Lava Agni 4 Review: Punching Above Its Segment, Held Back by Rough Edges

The Lava Agni 4 arrives at a time when the mid-range smartphone segment has never been more competitive. With its aluminum frame, 1.5K AMOLED display, MediaTek’s new Dimensity 8350 chipset, and a surprisingly loaded spec sheet, the Agni 4 feels like a phone that’s trying to punch a tier above its weight. But ambition alone doesn’t guarantee execution. Over a week of testing, the Agni 4 impressed me in several areas while simultaneously revealing a handful of rough edges that kept it from feeling truly class-leading.

Lava Agni 4 Review: Unboxing

In the era of slim phone boxes, the Lava Agni 4 comes with a tall, dark, and rather hefty box that contains everything you’ll need. The box opens like a book, with the Agni 4 resting on the top. However, you also get a transparent back cover (decent quality), a 66W power adapter, a USB-C to USB-C cable, and a SIM ejector tool. You also get a quick start guide and a warranty card in the box. Everything is securely placed in the box, minimizing the risk of damage during shipping.

Lava Agni 4 Review: Design & Build

For this review, I received the Lunar Mist White finish, and I’ve got to admit, the Phone’s design looks premium and upmarket. While most phones in the segment offer a plastic frame, the Agni 4 flaunts a flat aluminum frame with a textured finish (similar to the finish on my M1 MacBook Air) that’s cold to the touch.

The Phone’s back panel, made of matte AG glass, features a frosted finish. Even though the glass back has a matte finish, it still attracts fingerprints and smudges (less visible on the white finish, but quite visible on the black variant). Thanks to the slight curvature toward the frame, the Phone provides a sturdy and secure grip in the hand.

While everything else is quite subtle, it is the gigantic camera module (horizontal, pill-shaped) that draws quick attention. The blacked-out camera module protrudes from the otherwise flat back panel and houses two cameras at the ends, with the flash and “AGNI” branding in the middle.

Although I like the camera module, as it pops out as a contrasting element, my younger sister thought it looked quite weird (she obviously doesn’t like how the Google Pixel phones look either).

Lava Agni 4 measures 160.7 x 75.3 x 8.6 and weighs 208 grams, which makes it one of the thickest and heaviest options in the segment, at least on paper. However, a couple of days ago, I reviewed another handset from the same segment, the Phone (3a) Lite, and it is both slimmer and lighter than the Agni 4 (pros and cons of using an aluminum frame).

The Phone features four buttons on the left frame, including the power button, the volume rockers, and the new Action Key (highlighted on both finishes). The SIM tray, primary microphone, USB-C port, and primary speaker are located at the bottom. On the left frame, you get two antenna bands (the device has a total of eight bands), while the top houses the secondary speaker grill, another microphone, and an IR blaster.

The buttons are quite clicky, but they aren’t as good as the ones on the Phone 3a Lite. Something else worth highlighting is that the placement of the Action Key is quite odd, especially when using the Phone in portrait orientation. I did, however, enjoy using it as a shutter button when holding my Phone in landscape orientation for capturing certain pictures.

Finally, the Phone also comes with an IP64 rating for dust- and water-resistance. Lava says the Phone can survive “up to 1 hour in rain,” which is quite reassuring. Protecting the screen against scratches is Corning’s Gorilla Glass 5, a welcome addition. Giving credit where it’s due: the Agni 4 looks and feels like a phone that wants to punch above its weight (and segment).

Lava Agni 4 Review: Display

Lava’s latest smartphone features a 6.67-inch AMOLED screen with 1.5K+ resolution (2712 x 1220 pixels; 446 ppi), which is quite crisp and sharp; you can’t pixel-peep on it. The screen can reach 1350 nits in high-brightness mode (with a local peak of 2400 nits), which is fine for indoor use but feels a bit too low outside, especially under direct sunlight.

The screen supports up to 120Hz, with options of 60Hz, 120Hz, and Auto. However, it seems to vary between 60Hz, 90Hz, and 120Hz. Usual scrolling on the Agni 4 felt smoother, with occasional jitters here and there. Out of the box, the “color mode and temperature” is set to “Vivid,” which tends to oversaturate the colors a bit. However, setting it to “Normal” improved my experience.

It’s great that Lava hasn’t overlooked dimming on the handset, as it supports 1920 Hz PWM dimming, making it more comfortable for extended usage. Given that the phone has a 10-bit display, it produces quite rich, vibrant colors.

However, the overall HDR tuning needs improvement, as it tends to oversharpen on-screen HDR content. Oddly enough, the phone doesn’t support HDR on Netflix, which could be a bummer for buyers at this price point. Lava says that the phone has “1.7 mm equilateral bezels,” but it seems to have a tiny (and fairly invisible) chin at the bottom.

