1. Home
  2. >
  3. Budget phones

Budget phones – See Top 30 low-cost mobile phones on the market

When looking for a budget mobile phone it is easy to get lost amidst all the crazy special offers and tempting prices. Let’s be clear. A low-cost mobile phone is only of interest if it is good quality and fulfils the actual needs of the user.

My name is Stein Jürgen and I am the mobile phone expert here at SmartphonesRevealed.com. I test and review mobile phones and provides an overview on how to go about finding a good budget mobile phone or smartphone that will suit your needs.

The table below shows the Top 30 low-cost mobile phones on the market right now. Mobile phones are ranked in order of my test results and ratings and by the current price level, so if you are looking for a budget mobile phone, it is a good idea to start your search here.

The Top 30 budget mobile phones are ranked by best price. In addition to current price levels and offers, you can also read my overall assessment of quality.

OnePlus 10T (2022) 128 GB
Test Score 86/100
Price Level $ 0 / € 0
Apple iPhone 12 64 GB
Test Score 72/100
Price Level $ 890 / € 820
Apple iPhone 12 128 GB
Test Score 72/100
Price Level $ 950 / € 870
Samsung Galaxy S23 (2023) 128 GB
Test Score 83/100
Price Level $ 0 / € 0
Samsung Galaxy S22+ (Android) 128 GB
Test Score 86/100
Price Level $ 0 / € 0
OnePlus 11 5G (2023) 256 GB
Test Score 88/100
Price Level $ 0 / € 0
Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra 128 GB
Test Score 87/100
Price Level $ 0 / € 0
Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra 256 GB
Test Score 89/100
Price Level $ 0 / € 0
Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra 512 GB
Test Score 87/100
Price Level $ 0 / € 0

Show all Phones

A good budget phone can be hard to find

Budget phones are not necessarily something that telecommunications companies or the many web shops on the Internet go to a great deal of effort to advertise. You must therefore be a good detective to find a low-cost mobile phone that at the same time is good and that suits your needs, but there are huge benefits if you can find a budget smartphone that actually suits your needs. The most expensive smartphones on the market (i.e. those for which there is typically a lot of heavy advertising) currently cost up to 1.500 USD or 1.300 EUR.

As you can see from the table above, a good low-cost mobile phone need not cost much more than 75 USD or 65 EUR. The only real question is whether the quality and functionality of budget smartphones also matches your needs and what you are willing to pay.

The table lists the 30 cheapest smartphones on the market today. Prices reflect current offerings from telecommunications companies and web shops in the US and EU.

The list of budget smartphones also shows my assessment of the qualities of the various phones. The higher the score, the better quality the phone.

I hope the list will point you in the direction of a budget phone that matches both your needs and what you are willing to pay. A low-cost smartphone can undoubtedly be of high quality.

If you are unsure about which is the best mobile phone for you, you can also compare all phones against each other using our comparison tool – Compare phones 1o1.

Kind regards
Stein Jürgen

Guide to finding a good budget phone

Low-cost mobile phones are often a good, sensible purchase for children and teenagers. There is no good reason to give your kids expensive smartphones that they will soon damage, forget somewhere or lose. A budget smartphone can also be a good purchase for older people who typically only need the security offered by a basic mobile phone on walks, at their summer house or as an alternative to a landline phone.

Many of the cheapest smartphones on the market are also good Internet performers and offer great quality social media interaction. A good budget phone is typically characterised by being a really good Internet mobile which is easy to use. Another thing that good budget phones have in common, however, is that they are not some of the very best camera phones on the market.

Tips to help you find a good budget smartphone

  1. Always base your decision on your needs and quality requirements.
  2. Include the “price” parameter in your search filter.

Try our comparison tool and find the best budget phone for you

When looking for a good budget mobile phone, state your needs and quality requirements and include “price” in the search parameters. 

A good phone for children and young people

There is no reason to spend a fortune on the latest and most popular smartphones when buying phones for children and young people. Budget phones are now of such high quality that buying a low-cost smartphone can be a very sensible purchase, especially when buying mobile phones for children and young people. It is a well-known fact of life that children and very young people often (and with no bad intentions) end up losing, forgetting or breaking their cell phones. Choosing a budget phone for children and very young people can often be a very sensible idea.

When looking for a good phone for children and young people, it can be a good idea to take a look at the SAR value of the phone, which shows its mobile signal emissions. Science does not yet know the long-term effects of daily exposure to mobile phone emissions, so there is no reason to expose children and young people to potentially harmful mobile phone emissions.

A good smartphone for children and young people is therefore a budget phone with a low SAR value.

Mobile phones for the elderly

Older people too can see the benefits of a low-cost cell phone. Older people typically have very different phone requirements to the younger segment of the population. Mobile phones for the elderly should often feature qualities such as good call quality, long battery life and ease of use. These are typically qualities that are features on a good budget cell phone.