The Best Budget Android Phones in 2021: Upgrade for Cheap!


    Moto G Play 2021 on a blue background
    Motorola

    Looking for a new Android phone for cheap? We’ve got your back! Whether you want an excellent camera, fantastic performance, a long-lasting battery, or a bit of everything, we’ve rounded up a list of the best budget Android phones we think you’ll love.

    The Best Budget Android Phones in 2021

    Why you should trust us: Our trusted experts use a lifetime of experience to pick the best products. Learn more about our editorial process.

    What to Look For in a Budget Android Phone in 2021

    As technology continues to evolve, features that were once acquainted with flagship phones have since trickled down into more affordable alternatives. This couldn’t be any truer when it comes to the smartphone market.

    In this day and age, budget smartphones, particularly budget Android phones, have the capacity to master the fundamentals of a great smartphone while not draining your bank account. Depending on which manufacturer you buy from, you could be getting a fantastic phone for a great price. You just need to know where to look!

    Of course, finding that perfect deal can be a tedious process with so many different Android options on the market. It can also be confusing if you’re unsure of which processor, RAM and storage capacities, camera specs, and battery sizes to look out for.

    That’s where we come in. Below, we’ve compiled a list of the best budget Android phones you can buy right now, depending on how much you want to spend and which features matter to you. This list covers a range of manufacturers and price points, so you’ll be able to find what you need.

    Best Budget Android Phone Overall: Moto G Play (2021)

    Moto G Play
    Motorola

    Pros

    • Big screen
    • Good performance for the price
    • Clean software

    Cons

    • Underwhelming cameras
    • Slow recharge speed

    Our pick for the best overall budget Android phone is the Moto G Play (2021). For under $200, this device offers a well-rounded experience with a nice combination of features, design, and specs.

    Fans of large screens will like the 6.5-inch 720p display, despite its lack of brightness in direct sunlight. It’s an LCD panel, but at this price, OLED screens aren’t really possible anyway.

    Under the hood, the Motorola Moto G Play includes a Snapdragon 460 and 3GB of RAM. This combination will prove to be sufficient when you’re flipping through apps, touching up your photos, playing light games, and most tasks for the casual phone user. The Moto G Play also comes with 32GB of internal storage, which may not be enough for everyone. Luckily, there is a microSD slot available, so you can upgrade your storage as needed.

    On the back, you’ll find a 13MP camera paired with a 2MP telephoto lens for improved zoom photography. Photos taken with the G Play won’t blow your socks off, but when you’re saving this money over typical flagship phone prices, you don’t expect perfect pictures. Regardless, the photos this device produces should look good enough for Instagram and Snapchat.

    This phone also has a big 5,000mAh battery, a rear-mounted fingerprint reader, the Android 10 operating system, and a water-repellent coating that should help with light splashes and trips in the rain.

    Priced at $170, the Moto G Play is a solid phone with some compromises that, while inconvenient, won’t likely be dealbreakers for anyone interested in picking it up.

    Best Budget Android Phone Overall

    Moto G Play (2021)

    Coming in at around $170, this budget Android phone is packed with more features than you’d expect! You’ll get a decent camera, good battery life, upgradeable storage, and more for a surprisingly low price.

    $169.99

    Best Budget Android Phone for Battery Life: Moto G Power

    Moto G Power on yellow background

    Pros

    • Fantastic battery life
    • Good performance
    • Big, sharp screen

    Cons

    • Cameras do poorly in limited light or with video recording
    • Display not all that bright

    When it comes to battery life, Motorola has another solid option for cheap: the Moto G Power. This device, priced at around $250, offers a 5,000mAh cell paired with efficient specs that allow the phone to last two to three days on a single charge. When it comes time to recharge, there’s a USB-C port on the bottom of the phone, which supports 15W fast charging.

    Motorola is able to achieve this with the proven-efficient Snapdragon 662 processor. Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 600 series has always been known for providing an incredible balance between performance and power efficiency, and the 662 inside the G Power is no different.

