What is a best inexpensive phone for many people?
We’ve taken all a best bill phones we reviewed over a past series of years and ranked them to assistance we find a ideal smartphone to fit many people’s needs. Whether it’s an iPhone or Android, we’ve got a phone for you.
So if you’re on a surveillance for a phone that won’t mangle a bank, you’re in luck. The reason is that cheaper phones have softened significantly over a past few years. Companies have done good strides in incorporating top-end innovations into affordable handsets, definition we can now get a phone that performs good and is some-more budget-friendly. (And we still competence get a headphone jack too.)
Scroll down past a following outline to see a in-depth list and examination a in-depth review. But if you’re in a rush, since not take a demeanour during a quick-fire tip 10 below.
- Best inexpensive phone: Xiaomi Redmi Note 7
- Best for £300: Moto G8 Plus
- Best for iOS: iPhone SE 2
- Best for flagship quality: Xiaomi Mi 9
- Best for battery life: Oppo A5 2020
- Best for battery life (option 2): Moto G8 Power
- Best for underneath £200: Honor 10 Lite
- Solid all-rounder: Moto G8
- Best for £100: Motorola Moto E6 Plus
- Good for quality: Xiaomi Mi A2
As manufacturers have attempted to widen pricing during a tip finish (Pixel 4 and iPhone 11, we’re looking during you), it’s non-stop adult opportunities serve down and a Chinese companies in sole have been happy to abet with some unequivocally well-engineered, well=priced handsets.
- With a few special exceptions, all a phones on a following list cost between £100- £350 nonetheless we’ve snuck in one aloft labelled one as it’s quite good value for a spec.
- Note a Huawei is also an comparison indication and so isn’t influenced by a US Government’s stream restrictions on Google-enabled services.
Related: Best iPhone Deals
How do we name a best bill smartphones?
We comparison this list formed on a cost and a opening of a phones rated in a full reviews (we couple to any full examination subsequent so we can find out more).
- When we exam a phone, we send all of a information across, afterwards use any of a smartphones for a week as a categorical handset.
- We also benchmark any phone regulating attention customary software, that enables us to exam a correctness of a maker’s opening claims, and we use specialised hardware to check a opening and colour facsimile of a screen. This also enables us to make satisfactory comparisons between brands.
- Dedicating so many time to any indication in this approach means we can get an accurate pattern of how a phones perform in a genuine world. We’re means to get a plain reading of how prolonged they final on a singular charge, how many aria we can put on a processor before it starts to mangle a sweat, and how good a camera performs in a operation of conditions and set-ups.
- You can find out some-more about how we exam phones here or click on any examination couple subsequent for a full opening sum of any one.
It’s not odd these days for inexpensive phones to embody all from wireless charging all a approach adult to modernized dual-sensor camera set-ups. These certainly overwhelming developments do, however, make it a tiny trickier to work out that inexpensive phone will best accommodate your specific needs. We’ve also answered some of your many common inexpensive phone shopping questions during a finish of a article, so corkscrew down to see a full picture.
Related: Best Android phones • Best mid-range phone
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1. Xiaomi Redmi Note 7
A large camera during a tiny price
Pros:
- Long-lasting battery
- Impressive performance
- Great screen
Cons:
- No NFC
- Mono speaker
- Busy interface
This comparatively new Chinese code is not one of a improved famous models yet it’s tip of a list. And that’s since if you’re looking for a torpedo camera yet you’re on a quite parsimonious budget, a Redmi Note 7 offers strange value for money. Xiaomi’s possess MIUI 10 program does import a phone down slightly, but, other than that, this phone is impressively well-rounded.
The blockbusting 48-megapixel primary camera (which is upheld by a 5-megapixel abyss module) is a genuine highlight. The sensor is a same as you’d find in all from a Motorola One Vision to a OnePlus 7 Pro and, while there’s no visual picture stabilisation (OIS) to pronounce of here, as on some-more costly handsets, it’s a glorious limp set-up all a same.
The Redmi’s extended Full HD+ IPS shade is equally impressive, charity good colour reproduction, good observation angles and decent legibility outdoor – not always a certainty with some-more budget-friendly phones. Check out some-more below.
- Read a Redmi Note 7 review
2. Moto G8 Plus
An glorious all-rounder for underneath £300
Pros:
- Good value for money
- Fantastic speakers
- Ticks many of a boxes for people looking for a bill phone
Cons:
- Not a outrageous refurbish on a G7 Plus
- Camera has a few irritating limitations
Occupying a mark in Motorola’s second G-series choice of final year, a Moto G8 Plus is now a best phone we can get for underneath £300 and it’s another Moto that’s achieved good in a tests.
You get a worldly churned steel and potion phone for your money, with a teardrop nick that looks and feels some-more costly than many opposition handsets during this price.
