There’s never been a better time to buy a low-cost smartphone. With flagship phone sales levelling out, manufacturers have put more effort than ever into making truly competitive low-cost phones that pull in premium features without the high price tag.

As such, we’ve collated a list of some of the best phones money can buy right now, assuming you’re on a tight budget. Using the same £250 price limit as our Best Budget Phones roundup, below you’ll find a host of devices that punch above their weight in terms of features, performance and design, considering their price.

Best Budget Phone Deals

Budget phone buying advice

There are a lot of affordable smartphones out there and although swinging for the lowest price tag can be tempting, it doesn’t make sense to skimp on a product you’ll likely end up using almost every day for months or years at a time.

Try and buy from an established brand that you know and trust, not only as bigger companies’ products are usually held to higher quality standards, but should anything go wrong with your purchase, more established players also typically offer more robust customer support systems.

Don’t expect affordable phones such as these to feel like miniature flagships; such phones most obviously sacrifice hardware and/or camera performance to cut costs, while others opt for lesser build quality or less-premium materials – such as polycarbonate instead of glass or metal.

The display and camera used to be two of the most obvious indicators that you were using a budget handset but even these fundamental pieces of phone hardware have improved massively in recent years. Entries like the Xiaomi Redmi Note 9 highlight this shift perfectly.

There are also devices like the Moto G9 Power, which place a focus on excelling in one specific area (in this phone’s case, battery longevity) whilst still feeling like a more conventional affordable phone in other respects.

One other advantage of buying a more affordable smartphone is that, if you’re after a contract, such devices are more likely to come with zero upfront cost, lower monthly pricing and, potentially, shorter-term plans. As such, they also make great first-time options for those new to smartphones, those who are accident-prone and kids.

Should I wait until Amazon Prime Day?

Amazon Prime Day is officially taking place earlier than usual for 2021, with the event running 21 – 22 June.

Those who’ve partaken in Prime Day in the past will know that the event is exclusive to Amazon Prime subscribers (who also benefit from other perks, like faster delivery, unlimited cloud storage and access to Amazon Prime Video streaming).

With no guarantee how long the deals currently listed here will run, or whether this year’s Prime Day deals will provide better discounts, if you’re enticed by a deal that’s currently on offer, we suggest not lingering on it too long.

Learn more in our guide to Amazon Prime Day.

Again, if you’d like to know more about the current affordable phone landscape, give our Best Budget Phones roundup a read or head to our best UK tech deals right now feature, for reductions on other consumer tech.

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