I also preferred keeping the bass boost at 0, although even level 1 sounded good to me. Level 2 pushed the low-end a little too far for my liking. Bass-heavy Bollywood tracks such as Challa, Sadda Haq, the Aashiqui 2 album, and various Cyberpunk 2077 OSTs, which I often listen to while working, sound particularly lively on the Buds Neo. At the same time, softer tracks from artists such as Sufjan Stevens and Iron & Wine also sounded perfectly enjoyable.

The Buds Neo don't try to deliver a particularly neutral sound. They go for a warmer, bass-forward presentation that works well for casual listening, and I found the tuning enjoyable across the music I regularly listen to.

ANC and calls: pretty good for most situations

The ANC works surprisingly well for the price, with up to 35dB of noise cancellation. That's not something I often see working this effectively on earbuds in this segment. CMF offers three levels of ANC, and I found the highest setting good enough in everyday situations without putting too much pressure on my ears.

It does a good job of suppressing the constant background noise you typically encounter in offices, living rooms, and cafeterias. The buds won't completely eliminate your surroundings, but they take the edge off enough to make it easier to focus on your music or work.

Traffic is a different story, which was expected. You will still hear honks and the general sound of vehicles, but the ANC smooths them out to a decent level and makes sudden noises feel less harsh. That's about what I'd expect from earbuds at this price, and I don't think the Buds Neo need to do much more than that. If ANC is one of your core requirements, the Buds Neo fulfil that requirement particularly well for their price.

The microphones also do a good job of handling background noise during calls. Calls came through clearly, and the other person could hear me well during most of my testing. Even in traffic, the person on the other end could hear my voice without too much trouble, although the ambient noise did make its way through alongside it. That's fairly normal given the environment, and I was satisfied with the call quality.

Design: classic CMF design 

The Buds Neo follow CMF's familiar design language, with a square charging case and rounded corners. The case has a rotating ring on the top corner that doubles as a lanyard attachment, unlike the Buds 2 Pro, where it could control volume and change listening modes.

The matte finish also does a good job of keeping fingerprints away, while the overall build feels appropriate for the price. I like the simplicity of the design, and the Buds Neo don't feel cheap in hand. There are three colours to choose from, and I happen to like all of them.

You get a USB Type-C port on the side for charging, while an LED on the front indicates the charging and pairing status. The earbuds sit securely inside the case thanks to strong magnets, and I didn't have any trouble taking them out or putting them back in.

The earbuds themselves use a matte finish on the stems and a glossy finish around the main body, giving them a slightly more premium look than their price suggests. There are two microphones on each earbud, while the buds carry an IP54 rating for dust and water resistance. This should be enough for light splashes, sweat and occasional rain.

Comfort: good fit and light enough for long sessions

The Buds Neo are very light, and I almost felt nothing when I first put them in my ears. The default silicone tips also fit my ears quite well, although CMF includes other size options if you need to find a more secure or comfortable fit. I never had problems with the earbuds getting loose even when moving around.

I usually don't wear earbuds continuously for more than an hour or two, as that's about my self-imposed upper limit. The Buds Neo remained comfortable throughout that time without putting much pressure on my ears. Given how light they are, I wouldn't expect longer listening sessions to become particularly uncomfortable either, provided you find the right ear-tip size: medium, small, and large, provided in the box.

Connectivity: works as advertised, mostly 

The Buds Neo support Bluetooth 6, Google Fast Pair and Microsoft Swift Pair, giving you a fairly straightforward experience across phones and laptops. You need to wear the earbuds, touch both of them and hold for five seconds to enter pairing mode. I initially had some trouble getting the Google Fast Pair notification to appear, although it worked fine after a few attempts. Swift Pair worked immediately on my laptops, so both features work as intended.

I wish CMF had included a physical pairing button, however, as it would make the process quicker and more convenient, especially when you want to connect the earbuds to a new device. Another thing some users might miss is the wear detection, which stops audio when an earbud is removed. I don't mind the omission here, but if you're coming from a device that has it, you might miss it. 

I didn't experience any random disconnections during my testing, and the range was good enough for me to walk into other rooms without interrupting playback. Your mileage may vary depending on how many walls or other objects sit between the earbuds and your connected device, but I found the connection reliable overall.

CMF sticks to the AAC, SBC, CVSD and mSBC codecs, without support for more advanced options. I don't see that as a major drawback at this price, as most users are unlikely to notice a major difference unless they have unusually discerning ears or use higher-quality audio sources.

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The Nothing X app acts as the central hub for Nothing's peripherals and offers plenty of useful features and customisation options. Dual connectivity is my favourite, and it's still pretty rare to find it at this price. You do have to manually pause playback on one device before switching to the other, but it works well enough and makes moving between my laptop and phone much easier.

Battery: more than enough for most users

Battery life is another area where the Buds Neo have worked well for me. CMF rates them for up to 52 hours of total playback (without ANC), and based on my usage, I have little reason to doubt that figure. I have only recharged it once, and that was towards the middle of next week, so you should rarely run into battery trouble unless you spend six to eight hours a day listening to music.

Even then, the quick-charge feature can give you around five hours of listening from 10 minutes of charging, which is useful when you forget to charge them before heading out. Overall, I'm quite satisfied with both the connectivity and battery performance here.

Verdict

I've been using my older CMF Buds Pro 2 for about two years now, and they continue to work well even today (except for being a little dirty). That experience also gives me some confidence in CMF's products and their longevity, and the Buds Neo have largely reinforced that opinion.

The Buds Neo do well in almost every area that matters. The audio sounds good, the ANC works surprisingly well, call quality is reliable, and the connectivity remains stable throughout everyday use. More importantly, the features CMF promises here generally deliver in actual use, which isn't always a given at this price.

I don't have any major complaints with the Buds Neo. The lack of a physical pairing button and wear detection would have been nice, but I can live with those omissions considering everything else the earbuds offer for Rs 1,999. They look stylish, feel comfortable and deliver where it matters most.

If you're looking for an affordable pair of earbuds that offers good audio, effective ANC and useful features without cutting too many corners, the CMF Buds Neo are easy to recommend.