You’ve got a good 6.3-inch arrangement on a front with clever colour progression coverage along with 3 camera sensors on a back. This combines a 48-megapixel, f/1.7 main, 16-megapixel ultra-wide and 5-megapixel abyss parts. There’s loads of megapixels here and it takes unequivocally good cinema with colourful colours and decent colour accuracy.
There’s a 4000mAh inside, 15w discerning charging and a means Snapdragon 665 chipset interconnected with 4GB RAM.
- Read a Moto G8 Plus review
3. iPhone SE 2
iPhone 11 opening for a lot less
Pros:
- Fantastic performance
- Great camerra
- iOS update
- Good value for an iPhone
Cons:
- Dated design
Apple’s latest phone isn’t flashy, nonetheless it manages to offer a lot of flagship facilities for a cost that creates it tough to ignore.
Instead of mirroring a aged iPhone SE, a iPhone SE 2 looks matching to a no-longer sole iPhone 8. Curved sides, potion back, corpulent bezel and a round Touch ID sensor give it a informed feel, even if to some it competence feel a tiny dull.
Below a aspect yet this is a good phone. The 12-megapixel camera performs superbly in illumination and captures glorious 4K60fps video, yet we do wish low-light opening was a bit better.
You’ll find a same A13 Bionic chip as a iPhone 11 Pro, a pointy 4.7-inch arrangement with illusory colour facsimile and accessible extras like Qi wireless charging and an IP67 rating for H2O and dirt resistance.
- Read a full iPhone SE 2 review
4. Xiaomi Mi 9
A loyal flagship indication during half a price
Pros:
- Fantastic performance
- Excellent screen
- Versatile camera
- Stunning value
Cons:
- No IP rating
This list is customarily done adult of phones underneath £350. We feel that’s a satisfactory cost and a value tender we’re happy to call ‘budget’. The Xiaomi Mi 9 is a difference however, and we simply had to embody it here as it’s such good value for income even yet it does pull a cost pouch a bit.
Priced during a heftier £499, a phone is homogeneous to a indication that costs double this. It includes a latest Snapdragon 855 chipset, a 6.4-inch OLED display, 3 cameras – including a 48-megapixel categorical sensor – and discerning wireless charging. You won’t find those kinds of specs charity in any other phone during this price.
Granted, there’s no H2O insurgency and it’s make-up in a prosaic screen, yet a next-best inclination cost during slightest £150 more. That’s since it’s here.
- Read a Xiaomi Mi 9 review
5. Oppo A5 2020
Big shade and outrageous battery
Pros:
- Big screen
- Big battery
- Sensible price
- Smart looks
Cons:
- 720p screen
- Plastic back
At £179, a Oppo A5 2020 is a good buy if you’re after a bill phone that can absolutely go a distance. This is one of a phones with a best battery life we’ve tested and it also ticks a box for those looking for a bit shade – even if a fortitude is sincerely low.
There is good opening from a Snapdragon 665 chipset, 64 GB of storage and 3GB RAM. Certainly zero to spot during when we take a cost into consideration. Four cameras lay on a back, with another around a front. These embody twin 2MP sensors, a categorical 12MP and an 8MP. We were tender by a print peculiarity here, even if those twin 2MP sensors are disappointing.
- Read a Oppo A5 2020 review
6. Moto G8 Power
Battery life for days
Pros:
- Massive battery
- Reasonable price
- Good camera
Cons:
- Unremarkable design
- Long charging time
The battery is a headline-grabbing spec from a Motorola G8 Power, and in a testing, it lived adult to a hype. Its considerable continuation will final we simply by a day and into a subsequent one. Fortunately, this phone has some-more to offer than a battery alone.
The camera is flattering good and versatile for a price, including a sum of 4 opposite snappers to fit a accumulation of shots, and a shade also does all we need. It’s frail and clear, and during 6.4-inch, it’s a good distance for examination calm or personification games.
Drawbacks embody a conservative, unexcited design, that isn’t anything to write home about – however that’s doubtful to be a dealbreaker for many consumers. Secondly, it doesn’t offer a rapid charging times that other phones do; you’ll substantially have to leave this plugged in overnight for full recharging, yet fortunately, a large battery means that this isn’t a compromising cause either.
- Read a Moto G8 Power review
7. Honor 10 Lite
A lot of phone for underneath £200
Pros:
- Feature rich
- Decent battery life
- Attractive pattern for a price
- Case is included
Cons:
- Plastic build
- Heavy-skinned program blank pivotal features
- Prone to fingerprints
If you’re looking for a means phone that’s outward of a Motorola range, a initial pier of call would be Honor’s handsets. The Honor 10 2018 flagship is a glorious phone in a possess right and we can collect one adult for underneath £400, nonetheless a Honor 10 Lite, accessible during half a price, is also value considering.
The 10 Lite boasts a latest chronicle of Android Pie, surfaced with Honor’s possess Emotion UI 9 overlay. It also offers a feature-packed user experience, charity tons in a approach of customisation, as good as AI-enhanced reward facilities like integrated sell picture hunt by a phone’s HiVision tool. There’s even a headphone jack, that helps extend a phone FM radio functionality.