    The Moto G Power also comes with a sharp 6.6-inch 720p LCD display, up to 4GB of RAM, and up to 64GB of storage. You’ll find three cameras on the back with a main 48MP lens, a 2MP macro lens, and a 2MP depth-sensing lens. All three combined can help you take decent portrait mode and zoom photos, although things tend to fall apart at night and while recording video, which tops out at 1080p.

    Overall, the Moto G Power is a solid option for anyone who wants the most endurance they can get out of a phone on a budget while still being given the necessary tools they need to perform their daily tasks.

    Best Budget Android for Battery Life

    Moto G Power (2021)

    With a huge 5,000 mAh battery coupled with the efficient Snapdragon 662 processor, the Moto G Power can last two or three days on a single charge. It’s capable of fast-charging, too!

    $249.99

    Best Budget Android Camera: Google Pixel 4a 5G

    Google Pixel 4a 5G on a colorful background

    Pros

    • Stunning cameras with lots of versatility
    • Clean software with speedy updates
    • 5G support

    Cons

    • Cheap-feeling build quality
    • No water resistance

    If you don’t have a lot of money to spend on a new phone, but you still want to take great pictures, one phone you should absolutely consider is the Google Pixel 4a 5G.

    This phone, priced at $499, blows virtually everyone away when they start taking pictures with it—we were blown away, too! The device’s main rear camera is a 12.2MP sensor, mixed with Google’s magical processing algorithms, is a recipe for a fantastic photography experience. Everything from sunsets to food to pets looks amazing on this camera.

    The device ships with Google’s Night Sight (commonly known as Night Mode) and Astrophotography modes for some of the wildest nighttime photos you’ll ever take. Meanwhile, the secondary 16MP ultra-wide sensor gives you a 107-degree field of view for capturing breath-taking landscapes. You also get 4K video recording at 30 frames per second, which looks plenty decent for this price range.

    Selfies from the 12MP hole-punch camera are also nice and crisp, albeit a little underwhelming. Similarly, while portrait photos are nice to look at, Google’s algorithms can fail to separate a subject from their background properly, leading to some less than perfect shots.

    The rest of the Pixel 4a 5G is nothing to snuff at. It has a 6.2-inch 1080p OLED display, a Snapdragon 765G processor, 8GB of RAM, 128GB of storage, and a 3,855mAh battery. It runs on Android 11 and is first in line for major software updates.

    One notable flaw is the lack of water resistance, but that isn’t too common for budget phones anyway. Just don’t drop it in a pool of water and you’re good!

    Overall, if camera quality is critical to you, there’s really no beating the Pixel 4a 5G at this price point.

    Best Android Phone Under $500: Samsung Galaxy A52 5G

    A purple Samsung A52 held by hand
    Samsung

    Pros

    • 5G support
    • 120Hz display
    • Good performance
    • Solid cameras

    Cons

    • Infamous Samsung bloatware
    • Cheap build quality

    With the increased competition over the past couple of years in the mid-range sector of the smartphone market, Samsung has proven it can step up to the game and deliver great phones at great prices. For our under $500 pick, we’re highlighting the Galaxy A52 5G.

    One of the latest in Samsung’s Galaxy A series boasts a design similar to the company’s more expensive flagships like the Galaxy S21 and Note 20. It has an IP67 certification for dust and water resistance, and it even comes with a headphone jack, a rarity nowadays. No need to mess with Bluetooth here!

    The Galaxy A52 5G has a big 6.5-inch 1080p Super AMOLED display that produces inky blacks and gets bright enough in direct sunlight. The phone also comes with a 120Hz refresh rate, making everything you do on the phone look super smooth.

    Under the hood, there’s a Snapdragon 750G processor and 6GB of RAM that’s more than enough to tackle everyday tasks. You also get 128GB of storage, 5G connectivity, and Android 11 with four years of guaranteed security updates.

    On the back, you’ll find a quad-camera setup (that’s right, four cameras) capable of taking solid photos with good contrast and plenty of saturation. The hardware struggles in low-light and video quality could be better, but you shouldn’t have any major issues overall. Meanwhile, the front-facing camera can take pleasant selfies with good sharpness and clarity.

