The Best Cheap Phones for Almost Every Budget

Forget the spendy flagship smartphone. Every year, we test a dozen or more devices to find the best cheap phones that perform where it counts and aren’t annoyingly slow. Wireless carriers in the US go out of their way to make expensive smartphones seem affordable. AT&T will advertise a Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra for just $36 a month, but don’t let that fool you. With over 36 monthly installments, you spend more than a thousand bucks on a phone. Your pricey device may also keep you locked into the network, unable to switch wireless carriers until the phone is paid off.

Get a seriously great, affordable smartphone instead. Our top pick, the Google Pixel 10a, costs $499 and is as good as almost any flagship device. Our other recommendations strike a great balance between price and luxury. There’s even a folding phone in this guide! But it’s currently very tough to find phones worth considering under $400, since manufacturers slapped an extra $100 on most of their phones in response to the memory shortage.

Check out our many other mobile guides, including Best Android Phones, Best Samsung Phones, Best Phones With a Headphone Jack, Best Google Pixel, Best Moto Phones, and Best iPhones.

Updated October 2026: We added the Motorola Moto G Power 2026, Samsung Galaxy A37, and Motorola Razr 2026, refreshed the Samsung Galaxy S25 FE and Nothing Phone 4(a) Pro, added mentions for the TCL P80 Ultra and Nothing Phone (4b), and updated the FAQ.

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The Pixel 10a disappointingly may not change much from its predecessor, the Pixel 9a, but it remains the best smartphone on the market, especially for anyone trying to curb their spending.

It’s not the cheapest phone, but it has the best suite of features for the price, from an excellent dual-camera system to a sharp, 120-Hz screen, and performance that can run most apps and games perfectly fine thanks to the Tensor G4 chip. It’ll even get software updates for seven years, and Google says the battery is slightly easier to replace than the older model.

The biggest changes from the Pixel 9a are a brighter screen, faster wired and wireless charging (still no Pixelsnap magnets for Qi2 charging), and a tougher glass protecting the display. The plastic ring on the camera module is also gone, so the back of the Pixel 10a is even flatter than before—great for anyone who hates bulky camera bumps. These updates are still fairly minor, so if you happen to catch the Pixel 9a on sale, it’s still worthwhile if it means saving $100 or $150 bucks. However, the Pixel 10a will almost definitely also go on sale during major sale events like Prime Day and Black Friday, if you can be patient.

It’s nice to have faster charging speeds, but battery life overall is OK. It adequately lasts a full day with average use and then some, but folks who spend a lot of time on their smartphone during the day—whether it’s for navigating, music streaming, or reading fanfic—will likely find themselves hunting for an outlet in the afternoon.

The dual-camera system is versatile. The main 48-MP camera can snap pleasing photos, in low light and daytime, whereas the 13-MP ultrawide lets you capture sweeping scenes or group photos. Even the 13-MP selfie camera is pretty reliable. Naturally, with all the smart software features that Google is known for on its Pixel phones, there are some new AI perks here. Camera Coach lets you ask Google’s AI to give you suggestions on how to take a better photo, and Auto Best Take for group photos will automatically snap multiple pictures when you tap the shutter button and choose the best of each person, like fixing someone’s blinking eyes.

Speaking of, software is the top reason why I heartily recommend Pixel phones. I’ve detailed many of them here, but you can use Add Me to make sure everyone is in the group photo, including the photographer. Audio Magic Eraser lets you strip out unwanted sounds from your videos, like sirens. And Google’s Call Screen technology nips spam calls in the bud. I used the Hold for Me function to not have to listen to Delta’s terrible hold music for four hours after my flight was canceled.

Other perks include secure face unlock and fingerprint unlock—both work with sensitive apps that require biometric authentication, so you have multiple unlocking options. Secure face unlock is virtually nonexistent for every other Android phone at this price. There’s also NFC for contactless payments and an IP68 rating that protects it from the elements.

Apple’s cheapest iPhone—the iPhone 17e—is a better value than its predecessor, the iPhone 16e. MagSafe is the biggest addition here (one of the strangest omissions last year), so now you can take advantage of the large accessory ecosystem, whether you want to use a magnetic wallet that sticks to the back of your iPhone or a magnetic tripod to snap selfies on your travels.

