Finding affordable smartphones with all of the bells and whistles you want can be very pricey. Check out our recommended suggestions below.
The affordable smartphone market has become one area where every key player is putting extraordinary effort into getting at least a small slice of a cake without being left behind.
Statista, a data profiling website, projects smartphone Users in the US to reach 275.66 million in 2020 , showing how the public has vehemently embraced these mobile devices to take over their lives.
Almost every year, there is a new brand or model of smartphones introduced on the market. Gadgets enthusiasts are quick to throw away the old generation and switch to the trendy ones to catch up with the latest tech on the market.
Smartphone manufacturers have discovered that untiring innovation through R&D as a critical aspect that drives the market and induces brand loyalty from customers.
For example, Apple and Samsung have positioned themselves as the giants of the century in this area.
Even when many believe we’ve reached a ‘peak innovation’ of Smartphones, the truth is, technology never reaches any limit.
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Technology continues to evolve, and more and more sophistication and functionality get introduced, something that makes the journey infinitely continuous.
We expect more incredible and exciting features to continuously be integrated into the smartphones of the future through a zealous innovation process to bring convenience, ease of use, and sophistication that entices the market.
Another vital issue directly affects smartphone end-users, and that is the affordability factor.
To put it directly, almost everyone can afford to buy a smartphone today; however, the prices and generally the rate of affordability varies depending on the brand, model, generation, or the nature of sophistication a particular smartphone has.
High-end smartphones are pricey. Big brands like Apple and Samsung are on neck-to-neck to win customers’ hearts and minds through disruptive innovations, yet smartphone device pricing is unacceptably high.
How can one buy a good smartphone without breaking the bank?
Buying a good smartphone at an affordable price is easy! For clarity, if you can afford a high-end iPhone 12 Pro Max or the latest Samsung Galaxy Note 20, then the next paragraphs of this review won’t be of interest to you, or maybe it will.
5 Affordable Smartphones We Recommend
iPhone SE
$399 – $549
To some, this could still look pricey, but on average, it is a budget phone that you can buy to catch up with the latest trend of the new iPhone models on the market.
iPhone SE‘s screen is a bit smaller but rest assured to feel the original flavor of Apple’s reputable hardware craftsmanship mingled with its latest iOS software magic, which is almost unrivaled in the entire smartphone world.
This phone comes in three variants:
- 65GB model sold for around $399
- 128GB model, which costs about $449
- 256GB type, which goes for approximately $549.
Although some may complain about its screen size for being a bit small, it comparably shares a similar form factor with iPhone 8.
You would want to go for this SE model, even when your loyalty for earlier versions like iPhone 7 or 8 is unwavering.
Pros
- Its screen display integrates with Haptic Touch; a new tech trend shared with workhorses like iPhone XR, 11, 11 Pro, & 11 Pro Max.
- According to Apple, if you’re wondering what this means, a “Haptic Touch lets you do things faster, like take selfies without launching the Camera app.”
- Initially, Apple had introduced 3D Touch, beginning with the iPhone 6. However, in 2018 when iPhone XR came on the scene, it became noticeable that its screen didn’t integrate 3D Touch replaced with Haptic Touch, which seems to be the new trend with all the latest models of iPhones.
- It processes faster, beating models like iPhone 8 by a 50 percent score on Geekbench multicore benchmark and twice as quickly in GPU. iPhone SE’s 7nm A13 Bionic processor chip is a complete beast compared to models like iPhone 8’s 10nm A11 Bionic chip. This processor upgrade in the SE model brings more robustness in smoothening device User Interface interaction and taming resource-hogging applications. iPhone SE model makes it faster to close multiple apps, and taking screenshots is much smoother than you can ever imagine.
- iPhone SE Neural Engine has an eight-core structure, meaning that processing the functionalities of power-intensive applications embedded into the iOS benefit from the robust acceleration power that beats the iPhone 8’s Duo-Core Neural Engine. The iPhone SE’s neural chip can perform one trillion operations per second, compared to 600 billion operations per second on iPhone 8.