    As far as downsides go, the phone is covered in plastic, making it feel kind of cheap. Meanwhile, the software is loaded with bloatware, which can be an annoyance. But all in all, the Galaxy A52 5G checks many boxes and offers a well-rounded package for under $500.

    Best Android Phone Under $300: Samsung Galaxy A32 5G

    Multiple Samsung A32 devices on a pedestal
    Samsung

    Pros

    • 5G support
    • Decent performance
    • Versatile cameras

    Cons

    • Display is underwhelming
    • Photo quality could be better

    For under $300, the Samsung Galaxy A32 5G is a stand-out smartphone focusing on premium features for less.

    The headlining feature is, of course, 5G support. In the sub-$300 range, 5G connectivity is rare, and the Galaxy A32 makes a name for itself for being one of the only devices in its price range to support it. Mind you, it only supports sub-6GHz (the spectrum of 5G that has the widest availability and slower speeds compared to mmWave), but at least you can get on the network nonetheless.

    RELATED: Not All 5G Is Equal: Millimeter Wave, Low-Band, and Mid-Band Explained

    The phone ships with a MediaTek Dimensity 720 processor and 4GB of RAM. There’s 64GB of onboard storage with a microSD card slot, and you’ll find a huge 5,000mAh battery supplying power to the device. You’ll also find a side-mounted fingerprint reader for security and unlocking your phone.

    Unlike many budget Android phones, the Galaxy S32 5G supports Qi wireless charging. This flagship feature” is hard to find at this price range.

    There are a few areas where you can tell the low price forced Samsung to make some compromises. For one, the display’s resolution is only 720p and uses a TFT panel instead of LCD or OLED. That means the picture won’t come off as clear as you might expect. At least it’s pretty large at 6.5-inches.

    Meanwhile, while decent in well-lit environments, the quad-camera setup struggles in a lot of other situations like dimly-lit rooms and when taking portrait shots. The MediaTek chip Samsung includes isn’t the best, but again, this is a $279 phone we’re talking about. Sacrifices need to be made somewhere.

    When it’s all said and done, you really won’t find another budget phone that includes 5G this well-rounded.

    Best Android Phone Under $200: OnePlus Nord N100

    OnePlus Nord N100 on a colorful background
    OnePlus

    Pros

    • 90Hz screen
    • Decent specs
    • Clean software

    Cons

    • No water resistance
    • Poor cameras

    If all you have to buy a new phone is $200, we’ve got you covered. The phone you should be looking at is the OnePlus Nord N100.

    Priced at $180, the N100 is one of OnePlus’ latest offerings in its mid-range Nord series. The company has impressed us with the quality of smartphones it can cook up at such low prices, and the N100 is no exception.

    The device sports a big 6.52-inch 720p display with a 90Hz refresh rate (something commonly found in much more expensive phones), a rear-mounted fingerprint sensor, and a USB-C port. Inside, you’ll find a Snapdragon 460 processor that can handle basic tasks just fine, though you won’t be able to run resource-heavy apps and games on it. You also get 4GB of RAM and 64GB of storage.

    On the back, OnePlus includes a triple camera setup on the N100 that can take photos that won’t impress, but are at least sharable. The company also includes stereo speakers and Android 10 with a promised upgrade to Android 11. Notably, that will be the only major upgrade the N100 will get, so you better be okay with never getting Android 12. This is relatively common among budget phones, though.

    The phone doesn’t come with the ability to connect to 5G networks, lacks any water resistance, and the specs aren’t particularly impressive. However, for under $200, the Nord N100 is a solid device that doesn’t leave out any fundamental features. It does its best to offer a basic smartphone experience, and the barrier to entry couldn’t be lower.

    Best Android Phone Under $200

    OnePlus Nord N100

    If you’re running on a really tight budget, you’ll want to go with the OnePlud Nord N100. This is a solid Android phone that doesn’t do anything spectacular, but provides a decent phone experience for just $180.

    $179.99





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