Editor's Rating: 9/10

Pros:

• Great audio, ANC, and call quality for the price
• Reliable connectivity and dual-device support
• Comfortable and lightweight
• Long battery life

Cons:

• Some distortion at high volume levels
• No physical pairing button

Let's start with unboxing and what you get inside the box.

Unboxing & In-box content

The Milagrow iMap Max W300 ECO arrives in a massive squarish box, and understandably so, due to the following contents:

• Vacuum cleaner
• Base station
• Dust box
• Rolling brush: Anti-tangle
• 2x Water tanks
• 2x BLDC, anti-tangle side brushes
• 2x Dust bags
• 2x sets of mops
• Cleaning brush
• 2x HEPA H12

Design

The Milagrow iMap Max W300 ECO (yes, the name is a mouthful) comes in a pristine white finish from head to toe. Apart from the branding, controls, and sensors, which account for about 10 percent of the product and use slightly different tones, almost the entire device is white. While I appreciate the choice of colour, as it gives the device a sense of cleanliness that feels appropriate for the product, it also made me constantly worry about stains. Even the slightest mark is noticeable from a distance.

Thankfully, the matte finish makes the surface relatively easy to clean with a simple wet wipe. I would have appreciated it if Milagrow offered more colour options, perhaps some of the smoky shades that are currently in vogue.

Talking about the form factor, the Milagrow iMap Max W300 ECO sports a circular design, with a height roughly equivalent to the width of a cricket bat. This allows it to easily squeeze under most furniture and reach areas that are otherwise difficult to clean. The base station, meanwhile, features a squarish shape, roughly knee-height for most adults and has a footprint that is about the length of an arm. I had the cleaner neatly tucked away in a corner, where it occupied very little space and didn't get in the way.

Setup

Milagrow sends a technician to help you set up the iMap Max W300 ECO and give you an overview of the product. However, if you wish to do it yourself, the process is straightforward. Instead of hard plastic locks, the robot and base station primarily use magnetic locks, making assembly easier.

The base station comes with two water tanks that can be lifted from the top using their handles. One tank is meant for clean water, while the other collects the dirty water after mopping. There is also a front clasp that opens to reveal the dirt bag slot, which collects dust and debris picked up by the robot. Below this is the platform where the robot docks itself. That's pretty much all there is to setting up the base station.

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Moving on to the robot itself, you first need to remove the top flap to access the dust box. The flap is held magnetically, so removing it is fairly easy. On the underside, there is a slot for the anti-tangle brush and two plates for attaching the mop pads. Once everything is in place, remove the rubber protection from the front, turn on the device, and it is ready to go.

Controls and connectivity

Long-press the power button on the iMap Max W300 ECO to turn it on. During my time with the device, it had enough charge to pair with a smartphone and scan the house for cleaning. However, I would recommend plugging in the base station and placing the robot on it before starting the setup. This allows the robot to remember the station's location and return to it once the scanning or cleaning is complete.

The robot can start scanning and cleaning on its own, but you will need to connect it to the companion app for greater control over its functions. Both the robot and the base station use LED indicators to alert you when something goes wrong. However, they don't specify what the issue is, so you may have to figure that out yourself, unless you have the app.

The Milagrow iMap Max W300 ECO pairs with a smartphone using the SmartLife app, which is available on both Android and iOS. To put the robot into pairing mode, press and hold the Power and Home buttons simultaneously. Then, open the app with Bluetooth enabled and scan for nearby devices. Once the robot is detected, connect it to your 2.4GHz Wi-Fi network, and you're good to go.

The app doesn't require you to create an account, though it's recommended if you want to share access to the iMap Max W300 ECO with other family members. This means they can control the same robot without pairing their smartphones separately, while retaining the settings and controls you've already configured.

The SmartLife app can be paired with a variety of smart home devices, and my experience with it was largely the same as with the Sekyo Smart Alarm door sensor, which I tested recently. The app fetches all the information from the robot in almost real time. However, I do wish the app were ad-free, as ads can make the overall experience feel less polished.

Cleaning performance

The Milagrow iMap Max W300 ECO took around five minutes to scan each corner of my house, which was pretty impressive. This was followed by around an hour and a half (depending on the surface area) of simultaneous vacuuming and mopping. The app also lets you customise the cleaning mode, with options including Vacuum, Mop, Vac & Mop, and Mop after Vac. The latter takes longer, as the robot first vacuums the entire house, room, or selected zone, returns to the base station to clean itself, and then begins mopping.

Interestingly, the iMap Max W300 ECO's mops have an extension mechanism that widens them by 7mm to reach corners that regular robotic vacuums may struggle to clean. This is a genuinely handy feature, as it allows the robot to cover more of the floor and ensures fewer corners are left untouched. Furthermore, the mops can lift themselves by up to 17mm from the surface for easy carpet cleaning or when only the vacuum function is enabled.

The right corner-aligned brush may not have a similar extension or telescopic mechanism, but they are wide enough to clean even those corners. While I don't have carpets at home, there are a few doormats that the robot easily detected, and it increased its suction power and force to overcome the obstacle. You would need slightly heavier doormats so they don't get sucked up by the vacuum and dragged around.

I can totally imagine that happening, since the robot seems incapable of detecting objects small enough to get caught in its rolling brush. Twice, I had to rescue it after it tried to swallow an iPhone charging cable that was plugged into a wall charger, with the other end lying on the floor. The iMap Max W300 ECO not only sucked in the cable, but also pulled the power brick out of the socket. This interrupted its cleaning, and I had to manually remove the wire from the rolling brush.

The other incident involved a toothpick. The robot ran over it and, unable to push it through the brush, encountered an obstruction that made a loud noise. Unfortunately, the app didn't send any notification about the issue, so I had to manually clear the obstruction to get the robot running smoothly again. So, while the iMap Max W300 ECO can navigate around larger objects, I would recommend clearing cables and other small items from the floor before letting it loose. It can clear dust and soft debris as large as a peanut with no trouble whatsoever.

