9 Greatest Low-cost Smartphones (2022): iPhone, Android, 5G

Works on all three main US carriers.

The iPhone 12 (7/10, WIRED Recommends) will serve you nicely for a number of years in case you can justify the value. It’s Apple’s flagship from 2020 and the primary to introduce MagSafe, so you may make use of the magnetic accent system. It has Apple’s newer design, with slimmer bezels, a bigger display, and Face ID as a substitute of Contact ID (although no 5G). Apple used to promote an older iPhone mannequin for $499 however, sadly, that is your subsequent best choice from the iPhone SE with out going used or refurbished. 

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The Samsung Galaxy A53 5G (8/10, WIRED Recommends) is a good different to the Pixel. Its digicam system isn’t fairly as good, nevertheless it comes shut, and the 5,000-mAh battery affords up comparable daylong battery life. Efficiency places it one other notch beneath the Pixel—it’s one of many first Samsung telephones bought within the US to run the corporate’s homegrown processor, the Exynos 1280. You’ll be able to run almost each app and recreation nicely sufficient however anticipate stutters and slowdowns right here and there. 

The spotlight is the AMOLED display, which matches the Pixel 6A in inky blacks, nevertheless it helps a 120-Hz refresh fee, that means it feels very clean while you doomscroll by means of Twitter late at evening. The A53 5G additionally bests the Pixel 6A in software program updates, with a promise of 4 OS upgrades and 5 years of safety updates in comparison with the three years of assist Google affords. 

It has comparable niceties, equivalent to an IP67 water- and dust-resistance ranking to guard the cellphone from dips within the pool, sub-6 5G connectivity, NFC for contactless funds, and even a MicroSD card slot to extend the built-in 128 GB of storage if you wish to obtain extra motion pictures and exhibits. Sadly, it doesn’t have a headphone jack both.  The A53 5G has often dipped to $350, so it’s price ready for a sale and snagging it at that value.  

Works on all three main US carriers.

This Motorola is uncommon (6/10, WIRED Evaluate). Not like its Moto G siblings, it has an NFC chip so you should use tap-to-pay by way of Google Pay at shops—useful while you overlook your pockets at house. Its battery lasts almost two full days, there’s 5G connectivity, and the efficiency is fairly nice. It even has a MicroSD card so that you get quite a bit of storage. It often dips underneath $400. Don’t anticipate a lot from the cameras, however in case you don’t care about ’em or about software program updates a lot, this may fulfill.

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Within the US, many low-cost unlocked telephones don’t work completely on all main carriers. Some may not work at Verizon, whereas others may need no entry to 5G on AT&T. The carriers are solely in charge for this mess. Fortunately, you don’t have to fret about compatibility with Samsung’s Galaxy A13 5G (7/10, WIRED Recommends). I examined it on AT&T and had full entry to the service’s sub-6 5G community, however I’ve additionally confirmed with Samsung that it’ll work completely on Verizon and T-Cellular as nicely. 

The Mediatek Dimensity 700 processor powering this system delivers clean efficiency—I’ve hardly ever seen it decelerate or stutter—and the 5,000-mAh battery lasted me a day and a half, if no more. It has a capacitive fingerprint reader baked into the facility button on the sting, a MicroSD card slot, a headphone jack, and assist for contactless funds like Google Pay or Samsung Pay. The most effective half? Samsung guarantees two OS upgrades (as much as Android 13) and 4 years of safety updates. That’s greater than another cellphone that prices lower than $300.