The best budget smartphone you can buy

18 hours ago 2

Some of america instrumentality a benignant of “I devour to live” alternatively than an “I unrecorded to eat” attack to gadgets. They’re tools that assistance you get things done, not thing you privation to put a batch of clip oregon wealth in. If that’s you — and there’s nary judgement present from a certifiable gadget nerd — past you tin astir apt deliberation of much worthwhile ways to walk $1,000 than connected a phone.

Budget phones to the rescue. These devices are astir $500 oregon under, though not each of them, and they’re much susceptible than ever. You won’t get each the bells and whistles, but you volition prevention a small wealth to walk on, I don’t know, existent bells and whistles. It’s your world.

How we test

There’s nary shortcut to decently investigating a phone; I enactment my idiosyncratic SIM paper (physical oregon otherwise) successful each telephone I reappraisal and unrecorded with it for a minimum of 1 afloat week. I acceptable up each telephone from scratch, load it up with my apps, and spell astir surviving my beingness — accent investigating the battery, utilizing GPS navigation connected my motorcycle portion streaming radio, taking rapid-fire representation mode photos of my kid — everything I tin propulsion astatine it. Starting implicit with a caller telephone each week either sounds similar a imagination oregon your idiosyncratic hell, depending connected however Into Phones you are. For me, switching has become so regular that it’s mostly painless.

Strong bundle support

At slightest a mates of years of OS upgrades and, ideally, 3 years of information updates. There’s nary constituent successful buying adjacent a inexpensive telephone if you person to regenerate it aft conscionable a mates of years due to the fact that it stopped getting information patches.

A bully screen

Since you look astatine it astir 2 1000 times a day, your phone’s surface is 1 spot you shouldn’t compromise. An OLED has richer opposition and colour than an LCD, and the large screens connected today’s phones truly request astatine slightest a 1080p resolution. Faster refresh rates similar 90Hz and adjacent 120Hz are becoming much communal connected fund telephone screens, but for my money, a smooth-scrolling LCD doesn’t look arsenic bully arsenic an OLED with a modular refresh rate.

Serviceable retention space

If you program to bent onto your telephone for a while, you’ll privation capable retention abstraction to accommodate each the strategy files, photos, and videos you’ll accumulate implicit the years. Ideally you’ll get astatine slightest 128GB built in.

One bully rear camera, not 4 mediocre ones

Upgrades similar telephoto cameras and optical representation stabilization are uncommon successful the under-$500 class, but you tin inactive expect good, basal show successful bully lighting from immoderate modern smartphone. Low airy is trickier. Phones successful this people should connection a nighttime mode to assistance with non-moving subjects successful precise dim light. And determination are nary bonus points awarded for adding other macro and extent cameras to pad retired the rear camera array — those 2- and 5-megapixel sensors are beauteous overmuch useless.

The champion inexpensive iPhone

Screen: 6.1-inch, 1170p OLED / Processor: A18 Cameras: 48-megapixel f/1.6 with OIS, 12-megapixel selfie / Charging: 20W wired, 7.5W wireless / Weather-resistance rating: IP68

If I was making this proposal to you face-to-face, you’d perceive a dense sigh. Yes, this is the cheapest caller iPhone Apple makes. Yes, it comes with astir of the things that marque an iPhone an iPhone. But it comes with immoderate important tradeoffs — immoderate of which marque much consciousness than others — and it’s not precisely cheap. If you’re amenable to past year’s exemplary oregon a refurbished iPhone 14, 1 of those mightiness really beryllium a amended option. But for an unfussy idiosyncratic who conscionable wants a caller iPhone for the slightest magnitude of money, the 16E volition bash the trick.

There’s a azygous 48-megapixel rear camera connected the back, meaning there’s nary ultrawide similar connected the regular 16. That’s an understandable tradeoff — truthful is the usage of the older “notch” plan alternatively than the Dynamic Island. But it’s harder to recognize wherefore Apple near retired MagSafe present — that’s the ringing of magnets built into the backmost of virtually each different iPhone since 2020. The 16E inactive supports wireless charging, but it can’t instrumentality vantage of the ecosystem of magnetic chargers and accessories connected its own; you’ll request to adhd a magnetic case. This is simply a silly omission, and Apple should consciousness atrocious astir it.

Another dense sigh: the 16E supports Apple Intelligence, which you won’t get if you opt for an iPhone 15 oregon 14. Should you care? It’s truly hard to say. What exists of Apple Intelligence truthful acold is underwhelming and the astir absorbing bits won’t get anytime soon. If you privation to future-proof your acquisition arsenic overmuch arsenic possible, the 16E volition beryllium acceptable for Apple’s AI. But don’t bargain 1 expecting a life-changing acquisition now. It’s conscionable an iPhone aft all, for amended and worse, and close present it’s the champion terms you’ll find connected a brand-new one.

Read my afloat iPhone 16E review.

The champion Android telephone nether $500

Screen: 6.3-inch, 1080p OLED, 120Hz / Processor: Tensor G4 Cameras: 48-megapixel f/1.7 with OIS, 13-megapixel ultrawide, 13-megapixel selfie / Battery: 5,100mAh / Charging: 23W wired, 7.5W wireless / Weather-resistance rating: IP68

Google’s Pixel A-series phones person been my go-to proposal for a inexpensive Android telephone for years, but determination was inactive country for improvement. With the 9A, Google made immoderate humble tweaks that marque it adjacent easier to urge — and astatine $499, the terms is right.

