Best smartphones for any budget: no need to spend a fortune

There's a great phone at every price.

Best smartphones for any budget: no need to spend a fortune

Screen smashed? Contract up? Fed up of that old phone from 2015? Then you need this best phones for any budget guide.

There comes a time when even the most savvy budgeter has to get a new phone. We’ve tried a whole bunch of them. And these are our favourites. Upvote yours to let us know which you’d buy, or recommend to friends.

We haven’t just aimed for those ready to pay the amount some might spend on a second-hand car. Our cheapest phone is £180, the most expensive £1400, for the real high rollers.

Best smartphones for any budget

Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra
Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra: £1,199.99 at AmazonYou may know the Galaxy S20 Ultra for its 100x “Space Zoom” photos. They don’t look good, but the rest of its shots certainly do. How many phones let you take cracking 10x zoom images?The Ultra also has a huge screen, fancy build and that reassuringly familiar Samsung software. One little issue: the battery life isn’t all that hot given it has a whopping 5000mAh capacity. But switch off the Android-smoothing 120Hz feature and you should get through a tough day just fine.
Samsung Galaxy Z Flip
Samsung Galaxy Z Flip: £1,299.99 at tidd.lyThe Z Flip is a bit of an audience divider. It costs a packet, can seem like a gimmick and doesn’t have quite as impressive cameras as the S20 Ultra. But just look at that hinge.This is the most alluring folding phone to date, inspired by the classic clamshell phones we remember from the early noughties. And, yep, that makes us feel pretty old. This version is better than Motorola’s take, the Motorola Razr.
Google Pixel 4 XL

Google Pixel 4 XL
: £754 at AmazonThe latest Pixel phones were criticised for having short battery life. It’s more of a problem in the smaller Pixel 4, so we’ve picked the XL version here.It’s the first Pixel with a dedicated zoom camera. And just like its predecessor, camera quality is the highlight.
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Oppo Find X2 ProDon’t really know Oppo? It is one of the most important names in phones in 2020, and relatively new to the west. The Oppo Find X2 Pro is its fanciest phone yet.You get similar features to the Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra, including a 5x optical zoom and cutting-edge processor, but it costs £200 less.

Andrew Williams has written about tech for a decade. He has written for a stack of magazines and websites including Wired, TrustedReviews, TechRadar and Stuff.