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The best cheap phone is a title that’s hotly fought for, in fact, the bottom end of the smartphone market is arguably the most competitive, with manufacturers doing all they can to squeeze in more specs and features than rivals while keeping costs low.
So there are a lot of options to choose from, but unlike the top end of the market, where even the worst handsets are usually reasonable, there are some truly terrible budget phones, as getting the balance between price, performance and features right can prove tricky.
Best Budget Smartphones in 2020
1. Google Pixel 3a
(4.6 / 5)2. Xiaomi Mi 9T
(4.5 / 5)3. Samsung Galaxy A50
(4.2 / 5)4. Moto G7
(4.4 / 5)5. Xiaomi Redmi Note 8
(4.6 / 5)Best Budget Smartphones in 2019
1. Honor Play
(4.5 / 5)2. Xiaomi Mi A2
(4.3 / 5)3. Motorola Moto G7 Power
(4.4 / 5)4. Samsung Galaxy A9
(4.2 / 5)5. Xiaomi Redmi Note 7
(4.5 / 5)There has been a recent influx of new manufacturers entering the US, UK phone market, including Chinese giants Xiaomi and Oppo. That’s because most phones, whichever the brand, are actually manufactured in China, so there’s a huge amount of technical expertise there, as well as a huge local market.
Given that, even if you aren’t familiar with all the featured brands, you don’t need to worry, because each handset in this round-up has been put through our full review process, so if it’s in this list, we’ve judged it to be a worthwhile purchase, based on the expertise of our experienced mobile team.