Maintenance: Largely automatic

During and after cleaning, the iMap Max W300 ECO's robot goes to the base station to empty its trash can and clean the mop, if used. Everything is automated, saving you the hassle of disposing of the collection from time to time. One only has to replace the trash bag inside the station once it is full. The bag has a capacity of 3.5 litres, and sadly, there isn't a way to track it in the app as you can with other accessories: Filter, Side brush, Roll brush, and Mop. A spare of each accessory is provided in the box; after that, one has to buy them via the official website to continue using the robot.

Despite its self-cleaning capabilities, the iMap Max W300 ECO still requires some manual maintenance. I would suggest cleaning after a week of usage, basically tidying up things around the robot's vacuum and the base station. While the robot uses a tangle-free brush, it can still struggle with hair that gets caught in it. The brush is free on one side to easily remove the bunch of hair. But in case you can't, a cleaning brush is included in the box. It comes with a built-in comb and a blade, tucked behind the handle cap, to deal with those tangled brushes.

The base station tray can also get dirty during the mop cleaning process, but it can be easily wiped clean with a cloth. One will need to empty the dirty water tank either when the machine indicates it needs emptying or after every mopping session. Interestingly, a Milagrow technician advised me to use RO water for mopping to prevent dust and debris from affecting the machine's functioning. As always, you are not supposed to use any detergent or chemical for mopping with the machine.

The Milagrow iMap Max W300 ECO is said to self-wash mops with 68-degree Celsius hot air to prevent bacterial growth, mould, and odours. Moreover, an H12 antibacterial HEPA filter captures fine dust, allergens, and pollutants to maintain indoor air quality.

Plenty of customisation and smart features

There is an array of other features that you get with the vacuum cleaner. A handful of them would need an app.

• The Milagrow iMap Max W300 ECO doesn't attack obstacles - easily getting around slippers, toys, and other objects - thanks to its advanced LDS LiDAR 3-backed navigation and other sensors on board.
• With the compatible app, users can define zones where the robot will be forbidden to enter and initiate spot cleaning. The robot can also be remote controlled and customised to one's native language. At the time of writing this article, you get support for eight different languages.

• One can also split the room, schedule cleaning, increase suction speed, customise mopping and vacuuming per the rooms/ areas, adjust dust collection frequency and mop washing, turn off 'Auto-boost' mode for carpets, and disable 'Smart Obstacle avoidance' within the app.
• You get voice assistants: Alexa and Google Assistant, for hands-free control with the device.
• Other features include Multi-map support and management, Do Not Disturb mode, Cleaning Record, OTA update support, and more. The cleaner could do with an OTA update soon to fix a mapping issue I encountered once during testing, when it even failed to locate its base station. Apart from this one minor glitch, I didn't encounter any other issue with the device.

Battery

The Milagrow iMap Max W300 ECO robot houses a 5,000mAh battery, which is rated to provide a runtime of 5 hours and coverage of 3,500-4,000 sq ft per charge. I live in a roughly 734 sq ft area, with a marble floor and plenty of open space, and it was able to vacuum and mop the place with 52 percent juice still left in the tank. This is lower than the claimed figure, and I operated the robot in mostly 'Auto' mode, which runs at 'Normal' suction power, 'Low' water output, and cleans itself at least thrice during the process.

Charging the device takes more than two hours, but if the robot is low on battery (around 20 percent) during the cleaning, it will return to the base station, charge itself and start cleaning again where it left off.

Thoughts

The Milagrow iMap Max W300 ECO is priced at Rs 56,990 on the company's official website at the time of writing. It gets plenty of things right and comes close to delivering the kind of hands-off experience you would expect from a robot vacuum cleaner. Most notably, it addresses one of the biggest pain points with these devices: dealing with dust and cleaning the mops after they have done their job. The W300 ECO handles most of this on its own, although the process is not always as clean as it could be.

However, I appreciate how little manual maintenance the cleaner requires. There are also several alternatives in the market offering similar functionality. The ECOVACS N50 Pro Omni Black is one of the closest options in terms of price and features. It has also received several positive reviews from buyers on e-commerce platforms, and has the added advantage of a black colour option.

The Milagrow iMap Max W300 ECO ultimately stands out for its largely seamless operation and anti-tangle rolling brush, which can be easily cleaned manually if required, thanks to its side opening. If Milagrow can address some minor mapping issues and improve the robot's handling of small objects, the W300 ECO could be a compelling option for those looking to reduce manual cleaning and maintenance.

Editor's rating: 8.5/10

Pros

• Effective cleaning and mopping
• Anti-tangle rolling brush is easy to clean
• Long battery life with automatic recharge and resume
• Minimal manual maintenance

Cons

• Struggles with small objects such as cables and toothpicks
• Occasional mapping issues during testing

Design: thinner, lighter, smoother flip

[pdp-expert-review]
Samsung has refined an already compelling design without fixing what wasn't broken. The Galaxy Z Flip8 boasts meaningful refinements where they matter. It is thinner, lighter and more pocketable, while the refined hinge feels smoother and the new Pink finish is surprisingly tasteful. 
[/pdp-expert-review]

The Samsung Galaxy Z Flip8 is being promoted in Pink, which looks surprisingly subtle and subdued in person. And I say that as a male user; the colour certainly doesn't make the phone look overly feminine. Samsung has also done a good job with the edges, giving them a soft lavender shade that complements the overall look. It is only on the back panel that you get a more pronounced shade of pink, but even that doesn't look tacky, thanks to the matte finish.

This year's Samsung Galaxy Z Flip8 is also marginally thinner and lighter than ever before. The handset features a refined Armour FlexHinge, which not only makes the hinge mechanism smoother but also appears to have helped reduce the phone's overall weight and thickness. As a result, the Flip8 weighs 180 grams and measures just 6.1mm in thickness when unfolded. This despite Samsung sticking to the same form factor, design, and material as last year's Galaxy Z Flip7, which measures 186 grams and 6.8mm in thickness.

This slight improvement makes the device even more compact and pocketable, making it easier to carry around for prolonged periods - something that should appeal to younger users. The Flip8 also feels incredibly premium in hand, thanks to its aluminium frame. Both the front and back of the phone, when folded, are protected by Corning Gorilla Glass Victus 2. The smartphone is also IP48-rated, making it suitable for casual use in the rain or by the swimming pool. However, I'd still be cautious about taking it to the beach.

