These Cheap Cell Phones Don’t Cut Corners — And Cost Less than $500

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Affordable phones boast an impressive range of features these days. Though flagship phones offer the best specs, that’s not to say that budget smartphones can’t offer great screens, 5G internet, long battery lives, fantastic camera capabilities, and other great tech features. If you’re used to paying pricey fees across contracts spanning two or even three years, you might think you need to spend a fortune to get a good phone. But there are plenty of worthwhile phones for $500 or less that will do all the things you need your phone to do.

If it’s time to replace your smartphone—perhaps the screen’s cracked or you just want something new—without breaking the bank, this guide includes the best cheap cell phones, plus the most important, no-compromise specs to consider while you shop.

The Best Cheap Phones

• Best Overall: Google Pixel 7a

• Best Big-Screen Phone: OnePlus 12R

• Best iPhone: Apple iPhone SE

• Best Samsung: Samsung Galaxy A54

• Best Under $300: OnePlus Nord N30

What to Consider

Affordable phones come with countless specs to compare, even after you’ve set your budget. To help you narrow down this list, select which features are most important to you.

Network

If you’re tied to a particular service provider, first make sure the phone you buy is supported by that carrier. You can also shop for an unlocked phone, which you can use on any network.

Android Versus Apple

Most people are married to either iOS or Android, but if you’re getting a phone for the first time, you should think hard about which option you want. Android phones offer more customization and variety as they’re made by different manufacturers like Samsung and Google. Apple phones, while often more expensive, are generally intuitive and easy to use, and they’re lauded for great accessibility features. You may also wish to base your decision on the ecosystem of smart devices you already own, like a car with CarPlay, a Samsung Galaxy tablet, or a pair of AirPods.

Display

One of the most important factors, your phone’s screen is what you’ll be staring at for hours. Budget phones typically use LCD technology, though Androids with superior OLED screens are on the rise. When it comes to resolution, aim for Full HD over 720p. You’ll also need to check the phone screen’s refresh rate. The higher this is, the smoother the user experience—90 Hertz is fairly standard among decent budget phones, though if you’re aiming to do lots of streaming or gaming, aim for at least 120 Hertz.

Camera

Most camera phones boast impressive specs, but megapixels aren’t everything—the best phone cameras feature good image sensor quality and easy-to-use software. That’s why buying from reputable manufacturers such as Apple, Samsung, or Honor often nets you a respectable snapper. Multiple lenses allow for different focal lengths and angles, which is handy if you plan on taking lots of family photos with your new phone.

Performance

A sluggish phone that’s slow to respond is frustrating to use, so ensure you opt for a decent processor. Qualcomm Snapdragon processors often feature in Android phones, and we’d advise getting a Snapdragon 600 chipset or better.

Internet Connectivity

If you have a plan that supports it, it’s worth getting a 5G-compatible phone for faster internet. It isn’t available everywhere yet, but rollouts are occurring as we speak. If your budget doesn’t allow for this, you can still get by fairly well on 4G LTE.

Battery Life

Even the best phones are nothing more than paperweights if they run out of charge before the day is done. Phones burn through power at different rates, but bigger screens typically need bigger batteries.

Charging speed is another important factor—some models allow for fast charging, often called Power Delivery or PD, which is great for topping up quickly before you need to head out.

Storage

Love to download apps, snap pics, and save movies? You’ll need storage for that. A 64-gigabyte phone will do you just fine if you’re able to add a microSD card later on, but if there’s no expansion option, opt for at least 128GB.

How We Selected

I still remember getting hooked on Snake on my Nokia 5110, which had an antenna to receive cell signal. Since then, I’ve always kept up with the latest phones, and I’ve owned a whole heap of them, including some excellent Sony Xperia camera phones and super slim HTCs, before settling on the Samsung Galaxy series. The phones I’ve used range in budget and functionality, giving me a great sense of what works well and what doesn’t in phones. For the models I haven’t tested personally, I relied on hundreds of user reviews and critiques, focusing on phones with the best value for your money. I prioritized the specs that are most important to phone users, like fast processors and great cameras.

Pixel 7a Affordable Cell Phone

Google’s Pixel 7a is the best budget-friendly phone worth your attention today. For a dollar below $500 before additional deals and discounts, the device presents an amalgam of elegant design, durable build, stellar hardware specs with a beautiful screen and a fantastic camera, and a futureproof Android experience with years worth of timely updates. Designed and manufactured by the maker of its platform, the Pixel 7a also brings sterling brand credentials.

Unlike its unwieldy big-screen Android rivals in this product category, the 6.1-inch Pixel 7a is compact and easy to use with one hand on the move. The device's OLED screen is sharp, vibrant, and enjoyable to interact with, thanks to a maximum refresh rate of 90 Hertz. The panel is a noticeable upgrade over the screen of the Pixel 6a that preceded the product.

The dual camera of the Pixel 7a is the best in its class by a mile. The high-resolution wide sensor can produce superb photos in just about any lighting scenario, while the ultra-wide snapper makes capturing large groups and landscapes a breeze. Google has long been a leader in image processing and computational photography, so the entry-level Pixel's prowess didn't surprise us.