Like the rest of the iPhone 17 lineup, the iPhone 17e also uses the same Ceramic Shield 2 glass mixture to protect the display, which is more durable and scratch-resistant and matches what’s on the pricier iPhones—always a plus. It’s no iPhone Mini, but this is Apple’s smallest phone in the lineup, which is nice for anyone who hates big-screen handsets, though you’re stuck with the old-school notch design instead of the Dynamic Island found on the rest of the iPhones. (There’s still Face ID!)

It’s powered by the latest-generation A19 chip, like the iPhone 17, though there’s one less graphics core, so there’s a minor hit to performance. I still had no trouble running all my usual apps and games, even Genshin Impact at its max graphical settings. Battery life is also solid, comfortably lasting me a full day, though extreme users will likely need a top-up before bed. I suspect the improved and energy-efficient C1X 5G modem is what helps extend battery life despite the small size of the phone.

Where this iPhone doesn’t quite feel like its $599 price is the camera. You can snap perfectly good photos with the 48-MP sensor, but that’s it; that’s the only camera on the back. Now compare it to the Pixel 10a and its dual-camera system, or the Samsung Galaxy S25 FE and its triple-camera module (often on sale for under $500). Apple should really have added an extra camera here for versatility, as the lone camera is too limiting.

Generally, camera performance is also a little lackluster in low light, especially if you’re trying to capture a moving subject like a pet. It may sound like it has the same 48-MP camera as the iPhone 17, but the sensor is smaller, so you’re not getting the same image quality. The selfie camera is also OK, but it can struggle with high-contrast scenes.

There’s no ultrawideband chip on the iPhone 17e, so you can’t precisely track AirTags—this iPhone will only give you the general vicinity of the tag’s location. And the screen is still stuck on a 60-Hz refresh rate when nearly every phone that costs this much has moved on to 120 Hz.

These concessions make the iPhone 17e feel a little overpriced, but it’s sure as heck better value than the iPhone 16e. If you don’t find the flaws off-putting and don’t care much for the camera experience, this smartphone will satisfy anyone looking for a good, reliable, and price-friendly iPhone. Apple also sells the iPhone 16 for $100 more, but I don’t think it’s worth paying more for less storage and slightly lesser performance, even if it has perks like a dual-camera system.

Want a Samsung phone but don’t want to pay the flagship prices? Samsung’s FE series is exactly that (FE stands for Fan Edition). Despite testing this year’s Samsung Galaxy S26 FE, we’re still recommending last year’s S25 FE, and that’s because very little has changed and the price has gone up. With the S25 FE hovering around $500, it would cost you an extra $200 to get the 26 FE and it’s simply not worth it. The S25 FE is very similar to the Galaxy S25 series, but think of it as a “lite” version. Certain elements are just a few notches below what you’d find in a flagship, like the screen, which doesn’t get as bright, and doesn’t feature an adaptive refresh rate that can go from 1 to 120 Hz. This phone’s MSRP was $650, but it has been steadily dropping in price and has been as low as $450—that’s the price that makes it worthwhile (and also worthy of consideration for this guide).

You still get a sharp 6.7-inch AMOLED screen with a 120-Hz screen refresh rate, a 4,900-mAh battery that generally lasts a full day with average use, and a triple-camera system with a 3X optical zoom lens. The results from the camera are surprisingly strong, though I did find that the phone has trouble autofocusing in low light, and nighttime images can be a little blurry if there’s a lot of movement. Like the two phones above, this Android phone will get some of the longest software support compared to competitors in this bracket.

Photograph: Julian Chokkattu

Photograph: Julian Chokkattu

I used it for more than a week, and the Exynos 2400 chipset didn’t cause me any strife. I booted up the very demanding Genshin Impact mobile game and maxed out the graphics—there certainly were stutters during gameplay, but it was totally playable. Almost all the Galaxy AI features are available on this phone, if that’s something you care about, too. (Read our Best Samsung Phones guide for more details about that.)

It maintains all the other flagship perks you’d want, from Qi wireless charging (Qi2 Ready if you have a magnetic case) and IP68 water resistance. It may look a little plain, but it’s a great all-rounder—just make sure you catch it on sale.

