Best cheap phones 2025: the best affordable phones right now

When it comes to the best cheap phones you can buy right now, we've got the definite rundown for you – and these handsets come in at much lower prices than the flagships in our best phones guide.

As a guideline, considering some of the premium smartphones will set you back over £1,000, we're treating everything under £500 as eligible for this list. You're still going to get a decent level of features and performance, but at a price that's right.

The cheap phone market is where the action is in 2025 – even from major brands like Apple and Samsung. All phone makers now realise we can't all afford to spend megabucks on a new phone, which means mid-tier and low-end phones benefit.

If you already know which brand you want, then you may find it easier to browse our lists of the best Android phones or best iPhones to find exactly what you’re looking for. Otherwise, let us guide you through the best cheap phones on the market today.

T3's Top Picks

The best cheap phones you can buy in 2025

Best for most people

Google has long been aiming to top the affordable phone market with its "a" series, which typically follows the flagship Pixel lineup about six months after they release. Many people would say these cut-price versions are actually the best value, in fact.

The Pixel 8a continues this sterling work and earned a glowing five-star review when we tested in back in mid-2024, and nothing has yet knocked its crown off. The phone has gorgeous design elements, taking the Pixel identity and shrinking it down at little. It still has the flagship Tensor G3 chip at its heart, though, which makes it incredibly fast and responsive.

While its camera array might be downgraded compared to the full Pixel 8 (or newer Pixel 9), it's still incredibly impressive for this price, and you can often find the phone steeply discounted now that a 9a is probably getting closer. Don't skip past this one – it's the affordable phone to beat, for our money.

Best iPhone

If you're all about Apple then the cheapest option into the company's ecosystem is still just about the iPhone SE (2022), which still delivers a near-flagship experience but for a fraction of the cost.

The design does look a little older compared to the Apple flagships of today, but it also costs half as much! Yet it still delivers cutting-edge innards for a cut-price iPhone, with a superb camera and speedy A15 chip performance, all wrapped into a nice small-scale design that's easy to pocket.

If you're not sold on Apple, however, then there are plenty of Android alternatives that we explore in this list that will suit your needs. What's important to note is that persistent rumours suggest a new iPhone SE is coming, which could make this one to hold off on for a few months to see what comes next.

Best affordable Samsung

Samsung hasn't been sitting on its hands letting Apple and Google share the affordable phone market, though, and the numbers suggest that it actually moves more low-cost units. The Galaxy A55 makes it easy to understand why, with a design and build quality that could easily pass for a more expensive handset.

You get a really excellent screen to kick things off; it's nice and bright and has 120Hz capabilities for extremely smooth motion, and it's also really sharp. That's paired with a good amount of power from Samsung's in-house chip, which adds up to a low-cost phone that feels super snappy to use.

Speaking of snaps, it also takes great photos, even if it can't rival the flagship Galaxy S models. You get a good amount of zoom, and a choice of lenses to use – with ultrawide photos now becoming almost a must-have on any phone.

Best alternative Android option

OnePlus' whole brand launched on the idea that it could provide superb value while undercutting bigger players. Now that it's huge in its own right, the OnePlus Nord 4 proves that it's still capable of making big plays.

It's a beautiful phone with a striking design, which immediately helps to make it feel more premium than its price, and it keeps going with really impressive specs (albeit you'll pay more for extra RAM and storage). You get a slick and smooth OxygenOS experience and a lovely big display that looks great in all conditions.

Fast charging is another welcome bonus, and while its cameras aren't amazing on paper, we found that they consistently performed really well thanks to some extremely impressive post-processing. This makes for one heck of a package overall.

Best affordable phone for design

Nothing has taken up the old OnePlus mantle and is pumping out interesting and affordable tech at an impressive rate given the age of the company. The Nothing Phone (2a) is one of its best phones yet, too, with a really striking design that has a look all of its own.

If you're into that transparent and bug-eyed look, the good news is that it backs it up with great pricing and a good amount of power to ensure that the handset feels really responsive in use. Its cameras are very decent, and the Glyph lighting on its rear might just become your favourite little phone feature.

Of course, some people might be put off by its design, rather than enticed – that's no problem, as we've got other options on hand.

Best super-affordable option

Our final slot goes to Motorola, which has been dutifully plugging away in the mobile market for decades and is actually doing some its best work right now. The excellent Edge 50 Neo surged to a five-star review when we tested it in 2024, and what it offers for the money remains brilliant.

You get a surprisingly excellent display, along with a design that manages to cleverly remain premium in its feeling, without actually using materials that necessarily cost the world. It looks great, too, especially if you can pick it up in the red colour that we tested.

One downside is that its camera output can't quite match some of the phones higher up on this list, but that comes with a big caveat. After all, the Edge 50 Neo is also consistently the lowest-priced phone on this list, which makes it a superb option if you want to stick to a smaller budget.

Frequently Asked Questions

How we test cheap phones

Smartphones today are incredibly powerful tools that act like small form factor computers, and as such there is a lot to consider when testing one.

Here at T3 we go about testing a smartphone in a five-stage process. Firstly, we evaluate the phone's build quality and fit and finish. At this stage we're looking to see how the phone feels in the hand and looks to the eye, as well as if it suffers from obvious defects such as a spongy screen or cheap-feeling plastic backplate or frame.

From this point we analyse the handset in terms of its core internal hardware and specifications. We're looking to see what processor, RAM, storage, GPU and battery the phone comes with, and then test out how that package combines in terms of benchmark scores and real-world performance. The benchmarks we use to test each phone are Geekbench 5 and 3DMark.

Next we take a closer look at the phone's screen, which is so important on any handset. We're looking to see what it delivers on paper as well as how it looks in real life in a variety of applications, such as streaming videos, viewing images, navigating the phone's UI and playing mobile games.

We then spend time exploring everything the phone has to offer in terms of camera system. This involves utilising the phone's shooting modes to capture a series of photographs, both inside and outside, as well as in good light and low-light environments. We test out the quality of key modes, like portrait, independently.

Finally, we take a look at the handset's software and any notable features. We then bestow a star score on the phone and, if it is high, consider it for out best cheap phones buying guide.

Looking for more? Read our other phone guides

We've written this guide to encompass the best cheap phones on the market right now, but if you like a specific manufacturer or operating system then we have plenty of specialist phone guides here too.

Our best gaming phones guide covers the high-powered handsets that we've found to be the best battlers in mobile gaming. Our best Android phones guide isn't going to offer you an iPhone if your heart is set on Android. If you prefer a particular brand, check out our guides to the top-rated Samsung phones, best iPhone, or Nokia phones. We've also got a guide to the best small phones for those of us who prefer our phones to fit in our pockets or purses.

Reviewer panel

Mike Lowe

As T3's Tech Editor, Mike is one of the world's biggest phone experts – he's been to more launch events and showcases than you could care to name, and has tested every flagship under the sun. That experience makes his verdicts key to this guide.

Chris Hall

Chris is a vastly experienced technology journalist based here in the UK, and the former editor-in-chief of Pocket-lint. He's now a freelance writer who has contributed a wide range of phone reviews to T3's books.

Basil Kronfli

Basil is another hugely experienced writer, and has tested a whole heap of phones for T3 in recent years, including some of the best-value devices on the market.