In our experience the
best way to get a cheap phone is to buy it SIM-free then grab a
great-value SIM-only deal. You won’t be paying £50-odd per month for
a phone for the next two years, and you can swap it for a newer model whenever
you fancy it.
All the phones
here cost under £200, which is just a third of the price you’d often
pay for flagships such as the Galaxy S8, HTC U11 and LG G6 – take a look
at our guide to the best phones on the market for more on those
flagships.
Ranked in order below
are our reviews of what we consider to be the best budget phones on sale right
now. We’ve based this chart on the SIM-free price, specifications and
performance.
You can click on a
phone in which you’re interested to read the full review, see example photos
from the camera, and check out the benchmark results. And if you’re ready to
buy one, check out our best phone deals to make sure you find the
best price.
If you’re after a
phone for under £50 take a look at our best basic phones roundup, which
includes decent phones that trade off features for the best prices and cost
from just £10.
Should I buy a
locked phone?
You’ll quickly find
that some of the best deals on cheap phones are sold via mobile operators. What
you need to watch for is whether these phones are sold locked to that
operator’s network.This is the case with the Vodafone Smart Prime
7, but if you don’t want to become a Vodafone customer you should look
elsewhere on the list for a non-network-branded handset, such as the Moto
G5.
What about a
Chinese phone?
An alternative is to
buy a Chinese phone – you’ll find some of these in our chart too. You might not
have heard of the brands, and they won’t be available on the UK High Street
(save for the likes of Huawei and ZTE), but Chinese phones are well-known for
offering amazing specs for the money and undercutting their European rivals.
In most cases you’ll
get a phone with a mid-range specification at a budget price.
Of course there are
down sides – for example, what should you do if a phone bought from China
What’s the best
phone for a child?
If you’re looking for
a budget phone for a child, look at our selection of the best kids’
phones which includes some of the best budget phones along with a few
others particularly well-suited to kids.
What will you get
for your money?
If you’re looking for
a cheap phone, you have to accept the fact that the manufacturer is going to
cut some corners to achieve that low price and you aren’t going to get the same
speed, features, and display quality as you might with a phone costing
two, three, or even four times the price.
It used to be the case
that budget phones were instantly recognisable by their low-resolution
displays, meagre storage, and chunky, plastic bodies, but things are improving
in this area all the time. These days, for £200 or less it’s quite possible to
buy a phone with a Full HD display and a sub 8mm-thick metal body.
Most will support 4G
connectivity, but not all will support NFC (Chinese phones will often feature
HotKnot which is a similar technology, but not the same as NFC.)
Best budget
phones 2018 UK
1. Honor 9 Lite
The Honor 9 Lite
might not have all the mod cons but it’s one of the cheapest phones around to
offer an 18:9 screen with a bezel-free design. It’s an attractive phone and
general specs are good, including no less than four cameras. It doesn’t have flawless performance but there’s little to
complain about at under £200 making it the best budget phone around.
Read our Honor 9 Lite review.
2. Moto G5
There’s plenty of competition in Android’s budget
market, but the Moto G5 is one of the best. The build quality alone feels like
it belongs on a much more expensive phone, while the fingerprint gesture
controls genuinely improve the Android experience.
The benchmarks and battery hold it back, but they’re
not unreasonable given the price. You’ll find better specs in Chinese phones,
but if you don’t need a dual-SIM phone and you want the peace of mind of a
proper UK
warranty, it’s a solid choice.
But do check out the G5s as well if your budget can
stretch a little.
Read our Moto G5 review.
3. Nokia 5
We’ve long been lovers of the Moto G series for the top
pick in the budget Android category, and the Nokia 5 nearly knocks it off
the top spot. With a better camera, excellent performance and a stunning
design, we are blown away by the low price tag offered here.
A downside is the screen resolution, but if you can
look past this and you’re looking for an Android smartphone that costs less
than £200, you can’t get much better than this.
Read our Nokia 5 review.
4. EE Hawk
The EE Hawk is a little gem at the start of 2018. The
build is above average for the asking price, and it is a solid handset to go
for if you simply need to use 4G data on a smartphone but don’t want to spend
half your paycheck to do it.
It is not a phone to game on due to the low powered
internals, but it copes with video fine. The display is quite washed out, but
the clean Android software makes up for this. You won’t want to post many
pictures from the not-great camera on Instagram, but if you want a decent
snapper, you’ll look at phones that cost more.
The EE Hawk is up there with the Moto G5 as one of the
best budget smartphones in the UK .
Read our EE Hawk review.
5. Elephone P8 Mini
A similar performer to the UK ’s
best budget phone, the Moto G5, but with enhanced cameras and more storage, the
Elephone P8 Mini is a great buy if you’re happy to import it from China
Read our Elephone P8 Mini review.
6. UMIDIGI Z1
It’s not as fast as its predecessors, with which it
shares the same but still just as good-looking design, but we do like the extra
battery power and storage space, and the improved cameras of the Z1. We’re also
pretty keen on the price – at £139 the UMIDIGI Z1 is a very impressive budget
phone.
Read our UMIDIGI Z1 review.
7. Elephone S7
The Elephone S7 is a very good-looking phone at an
affordable price, with decent performance and a generous helping of storage. On
the down side the cameras are disappointing and the rear panel is plastic. Even
at this price you don’t need to compromise so heavily.
Read our Elephone S7 review.
8. Maze Alpha X
18:9 screens are the current fashion and the Alpha X is
one of the most affordable phones to have one.
Its specs are pretty good considering the price, but
the big battery does make it quite heavy.
Ultimately, the Alpha X is good value despite its
middling cameras and performance.
Read our Maze Alpha X review.
9. Vodafone Smart N8
If you are OK with being stuck on Vodafone, the Smart
N8 is pretty much the least you should spend on a functioning smartphone. You
won’t see much of an improvement in performance unless you spend double the £79
asking price, so for teenagers or as a simple internet tool it will suffice.
But beyond simple apps like Facebook and Instagram, the
N8 struggles. Running several apps at once grinds it to a halt, and any form of
graphical gaming is a no. But it’s not built for that, and if your needs are
simple then the N8 will suffice. If it’s a little too underpowered, check out something
higher up this chart.
Read our Vodafone Smart N8 review.
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