In conclusion, the Agni 4’s display is a classic case of strong fundamentals held back by a few rough edges. Still, the overall panel quality is undeniably solid for the segment, and aside from minor tuning issues, Lava’s display ambitions shine through—it’s just a couple of software updates away from feeling genuinely premium.

Besides the AMOLED screen, the Agni 4 has a dual-speaker stereo setup. I’ve used it alongside another single-speaker smartphone and a flagship with a dual-speaker setup, and I’ve noticed that the Agni 4’s setup lacks clarity and fullness at maximum volume. It gets pretty loud, but I’m more comfortable keeping the volume at 80% than increasing it all the way. On the positive side, the stereo setup could help while gaming.

The haptic feedback is above average, but definitely not the best in the segment.

Lava Agni 4 Review: Performance

The Lava Agni 4 is powered by MediaTek’s Dimensity 8350 (4nm) chipset, which features a 3.35 GHz prime core, three 3.20 GHz performance cores, and four 2.20 GHz efficient cores. Alongside the CPU, the chipset features the Mali-G615 MC6 GPU, 8GB of LPDDR5X RAM (expandable up to 16GB), and 256GB of UFS 4.0 storage.

Now, there’s nothing wrong with this configuration on paper. In fact, the Agni 4 is one of the few phones in its price range to offer LPDDR5X RAM and UFS 4.0 storage, enhancing multitasking and app-opening speeds. Even the Dimensity 8350 (4nm) is a significantly more capable chipset than the Dimensity 7300 Pro I tested on the Phone (3a) Lite, but it looks like the Agni 4 could use some optimization.

Synthetic Benchmarks

Gaming Performance

Even though the Agni 4’s benchmark scores are higher than those of the Phone (3a) Lite, it maxes out at Smooth + Extreme (60 fps) graphics settings on BGMI, whereas the latter manages 120 fps. The highest graphic setting available in the game is HDR + Ultra. The average frame rate while playing the game at Smooth was around 52-57 fps, which is decent.

The phone also features a 4,300 sq. mm. vapor chamber and a Game Booster Mode that helps maintain sustained performance. However, in my experience with the device, I noticed it getting hot too often and too quickly (even when the ambient temperature is around 20°C in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh during November), like within 10 to 15 minutes of playing a video game or running benchmarks (I’ve used phones that don’t get as hot when going through these tasks).

To give you an idea, the estimated CPU temperature went beyond 62°C (as shown in AnTuTu v11).

Day-To-Day Tasks

When it comes to day-to-day tasks, the Agni 4 does just fine. Opening apps, switching between them, scrolling around the user interface, watching YouTube, and playing video games work just fine. However, the experience is not free of occasional lags or stutters, such as when opening the camera app or switching to a heavy app in the recent apps tray. The RAM management is fine, but at times it gets too aggressive, and almost always kills the third or the fourth app.

On the performance front, the Lava Agni 4 is a phone that absolutely has the hardware, but not yet the finesse to match it. Despite leading its rivals in synthetic benchmarks, the phone’s real-world gaming performance tells a different story, with capped frame rates, fluctuating FPS, and thermal buildup that arrives far earlier than expected, even in mild weather.

Lava Agni 4 Review: Operating System

Out of the box, the Lava Agni 4 comes with stock Android 15 (not Android 16) with almost no bloatware. The user interface is quite straightforward with the stock icon pack for Google apps and a couple of new Lava apps like Vayu AI, Sound Recorder, FM Radio, and Outdoor Toolbox. The software is mostly smooth, with occasional jitters here and there.

Lava has promised to provide three years of major Android operating system updates and four years of security updates. While it sounds good, the fact that the company will release Android 16 by the second quarter of 2026 implies that the phone will always run behind the latest version until it stops getting updates in 2028.

Anyway, you get plenty of customization options for the lock screen (wallpaper, clock color and size, shortcuts, device controls, etc.) and home screen (themed colors and themed icons). You can also change the transition effect that shows up while swiping from one home screen page to another. Swiping up brings up the app drawer, swiping down from the top left brings up the notification center, while swiping down from the top right opens the quick settings center.

Lava has equipped the operating system with Vayu AI, its in-house suite of AUI features which includes dedicated AI agents for learning math, english, horoscope, along with other AI-based features, including AI Female & Male Companion, AI Call Summary, AI Photo Editor, AI Text Assistant, AI Voice Assistant, and AI Circle to Search (not Google’s but Lava’s on take on the feature).

Vayu AI also has a cute mascot (read assistant avatar) on the home screen: an adorable dog. Think of it as a widget that lets you invoke the Vayu AI Voice assistant and ask your queries. While the device’s voice recognition is a bit wonky (it often gets spellings and words wrong), it really tries to provide helpful answers and does so most of the time.