As for the new hinge, it definitely feels more fluid than ever before. No, you still can't flip the phone open as effortlessly as Shah Rukh Khan does in one of the sequences in Don 2. There is still some resistance, and attempting it would require a firm grip and plenty of caution to prevent the phone from flying out of your hand.

Beyond that, you can still use the phone with the inner display folded at a 90-degree angle, allowing you to use FlexCam to check your appearance on the cover screen while taking selfies or shooting content, among other things. It doesn't seem a cause for concern, but I did feel a slight feedback from the hinge when unfolding the phone around the 45-degree mark, which is missing from its elder siblings.

Display: smarter cover screen

[pdp-expert-review]
The Galaxy Z Flip8's displays deliver a more polished experience, with a less noticeable crease, slimmer bezels and a more immersive main screen. The biggest upgrade, however, is the FlexWindow, which now supports a much wider range of apps and makes the cover screen genuinely useful beyond notifications and widgets.
[/pdp-expert-review]

Moving on to the most interactive part of the Galaxy Z Flip8—the displays. The handset sports a 6.9-inch Dynamic AMOLED 2X main display and a 4.1-inch cover screen, both of which have received some quality-of-life improvements. The crease on the main display is now shallower, if not negligible. This will be particularly noticeable to those coming from an older-generation foldable, as scrolling across the display feels considerably smoother. The thinner bezels also make multimedia consumption feel more immersive than on its predecessor.

The bezels have also been trimmed on the Galaxy Z Flip8's cover screen. More importantly, it now supports a wider range of apps, along with usual notifications, music controls, widgets, and camera preview. Samsung is calling it FlexWindow, and the small, squarish display now supports as many as 16 apps out of the box. You can add more apps to the list by scrolling to the bottom of the cover screen, tapping the option to 'Add apps', and downloading the MultiStar app.

The cover screen supported nearly every app I tried, and most of them appeared to be well optimised for its aspect ratio, except for vertical videos such as Reels. Nevertheless, it makes the outer display much more approachable. The FlexWindow seems to be a software feature, which could be rolled out to the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip7 via an OTA update.

Software and performance: polished & effortless

[pdp-expert-review]
The Galaxy Z Flip8 delivers a polished software experience, with One UI 9, Galaxy AI and useful foldable features such as Flex Mode, FlexWindow and FlexCam. The Exynos 2600 also keeps everyday use, multitasking and even demanding workloads running smoothly. However, thermal management is a slight weak point, with the phone getting warmer than expected under sustained loads.
[/pdp-expert-review]

The Galaxy Z Flip8 runs One UI 9, based on Android 17, out of the box, and is promised to receive seven years of software and security updates. You get all the latest Android features (check out our roundup), along with Galaxy AI tools and various improvements and optimisations to Samsung's custom skin, which you can read more about in our Galaxy Z Fold8 review. The Galaxy Z Flip8 specifics include FlexWindow and FlexCam, as discussed above.

The smartphone also supports Flex Mode, which adapts compatible apps when the phone is partially folded. Depending on the app, this can enable a split-screen layout, turn the lower half of the display into a trackpad, or support other layouts. You can also use the phone in Tent Mode, which lets it stand on its own while folded.

[comparative-benchmark type="1" title="AnTuTu score" caption="AnTuTu assesses a smartphone's CPU, GPU, memory, and overall user experience (higher is better)" highlight="product_1" products="42129,40954,41148,," ][/comparative-benchmark]

Everything works as advertised, and pretty smoothly too. This can be attributed to the latest 2nm Exynos 2600 SoC, paired with 12GB of LPDDR5X RAM and up to 512GB of UFS 4.0 storage on the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip8. Ultimately, this isn't a device designed primarily for gaming or other demanding workloads, but if pushed, it can handle all of that and more without breaking a sweat. Animations are smooth, multitasking is effortless, and on-device AI tasks feel seamless. That said, thermals could have been managed better. The advanced graphite sheet cooling structure inside fails to dissipate heat as effectively as one would expect.

Battery: good backup

[pdp-expert-review]
The Galaxy Z Flip8 offers all-day battery life on regular usage. Heavy camera use and demanding workloads can drain it faster, though, and the 25W charging takes around 90 minutes for a full charge. While the charging speeds feel slower, the battery endurance is respectable for a flip.
[/pdp-expert-review]

[comparative-benchmark type="3" title="PCMark Battery score (in hours)" caption="PCMark battery test measures phone battery life from 100% to 20% (higher is better)" highlight="product_1" products="42129,40954,41148,," ][/comparative-benchmark]

To keep things running, the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip8 packs a 4,300mAh battery with support for 25W wired and 15W wireless charging. This is identical to its predecessor and, in my experience, delivers similar endurance. The smartphone can comfortably last a day on regular usage between charges, while extended camera use, multitasking, and demanding workloads may require a quick top-up by the end of the day. For a flip, that's a respectable backup. Charging the smartphone from 0 to 100 percent can take around one and a half hours.

Cameras: punchy colours, strong dynamic range

[pdp-expert-review]
The Galaxy Z Flip8's cameras deliver punchy colours, strong dynamic range and good detail, making them impressive for a flip phone. Portraits are convincing, too, though low-light photography could be better.
[/pdp-expert-review]

The Samsung Galaxy Z Flip8 sports a dual rear camera setup comprising a 50MP f/1.8 OIS main sensor and a 12MP f/2.2 ultrawide lens with a 123-degree field of view. Up front, there is a 10MP camera for selfies and video calls. Of course, you can also use the superior rear cameras to capture selfies, with the cover display serving as a viewfinder. All three cameras support HDR video recording at up to UHD (4K) resolution and 60fps. The resulting footage appears stable and well-balanced, with decent detail, if not on par with the regular slab-based flagships. Still, for a flip phone, the cameras are commendable.