Google equipped the Pixel 7a with the same Tensor G2 chip that powers the Pixel 7 and 7 Pro, as well as the Pixel Fold. The silicon offers a good balance between power and energy efficiency, allowing the device to quickly switch between Android apps, deliver high-quality gameplay, and easily last at least a day between charges. We also like that the phone is compatible with wireless charging.

12R Android Smartphone

The OnePlus 12R is the best big-screen phone $500 can buy, offering a sleek design and top-tier hardware specs that were available on much more expensive Androids until only a few months ago. Its large display, powerful chip, and massive battery with class-leading charging speeds are totally worth maxing out your upgrade budget. The same goes for its bundled fast charger.

Featuring millions of individually backlit pixels and impossibly slim bezels, the high-resolution 6.8-inch AMOLED display of the OnePlus 12R is bright, vibrant, and alone a legit reason to consider the phone. The panel’s maximum refresh rate of 120 Hertz makes it equally great for scrolling through webpages and social media feeds, as well as for enjoying smooth local and cloud-based gameplay.

The OnePlus 12R’s Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chip is powerful and futureproof in equal measure. Apps opened super fast, and switching between multiple active ones was also instantaneous. Speaking of fast, the product’s charger can juice up its big battery from empty to 100 percent in about half an hour. Such velocity is another reason to upgrade and an acceptable tradeoff for the lack of wireless charging.

The multi-sensor camera of the phone is solid, if not the best for the money. Given its size, it would have been great to have a telephoto snapper instead of a low-resolution macro lens.

Spending $500 will get you a gray OnePlus 12R with 8 GB of RAM and 128 GB of storage. Doubling the memory across the board costs $100 more if you are feeling spendy.

iPhone SE Budget Cell Phone

Those looking for a new budget iPhone are limited to the iPhone SE, but this model makes many of its peers look positively prehistoric.

Its A15 Bionic chipset offers ludicrousy smooth and powerful performance, making the SE more than capable of handling 3D gaming and 4K video recording. Plus, its OLED Retina display is gorgeously vibrant and colorful. Camera fans are catered for, too, with AI trickery that gives the phone a truly gorgeous portrait mode.

Its dated design is its only real flaw, eschewing an edge-to-edge display for top and bottom letterboxing to allow for the earpiece and Touch ID fingerprint sensor, leading to a smaller screen. Storage can also be an issue—the cheapest model is only 64GB with no microSD slot, making cloud storage likely a necessity.

Nord N30 Android Smartphone

The Nord N30 5G by OnePlus is the phone to get if you want to keep your budget under $300. The Android handset exceeds the expectations set by its price tag by rocking a large screen with a high maximum refresh rate, a capable Qualcomm chip to go with ample memory, a versatile camera, and a massive battery with a fast charger in the box. Remarkably, the phone even comes with a pre-installed screen protector out of the box.

Measuring 6.7 inches diagonally, the FHD+ LCD display of the Nord N30 is ideal for multitasking, scrolling through webpages, documents, and e-books, and, of course, gaming. The panel’s maximum refresh rate of 120 Hz makes on-screen interactions smoother, constantly giving us the impression of using a pricier phone.

The N30’s 108-megapixel primary camera has the highest resolution on this list. You can snap detail-rich photos with a respectable zoom range by cropping into the millions of pixels captured by the sensor to get closer to objects. That said, we really wish the phone could capture clips with a higher resolution than Full HD.

An onboard audio jack is another cool feature that sets to OnePlus Nord N30 apart from its competitors. It makes the phone compatible with wired headphones and earbuds for an old-school listening experience.

Galaxy A54 Affordable Cell Phone

The mid-range Galaxy A54 houses some impressive specs, but your head will turn at the gorgeously bright, 6.4-inch Super AMOLED display running at 120 Hertz for a buttery smooth interface.

It’s not quite class-leading in a few areas—its processor is outmatched by the iPhone SE and one or two others on this list. However, the battery is impressive, and users can probably net 36 hours of runtime with conservative use.

Storage won’t be a problem either, with 128GB of onboard memory and a microSD slot. The phone also benefits from years of timely updates from Samsung.

With decent performance and a respectable camera, this is a solid mid-range effort from the Korean tech giant.

Razr Android Smartphone

The price tag of the Motorola Razr has been holding steady below its original $700 sticker for months, which is why we feel comfortable including it in this $500-or-less guide. Currently available for $500 in all color iterations, the Razr makes jumping from a rectangular slab to a foldable phone surprisingly affordable. We wouldn’t hesitate to recommend the phone to anyone looking to experience this futuristic and space-saving form factor without emptying their wallet.

When unfolded, the primary screen of the Motorola Razr is the largest on this list. The large OLED panel makes the phone great for multitasking, watching videos, and gaming. Impressively, the display’s 144-Hertz maximum refresh rate is also the highest for the money. The small external OLED panel of the device is perfect for keeping tabs on notifications, weather info, calendar appointments, and controlling audio playback, among other activities.

Featuring a mid-range Qualcomm Snapdragon 7 Gen 1 chip, the Motorola Razr can’t match the OnePlus 12R in power and speed, though it’s plenty capable. The device’s battery life is solid, and we like that it’s compatible with wireless charging.

The unique form factor on the Razr makes capturing selfies with its primary camera super easy. The option to use a 64-megapixel snapper makes the phone one of the best for the task in its price category. It also has a beautiful aluminum frame and vegan leather exterior that make it look a lot more expensive than it is.

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