The perfect low-cost telephones for 2025

It could be trendy to spend $1,000 on the most recent flagship smartphone after they first get launched, nevertheless it's not vital. You don't even need to spend $500 right this moment to get an honest handset, whether or not it’s a refurbished iPhone or an inexpensive Android telephone, as there are many choices as little as $160 that might suit your wants.
However navigating the finances telephone market will be tough; choices that look good on paper might not be in observe, and a few handsets will find yourself costing you extra when you think about many include restrictive storage. Whereas we at Engadget spend most of our time testing and reviewing mid- to high-end handsets, we've examined plenty of the most recent budget-friendly telephones in the marketplace to see which are literally price your cash.

What to search for in an inexpensive telephone

For this information, our prime picks price between $100 and $300. Something much less and also you would possibly as effectively go purchase a dumb telephone or high-end calculator as a substitute. Since they’re meant to be extra inexpensive than flagship telephones and even midrange handsets, finances smartphones contain compromises; the cheaper a tool, the decrease your expectations round specs, efficiency and expertise needs to be. For that motive, the very best recommendation I may give is to spend as a lot as you’ll be able to afford. On this value vary, even $50 or $100 extra can get you a dramatically higher product.

Second, it’s best to know what you need most from a telephone. When shopping for a finances smartphone, you could must sacrifice an honest primary digicam for lengthy battery life, or commerce a high-resolution show for a sooner CPU. That’s simply what comes with the territory, however figuring out your priorities will make it simpler to search out the correct telephone.

It’s additionally price noting some options will be exhausting to search out on low-cost handsets. For example, you received’t want to go looking far for a tool with all-day battery life — however if you would like a fantastic digicam telephone with wonderful digicam high quality, you’re higher off shelling out for one of many suggestions in our midrange smartphone information, which all are available in at $600 or much less. Wi-fi charging and waterproofing additionally aren’t simple to search out on this value vary and overlook concerning the quickest chipset. On the brilliant facet, all our suggestions include headphone jacks, so that you received’t must get wi-fi headphones.

iOS can also be off the desk, for the reason that $400 Apple iPhone SE is essentially the most inexpensive iPhone within the lineup. That leaves Android OS as the one choice. Fortunately right this moment, there’s little to complain about Google’s OS – and you could even favor it to iOS. Lastly, take note most Android producers sometimes supply far much less sturdy software program options and help for his or her finances gadgets. In some instances, your new telephone could solely obtain one main software program replace and a 12 months or two of safety patches past that. That applies to the OnePlus and Motorola suggestions on our checklist.

Should you’d prefer to maintain your telephone for so long as potential, Samsung has the very best software program coverage of any Android producer within the finances area, providing 4 years of safety updates on all of its gadgets. That mentioned, if software program help (or machine longevity total) is your primary focus, contemplate spending a bit extra the $500 Google Pixel 7a, which is our favourite midrange smartphone and has deliberate software program updates by mid-2026.

Greatest low-cost telephones

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