As for colours, both stills and videos appear punchy and vibrant, with a very Samsung-like look characterised by brighter tones and saturated greens, while still keeping the overall scene close to reality. The dynamic range is equally impressive, with good exposure and plenty of detail retained in shadowy areas. While there is no dedicated telephoto lens for portraits, the software does a good job of separating the subject from the background, resulting in natural-looking portraits. The skin tones and colours may not always be the most accurate, but they are punchy and easy on the eyes.

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Users can switch to a more natural profile for more realistic tones. Samsung has also included several filters, beauty modes, and exposure controls to further enhance the camera experience. However, I wish the Galaxy Z Flip8 did a better job of controlling light flare and graininess after sunset. Despite this, the images do a good job of preserving finer details and textures in low-light conditions.

Verdict

The Samsung Galaxy Z Flip8 is priced in India at Rs 1,24,999 for the base 256GB variant, while the 512GB storage option costs Rs 1,44,999. That's a significant jump over its predecessor, although the higher pricing is understandable given the ongoing rise in RAM and storage costs.

The upgrades may feel modest, but the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip8 comes across as a polished refinement of a compelling flip-phone formula. Its slimmer design, smoother hinge, improved displays and genuinely useful FlexWindow make it a more complete foldable experience. Performance is smooth, and the cameras are impressive for a flip phone, while battery life is respectable for casual usage.

Overall, the Galaxy Z Flip8 is a strong choice for anyone looking for a stylish, compact foldable without compromising on everyday usability, especially if you are coming from a generation or two older flip phones.

Editor's rating: 8.3/10

Pros

• Thinner and lighter design, smoother hinge
• More useful FlexWindow
• Excellent everyday performance
• Good cameras with punchy colours

Cons

• Power users may want more

The phone arrives at a time when rising memory prices have put considerable pressure on the budget smartphone segment. Brands are increasingly having to introduce phones with more modest hardware to keep costs under control, making appealing options below Rs 20,000 fewer and farther between.

The realme C100x takes a similar approach, prioritising the essentials for everyday use. In this review, I look at how well that strategy works and whether the device is worth its asking price.

Short Verdict

The Realme C100x has its limitations, but that is expected at this price. Its attractive design, smooth display and smooth UI make it a decent choice for basic everyday use, while the battery life will comfortably get most users through the day and more. The limited 64GB storage and slightly heavy build are drawbacks, but for first-time smartphone users, students or anyone looking for a simple starter device, it gets the basics right without trying to do too much.

Design: big and beautiful

[pdp-expert-review]
The Realme C100x has an attractive design that looks more premium than its price suggests, with eye-catching wavy patterns and coloured camera rings. It feels solid too, although the 219g weight makes it slightly heavy for longer use.
[/pdp-expert-review]

This is clearly one of the areas where this phone wants to stand out from its competition. The colourways look especially pleasing, with the wavy patterns on the rear adding some character without making the phone look too flashy. The camera module also fits well with the overall design, and the coloured rings around the camera lenses add another small touch that helps the phone stand out.

The phone does feel substantial in the hand, though. At 219g, it is on the heavier side, and its large size takes some time to get used to, especially if you are coming from a lighter or more compact phone. It is not uncomfortable to hold, but you will notice the weight during extended use.

[comparative-benchmark type="1000" products="42034,42318,41802,," ][/comparative-benchmark]

The build quality is reassuring, too, as the phone has an IP64 rating for protection against dust and water splashes, along with 2m drop protection. This provides good protection for everyday use and should offer some peace of mind if you are a little rough with your devices.

Overall, the phone looks and feels more premium than its price suggests. The weight may take some getting used to, but the attractive finish, distinctive rear design and build make it one of the better-looking phones in its segment.

Battery: lasts exceptionally long

[pdp-expert-review]
The Realme C100x's 8,000mAh battery is one of its biggest strengths, delivering over 21 hours in our battery benchmark test. It easily handles long streaming and gaming sessions, while 45W charging takes around two hours to fully top up.
[/pdp-expert-review]

Battery life is another major strength of this phone, thanks to its mammoth 8,000mAh battery. It is likely the biggest battery in this segment, and the numbers back up its endurance. In our battery benchmark test, the phone lasted for over 21 hours, which is currently the best score in its segment.

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The phone lost only 4 per cent battery after an hour of video streaming, while 30 minutes of gaming used around 4.5 per cent. This means you can comfortably spend a lot of time watching videos, playing games, or browsing without worrying about reaching for the charger.

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The 45W fast charging support also does a decent job of topping up such a large battery. It takes around two hours to fully charge, which is reasonable given the sheer size of the battery. While it is not the fastest charging phone around, you are unlikely to need to charge it often in the first place.

If long battery life is high on your list, this phone is an easy recommendation. With normal use, it can comfortably last around two days on a single charge, making battery life one of its biggest advantages.

Cameras: good enough

[pdp-expert-review]
The 50MP main camera delivers good daylight shots with punchy colours and decent detail, while Night mode improves low-light images. The 5MP selfie camera produces pleasing colours and natural skin tones, making the setup good enough for everyday photography.
[/pdp-expert-review]

The Realme C100x has a capable 50MP main camera for casual photography. In daylight, it captures a good amount of detail and produces punchy colours, although the processing can sometimes make the images look more vibrant than the actual scene. Portrait shots are decent as well, with natural-looking separation in most situations, although finer details can appear a little soft when you zoom in.

The 5MP selfie camera prioritises pleasing colours over fine detail, and it generally does a good job of keeping skin tones and the overall scene close to what you see in real life.

[smartslider3 slider=2177]

In low light, the main camera benefits from Night mode, which improves exposure, detail and colours while keeping noise under control. Overall, the camera setup is not its strongest selling point, but it is good enough for everyday photos, social media and the occasional portrait or selfie.

I've compared the Realme C100x and the Lava Virat V1's (review) cameras in different scenarios below.

Daylight

When comparing the two phones and their images side by side, you'll notice a few key differences straight away. The C100x adopts an aggressive, vibrant colour scheme which makes the scene appear punchy, while the Virat takes a more modest approach with colours.

