Best cheap phones 2025 tested — June top picks

I've said it before, I'll say it again: the best cheap phones can't be overlook due to how they blend value and utility. In a stunning change, the Google Pixel 9a takes the top spot for the sheer amount of features it offers while still maintaining that sub-$500 price tag.

Oddly enough, no iPhone makes our list despite the iPhone 16e now being the cheapest phone from Apple. It doesn't make the cut because of its $599 cost, which is significantly higher than the previous iPhone SE 2022.

One phone that could make this list is the Samsung Galaxy A56, which has launched in some regions already but has yet to make it to the U.S. We are quite impressed with that phone's balance of features, so when it does go on sale here, there's a strong chance of it landing a spot on this guide.

After testing multiple phones that cost less than $500, I'm confident that they check off many of the boxes that most people look for in buying a new phone. Whether it's an affordable iPhone or inexpensive Android phone, I've used several of them and find them just as competent as some flagship models.

You'll need to make some trade-offs to get a cheap phone — forget about the most powerful processors or versatile zoom cameras — but in many cases, you'll find cameras that are good enough to get the job done and even big displays with adaptive refresh rates. And 5G connectivity is basically a given these days.

Even though I reviewed my fair share of affordable phones, my other colleagues also contribute collectively as a group for our picks for the best cheap phones under $500. If that's still too much to pay, check out our guide on the best cheap phones under $300.

Written by

Written by

John Velasco

I'm the senior editor for mobile at Tom's Guide, where I've been working since 2023. I've been covering mobile tech for 16 years in total, starting with old school feature phones and early smartphones powered by Palm OS and Windows Mobile. I'm a New Jersey native and keep up with the latest mobile tech.

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The best cheap phones you can buy today

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Best cheap phone overall

Google's done a lot of things right with the Pixel 9a. Not only does it offer plenty of upgrades over the Pixel 8a, Google's also kept the price the same. In an age where the threat of price hikes are increasingly common, it's refreshing to see a phone this feature-rich sell for under $500.

The Pixel 9a is easily the most well-rounded phone you can buy for that price right now. Most notable is AI, and Google has added the majority of features you'd find on the rest of the Pixel 9 series. A couple of features are missing, like Pixel Screenshots and Call Notes, but the really important stuff is still here.

Gemini Live, Pixel Studio's image generation and Reimagine to name a few. Plus all the features we've seen on older models, like Magic Editor and Best Take. All thanks to the Tensor G4 chipset which, while not a performance powerhouse, makes up for it in AI prowess.

While the design is simple, it's incredible to see that Google has reduced the camera bump to almost nothing. Considering how large some phone cameras are, that's an incredible achievement. In typical Google style those dual cameras offer better quality than their specs let on.

The display is also notable, with a new 6.3-inch panel that has proven to be brighter and more accurate than Pixel 8a could hope to be. Then there's the adaptive refresh rate, which switches between 60 and 120Hz depending on what's on screen — just like Pixel 9.

Read our full Google Pixel 9a review.

Best cheap phone design

Google and Apple better be worried because the Nothing Phone 3a Pro redefines what it takes to be a phone on a budget. Rather than stripping away features to reach a sub-$500 price point, it actually throws in more features than what you'd expect.

Not only does it still flaunt a unique design with its translucent case that gives you a peek into its insides, but it's polished off by the Glyph Interface it employs to light up the different LED light strips on the back of the phone. For real, this phone looks and feels more like a flagship model.

Another big change is the triple camera array on the back of the phone. It's honestly unheard of among budget phones, so it only adds to its utility. What's more satisfying about them, though, is the performance is much improved — especially around low light that was a big struggle for the Nothing Phone 2a.

Over on the software side, Nothing dives into AI with the Essential Space and Key, which aims to organize everything you do on the phone so you don't forget important tasks. It also boasts all-day battery life that charges really fast with its 50W wired charging.

Read our full Nothing Phone 3a Pro review.

Best value cheap phone

Who says that you have to sacrifice looks for a cheaper price? The Nothing Phone 3a still delivers the stylish translucent look and helpful Glyph interface as its other siblings, but packages in more features. My colleague, Philip Michaels, praises its bright and crisp 6.7-inch AMOLED display, which offers an adaptive refresh rate up to 120Hz, as well as how long this phone lasted on our battery test.

With a price of $379, it might be tough to track down to buy one given the limited release in the U.S. through Nothing's developer beta program, but it's worth waiting for given the big improvements around its cameras, which now includes a dedicated telephoto camera with 3x optical zoom.

Even though the Moto G Power (2025) is the longest lasting phone on this list, the Nothing Phone 3a's time of 15 hours and 24 minutes on our battery benchmark test is pretty impressive.

Read our full Nothing Phone 3a review.

