Indian Gadget Awards 2025: Best smartphone winners
The Indian Gadget Awards (IGA) 2025 is the industry’s premier platform for recognising technological excellence, honouring the most impactful products launched this year. While the awards cover a variety of electronics and gadgets, the smartphone category remains the most anticipated, driven by breakthrough innovations in key areas, such as cameras, displays, and performance. We at 91mobiles, along with 20+ jury members, came together to ascertain the winners of the IGA 2025 across 18 smartphone categories and over 400 nominations. Here’s a look at the best of the best phones of 2025!
Best Phone of 2025 (Under 10K)
Winner: Redmi 14C
2025 saw a pleasant number of affordable smartphones, with capable hardware for daily use. Among those, the Redmi 14C has been awarded the Best Phone of 2025 under Rs 10,000 at the IGA 2025 for its snappy and fast performance (courtesy the Snapdragon 4 Gen 2 processor), a large 6.8-inch display, and a 50MP primary camera.
Best Phone of 2025 (Under 15K)
Winner: iQOO Z10x
The sub-Rs 15,000 segment once again saw brands launching phones with fantastic value for money, large batteries, reliable performance, and even AI functionalities. However, since only one can walk away as the winner, the iQOO Z10x has been crowned the Best Phone of 2025 under Rs 15,000 after careful consideration by our esteemed jury members.
Best Phone of 2025 (Under 20K)
Winner: CMF Phone 2 Pro
Moving on to the under Rs 20,000 segment, this smartphone category remained one of the most hotly contested. Most manufacturers delivered a balance of dependable performance and capable cameras, but the phone that truly rose to the top was the CMF Phone 2 Pro by Nothing. It features a distinct rear design and meaningful camera upgrades over its predecessor, including a 2x telephoto lens.
Best Phone of 2025 (Under 30K)
Winner: Motorola Edge 60 Pro
The Motorola Edge 60 Pro bags the award for the Best Phone of 2025 under Rs 30,000. Although we saw many impressive options from OnePlus, Nothing, Vivo, and others in this highly competitive segment, the Motorola Edge 60 Pro takes the win for its all-around value.
Best Phone of 2025 (under 40K)
Winner: Realme GT 7
The under Rs 40,000 segment witnessed smartphones offering raw power that rivals the very top-end devices, along with skilful camera capabilities. At the IGA 2025, the Realme GT 7 has been selected as the Best Phone of 2025 under Rs 40,000 after careful consideration by the jury. It boasts the Dimensity 9400e chipset, a massive 7,000mAh battery, a 50MP main and telephoto lens, and tons of nifty AI features bundled under NEXT AI.
Best Phone of 2025 (under 50K)
Winner: OnePlus 13R
The competition in the sub-Rs 50,000 category was intense, with brands going all out in providing premium designs, top-notch performance and camera hardware, and stunning display panels. With the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 SoC, a hefty 6,000mAh battery, and a versatile triple rear camera setup, the OnePlus 13R emerges victorious and wins the award for the Best Phone of 2025 under Rs 50,000.
Best Phone of 2025 (under 70K)
Winner: OnePlus 13
Challenging the premium flagships and offering a similar experience for less, the OnePlus 13 takes home the title of the Best Phone of 2025 under Rs 70,000. Rocking the incredibly powerful Snapdragon 8 Elite chipset, flagship-grade Hasselblad optics, and an eye-catching yet solid curved design, it stands tall as a compelling option among its rivals.
Phone Of The Year 2025
Winner: Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra
For this most prestigious award, the winner has to push technology to the absolute limits, which is where the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra comes in. Packing a dazzling 6.9-inch AMOLED display, compelling performance from the Snapdragon 8 Elite for Galaxy, and bleeding-edge camera hardware, the Galaxy S25 Ultra triumphs as the Best Phone of the Year 2025.
Best Camera Smartphone of 2025 – Affordable (Under 25K)
Winner: Motorola Edge 60 Fusion
2025 saw several sub-Rs 25,000 smartphones rocking large camera sensors and advanced imaging algorithms for perfectly detailed social media-ready shots. With the Motorola Edge 60 Fusion embodying an excellent blend of hardware and processing, such as a large 50MP 1/1.56″ LYTIA 700C main camera and a 13MP macro-capable ultrawide lens, it wins the award for the Best Camera smartphone of 2025 in the Affordable category in the latest edition of IGA.