[twenty20 img1="https://static.hub.91mobiles.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/9/2026/08/Realme-C100x-daylight-scaled.jpg" img2="https://static.hub.91mobiles.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/9/2026/08/Lava-Virat-daylight-scaled.jpg" offset="0.5" before="Realme C100x" after="Lava Virat "]

Neither of them is wholly accurate, and both struggle to render the actual scene. The Realme C100x is in the definitive lead here thanks to its detail and sharpness level compared to the Lava Virat. 

Portrait

The colours in the portrait are consistent with those in regular daylight shots. The subject's skin tone has a reddish tint in Realme's image, while it appears slightly duller in Lava's image.

[twenty20 img1="https://static.hub.91mobiles.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/9/2026/08/Realme-C100x-portrait-scaled.jpg" img2="https://static.hub.91mobiles.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/9/2026/08/Lava-Virat-portriat-scaled.jpg" offset="0.5" before="Realme C100x" after="Lava Virat "]

The latter has an advantage here in terms of detail level since the former's image appears softer when zoomed in. Finally, edge detection is also better on the Lava Virat's image. 

Selfie

Talking about selfies, the Lava Virat captures a very detailed shot with decent exposure and sharpness. The Realme C100x, while not as detailed as its counterpart, does a much better job with colour science. The C100x's image matches the actual scene and colours much more closely. 

[twenty20 img1="https://static.hub.91mobiles.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/9/2026/08/Realme-C100x-selfie-scaled.jpg" img2="https://static.hub.91mobiles.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/9/2026/08/Lava-Virat-selfie-scaled.jpg" offset="0.5" before="Realme C100x" after="Lava Virat "]

Lowlight

With night mode enabled on both phones, Realme C100x is clearly the better performer of the two. It delivers better-exposed images, detail level and colours, while the Lava's image is much darker and grainy, making it less appealing.   

[twenty20 img1="https://static.hub.91mobiles.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/9/2026/08/Realme-C100x-lowlight-scaled.jpg" img2="https://static.hub.91mobiles.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/9/2026/08/Lava-Virat-lowlight-scaled.jpg" offset="0.5" before="Realme C100x" after="Lava Virat "]

Performance: could have been better

[pdp-expert-review]
The Unisoc T2750 and 4GB RAM offer basic performance, with some sluggishness during everyday use. However, Realme UI helps smooth things out, making the phone capable enough for browsing, social media, streaming and basic gaming.
[/pdp-expert-review]

Performance is easily the least capable aspect of this phone, and as a 4G device, it uses the Unisoc T2750 chipset, paired with 4GB of LPDDR4X RAM and 64GB of eMMC 5.1 storage. You also get microSD support for up to 2TB of additional storage, which is useful if you plan to keep many photos, videos, or apps on the phone. However, the core hardware is fairly basic and offers little beyond everyday usability. 

[comparative-benchmark type="1" title="AnTuTu score" caption="AnTuTu assesses a smartphone's CPU, GPU, memory, and overall user experience (higher is better)" highlight="product_1" products="42034,42318,41802,," ][/comparative-benchmark]

There is a general feeling of sluggishness when using the phone, especially when moving between apps or navigating around the UI. It is not unusable, but you can tell that this is not a phone built for heavy workloads. The OS, however, does a decent job of keeping things smooth. When I compared it with the Lava Virat V1 (review), which uses a more powerful Unisoc chipset, both phones felt surprisingly similar in terms of smoothness. This suggests that the software is doing a lot of the heavy lifting here.

[comparative-benchmark type="10" title="Geekbench single-core score" caption="Geekbench assesses the efficiency of the CPU's single and multiple cores (higher is better)" highlight="product_1" products="42034,42318,41802,," ][/comparative-benchmark]

For basic day-to-day use, the phone remains capable enough. You can browse the web, use social media, stream videos and switch between common apps without major issues, as long as you keep your expectations in check. Gaming is also fine for basic titles, but more demanding games will push the hardware beyond what it can comfortably handle.

[comparative-benchmark type="11" title="Geekbench multi-core score" caption="Geekbench assesses the efficiency of the CPU's single and multiple cores (higher is better)" highlight="product_1" products="42034,42318,41802,," ][/comparative-benchmark]

The phone's performance is clearly behind what some of the other areas of this phone offer, but it is still reasonable for the segment. The hardware is basic, but the software does a good job of making the most of it, and that keeps the phone usable for everyday tasks.

Software: uplifts the overall experience 

[pdp-expert-review]
Realme UI 7 helps smooth out the phone's basic hardware with useful everyday features, AI tools and performance options. While software support remains unclear, most pre-installed apps can be removed, making the overall experience more practical for casual users.
[/pdp-expert-review]

The phone runs on Realme UI 7, based on Android 16, and comes with quite a few pre-installed apps out of the box. Most of these apps can be removed if you do not need them.

The software is one area where this phone does a lot to smooth out the rough edges of its basic hardware. Realme UI offers a good mix of useful quality-of-life features, including an eye-care mode, extra brightness controls and tools to help speed up the phone when it starts to feel slow. There are also plenty of AI features, covering everything from the cameras to productivity tools.

[comparative-benchmark type="3000" products="42034,42318,41802,," pias="61,34,58,,"][/comparative-benchmark]

While the more advanced AI features may not be something every user will rely on, the smaller additions are arguably more useful for most casual users. Features such as eye care, extra brightness and simple performance tools can make a real difference in everyday use without requiring you to change how you use the phone.

This is where Realme UI works well for this particular device. The hardware is clearly limited, but the software helps hide some of those limitations and makes the phone feel more complete than the specifications suggest. There are quite a few pre-installed apps, although most can be removed if you do not need them.

One thing that is still unclear is software support. Realme has not specified how many Android versions or security updates this phone will receive, which is worth keeping in mind if you plan to use it for several years.

Display: good visuals, average sound

[pdp-expert-review]
The 6.8-inch 120Hz LCD display offers a smooth and enjoyable viewing experience, with vibrant colours and good indoor brightness. However, outdoor visibility can be challenging, while the single speaker lacks the depth of a stereo setup.
[/pdp-expert-review]

The 6.8-inch LCD display is one of the phone's biggest strengths, especially if you enjoy watching videos or simply prefer a larger screen. It has a 120Hz refresh rate, which makes scrolling through apps, browsing the web and moving around the interface feel smooth. The colours also look good, and I prefer using the Vivid setting, which gives the display a livelier look.