Midrange and budget phones usually don’t experiment too much with design, so they’re rarely exciting, but London-based Nothing has been trying to fix that for a few years with its attractive, stylish, and unique handsets. The latest iteration is the Nothing Phone (4a) and Phone (4a) Pro, though only the latter is available in the US.

It looks nothing like its peers. The Pro has a fresh camera module with a unique camera layout and the Glyph Matrix that the company debuted last year on the Phone (3). This tiny display has some fun functionality, like seeing an outline of your head so you can snap a selfie picture with the rear cameras (and still be in the frame). The triple-camera system boasts a 50-MP main camera, an 8-MP ultrawide, and a 50-MP telephoto zoom offering 3.5X zoom. Photos look natural and detailed, with pleasing colors and good exposure, but low light performance is a weakness.

This is a solid midrange phone with good performance, a nice screen, reliable battery life, and unique software design. Nothing’s retro take on Android is a pixel art aesthetic you won’t find anywhere else, with a lovely interface and fun widgets. There’s also the Essential Key, which you can press to capture a screenshot and dump the data into the Essential Space app, or press and hold to record a voice note.

The Phone (4a) Pro is competitive compared to the Google Pixel 10a, offering a triple-camera experience, a 144-Hz AMOLED screen, and speedy charging. However, software support isn’t anything special (three Android OS upgrades and six years of security updates), water resistance is a little lackluster (IP65), and carrier support can be a little wonky. But if you want a smartphone that will turn heads, the Nothing Phone (4a) Pro will do it.

The ongoing memory crisis driven by AI has led most smartphone makers to increase their prices by $100 across the board. Sadly, that means the Moto G Stylus (2026), which would have occupied this spot, now costs $500 and isn’t worth buying over the Pixel 10a or Nothing Phone 4(a) Pro above unless you are desperate for a stylus. It’s slim pickings for phones under $400 that are worth considering. Dropping below $500 (outside of sale events) is currently where you’ll feel the step down the most, which brings us to the Moto G Power 2026. Originally released at a much more reasonable $300, Motorola has jacked the price to $400.

While it’s less stuttery than its predecessor, the Moto G Power 2026 still has a MediaTek Dimensity 6300 processor with 8 GB of RAM. This improvement likely comes from performance optimizations and the latest Android version. The roomy 6.8-inch LCD is sharp and bright. There’s a reliable fingerprint scanner, a headphone jack for those of you who prefer to plug in when listening to music, and a microSD card slot. It’s also IP68/69 rated, so it will handle heavy rain or even brief submersion in fresh water.

Compared to last year’s Moto G Power, the selfie camera is now 32 megapixels, and the battery capacity is slightly higher at 5,200 mAh. As the name suggests, battery life is stellar, and you can get two full days of average use out of this phone. But Motorola has also made some unwelcome changes this year: the fun colors are gone, and it removed wireless charging.

Photograph: Julian Chokkattu

Photograph: Julian Chokkattu

The 50-megapixel main camera isn’t terrible, but colors can look washed out, and the image processing adds some over-sharpening. There’s also an 8-MP ultrawide that’s not great, and even the upgraded selfie camera is a bit disappointing. They all struggle with high-contrast scenes, and you must stay still to avoid blurry photos. If you’re patient, you can get decent images, but cameras are not the Moto G Power’s strong suit.

The Moto G Power 2026 gets two Android OS upgrades, alongside three years of security updates. That’s poor compared to its peers above, but Motorola has historically poor software support. The key thing is that Motorola phones go on sale often. It’s not a great deal at $400, but if you can get it near its original $300 release price or below, it’s a bargain. —Simon Hill

The Galaxy A37 does a good job of aping Samsung’s more expensive phones, and it’s a decent alternative to the Moto G Power 2026 above. It regularly dips to $375. You get a nice big AMOLED display, an IP68 waterproof rating, great battery life, and a good main camera. Sadly, the plastic frame feels a bit cheap, and it’s very easy to smudge the shiny gloss back.

