SMARTPHONE DEALS OF THE WEEK
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Phones that cost $300 or less, like Motorola Moto G Power 5G (2024) and Samsung Galaxy A25 5Goffer much more features and functionality than you might expect. The $300 phones feature NFC for contactless payments, high-refresh 120Hz displays for gaming and smooth animations, wireless charging support, and years of software updates, making them more versatile than ever.
That doesn't mean that everyone telephone in this category it is perfect. The cameras are a mixed bag on all these phones. And when buying cheap phoneyou have a main choice: Do you want a phone that is fun or that lasts a long time? Unfortunately, you can't have both. Luckily 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 want to save money on your next phone purchase, check out our phone review best cyber monday deals. Note that you may find some Cyber Monday phone deals this holiday season that bring these affordable models down to an even lower price.
What's the best phone under $300?
The best phone you can buy for under $300 is the 2024 Motorola Moto G Power 5G. It comes with a colorful vegan leather back that adds to an eye-catching design that we don't usually see on lower-priced phones – the pale lilac color is definitely something to behold. The Moto G Power 5G also has prominent features like support for Google Pay contactless payments, 30W wired charging and 15W wireless charging. We were able to take decent photos with the Moto G Power, and its multitasking capabilities make it an excellent choice for most everyday tasks. We wish Motorola would revamp its promises of software and security updates along with its design, as the phone will only get one Android 15 update and three years of security updates.
The best phones under $300
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On Motorola Moto G Power 5G is the most versatile option in this review, offering wireless charging, a high-refresh 120Hz 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 of most everyday tasks, and you've got a phone that's fun to use without being saddled with the extra bells and whistles we see on higher-priced phones.
While this phone does suffer from a shorter software and security support timeframe (1 year of stock Android OS, three years of security updates) than Samsung's Galaxy A25 5G, it's a more useful device. And it's this appeal that makes the Moto G Power 5G our top recommendation for a phone that costs $300 or less.
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On Samsung Galaxy A25 5G best feature is its commitment to receive four years of major Android OS updates and five years of security updates. If you're buying a new phone to last as long as it can before you need to buy a new one, then the Galaxy A25 is the cheapest you can get by a long shot. 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 screen and loud dual speakers for music. But I found that the phone has problems with multitasking. Its cameras struggle with internal setups, and its plastic design paired with a chunky 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
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The OnePlus Nord N30 5G packs a lot of features for the money, but its 50W charging speed is notable for this price range. The phone can charge from 0% to 100% in 45 minutes, while most other phones costing $300 or less take 90 minutes to two hours to do the same. Its large 6.72-inch 1080p display runs at a 120Hz refresh rate and also makes apps, games, websites and streaming video animate smoothly.
It's worth pointing out that the 108-megapixel main camera – despite being an incredible number of megapixels on a phone – takes photos that are only marginally better than what I usually see from phones in this price range. That means it can take good, detail-filled photos in outdoor settings with plenty 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 receive just one software update to Android 14 along with three years of security updates – which is an average timeframe for this price range, but still disappointingly short.
While the OnePlus faces stiff competition from Google's Pixel 6A — especially when the Pixel is discounted to $299 — it packs a lot of functionality for its price.
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Granted, I'm cheating by listing my phone, but Google Pixel 6A was discount to $320 a lot lately and it's an easy recommendation when it's down in the budget range of phones.
Regularly $349, the Pixel 6A won our Editors' Choice award last year. In her review, CNET's Lisa Eadicico praised the phone for its excellent camera, Pixel-exclusive features like Magic Eraser, its colorful design, and being among the first to receive new Android updates.
Although Google has since released it $499 Pixel 7AThe Pixel 6A still gets two more years of software updates and four more years of security updates. This means it will continue to get new features and Android support from Google, and the remaining timeframe is still more than you'll see from new 2023 phones that cost between $200 and $300.
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These cheaper devices tend to cut back significantly in one area or another in order to achieve those low prices. Most often, these shortcomings include limited software support, carrier support, or bloatware (overloaded apps you never asked for). These compromises often mean that these devices should not be used after two to three years, especially after security update support ends.
It's also notable that while these phones sell for $200 to $300, many are often available at a deep discount — or even free — as part of a carrier subsidy deal. If you plan to stay with the same wireless carrier for two years, these phones could become part of the cost of your service.
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Every phone on this list has been thoroughly tested by CNET's expert review team. We actually use the phone, test the features, play games and take pictures. We evaluate all the marketing promises a company makes about its phones. If we find something we don't like, be it battery life or build quality, we'll tell you all about it.
We examine every aspect of the phone during testing:
- Display
- Design and feel
- CPU performance
- Battery life
- Camera quality
- Characteristics
We test all the phone's cameras (front and back) in a variety of conditions: from outdoors in sunlight to dark indoor locations and night scenes (for all available night modes). We also compare our findings to similarly priced models. We have a series of real life battery tests to see how long the phone lasts in everyday use.
We take into account the additional features of the phone, such as 5G, fingerprint and face readers, pens, fast charging, foldable displays and other useful accessories. We also weigh all our experiences and testing against the price so you know whether the phone is good value or not.
Read on more: How we test phones
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There aren't many other phones in this price range that hit the $200-$250 price range this year, but if you're looking to go cheaper, our top picks under $200 are Samsung Galaxy A15 5G. While I found this phone to be significantly slower in performance than the Galaxy A25, it includes the same promise of getting four years of software updates and five years of security updates, making it an attractive option when all you need is a phone.
Motorola's $200 Moto G 5G (2024) is also a decent option that approaches a great $200 phone, thanks to a similar vegan leather design to the Moto G Power (2024), NFC inclusion, and decent cameras. However, I found the Moto G 5G struggled with multitasking, making it harder to recommend if you switch between apps frequently.
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What about Apple's iPhone?