The telephone uses a Tensor G4 chipset that doesn’t tally arsenic blistery arsenic immoderate of its predecessors, and show is reliable. The 6.3-inch OLED surface is simply a small bigger and a spot brighter than past year’s, which makes a quality erstwhile you usage the telephone outside. Durability besides got a tiny boost up to IP68, which means it tin past a driblet successful deeper h2o than the IP67-rated Pixel 8A.

The 9A’s camera is fine, though it comes up abbreviated against the remainder of the Pixel 9 bid successful debased light. Portrait mode could beryllium better, too, and if you attraction a batch astir representation quality, past that mightiness beryllium a bully crushed to see stepping up to a Pixel 9. But it does the instrumentality for mundane snaps, and for the price, the 9A’s amended qualities outweigh its shortcomings by a wide margin.

Read my afloat Google Pixel 9A review.

The fund telephone with a big, beauteous screen

Screen: 6.78-inch, 1264 x 2780 120Hz OLED / Processor: Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 Cameras: 50-megapixel f/1.8 with OIS, 50-megapixel 2x telephoto, 8-megapixel ultrawide, 16-megapixel selfie / Battery: 6,000mAh / Charging: 80W wired / Weather-resistance rating: IP65

The OnePlus 13R isn’t rather arsenic well-rounded arsenic my prime for the champion wide fund Android phone, the Pixel 9A. It’s besides a small pricier astatine $599 — though we’ve seen it astatine $499 for extended periods of clip — but for immoderate radical the 13R’s upgrades volition marque it a amended choice. It comes with 1 of the champion big screens successful its class, and tons of radical emotion a large screen. The 13R besides offers precise beardown artillery performance; unless you’re a powerfulness user, you tin astir apt negociate 2 afloat days connected a azygous charge.

There’s besides precise accelerated charging with the included charger, though you won’t find wireless charging astatine immoderate speed. The 13R besides lacks afloat h2o resistance; it should clasp up good against spray and rainfall showers, but it isn’t rated to withstand afloat immersion. Plenty of radical won’t find those omissions bothersome, but they marque it harder to urge to a wide assemblage — particularly astatine a higher terms than the Pixel 9A.

Read my afloat OnePlus 13R review.

The champion telephone nether $400

Screen: 6.6-inch, 1080p resolution, 120Hz OLED / Processor: Exynos 1380 Cameras: 50-megapixel f/1.8 with OIS, 8-megapixel ultrawide, 5-megapixel macro, 13-megapixel selfie / Battery: 5,000mAh / Charging: 25W wired / Weather-resistance rating: IP67

The Samsung Galaxy A35 5G comes with amazingly beardown specs for its $399 price. They’re the benignant of features you won’t truly spot from the outside, but they’re important, peculiarly its IP67 standing for particulate and h2o resistance. Unlike virtually each different telephone astatine this price, the A35 5G is built to withstand h2o immersion, truthful you don’t request to sweat it if your telephone lands successful a toilet vessel oregon puddle.

Here’s different unexciting spec: 4 years of OS updates and 5 years of information updates. That’s not the precise champion successful the fund class — the Pixel 9A takes that grant with 7 years of updates — but it’s overmuch amended than the 2 oregon 3 years we typically spot successful phones good nether $500.

Samsung A35 5G connected a table showing backmost panel.

The camera is lackluster; it’s good successful agleam airy but struggles successful dim and mixed indoor lighting. It doesn’t person the strongest processing show you tin find nether $500, either, and the Samsung-made Exynos processor occasionally stutters erstwhile rapidly bouncing betwixt tasks. I was horrified — horrified! — erstwhile I accidentally texted my hubby 1 of the automatically generated replies due to the fact that it popped up astatine the past infinitesimal arsenic I was trying to pat connected thing else. These things don’t hap erstwhile everything loads quickly.

But overall, it’s a compelling bundle — particularly with a big, crowd-pleasing OLED show and beardown artillery performance. If you’re a airy idiosyncratic and not fussy astir camera quality, the A35 5G offers immoderate upgrades that marque a existent quality successful the agelong term.

Other fund phones we tested

The 2024 Motorola Moto G Power has each the makings of a bully fund phone, including a beauteous vegan leather exterior and wireless charging. But it’s loaded with bloatware of the worst kind, and that unsocial disqualifies it from our recommendations. Read our impressions.

The Samsung Galaxy S24 FE is different perfectly susceptible telephone that doesn’t rather gain a proposal here. It’s a small extracurricular the scope of this usher astatine $649 anyway, but you bash get a telephoto lens and a nice, large surface for that price. Still, you’re amended disconnected redeeming a clump and picking up the Pixel 8A oregon trying to people a trade-in promo for the newer Galaxy S25. Read our review.

Update, June 13th: Updated prices and availability. Samsung’s Galaxy A35 5G is currently retired of banal astatine Amazon and Samsung, portion Best Buy has it marked down connected clearance.

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