The processor is limited, and the RAM starts at just 6 GB. Despite a few dropped frames in Asphalt Legends and some delay coming in and out of the camera, I didn’t find the performance to be too bad. The 5,000 mAh battery will see you through busy days and maybe stretch to two with light use. Like the Moto G Power, there’s no wireless charging.

I had low expectations, so was pleasantly surprised by the photos I shot with the main 50-megapixel camera, and the selfie camera is fine. The 8-MP ultrawide and 5-MP macro lenses are very poor. I’m not convinced the macro lens is worth including.

Samsung does offer a few other budget phones, but the A57 is only a teeny bit better than the A37 (not enough to justify an extra $100), and there is no A27 this year. If you can find last year’s Galaxy A26 for at least $100 less than the A37, it’s still worth considering for folks on a tighter budget. —Simon Hill

Photograph: Julian Chokkattu

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Motorola

Razr (2026)

$800

Amazon

$800

Motorola

While $800 isn’t really anyone’s idea of cheap, the Motorola Razr 2026 is relatively affordable for a folding phone! It’s a flip-style phone, but the exterior screen is still large enough to see widgets, notifications, and even a few apps without opening the whole thing. Flip phones are great because they feel like normal handsets once opened, but they fold down to be super compact.

The slightly improved MediaTek chipset is fine. Expect an occasional slowdown, but nothing too frustrating. Motorola has also increased the battery capacity, so you might even squeeze two days out of it with light use.

The camera system is nowhere near as strong as the Razr Ultra, especially in low light and high-contrast scenes. But a 50-MP main camera is good enough to snag some pleasing photos, and the 50-MP ultrawide is handy for taking group shots. You can use the external screen as a viewfinder so everyone can make sure they’re in the frame. The selfie camera is solid.

You also get wireless charging (not Qi2), a decent fingerprint sensor, and better software support than Motorola’s lesser budget phones (three Android upgrades, five years of security updates).

We highly recommend you stick with the phones above, but here are some alternatives worth considering.

Samsung Galaxy A36 (left) and Galaxy A26 (right).

Photograph: Julian Chokkattu

Samsung Galaxy A26 for $300: If you want a Samsung phone but don’t want to spend much, I think the Galaxy A26 is the best bang for your buck. Performance is solid, battery life lasts a full day, there’s an IP67 water resistance rating, and the camera is OK. It even has expandable storage (though no headphone jack), and Samsung promises six years of software updates, which is unparalleled at this price. It seems to no longer be available from Samsung, but there was no A27 this year, so snap it up if you can find it.

Samsung Galaxy A36 for $400: With a higher price, you’d think the A36 would be even better than the A26, right? Wrong. The Galaxy A36 hits many highs, including a brighter display, good battery life, and solid cameras, but storage is not expandable, and performance was bizarrely more choppy. The six years of software support are nice, but if the phone is already annoying to operate, I can’t imagine what it’ll be like in six years. It’s an OK phone, but you can do better. (It’s a better buy at its sale price of $230.)

Photograph: Julian Chokkattu

TCL 60 XE Nxtpaper 5G for $200: TCL’s 60 XE has an anti-reflective matte screen called Nxtpaper to limit the blue light entering your eyes for better sleep and reduced eye fatigue. There’s no evidence to suggest that blue-light blockers work, but if you ignore those claims, this is still a great budget phone with a pleasing matte screen. There is a switch on the side that lets you flip between different display modes that turn the screen closer to a monochrome or color E Ink experience, great for fans of e-readers. Performance is good, the camera is decent, and there are extras like a headphone jack and microSD card slot. The only problem is that the screen is hard to read in direct sunlight. Folks in the UK might consider the more premium TCL P80 Ultra (£480), which has the same E Ink display party trick, but a much faster processor, better and brighter display, more versatile triple-lens camera, and a few other upgrades. Sadly, there’s no word on a US release for it yet.

Moto G 2026.

Photograph: Julian Chokkattu

Moto G 2026 for $200: The Moto G 2026 comes in this gorgeous pink! It’s a pretty-looking phone, and a decent $200 handset. Performance is sluggish, which is why I think you’re better off buying the Moto G Power 2026 when it goes on sale. The cameras are barely passable, but you can make contactless payments, access 5G connectivity, and perform day-to-day tasks with a bit of patience.

