5 BEST Budget Smartphones

Okay, let’s say this first. Just because a smartphone is cheap doesn’t mean its specs aren’t good. After the arrival of brands like Xiaomi, the king of cheap mobile phones, more and more brands dared offer phones that combine quality and a good price, including giants like Samsung.

Good and affordable mobile phones are increasingly common on the market, with excellent models produced by important companies such as Nothing Phone or Motorola. Moreover, rapid development and democratization allow these technologies that were yesterday in flagship models to arrive relatively quickly in more affordable models. For you, we specifically highlight the 5 best budget smartphones in 2025.

Samsung Galaxy A15

Samsung Galaxy A15, which is, in our opinion, the best Samsung budget smartphone in 2025. This smartphone has a triple rear camera with the following configuration: 50-megapixel main, 5-megapixel ultra-wide, and 2-megapixel macro.

As usual, the highest quality camera is the 50-megapixel one, with which you can take clear and vivid photos, as well as videos, in full HD resolution. The quality of the secondary sensors is lower, so their usefulness and practice are more limited. However, you can use the 13-megapixel front-facing camera to take decent-quality selfies, either for your gallery or to post on social media.

Moving on, the smartphone has an AMOLED screen with full HD plus resolution, a refresh rate of 90Hz, and a brightness of up to 800 nits. On this screen, you’ll see everything you do with the MediaTek Dimensity 6100 Plus processor, which performs well daily and provides 5G connectivity. The Galaxy A15 5G is also a solid buy because of its large 5000mAh battery, which you can use all day on a single charge.

In the visual department, the aesthetic is similar to the high-end Galaxy S24, although, of course, it keeps its distance. The phone is made of plastic materials but keeps everything highly durable. The maximum capacity is 128GB, which is very good for the average user who does not want to spend too much on a mobile phone.

Motorola Moto G Power 2024

It works great, a big thumbs up from here. If you’re looking for a product that’ll provide you with the greatest value for the money invested, we recommend checking out the Motorola Moto G Power 2024, also known as the best-value budget smartphone in 2025.

The battery life here is excellent, the new design is a step in the right direction, and Motorola has done a good job of keeping fan-favorite features while adding some things we’ve wanted for years. Let’s start with the design. Like its predecessor, the new Moto G Power 5G is made of plastic. However, it doesn’t seem cheap at all.

The plastic frame is nice and sturdy, and all the buttons have a nice click when pressed. Another big win for the Moto G Power 5G is battery life. Motorola has packed a 5000mAh battery into the phone, and in testing, that means it can easily last two days on a charge. When you do manage to run out of battery, the charging experience is vastly improved compared to previous Moto G models.

Instead of the slow 10-watt charging speeds of previous generations, the Moto G Power 5G now has a maximum wired charging speed of 30 watts. Additionally, if you can’t stand cables, the phone

also supports 15-watt Qi wireless charging. Now, these are all great improvements, and the goodies don’t stop there. If you run out of 128 gigabytes of internal storage, you can insert a microSD card for up to one terabyte of more space. Moto G Power has a 6.7-inch LCD panel with a refresh rate of 120Hz and a full HD-Plus resolution, specifically 2400×1800 pixels.

The text is sharp, the colors look good, and the 120 refresh rate gives a nice smoothness to your scrolling. On the back of the Moto G Power 5G, you’ll find two cameras, a 50-megapixel main camera and an 8MP ultra-wide angle camera that also enables macro shooting mode. There is a 16-megapixel selfie camera on the front.

Kudos to Motorola for including a useful secondary camera instead of a separate macro or depth camera. With wireless charging, NFC technology, and design improvements, this model not only stands out from the crowd but also sets a new standard for affordability and functionality in the mobile phone industry. Thumbs up! Up next, we present to you the Nothing Phone 2A, also known as the best mid-range budget smartphone on the market in 2025.

Nothing Phone 2a

With a very distinctive design, this mid-range mobile phone has a Dimensity 7200 Pro processor and an AMOLED screen. Nothing Phone 2A is a great option for gamers too because of the onboard advanced cooling system. With these features, the phone offers powerful and efficient performance, which is ideal for intense gaming sessions. The 6.7-inch AMOLED screen with an adaptive refresh rate of 120Hz provides a vivid and fluid viewing experience.

The 5000mAh battery provides up to 2 days of use with 45V fast charging, giving you energy for the whole day in just 20 minutes. Furthermore, other highlights are the G-LIFT LED lights on the back, which light up when you receive notifications, but you can also set them to work with other apps.

