Physical Address
304 North Cardinal St.
Dorchester Center, MA 02124
SMARTPHONE DEALS OF THE WEEK
Deals are selected by the CNET Group business team, and may be unrelated to this article.
Phones that cost $300 or less, like Motorola Moto G Power 5G (2024) and Samsung Galaxy A25 5Git offers much more features and functionality than you might expect. Phones under $300 have NFC for contactless payments, 120Hz refresh rate displays for smooth gaming and animations, wireless charging support and years of software updates, making them more versatile than ever.
This does not mean that everyone phone in this category it is perfect. The cameras are a mixed bag in all of these phones. And when you buy a cheap phoneyou have a major choice: Do you want a phone that is fun or one that lasts a long time? Unfortunately, you can’t have both. Fortunately for you, there are a number of great smartphones that cost $300 or less to choose from. We’ve tested and reviewed every phone on this list.
If you’re looking to save money on your next phone purchase, check out our roundup of the the best Cyber Monday deals. Keep in mind that you may find some Cyber Monday phone deals this holiday season bringing these affordable models to an even lower price.
What is the best phone under $300?
The best phone you can buy for under $300 is Motorola’s Moto G Power 5G for 2024. It comes with a colorful vegan leather back that adds to an attractive design that we don’t typically see on lower-priced phones — the Pale Lilac. the color is definitely something to see. The Moto G Power 5G also has standout features like support for Google Pay contactless payments, 30W wired charging and 15W wireless charging. We were able to take some decent photos with the Moto G Power, and its multitasking capabilities make it a fantastic choice for most everyday tasks. We just wish Motorola revised its software and security update promises alongside its design, as the phone will only get one OS update to Android 15 and three years of security updates.
The best phones under $300
Hide our expert grip
Photo Gallery 1/1
U Motorola Moto G Power 5G is the most versatile option in this roundup, offering wireless charging, a 120Hz refresh rate screen, Google Pay for contactless payments and a fantastic vegan leather design. Combine that with a camera that takes decent photos in bright environments, and a processor that’s capable for most everyday tasks, and you’ve got a phone that’s both fun to use without cramming itself with extra bells and whistles. we see it in higher priced phones.
Although this phone suffers from having a shorter software and security support history (1 year of the main Android OS, three years of security updates) than Samsung’s Galaxy A25 5G, it is a more useful And it’s this appeal that makes the Moto G Power 5G our top recommendation for a phone that costs $300 or less.
Hide our expert grip
Show our experts
Photo Gallery 1/1
U Samsung Galaxy A25 5G The best feature is its commitment to get four years of major Android operating system updates and five years of security updates. If you’re buying a new phone to last as long as possible before you need to buy a new one, then the Galaxy A25 is the cheapest to get for the long haul. No other phone in this price range comes close to this level of support.
The Galaxy A25 5G has a lot to offer in other ways, including a decent 1,080p resolution screen and dual speakers for music. But I found the phone to have problems with some multitasking. Its cameras struggle with internal settings and its plastic design paired with a large camera notch feels dated compared to other phones in this price range. This makes Samsung’s $300 phone a good choice when all you need is a phone that will get years of support, but if you’re looking for stronger performance and features, you should consider other options.
Show our experts
Show our experts
Photo Gallery 1/1
The OnePlus Nord N30 5G packs a lot of features for the money, but its 50-watt charging speed is a standout for this price range. The phone can charge from 0% to 100% in 45 minutes, and most other phones that cost $300 or less require 90 minutes to two hours to do the same thing. Its large 6.72-inch, 1080p display runs at a 120Hz refresh rate and still renders apps, games, websites and animated streaming video smoothly.
It’s worth mentioning that the 108-megapixel main camera – despite being an amazing number of megapixels in the phone – takes photos that are only marginally better than what I usually see from phones in this price range. This means that it can take good, detailed photos in outdoor environments with a lot of light. Photos taken in darker settings are a struggle for the N30, with indoor photos looking washed out or blurry.
The phone will also only receive a software update to Android 14 with three years of security updates – which is an average timeline for this price range, but still disappointing.
While the OnePlus faces stiff competition from Google’s Pixel 6A — especially when the Pixel is discounted to $299 — it packs a lot of features for its price.
Show our experts
Show our experts
Photo Gallery 1/1
Of course, I cheated by putting this phone on the list, but Google Pixel 6A has been discounted to $320 a lot lately and it is an easy recommendation when it has been discounted in a range of budget phones.
Regularly $349, the Pixel 6A won our Editors’ Choice Award last year. In her review, CNET’s Lisa Eadicicco praised the phone for its great camera, Pixel-exclusive features like Magic Eraser, its colorful design and being among the first to get new Android updates.
Although Google has since released it $499 Pixel 7Athe Pixel 6A is still getting two years of software updates and four years of security updates. This means that it will continue to get new Android features and support from Google, and that the remaining timeline is still more than what you will see from the new 2023 phones that cost between $200 and $300.
Show our experts
These cheaper devices tend to fall back significantly in one area or another to get those low prices. Most commonly, these drawbacks include limited software support, carrier support or bloatware (preloaded apps you never asked for). These exchanges often mean that these devices should not be used after two or three years, especially after security update support ends.
It is also worth noting that while these phones are sold for $ 200 to $ 300, many of them are often available with a deep discount – or even for free – as part of a carrier subsidy agreement. If you plan to stay with the same wireless carrier for two years, these phones could become just part of the cost of your service.
Show more
Every phone on this list has been thoroughly tested by CNET’s team of experts. We actually use the phone, test the features, play games and take photos. We evaluate every marketing promise a company makes about their phones. If we find something we don’t like, whether it’s battery life or build quality, we’ll tell you all about it.
We examine every aspect of a phone during the test:
- show
- Conceive and feel
- Processor performance
- Battery life
- Quality camera
- Features
We test all the cameras of a phone (both front and back) in a variety of conditions: from outdoors under sunlight to dimmer indoor locations and night scenes (for any available night modes). We also compare our results with similar pricing models. We have a series of real-world battery tests to see how well a phone lasts under everyday use.
We take into account the additional features of the phone such as 5G, fingerprint and face readers, stylus, fast charging, foldable displays and other useful extras. We also weigh all our experiences and tests against the price to find out whether a phone represents good value or not.
Read on no longer: How we test phones
Show more
This year there aren’t many other phones in this price range that hit the $200 to $250 price point, but if you want to go a little cheaper, our top pick under $200 is the Samsung Galaxy A15 5G. While I found this phone to be noticeably slower in performance than the Galaxy A25, it includes the same commitment to receive four years of software updates and five years of security updates, making it an attractive option when all you need is a telephone.
$200 Motorola Moto G 5G (2024) it’s also a decent option that comes close to being an excellent $200 phone thanks to a similar vegan leather design and the Moto G Power (2024), the inclusion of NFC and decent cameras. However, I found the Moto G 5G to struggle with multitasking, making it harder to recommend if you find yourself frequently switching between apps.
Show more
What about Apple’s iPhone?