With a peak brightness of 900 nits, it works well enough for most indoor use, and you should have little trouble viewing the screen under normal conditions. The display, however, can struggle a little outdoors, particularly in well-lit surroundings or when using the phone directly under the sun. This is not a major issue for everyday use, but it is something to keep in mind if you spend a lot of time outdoors.

The bigger issue here for me is the single speaker. It gets loud enough for watching videos or listening to casual content, but it does not offer the same depth or sense of space as a stereo speaker setup. If you often consume media using the phone's speakers alone, the experience can feel a little flat.

Overall, the large 120Hz display works well for everyday use and offers a pleasant viewing experience. The outdoor brightness and mono speaker are its main weaknesses, but neither detracts much from what is otherwise a capable screen.

Final Verdict

The Realme C100x is priced at Rs 16,999 in India for the 4GB + 64GB variant. It is a phone that gets the basics right while putting a clear focus on battery life, design and everyday usability. The 8,000mAh battery is its biggest advantage, comfortably lasting around two days with normal use, while the 6.8-inch 120Hz display makes the phone enjoyable for watching videos and browsing. Its design also looks more premium than its price suggests, and the cameras perform well enough for casual photography, with particularly good results in low light.

The Lava Virat V1 (review) makes a worthy rival if you want more performance and 5G connectivity. It uses a more capable Unisoc chipset and has slightly better overall hardware, making it the better option for users who want to play more demanding games or use 5G frequently. However, its battery life and camera performance do not match those of the C100x.

This ultimately makes the Realme C100x a sensible choice for users who value long battery life, a large, smooth display and a good-looking phone over raw performance. It is not the most powerful option in the segment, but for casual users, first-time smartphone buyers and anyone who simply wants a phone that can comfortably last through the day and beyond, the C100x makes a good case for itself.

Editor's Rating: 8.1/10

Reasons to buy:

• Attractive design that looks more premium than its price suggests.
• Large 6.8-inch display with a smooth 120Hz refresh rate.
• Realme UI offers a smooth experience with useful everyday features.
• Excellent battery life that can comfortably last around two days.

Reasons not to buy:

• Only 64GB of base storage, which can feel limiting for some users.
• The 219g weight makes the phone slightly heavy in the hand.
• The single speaker lacks the depth and separation of a stereo setup.

Winners at a glance

*Prices and models as of August 24, 2026

The Motorola Signature stands out as the best overall phone, giving you the best value for your money in this segment. For performance-focused buyers, the OnePlus 15R is the top choice for its excellent gaming and power efficiency. The OPPO Reno 16 is the best when it comes to cameras, while the Vivo X200T is also another option to consider. For battery life, the iQOO 15R is the most reliable option in this segment. Lastly, the Galaxy A57 is recommended for those considering long-term software support. 

Motorola Signature - Best overall

Price: Rs 59,999

Why we chose it 

The Motorola Signature (review) marks the brand's entry into the premium sub-flagship segment, offering a well-rounded package at a starting price of Rs 59,999. Despite its large 6.8-inch display, the phone remains impressively slim and lightweight, with a fabric-textured rear that feels comfortable in hand. Its LTPO AMOLED display supports a 1-165Hz dynamic refresh rate and up to 6,200 nits brightness, delivering an immersive viewing experience. You also get a clean and near-stock Android experience with up to seven years of OS and security updates. 

Powered by the Snapdragon 8 Gen 5, the Motorola Signature delivers near-flagship performance, making it well-suited for everything from everyday tasks to demanding workloads. Its versatile 50MP triple-camera setup also makes it a capable option for photography enthusiasts and social media users. While the battery capacity is smaller than what some rivals offer, it can comfortably last a day and supports 90W fast charging for quick top-ups. So unless battery capacity is a major issue, the Motorola Signature can easily become your pick for the best overall smartphone under Rs 70,000. 

Key specs:

• 6.8-inch AMOLED FHD+, 165Hz refresh rate
• Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 5
• 50MP + 50MP + 50MP; 50MP front
• 5,200mAh, 90W fast charging

OnePlus 15R - Best performance

Price: Rs 59,999

Why we chose it

The OnePlus 15R (review) stays true to its performance-focused approach. It is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 5 chipset, which sits just below the flagship Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 and delivers benchmark scores among the highest in the segment, coming close to some flagship phones. In everyday use, its performance is comparable to that of the flagship OnePlus 15, with no noticeable stutter or choppiness during our testing.

[comparative-benchmark type="1" title="AnTuTu score" caption="AnTuTu assesses a smartphone's CPU, GPU, memory, and overall user experience (higher is better)" highlight="product_1" products="41310,41718,41330,," ][/comparative-benchmark]

The phone also handles sustained workloads well, thanks to its 360-degree Cryo-Velocity Cooling System, which kept temperatures in check during games such as COD Mobile and BGMI. Combined with LPDDR5X Ultra RAM and UFS 4.1 storage, the OnePlus 15R is well equipped for demanding tasks and extended gaming sessions. Taken together, you get a smartphone you can easily consider for performance. 

Key specs:

• 6.83-inch AMOLED FHD+, 165Hz refresh rate
• Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 5
• 50MP + 8MP; 32MP front
• 7,400mAh, 80W fast charging

OPPO Reno 16/Vivo X200T - Best cameras

Price: Rs 66,999

Why we chose it

The OPPO Reno 16 (review) takes the top spot for the best camera phone under Rs 70,000, thanks to its versatile 50MP setup across the primary, ultra-wide, 3.5x telephoto, and selfie cameras. It handles everything from landscapes and portraits to zoom shots and selfies with ease. The telephoto lens adds useful flexibility, while the low-light selfie flash and AI-powered tools further enhance the camera experience. With capable hardware complemented by useful software features, the Reno 16 offers one of the most well-rounded camera packages in this segment.