You can set a timer and the LED strip will dim as the timer runs out. This model has an NFC and a fingerprint sensor integrated into the screen. Also, the company promises 3 updates to the Android operating system and 4 years of security updates.

That’s pretty good for a mid-range phone. The back of the Nothing Phone 2A maintains a characteristic element of the family, a transparent design so that the components can be seen, and the LED lights of the G-LIFT interface. The screen aims high, as does the processor chosen for this Nothing Phone 2A.

The phone does not have a microSD card expansion. The dual rear camera offers a dual sensor with a main lens and a wide-angle lens. Both are 50MP and the primary camera includes mechanical and electronic stabilization and can record video at a maximum of 4K and 30fps, as it aims for general results of good quality.

This model also offers an under-display fingerprint reader, dual stereo speakers, a part updated with Android 14 and Nothing OS 2.5, 3 years of Android updates, and 4 years of security patches. In addition, it’s splash-proof and IP54-certified. Just a quick note, if you’re interested in any of the products, I’ve gone ahead and updated the description below with links to get you the best deals available right now, so make sure to check those out for the most current prices and offers.

One Plus 12R

The next product we’ll talk about in our review list is the OnePlus 12R, the runner-up best budget smartphone on the market in 2025. To offer a fine performance, the OnePlus 12R relies on the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2, a processor that has enough power for any task. This means that you can use your phone to play games, edit videos, check social networks, or browse without any problems.

The excellent user experience is also influenced by 16GB of RAM, 256GB of storage, and Oxygen OS 14 based on Android 14 as an operating system. OnePlus also gives you the opportunity to enjoy a premium experience at a lower price. You can perform all these tasks while getting very good quality images through the 6.78-inch OLED screen, full HD Plus resolution, and variable refresh rate up to 120Hz.

The battery is also not lacking in this OnePlus 12R, which will easily reach the end of the day thanks to a large 5,500mAh battery that impresses with the 100W fast charging it supports. Like a good OnePlus phone, this one also takes great photos and videos. It has three cameras on the back, of which the highest quality is the Sony IMX890 of 50MP.In addition, the phone has a 16MP front camera with which you can take good selfies. The quality of the OnePlus 12R is also reflected in its design, and it’s a very well-built mobile phone. You can choose between the blue model, more striking and with a glossy back, and the black model, more conservative with a matte finish.

Both models feature the classic OnePlus Alert slider, a switch that lets you quickly switch between sound, silent, and vibrate modes. In short, the OnePlus 12R is a great option to enjoy the best OnePlus experience without spending too much money. Thumbs up, that’s for sure! And finally, we present to you the gold medal and the title of the smartphone in 2025, which deservedly went to the Google Pixel 8a.

Google Pixel 8a

This is Google’s new budget mobile phone with a Tensor G3 processor, a 6.1-inch screen, 256GB of storage, and as always, the latest Android and Google AI. You get a little bit of everything, from wireless charging to top performance. It’s powered by Google’s Tensor G3 processor, the same one found inside the flagship Pixel 8 series.

You can expect new Android operating system updates with innovative features, as well as security patches for a long time. This Pixel has a better OLED screen than its predecessor, which means it’s even brighter and highly visible on sunny days, and the screen’s 120Hz refresh rate makes every interaction feel fluid. The 6.1-inch display is quite compact, making it ideal if you’re looking for a small phone.

Also, the whole package is very nice. Budget phones and mid-range phones look very boring, but the Pixel 8a has a sleek design with a matte textured back. Plus, the new aloe color is gorgeous. Cameras are the pinnacle of the Pixel range, and the Pixel 8a lives up to this legacy, easily the best camera phone for its price. It has a 64-megapixel main camera that captures detailed, vivid, and sharp photos in all lighting conditions. This is joined by a 13MP ultrawide camera and a solid 13MP selfie camera.

But the main reason I recommend Pixel phones is the smart software features you won’t find on any other smartphone at this price point. You can also use Best Shot to fix that group photo where you had your eyes closed. Google’s call screen technology suppresses unwanted calls in the first place, and assisted voice typing is still the preferred voice-to-text system for many users.

Other benefits include Secure Face Unlock and Fingerprint Unlock, both of which work with sensitive apps that require biometric authentication, so you have more options for unlocking. It also has an NFC for contactless payments and an IP67 rating that protects it from the elements. Overall, this model offers premium performance at the best possible price-quality ratio.