After a budget-friendly smartphone that doesn’t dent your wallet? You’ll find one here. From top-quality cameras to long-lasting batteries, there’s a cheap phone for everyone in our selection. Ready to find your perfect match? Check out our favourite affordable phones below.
Best cheap smartphones overview
- Best all rounder: Huawei Honor 9 (from £149.99)
- Best budget iPhone: iPhone SE 2020 (from £210)
- Best budget Smasung: Samsung Galaxy S9 (from £144.99)
- Best phone under £100: Sony Xperia XA1 (from £94.99)
- Best phone for camera quality: Google Pixel 4XL (from £209.99)
- Best phone for battery life: Samsung Galaxy A50 (from £139.99)
- Best phone design: Huawei Mate 10 Pro (from 239.99)
- Best budget 5G phone: Samsung Galaxy A51 5G (from £199)
The best budget smartphones to buy in 2022
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Huawei Honor 9
Overview: Affordable all-round performance. That’s precisely what you get with Huawei’s Honor 9. The compact smartphone sits easily in hand and features a handy fingerprint sensor below the screen. Its glass design looks and feels buttery smooth, too.
The Honor 9’s 3200mah battery lasts a full day, while a dual-lens set-up includes a powerful 20MP camera that takes crisp shots. For budding photographers, we recommend dabbling in the handset’s aperture mode, which lets you alter subject focus.
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£149.99 |
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iPhone SE 2020
Overview: Searching for a budget Apple device? Say hello to the iPhone SE 2020. Available in various colours, the SE 2020’s compact frame is neat and tidy, fitting in hand like a glove. Its Retina HD display is bright and responsive, even though it’s an older model, while a powerful A13 Bionic chipset ensures superfast browsing, streaming, and gaming speeds.
Camera-wise, a 12MP single sensor snapper with advanced image processing takes crystal-clear photos. The iPhone SE 2020 isn’t the best in the battery department but should last a full day with moderate use. However, it supports fast charging, which ramps up your battery to 50% within 30 minutes.
The Specs
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£210-£230 |
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Samsung Galaxy S9
Overview: Samsung fan? Then you’ll love the Galaxy S9’s price and performance. The durable device is lined with a Gorilla Glass 5 screen, protecting it from bumps and falls. Its bright 5.8-inch Super AMOLED display covers most of the screen, so it’s easy to use with one hand. Interestingly, the display automatically adjusts to your screen brightness habits, which is perfect for when you’re on the move.
Its Exynos 9810 chipset means the phone is fast and responsive, even when using multiple apps. Need a brilliant camera? The Galaxy S9’s 12MP single-sensor camera and wide aperture range take impressive snaps in all conditions. There’s also a fun super slow-mo mode, which can turn a 0.2-second action shot into a 6-second slow-mo video.
The Specs
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£144.99-£154.99 |
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Sony Xperia XA1
Overview: Sony’s Experia XA1 is a fantastic option if you want a cheap mobile phone under £100. For just £94.99, you’ll get a pocketable design and a whopping 23MP camera which takes fantastic pictures for its price. The 720p screen is bright but features a relatively low screen resolution. This means text may look less clean and sharp in close-up.
There’s no lagging when flicking between apps, thanks to its Android 7.0 operating system and relatively powerful chipset. To top it off, there’s also a USB slot for easy file transfers and charging, while a memory card slot means you can boost storage space.
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£94.99 |
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Google Pixel 4XL
Overview: Camera buffs; this one is for you. The Google 4XL’s advanced software, sharp lenses and wide aperture range deliver clarity and precision. Its Live HDR+ mode provides accurate previews of pictures, while a Super Res Zoom mode takes crisp shots of close subjects. The cherry on top? The 4XL’s Astrophotography mode lets you capture starry night skies for Insta-worthy pics of the heavens.
The Google 4XL is no slouch, either. Its Snapdragon 855 chipset and 6GB RAM offer fast processing speeds, while its gorgeous 6-inch OLED screen and 90HZ refresh rate mean it’s highly responsive. Battery stamina is where the 4XL falls short. Its 3700maH cell will likely need a charge in the day to see you through. However, an 18w fast charger is included for a rapid boost.
