Pay less for Iphone or a Android phone Trading doesn’t mean you don’t have access to all the features you need. In many cases, saving money still gives you the latest version of iOS or Android, multiple cameras, processors that can handle many tasks at once, and great wide screens for watching video on.
In this Cheap Phones report, we wanted to emphasize the phones that offer the most value for their price, so you’ll find phones as low as $160 that offer all the basics, even phones that cost as little as $600 but with the features and power of a $900 phone.
Now, if your personal metric is to find a phone within a specific budget, we have Best phones under $200 And the Best phones under $500 It lists both excellent options to consider based on what’s currently available in 2022. But if what you’re looking for is a phone that works out of your price range, these options from Apple, Samsung, and Google are worth looking into.
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Samsung’s $160 Galaxy A03S (£139, around AU$240) includes a lot of great features and could be a great fit for someone looking for the cheapest phone possible that can handle most basic tasks. The phone’s 6.5 inch screen, with a resolution of 720p, is great for reading news, watching videos and playing games. Despite some performance lag that was found during the review, the phone is good at multitasking. But the phone’s small storage space of 32GB can fill up quickly, so if you’re considering this phone, it might be worth considering expanding the storage with a microSD card.
Samsung also plans to back this phone with at least four years of security updates, which in this price range is as good as it gets. Software-wise, it’s not clear how many Android versions are scheduled, but the phone comes with Android 11 to start.
Read our Samsung Galaxy A03S review.
Patrick Holland / CNET
Apple’s new iPhone SE for 2022 is a blend of retro design with the latest smartphone features, including Apple’s latest A15 Bionic chip and 5G support for $429. It’s also one of the few phones on the market that has a smaller 4.7-inch screen.
However, this throwback design, which continues the generic look Apple has used since 2014, might be what you’ll love or hate most about this phone. If you want a bigger iPhone in this price range, you can also consider the $499 iPhone 11 for a bigger screen and Face ID. But this phone, which was first released in 2019, does not include 5G connectivity.
Read our iPhone SE (2022) review.
Lisa Eadicicco / CNET
New for 2022, the Galaxy A53 gives you plenty of Samsung features and power at a fraction of the S-series price. It features a much larger screen and more diverse camera array than the iPhone SE, although Apple’s budget model offers smoother performance.
However, Samsung fans will appreciate what they get here considering the reasonable price. Galaxy A53 5G has an ultra-wide lens for taking pictures with a wider field of view, and it also supports night mode photography. Image quality isn’t as good as what you get on a more expensive Samsung phone like the Galaxy S21 FE or Galaxy S22, but it’s certainly clear and colorful enough for basic shots. Other features include a long-lasting battery, guaranteed four generations of Android OS updates, and a microSD card slot for expandable storage.
Overall, the Galaxy A53 5G is a decent option for those who prefer a big screen and long battery life for less than $500. Just keep in mind, you may have to deal with some occasional lag, and the camera isn’t as advanced as those on higher priced phones. Read our Samsung Galaxy A53 5G review.
The iPhone 11 came out in 2019, but it still holds a lot of value at its new price of $499. It has a dual-lens camera with a wide and ultra-wide lens, a 6.1-inch wide screen, and a night mode to take better photos in the dark. It’s missing 5G support and runs on an older Apple processor. But if you don’t care about getting 5G right now, the iPhone 11 has everything else most people would need in a phone.
Patrick Holland / CNET
The combination of price, design, cameras, processor, and software makes the Google Pixel 6 one of the best value phones you can buy. The Pixel 6 represents the best that Google and Android 12 have to offer. Google updated the design, added new camera hardware, and made its own processor for the phone, the Tensor chip.
Read our Pixel 6 review.
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Best Budget Phone Plans in 2022 (and the fine print)
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