Best Phones Under $500 for 2022: Feature-Packed, Low Prices

Lisa Eadicicco/CNET

The Pixel 6A replaces the Pixel 5A because the $449 budget-friendly model of its flagship cellphone. CNET’s Lisa Eadicicco known as it the “greatest Android cellphone beneath $500” in her Pixel 6A overview, calling out the way it retains the identical Tensor chip seen within the $599 Pixel 6 and lots of of its options.

The cellphone is barely smaller than the Pixel 6, that includes a 6.1-inch OLED show and a refresh charge of 60Hz. And it has the same digital camera to the Pixel 5A, together with a 12.2-megapixel essential digital camera and a 12-megapixel ultrawide digital camera. However by together with the Tensor chip, pictures can profit from its Actual Tone pores and skin tone characteristic, Face Unblur, Evening Sight for darker pictures and the Magic Eraser for eradicating undesirable parts from a photograph.

Regardless that the cellphone is just a few months outdated, there are already events through which the Pixel 6A is discounted even additional to $299, which is an unbelievable worth.

You are receiving value alerts for Google Pixel 6a (128GB, Charcoal)

Lisa Eadicicco/CNET

Kevin Heinz/CNET

You are receiving value alerts for Apple iPhone SE (64GB, Starlight)

Mike Sorrentino/CNET

Angela Lang/CNET

You are receiving value alerts for Apple iPhone 11 (Yellow, 128GB)

Andrew Lanxon/CNET

The Nothing Telephone 1 is not accessible within the US. However for international locations the place the cellphone is out there, it affords a placing design and first rate specs for the cash. The £399 cellphone (which converts to roughly $480 or AU$700) is adorned with LED strips on the again, every of which known as a “glyph,” that mild up for alerts and notifications. That design is accompanied by two 50-megapixel cameras: a large angle and an ultrawide. Across the entrance is a 6.55-inch 120Hz show with a 2,400-by-1,080-pixel decision and a 16-megapixel selfie digital camera. The cellphone runs on a Snapdragon 778G Plus chip, with fashions that begin with 8GB of reminiscence and 128GB of storage.

All that quantities to a cellphone that compares properly throughout the value vary, particularly given its digital camera high quality and appears. However for now, we’ll need to see if future Nothing cellphone fashions find yourself getting a launch within the US.

You are receiving value alerts for Nothing Phone1 5G Twin 128GB 8GB RAM Smartphone Manufacturing unit Unlocked (GSM Solely | No CDMA – not Suitable with Verizon/Dash) – Black

For many individuals, a cellphone that prices lower than $500 will doubtless have every part you want for communication, pictures and leisure. In some instances, the telephones even present a number of the newest options seen on higher-end telephones like easy 120Hz refresh charges and a number of cameras.

Nevertheless, you ought to be conscious of — and OK with — the restrictions a cellphone might have in comparison with its costlier counterparts. As an illustration, if you would like an iPhone with a much bigger display than the iPhone SE and iPhone 11’s screens, your subsequent most suitable choice is the $899 iPhone 14 Plus. That is far exterior the $500 value vary, however you additionally get extra advantages like an improved digital camera. 

However, if you would like a cellphone with a much bigger display and if working Android is ok, you will have loads of choices which can be beneath $500.

Sure, you will discover a number of cheaper telephones that take nice pictures, whether or not it is by the digital camera accessible on the machine, photograph processing software program on the cellphone or — is most frequently the case — a mix of each. 

Apple’s iPhone SE consists of the A15 Bionic chip, which helps Sensible HDR4 processing and Apple’s Deep Fusion processing. Sensible HDR4 helps with bettering shade and distinction, whereas the Deep Fusion processing helps with medium- to low-light environments. CNET Managing Editor Patrick Holland put collectively a sampling of pictures and movies taken on the cellphone throughout his overview, which may be watched on the CNET Highlights YouTube channel. Nevertheless, the iPhone SE additionally has just one 12-megapixel digital camera, and that digital camera doesn’t assist night time pictures.

Over on the Android facet, the Google Pixel 6A consists of the corporate’s Tensor chip, which brings pictures options like Actual Tone for capturing extra correct pores and skin tones, Face Unblur for fixing an individual’s face and Magic Eraser for eradicating undesirable objects. But it surely has a 12-megapixel essential digital camera paired up with a 12-megapixel ultrawide digital camera, which takes good pictures however is a transparent step down from the 50-megapixel essential digital camera seen on the Pixel 6 and Pixel 7.

Samsung’s Galaxy A53 is an attention-grabbing case: Iit has a essential 64-megapixel digital camera alongside a 12-megapixel ultrawide, 5-megapixel macro digital camera and 5-megapixel depth digital camera. Whereas that is extra megapixels than the 50-megapixel essential digital camera on the Galaxy S22, the picture element is a step down with the S22 capable of produce pictures with higher distinction and sharpness.

Every firm takes a special strategy towards cheaper telephones.

The iPhone SE, for instance, has a current Apple processor packed inside an in any other case dated cellphone design. Google’s Pixel 6A likewise consists of the brand new Tensor processor, however makes use of an older 12.2-megapixel essential digital camera as an alternative of the 50-megapixel essential digital camera discovered on the $599 Pixel 6.

Samsung’s Galaxy A53 takes the other strategy. It features a processor that is slower than the Galaxy S22’s however consists of different fashionable options like a display with a excessive refresh charge.