- Its camera comes with a Portrait mode functionality, a feature that would need dedicated hardware such as a dual-camera system for depth mapping. I know you’re quickly saying, both iPhone SE & iPhone 8 share similar camera specifications. Yes, that’s right but what you need to know is that iPhone SE’s 8-core Neural Engine brings incomparable computational photography magic in taking high-quality images, beating those of the iPhone 8.
Samsung Galaxy S10e
$374.99 – $549
Samsung Galaxy S10e‘s specs are indisputably mesmerizing and here’s why you may want to buy this phone:
Pros
- Its Dynamic AMOLED Display integrated with HDR10+ technology brings cinema-grade picture quality unprecedented in the smartphone market. To give you a small whisper in your ears, Samsung is an unrivaled leader in Display technology. You will be mind-blown to learn that S10e’s display supports up to 16M colors. Its HDR10+ can add dynamic metadata used to more accurately adjust picture brightness on a scene-by-scene or frame-by-frame basis and may support up to 8K resolution of faultless video recording.
- Its Neural Processing Unit (NPU) is powered by a monstrous Exynos 9820 CPU, which Samsung itself boasts of being “the next-level Processor for the Mobile Future.” This beast has a tri-cluster architecture that delivers premium processing power for device optimal performance.
- The Exynos 9820 CPU does not end at powering the S10e’s Neural Processing Unit only but also serves as an acceleration embedment for blazing download speed and smooth online gameplay. This chipset has an integrated LTE-Advanced Pro modem that supports Category 20 to offer a downlink speed of up to 2.0Gbps with 8x carrier aggregation and uplink speed 316Mbps. You can only imagine what a monster this thing is!
- Its 3,100 mah Battery on a full charge can last up to 9 hours, even with its enormous computing monstrosity. The Galaxy S10e also supports extraordinary charging features like 15W Fast charging and 9W Reverse wireless charging.
Google Pixel 3a
$399.99
Google Pixel 3a has a 5.6-inch screen, comparably bigger than that of an iPhone SE.
One primary reason you would want to buy this phone is its simplistic design, yet its functionality provides enough satisfaction for any conventional smartphone user.
Pros
- An embedment of 4GB RAM and 64GB onboard storage can work for conventional uses like novice web browsing, chatting, and voice and video calling, as these who don’t necessarily need many resources.
- Of course, expect relatively quality images with its 12-megapixel primary camera and an 8-megapixel front camera.
- Fast connectivity is a sure deal because of its compatibility with all US major LTE networks, giving you full uptime voice, data, and video communication on the go.
Moto G Power
$249.99 On Sale $229
If you’re looking for a budget smartphone with an incredible battery, Motor G Power is perfect for you!
Pros
- Its ridiculously sized 5,000mAh battery can last for over 18 hours upon full charge and can take you for two to three days with average use. It is a product from one of the veteran mobile phone brands, Motorola, and its quality is indisputably one of the best smartphones in its price range.
- The Motor G Power has a big screen with 6.3 inches high and 2.98 inches wide and weighs 7 ounces because of its massive battery.
- Its primary camera is 16-megapixel, and has a wide-angle 8-megapixel and a further 16-megapixel selfie camera, along with a microSD memory card slot and a 3.5mm headphone jack.
Samsung Galaxy A51
$399.99
The Samsung Galaxy A51 has a bunch of super-high-res cameras.
Pros
- It has a 48MP primary camera, a 12MP wide-angle camera, a 5MP macro camera, and a 32MP selfie camera. There’s also a dedicated depth sensor.
- With its 48MP primary camera, it means the phone will do 2x zoom shots at 12MP without losing image quality through digital zoom.
- An enormous 4,000mAh battery means lots of power for shooting.
- Exynos 9611 (10nm) Chipset has three CPUs (Octa-core (4×2.3 GHz Cortex-A73 & 4×1.7 GHz Cortex-A53) and of course, don’t forget its Mali-G72 MP3 GPU acceleration.
- The phone comes in three variants defined by RAM & Storage sizes (64GB/4GB RAM, 128GB/4GB RAM, 128GB/6GB RAM, and 128GB/8GB RAM).
We hope our recommendations for affordable smartphones help saved you some money and educated you can options available in the market.
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