Yetnesh Dubey

Thinness used to be a vanity metric that cost you battery. That has changed. The phones in this guide all measure 7.5mm or under, and several pair that slim profile with genuinely large cells, the Tecno Pova Curve 2 carries 8,000mAh at 7.42mm, a combination that would have been impossible two years ago. At the other extreme, the iPhone Air reaches 5.64mm by accepting a small battery, a reminder that slimness still involves trade-offs even if they are no longer automatic.

has announced a major refresh of its consumer laptop portfolio in India, introducing the XPS 13 alongside the Dell 14S, Dell 16S and Alienware 15. The company says the launch represents its broadest consumer portfolio in the country to date, spanning premium ultraportable laptops, Copilot+ PCs and gaming notebooks.

A flagship in 2026 is no longer defined by a single spec. The Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 and its rivals have pushed raw performance to a point where nearly every phone at this tier is fast enough; what separates them now is what they do with that power. In my testing, two phones on the same chipset produced very different sustained results, a ₹1.7 lakh flagship ran cooler than a ₹77,000 one, and the best gaming performance did not come from the most expensive device. To find which flagships genuinely earn the label, I ran nine phones priced from ₹76,999 to ₹1,69,999 through identical benchmark, gaming, stress, thermal and battery tests.

The sub-₹50,000 bracket has quietly become the most competitive segment in the market. It is where flagship silicon trickles down, where battery capacities have ballooned past 6,000mAh, and where the gap to a ₹1 lakh flagship is now measured in camera polish and build materials rather than raw speed. In my testing, a ₹47,000 phone posted a 3DMark score within touching distance of devices twice its price, and another lasted more than 28 hours on a single charge. Choosing well here means knowing which corners each phone cut, because every one of them cut something.

The sub-₹35,000 bracket is where value is won and lost on tuning rather than raw silicon. Most phones here run modest chipsets, which means the differences that matter are not peak benchmark scores but how long the battery lasts, how cool the phone stays, how bright the screen gets, and which one phone in the group has genuinely stepped up on performance. In my testing, one device lasted nearly 30 hours on a charge, another towered over the field on gaming, and the rest sorted themselves out on the details. Knowing which phone made which bet is how you buy well at this price.

has introduced the Chromebook CX15 in India, bringing a new ChromeOS laptop with built-in Google AI features to students, first-time buyers and professionals. The launch also marks the company's first push into offline Chromebook retail sales in the country. The Asus Chromebook CX15 starts at ₹47,990 and is available through the Asus eShop, Asus Exclusive Stores, ROG Stores, authorised retail partners and Reliance Digital.

has unveiled the Rimbook L1 Plus, a new lightweight laptop powered by AMD's Ryzen 7 7735HS processor. Aimed at students, professionals and creators, the laptop combines a 16-inch 2.5K display, 16 GB of LPDDR5 memory and a 512 GB PCIe Gen4 SSD in a 1.4 kg chassis. The company has announced a starting price of RMB 5,999, although regional availability has yet to be confirmed.

For context, handhelds have never really taken off in India the way they have in the West. We do not have a Steam Deck culture here.

has launched the OmniPad 12 in India, introducing what it describes as its first tablet designed specifically for the Indian market. The Android-powered device combines a detachable keyboard with Qualcomm Snapdragon hardware, targeting students, first-time PC buyers, small businesses and mobile professionals. It is now available through HP's online store and major retailers with prices starting at ₹48,999.

Under ₹30,000, the phones stop competing on raw power and start competing on discipline. Almost every device here runs a modest chipset, so the differences that decide a purchase are elsewhere: how long the battery lasts, how cool the phone stays, how bright the screen gets, and which one manages a genuinely useful camera. In my testing, one phone lasted nearly 30 hours on a charge, another held the brightest panel in the group by a wide margin, and a third carried the only high-resolution camera sensor here. Knowing which phone made which bet is how you buy well at this price.