When I asked the Vayu AI assistant to set an alarm, it did so, but it couldn’t set a reminder. What’s weird is that the assistant let me increase the screen brightness (since it has system-level control), but couldn’t reduce it back (Gemini can’t do this on the device, by the way). Afterward, when I asked the assistant to open the Google Gemini app, it increased the screen brightness. While the assistant is quite promising, it could use some improvement.

As mentioned, the operating system also features Google’s Gemini app, the AI voice assistant, edge lighting, anonymous call recording, YouTube background streaming without Premium, Game Booster, and an App Cloner. Among these features, YouTube background streaming seems quite interesting.

It lets you play songs on YouTube in the background or when the phone’s screen is locked, a feature otherwise available only to YouTube Premium subscribers. To use it, play a song or video on YouTube, then open the quick settings menu and tap the “Background Stream” button. The AI Photo Editor offers features like AI Eraser and AI Expander, which mostly work fine.

Although the phone offers many AI features, it lacks floating windows. The sidebar is present, but the way to access it (swiping from the edge of the screen and holding) often triggers Android’s back gesture. Oddly enough, you cannot change the font on this phone. Further, the split control center has issues with sizing and alignment (thankfully, you can switch to the merged one as well). While these aren’t major issues, they are inconsistencies that could be addressed through software updates.

Lava Agni 4 Review: Cameras

The Lava Agni 4 sports a dual-rear camera setup, with the 50MP doing all the heavy lifting, while the 8MP ultrawide is only for occasional use (when you’re outdoors, shooting landscapes, as it lacks autofocus).

• Primary Camera: 50MP (OIS, 4K@60fps, f/1.88, 1/1.55” sensor, 1.0μm)
• Secondary Camera: 8MP Ultra-wide (112° FOV)
• Selfie Camera: 50MP (f/2.0, EIS, 4K@60fps)

Primary Camera

In broad daylight, the primary sensor captures quite impressive pictures with plenty of details, detailed textures, and great focus. The color tuning is slightly toward the vibrant side (it appears saturated to me), but both my sister and my father liked how the pictures turned out. I guess the saturated color profile is more appealing to people who aren’t reviewers.

While the camera app does have a dedicated night mode, I couldn’t see much difference with or without it. Speaking of night mode, the pictures are relatively soft, contain less detail, and show visible noise. However, if there’s a light source in the picture, the phone can still capture some good-looking shots. Further, the exposure control is a tad glitchy (it doesn’t work in a few lighting conditions). When it comes to human subjects, the camera tends to accentuate the reds in the skin.

On the positive side, the portrait mode works well. You can also record 4K 60 fps videos and capture images simultaneously.

Ultrawide Camera

The 8MP ultrawide camera does its job of providing a wider field of view when required, and it works fine most of the time, except in poorly-lit conditions.

Selfie Camera

The selfie camera tends to oversharpen images to pop out details, while retaining a close-to-neutral profile. What’s good is that you can bump the camera resolution to 50MP, but HDR doesn’t work in this mode. In the normal mode, the HDR kicks in most of the time and does a good job. The colors appeares washed out when the primary source is behind the subject.

Lava Agni 4 Review: Battery Life & Charging Speed

Under the hood, the Agni 4 features a 5,000 mAh battery that supports 66W wired charging (PD) with the included charger. In my usage, the phone offers around five to six hours of screen-on time, which is good if not impressive. Today, as I’m writing this review, the phone has consumed around 26% of its battery (down from 100%) and has offered 1 hour and 26 minutes of screen-on time. The usage during this time has mostly been transferring files, running benchmarks, watching YouTube, and checking emails.

Given that the battery is relatively smaller than what we’re seeing on the latest generation of midrangers, and it supports 66W wired charging, you can charge the phone to 100% in around 50 minutes.

Review Verdict: Should You Buy The Lava Agni 4?

The Lava Agni 4 is an ambitious mid-range phone that gets many of the basics right. Its premium build, sharp 1.5K AMOLED display, clean software, solid everyday performance, and reliable battery life make it an appealing choice for users who value design and day-to-day consistency over raw benchmark power. The camera performs well in good lighting, the stereo speakers are serviceable, and Lava’s long-term update commitment is reassuring.

That said, the phone isn’t without compromises. Gaming performance is inconsistent, thermals need refinement, low-light camera output is weak, and the HDR tuning, both in imaging and on the display, requires work. The stereo speakers and haptics also fall short of the best in the segment.

Buy it if: you want a stylish, well-built phone with clean software and dependable battery life.
Avoid it if: you prioritize gaming, low-light photography, or expect flawless performance out of the box.

Smartprix ⭐ Rating: 7.8/10

• Design and Build: 8.5/10
• Display: 8.0/10
• Speakers: 7.0/10
• Software: 8.0/10
• Haptics: 7.5/10
• Biometrics: 8.0/10
• Performance: 8.0/10
• Cameras: 7.0/10
• Battery Life & Charging: 8.0/10

First reviewed in November 2025.

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