In terms of a behind cameras, a twin 13/2-megapixel pairing takes serviceable shots in many conditions, with built-in AI stage approval for programmed settings adjustment. There’s also a dedicated mural mode, an considerable night mode and a abounding apartment of beauty collection for selfie-lovers who make use of a impressively frail 24-megapixel front-facing camera.
- Read a Honor 10 Lite review
8. Moto G8
A means and affordable phone
Pros:
- Good camera
- Big battery
- Great Motorola software
Cons:
- The shade is distant from a best
It competence have got behind into a flagship space, yet Motorola’s glorious phones sojourn a bill options – during slightest in a eyes. The Motorola Moto G8 ticks many of a boxes we demeanour for in an easy to suggest inexpensive phone.
It has a good categorical 16-megapixel camera, interconnected with an 8-megapixel ultrawide and we were tender with both a opening and battery life. In terms of specifics, you’re looking during a Snapdragon 665 with 4GB RAM and a 4000mAh battery
Our usually genuine uncertainty is a screen, that lacks a high-resolution of some of a other Moto G8 entries.
- Read a full Motorola Moto G8 review
9. Motorola Moto E6 Plus
The best phone you’ll find for £100
Pros:
- Excellent value
- Good quality, sharp-enough screen
- Impressive selfie camera
- Includes a case
Cons:
- Slow to charge
- Apps and games a tiny delayed to load
- No NFC
For underneath £100 you’re going to onslaught to find a improved phone than a Moto E6 Plus. It offers glorious value and is an ideal choice if you’re not fussed about imagination features, wish a phone for your child or usually something to use as behind up.
It packs a 6.1-inch HD+ arrangement that is surprisingly ok, a simple 13-megapixel behind camera with a delegate 2-megapixel sensor for abyss tracking and a pattern that doesn’t demeanour like it costs £99.
- Read a Motorola Moto E6 Plus review
10. Xiaomi Mi A2
Good performer yet tough to find
Pros:
- Strong performance, generally for a price
- Dual cameras
- Pure Android
Cons:
- Limited availability
- Missing NFC
One of Chinese smartphone manufacturer Xiaomi’s latest bill handsets, a Xiaomi Mi A2 facilities a 5.99-inch IPS screen, Snapdragon 660 CPU and 4GB of RAM, in further to a 12-megapixel/20-megapixel dual-camera set-up and 64GB of expandable (once again, around microSD) inner storage.
The program is good too, as it’s got a really purify chronicle of Android with really few combined extras in a form of Android One.
- Read a Xiaomi Mi A2 review
How do we select a right bill mobile?
1. Can we trust brands that we don’t recognise?
There has been an new liquid of new manufacturers entering a UK phone market, including Chinese giants Xiaomi and Oppo. That’s since many phones, whichever a brand, are indeed made in China, so there’s a outrageous volume of technical imagination there, as good as a outrageous internal market.
Given that, even if we aren’t familiar with all a featured brands, we don’t need to worry, since any handset in this round-up has been put by a full examination process, so if it’s in this list, we’ve judged it to be a inestimable purchase, formed on a imagination of a gifted mobile team.
2. What’s a problem with Huawei and Honor phones?
Due to a new nullification of Huawei’s Google Play Services license, due to a US/China trade dispute, new Huawei and Honor phones (those announced from this autumn) won’t be means to entrance Google Play Services and, as a result, pivotal Google Android apps, including YouTube and Gmail, won’t work.
Huawei is attempting to calibrate this by regulating a possess handling systems and software, yet it will be an emanate for many phone buyers given a ubiquitousness of Google’s apps. However any Huawei and Honor phones mentioned on this list, since they pre-date a dispute, will keep entrance to updates for a time being.
3. Is it improved to buy phones from carriers/networks or elsewhere?
The answer to this totally depends on what you’re looking for. Typically, there is a event to span your phone with a rival agreement when shopping from carriers. It’s always safest to buy approach from a association or a approved tradesman if you’re looking to buy a handset SIM-free.
4. Do any of these phones support 5G?
The discerning answer is no. With 5G in a infancy, a record so distant stays indifferent for specialised top-tier models, such as a OnePlus 7 Pro 5G and Samsung Galaxy S10 5G. At a time of writing, a Xiaomi Mi Mix 3 5G is a many affordable phone right now to exaggerate 5G. That phone is a Vodafone UK disdainful and is labelled during £49 upfront, and £54 a month for 24 months.
5G won’t drip down to a affordable smartphone marketplace until a record gains mainstream adoption and appeal, so don’t design anything 5G during bill prices anytime soon.
Still not certain what to buy?
Anyone who’s still uncertain should check out a following Trusted Reviews guides:
- Best phone
- Best phablet / large phone
- Best camera phone
- Best phone deals
- Best Apple iPhone
- Best Samsung phone