Best Camera smartphone of 2025 – Mainstream (Under 40K)
Winner: Vivo V60
Capturing moments in an instant is now the heart of the smartphone experience, especially for photography enthusiasts. While 2025 brought us plenty of camera-centric phones, Vivo truly raised the bar in the mid-range market with the Vivo V60 and has been awarded the Best Camera Smartphone of 2025 in the sub-Rs 40,000 segment. For starters, it gains a 50MP 1/1.56″ main camera, a 50MP 3x telephoto with ZEISS portrait support, and a 32MP selfie camera capable of recording videos in 4K.
Best Camera smartphone of 2025 – Premium
Winner: Vivo X200 Pro
Handing over the award for the Best Camera smartphone of 2025 in the premium category was a tough task. After rigorous analysis by our experienced jury, the Vivo X200 Pro managed to clinch the victory. The smartphone features an industry-leading 200MP ZEISS telephoto camera that delivers unparalleled zoom detail, stunning portrait and macro capabilities. Tagging alongside the telephoto is a 50MP 1/1.28″ main camera. If you’re interested, you can read our
Vivo X200 Pro review to understand why we called it the camera phone of 2025 long before the jury awarded the same.
Best Selfie Smartphone of 2025 – Mainstream (Under 40K)
Winner: OPPO Reno14 5G
In the era of video conferencing and content creation, a skilful selfie camera is something many buyers look forward to on a smartphone. At IGA 2025, the phone that outclassed other nominees for the Best Selfie Smartphone of 2025 is none other than the OPPO Reno 14. The handset integrates a 50MP front camera with Autofocus, making every self-portrait sharp and glamorous.
Best Gaming Smartphone of 2025 – Affordable (Under 25K)
Winner: Infinix GT 30 Pro
This year, several smartphones released below Rs 25,000 didn’t hold back on offering nifty gaming-centric features, including high-resolution displays, frame interpolation, and large vapour chamber cooling systems for the ultimate gaming experience on a budget. The phone that stood out for its gaming traits in the eyes of the jury was the Infinix GT 30 Pro, for packing dedicated gaming triggers that unleash the full potential of the Dimensity 8350 chipset.
Best Gaming Smartphone of 2025 – Mainstream (Under 40K)
Winner: iQOO Neo 10
Moving on, brands like Realme, iQOO, OnePlus and others left their mark by offering near-flagship chipsets and dedicated gaming optimisations to their high-end smartphones. While others came very close, the iQOO Neo 10, powered by the Snapdragon 8s Gen 4 processor, perfectly embodied these attributes and clinched the Best Gaming Smartphone of 2025 award in the mainstream category.
Best Gaming Smartphone of 2025 – Premium
Winner: Apple iPhone 17 Pro Max
Awarding the Best Gaming Smartphone award proved challenging, as smartphone manufacturers produced flagships with incredible gaming and performance prowess one after the other. With the Apple A19 Pro processor, blazing-fast raw power, vapour chamber cooling, and a slew of AAA titles to enjoy, the Apple iPhone 17 Pro Max takes away this year’s most prestigious gaming award.
Best Foldable Smartphone of 2025
Winner: Samsung Galaxy Z Fold7
The Best Foldable Smartphone award recognises devices with flexible displays that push the envelope in redefining portability, adopting top-tier camera hardware, and placing strong focus on the dual-screen software for maximum utility. At IGA 2025, the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold7 earns this title for addressing all the core expectations of a foldable consumer. The smartphone boasts Snapdragon 8 Elite for Galaxy, a 200MP main camera, and the intuitive One UI 8, which heavily emphasises multitasking.
Best Compact Smartphone of 2025
Winner: Samsung Galaxy Z Flip7
The new benchmark for a compact smartphone isn’t just screen size, but ultimate pocketability and minimal compromise on the feature set. For the title of Best Compact Smartphone of 2025, the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 7 emerged as the top nominee, offering a seamless blend of style, performance, and best-in-hand ergonomics. When folded, the smartphone’s height measures just 85.5mm or 3.3 inches.
Most Anticipated Phone
Winner: Vivo X300 Pro
While 2025 saw stellar launches across the board, the Vivo X300 Pro is the one smartphone our jury of tech veterans is looking forward to most, notably for its ultimate mobile photography experience aided by ZEISS imaging, overhauled software experience and power-packed flagship performance.
