It’s rare to find an NFC chip in an entry-level phone like the Redmi 10, but this feature could be clincher for some smart shoppers, because this lets you tap to pay with your phone on any regular card machine. The Xiaomi phone brand has won many South African converts through its smart packaging of features at wonderfully low prices.

We’re naming the Redmi 10 our best phone below R5 000 because of its broad and well-balanced feature set. It’s properly compact and pocketable, but still offers a sizeable 6.5-inch full HD screen with 90 Hz high refresh that adjusts the refresh rate up and down as required but conserves your battery. It’s almost the best screen on test here. It’s covered with toughened Gorilla Glass and has a hole punch for the selfie cam instead of the now dated teardrop notch. Music playback was best in class courtesy of the proper stereo speaker setup, which creates a surprisingly decent soundstage.

The side-mounted fingerprint sensor is fast and accurate. In our experience, fitting complex camera sets to budget phones. The quad camera set features both a wide angle and a macro lens in addition to the standard 50 MP main shooter, and a depth sensor to speed up focus and contrast adjustment. Night modes were especially effective. The HDR-enabled 8 MP front camera also delivered the best selfies of all the phones on test.

BUILD: While there’s nothing striking about the appearance of the Redmi 10, at 181 g, it is the lightest phone on test here. That’s more surprising given all the top tech stuffed into this package.

6.5” display @90 Hz, 4 GB RAM, 8 MP front / 50 MP+8 MP wide+2 MP macro + 2 MP depth cameras, 128 GB storage, 5 000 mAh battery, 181 g, R4 000