Moto G Play 2026

Photograph: Julian Chokkattu

Moto G Play 2026 for $180: Motorola’s new Moto G Play 2026 adds 5G connectivity for the first time. However, performance is still quite sluggish, with apps and webpages taking several seconds to load. If you want to pay very little money, this will do the job, but I think you should buy the Moto G Power 2026 instead, especially when it inevitably goes on sale. While the Power’s performance isn’t amazing, it’s much better than the Play’s and has stronger cameras and more features.

Minimal Phone

Photograph: Julian Chokkattu

Minimal Phone for $450: Want to reduce your reliance on a smartphone? The Minimal Phone has an e-paper touchscreen and a physical keyboard, but it runs Android. That means you can still access every app you’d want via the Google Play Store, but the experience is going to be inferior due to the phone’s low refresh rate (good luck watching videos on this thing) and the tiny monochrome screen. Still, this is a decent alternative (or maybe even a second phone) if you just want to get away from doomscrolling.

Galaxy A17

Photograph: Julian Chokkattu

Samsung Galaxy A17 5G for $200: The new Galaxy A17 doesn’t change much from its predecessor—it’s still frustrating to use, perhaps even more so this year. The paltry 4 GB of RAM constantly slowed down everything. If I were in an emergency, I would not trust the A17 to help reliably. The good news is that the camera is decent, there’s a long software update window, and the AMOLED screen is nice—not to mention the expandable storage. But you need a lot of patience with this phone, so it’s only for someone whose needs are very minimal.

Nuu N20

Photograph: Julian Chokkattu

Nuu N20 for $130: Right after I tested the Galaxy A16 last year, I moved on to the cheaper Nuu N20. Color me surprised. Yes, it can still be sluggish, but performance on this nearly $100 phone is far better and manageable. I used it for a week with no major problems. Well, except one: GPS on this device isn’t great. The few times I used it for navigation, it struggled to find my location and was slow to update the map. Another big problem? The N20 runs Android 14, so it’s already out of date, and the company tells me there is no “exact schedule for software updates.”

Sonim XP Pro

Photograph: Julian Chokkattu

Sonim XP Pro 5G for $550: This rugged phone is sold through Verizon only, but I tested it on Google Fi and didn’t have any connectivity issues. (Fi is powered by T-Mobile’s network.) I have dropped this Android phone multiple times on the sidewalk (on purpose), and the screen has not cracked. It's quite durable, and that’s largely the reason to buy it. On its own, it’s not wholly impressive—you can buy more powerful, feature-rich phones for the money. The camera is especially bad, consistently delivering blurry shots unless you stay as still as a statue. But performance is decent. It comes with 256 GB of storage with a microSD card slot, and there’s a customizable button you can set to trigger a shortcut or open an app.

Photograph: Simon Hill

Nothing Phone (3a) Lite for £249: Nothing’s Phone (3a) Lite is a confusing smartphone in its lineup. The CMF Phone 2 Pro exists and is similar in price (CMF is Nothing’s sub-brand), and in general, there are better phones you can buy for the money. The cameras are lackluster, and there’s a lot of bloatware, which feels like the opposite of Nothing’s philosophy. Performance is decent, as is its battery life. There’s also the very similar, but newer, Nothing Phone (4b) for £299. It adds the Glyph bar and some minor upgrades, like a better IP64 rating and stereo speakers, and drops the useless macro lens, but it’s an extra £50. Neither phone launched in the US.

HMD Vibe

Photograph: Julian Chokkattu

If you’re eyeing a cheap phone, try to stick to name brands. There are several smartphones you’ll find for dirt cheap on Amazon, but you’re about to load up whatever you buy with your personal information and photos—it’s important to make sure it’s a reputable brand with good security practices (or at least some kind of record that it does issue security patches).

Outside of that, we generally recommend avoiding the previous generation (unless otherwise mentioned above). It may not get updates for much longer (if any), and prices aren’t usually that different. That’s why I don’t recommend Motorola’s Moto G series phones from 2024 or older—you may want to skip some of the 2025 models too, like the Moto G 2025, since its successor is already here.

We also don’t recommend you buy any HMD devices anymore. Sadly, the company has ceased its operations in the US market.

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