Best cheap phone under $200

If you don't mind the kind of compromises you have to make to get a phone's price to drop below $200 — in this case, those would be tepid performance and a dim display — the latest version of the Moto G will appeal to your budget-minded needs. And the phone may actually surprise you with what it does offer at that price.

At this point, it's not surprising that the Moto G lasts a long-time on a charge, as Motorola makes that a key selling point with its budget phones. With a time of just over 18.5 hours on our battery test, this is the lowest-cost device to crash our long-lasting phone rankings. And 30W wired charging speeds can fill up more than 50% of the battery in just half-an-hour.

Even though you're limited to a main camera and a dedicated macro sensor, the Moto G (2025) takes surprisingly good photos, though features like portrait mode can be inconsistent. And a nice vegan leather back panel makes the phone feel a lot fancier than its budget price would suggest. Credit Motorola for finding a way to add some nice touches to its new Moto G while keeping the price nice and low.

Read our full Moto G (2025) review.

Best cheap phone from Samsung

Just like the prior year, Samsung doesn't appear to have any intentions to bring the Galaxy A56 stateside, which leaves U.S. consumers with the Galaxy A36 as the only mid-range option from Samsung. That's because the next best thing, the Galaxy S24 FE, is priced out of this.

For its under $400 cost, I'm really surprised by how good looking it is, especially with Awesome Lilac version of the handset because of how it shimmers in a rainbow pattern when the light hits it at the right angle. It's also pretty swell that it has an IP67 rating, making this cheap phone more resilient than what you'd expect.

One of the biggest changes is moving away from an in-house chip in favor of a Qualcomm made Snapdragon 6 Gen 3. Even with this switch, it doesn't yield better performance scores, but at least the power efficient of the chip allows the Galaxy A36 to last longer on our battery test.

And finally, it features a triple camera system that works well in most situations — minus low light situation. I also like that it comes with the latest One UI 7 interface out of the box and has 6 years of software support. While it doesn't have the same set of Galaxy AI features found in many other, pricier Samsung models, it has a small handful of 'Intelligent' features to use.

Read our full Samsung Galaxy A36 review.

Best cheap phone under $300

The Moto G Power 2025 is a budget phone that prioritizes battery longevity. That's why power is in its name, as it's packed with a 5,000 mAh battery that's among the best phone battery life we've tested at 17 hours and 13 minutes.

Complementing that is its speedy 30W wired charging that gets it to 53% after 30 minutes of charging. And for a phone that costs $299, it also includes wireless charging support, which seems more like a luxury for cheap phones.

However, its Mediatek Dimensity 6300 chip underperforms, and as a result, can exhibit sluggish performance for demanding tasks. The camera system, a dual camera arrangement, can still capture high-quality images — but mainly when the lightning conditions are ideal. That's because it struggles under low light.

Finally, it's worth pointing out that Motorola now offers two years of major Android upgrades and three years of security updates. This means you can expect to hold onto this budget longer, while gaining some of the best new features of Android.

Read our full Moto G Power 2025 review.

What to look for in the best cheap phones

After you've found a phone at the right price for your budget — that's why you're considering one of the best cheap phones in the first place, after all — consider what features one of these devices has to offer and which ones you're sacrificing for a lower price tag. Battery life, the number and types of cameras, display refresh rate and the type of chipset powering the phone are all ways that cheap phones can distinguish themselves.

In some cases, you'll be able to compare phones to more expensive options to help crystalize what compromises you're making for a lower-cost model.

Generally, one area in which phone makers cut back for budget models is materials. They'll use plastic for the phone's case instead of metal and glass. Cheaper phones may also turn to LCD panels instead of OLED screens, though that's becoming less frequent among some of the best cheap phones running Android.

One other area to consider is software updates and support. We've seen cheaper Android phones either ship with older versions of Android or promise very few upgrades to future versions. Samsung has one of the better upgrade policies with its Galaxy A lineup, and the iPhone remains a standout for usually supporting five years of iOS updates.

How we test the best cheap phones

We evaluate budget-priced phones the same way we do flagships. We perform real-world testing and synthetic benchmarks over several days to evaluate it's performance and value. This includes our own battery test, which involves continuous web surfing over cellular at 150 nits of screen brightness. The devices that make our best phone battery life list tend to last over 11 hours.

In terms of performance, we use Geekbench 5 to measure overall speed and compare versus phones in the same price range. And the same thing goes for 3DMark's Wild Life Unlimited for graphics testing. We also perform our own video editing/transcoding testing using the Adobe Premiere Rush app to gauge real-world speed.

For evaluating cameras on cheap phones, we will take multiple photos in different conditions and will use other affordably priced phones in the same scenarios in order to make side-by-side comparisons.

For more information, check out our how we test page for Tom's Guide.