The Specs
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£209.99-£309.99 |
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Samsung Galaxy A50
Overview: The Galaxy A50 has some serious stamina. Its supercharged 4000mah battery lasts up to 35 hours (yes, really) and supports fast charging when you need a quick lift. Its 6.4-inch Infinity edge-to-edge display looks gorgeous too, as does its smooth and luminous back cover.
Its camera isn’t a great performer in low light and won’t offer anywhere near the same quality as, say, the Google Pixel 4XL. However, if you want a budget smartphone with a fantastic battery and display, you can’t go wrong with the Galaxy A50.
The Specs
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£139.99 |
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Huawei Mate 10 Pro
Overview: The Mate 10 Pro is jam-packed with fantastic features. Its screen boasts OLED technology for stunning clarity and colour. Its dual camera set-up performs well in low-light and macro shots, while a 128GB internal drive gives plenty of storage. It also looks the part, with a protective Gorilla Glass back panel creating a refined finish.
A 4000mah battery gives you over a day’s battery (but could even last for two with moderate use), while Super Charge tech gets you powered up to 50% within 30 mins. Sadly, the 10 Pro doesn’t feature a headphone jack or a MicroSD Slot. It also doesn’t support fast charging, but with that massive battery, this isn’t a dealbreaker in our eyes.
The Specs
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£239.99 |
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Samsung Galaxy A51 5G
Overview: Pretty in plastic, the Samsung Galaxy A51 sports smooth curves and intersecting lines to the back. Under the light, these lines burst into rainbow tones for a beautiful finish. There’s room for improvement, though. The A51’s fingerprint scanner is poor, while its punch-hole camera design divides opinion.
But, there’s still plenty going for it. For example, the A51 features a stunning 6.5-inch Super AMOLED screen, while its quad-lens camera set-up boasts a 48MP camera for clear and bright shots. 5G connectivity is available, too. And an internal 128GB drive and microSD card slots offer all the storage you’ll need.
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£199-£239.99 |
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How to choose the best budget smartphone
Choosing a new phone is never an easy decision. How do you know which one is right for you? Well, cheap phones don’t have everything, so you’ll need to consider which features are a must and which are a nice-to-have. Here are some things to think about before choosing your budget smartphone.
Storage
Storage needn’t be sacrificed when buying a budget phone. In fact, you can pick up a smartphone for under £100 and boost its storage by using its memory card slot—such as Sony’s Xperia A1. If you need lots of storage, keep tabs on a device’s internal drive and whether it has a memory card slot.
Battery life and performance
While budget phones may not boast the same processing power as flagship gadgets, they still offer top performance. Look at the clock speed of the chip (measured in GHz) and the available RAM (4GB and above should cut the mustard) to get an idea of how fast the phone is.
Battery stamina is crucial when you’re out and about. Choose a phone with a high battery maH rating for longer battery life. The higher the number, the longer you can expect the phone to last from a single charge.
Camera quality
You can find great cameras on budget smartphones, like the Google Pixel 4XL. In fact, its camera gives many flagship phones a run for their money. But, this high snapping standard tends to cost a tad more than handsets that come under the £200 mark.
Display
Although flagship devices have superior screens, you can still find many budget smartphones with top-draw displays. Most cheap phones feature screen resolutions of at least 720p, and some even offer Full HD displays like the Huawei 10 Mate Pro.
Bagging a great deal
A brilliant way of saving money is buying a refurbished phone. Refurbished phones allow you to get a top-tier device for a fraction of retail prices. You can also get your hands on many much-loved models that’ve been discontinued over the years.
Another way to get a great deal is to buy a SIM-free smartphone. That’s because you can get an affordable SIM-only deal after you’ve bought your phone. By going down this route, you won’t need to pay as much per month as you would with many phone contracts, as you’ll be paying for the SIM, not the phone. It also offers flexibility, as you can swap your smartphone for a newer model in the future without having to pay out on a contract.
Buy a budget phone with Envirofone
At Envirofone, you get a brilliant device for less. Our selection is jam-packed with affordable phones from the world’s leading brands, including Apple, Samsung and Google. We also ensure that every second-hand item is returned to its former glory through a 100-point testing process, so you’re never disappointed.
Every reconditioned device comes packaged in a protective padded box. We also ship it out to you for free and slap on a 12-month warranty. But there’s more! You can send your old device to Envirofone for money towards your next purchase. So, browse our range of cheap refurbished phones today for tech that doesn’t harm the planet (or your wallet).
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