• 6.32-inch AMOLED FHD+, 120Hz refresh rate
• Qualcomm Snapdragon 7 Gen 4
• 50MP + 50MP + 50MP; 50MP front
• 6,700mAh, 80W fast charging

Price: Rs 59,999

Why we chose it

We'd also like to mention the Vivo X200T (review), which ranks among the strongest camera phones in this segment. It features a Zeiss-branded triple-camera setup with a 50MP primary, 50MP ultra-wide, and 50MP 3x telephoto lens. The X200T produces a more stylised and visually pleasing output, with sharp, contrast-rich images, reliable exposure, and good dynamic range, and portraits producing a pleasing depth of field. Meanwhile, the 32MP front camera captures selfies with accurate skin tones, sharp facial details, and good overall clarity. The Vivo X200T is another option you can consider for cameras under Rs 70,000. 

• 6.67-inch AMOLED FHD+, 120Hz refresh rate
• MediaTek Dimensity 9400 Plus
• 50MP + 50MP + 50MP; 32MP front
• 6,200mAh, 90W fast charging

iQOO 15R - Best battery

Price: Rs 53,999

Why we chose it

The iQOO 15R (review) packs a large 7,600mAh battery with 100W FlashCharge and support for bypass charging. The handset is powerful enough to last a long time, no matter your usage style, as it delivers excellent battery life, even better than the OnePlus 15R.

[comparative-benchmark type="3" title="PCMark Battery score (in hours)" caption="PCMark battery test measures phone battery life from 100% to 20% (higher is better)" highlight="product_1" products="41748,41310,41713,," ][/comparative-benchmark]

The iQOO 15R delivers around 7 to 8 hours of screen time, which translates to over two days of battery life with regular usage and less than two days for power users. Since it comes bundled with a 100W charger, it's also easy to quickly top up the phone's battery. You also get bypass charging, which helps keep the phone cool while charging and gaming simultaneously. If battery woes are a major concern for you, the iQOO 15R will more than impress you. 

Key specs:

• 6.59-inch AMOLED FHD+, 144Hz refresh rate
• Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 5
• 50MP + 8MP; 32MP front
• 7,600mAh, 100W fast charging

Samsung Galaxy A57 - Best software

Price: Rs 53,999

Why we chose it

Samsung continues to offer one of the most polished Android UIs and long-term software support. The Galaxy A57 runs One UI 8.5 based on Android 16 out of the box with six years of OS upgrades (up to Android 22) and security updates. This is one of the longest software support periods you can get in this price segment, making the phone reliable for long-term use. Samsung has also bundled Galaxy AI features such as Object Eraser and Best Face for group photos. These features integrate well into everyday use and add a layer of convenience without feeling gimmicky.

If long-term software support with good productivity features are your priorities, then the Galaxy A57 makes total sense. 

Key specs:

• 6.7-inch Super AMOLED Plus FHD+, 120Hz refresh rate, Gorilla Glass
• Exynos 1680
• 50MP + 12MP + 5MP; 12MP front
• 5,000mAh, 45W fast charging

Reasons to buy

Impressive battery life

[comparative-benchmark type="3" title="PCMark Battery score (in hours)" caption="PCMark battery test measures phone battery life from 100% to 20% (higher is better)" highlight="product_1" products="42356,42253,42030,," ][/comparative-benchmark]

The 7,000mAh battery is one of the Moto G Max's biggest strengths. In the PCMark battery test, the smartphone lasted over 18 hours, outperforming the Redmi Note 17 despite the latter packing a larger 8,000mAh battery. In real-world usage, the Moto G Max should comfortably last a full day, although heavy users may need to top it up by the end of the day.

Stereo speakers

The Moto G Max is one of the few phones in its segment to feature a dual stereo speaker setup. The speakers are backed by Dolby Atmos and Hi-Res Audio support, complementing the large 6.72-inch FHD+ LCD panel for multimedia consumption. They get decently loud and deliver relatively crisp audio at moderate volume levels.

Reliable everyday performance

[comparative-benchmark type="1" title="AnTuTu score" caption="AnTuTu assesses a smartphone's CPU, GPU, memory, and overall user experience (higher is better)" highlight="product_1" products="42356,42253,42030,," ][/comparative-benchmark]

The Snapdragon 6s Gen 4 SoC, paired with LPDDR5X RAM and UFS 4.1 storage, delivers a smooth experience for everyday tasks. The phone doesn't feel particularly snappy, but it handles multitasking without stutters and runs games such as BGMI and COD: Mobile without noticeable frame drops or lag. Thermal performance also remains under control during extended use.

Strong selfie camera

Reasons not to buy

Average rear cameras

[gallery link="none" columns="1" size="full" td_select_gallery_slide="slide" ids="712357,712356,712355"]

The Moto G Max's dual 50MP + 8MP rear camera setup looks promising on paper, but its real-world performance leaves room for improvement. Images tend to have punchy and slightly oversaturated colours, while exposure, dynamic range and detail retention are also inconsistent. The cameras are particularly underwhelming when compared with rivals such as the Redmi Note 17.

LCD instead of AMOLED display

The Moto G Max packs an LCD display, which is sharp, reasonably vibrant, and supports a 120Hz refresh rate for smooth animation and scrolling. However, it lacks the punchy colours, deep blacks, and excellent viewing angles that an AMOLED panel on competing smartphones provides.

Slow charging and relatively limited software

The 33W charging is another area where the phone falls behind, taking almost 80 minutes to charge from 20 to 100 percent. Its two major Android OS upgrades and three years of security updates are reasonable but not class-leading. The Redmi Note 17, notably, offers up to four major OS upgrades and six years of security updates.

To conclude…

The Moto G Max gets the basics right with a smooth 120Hz display, reliable performance, stereo speakers and impressive battery life. Its 32MP selfie camera is also a strong performer. However, the LCD panel, average rear cameras and relatively slow charging prevent it from being a truly "Max" offering, especially against rivals such as the Redmi Note 17 (review) that offer AMOLED displays and longer software support. The Redmi smartphone also delivers more natural-looking images.

That said, the Moto G Max remains a capable all-rounder within the segment, particularly for users who prioritise battery life, speakers and selfies over camera performance and display quality.