Even high-end Android phone cameras sometimes struggle, and the further down in price you go, the worse things get. Camera: If a good phone camera is a key feature for you, the options are limited among budget smartphones.

A cheaper phone probably lacks some or all of these features, but it might still be worth purchasing if the price is right. Extra features: Phones toward the top of the budget range should have features such as a good fingerprint sensor to unlock the phone without a passcode, NFC for mobile payments, and support for newer, faster Wi-Fi and LTE standards.We recommend phones with decent brightness, viewing angles, and colors. The screens on budget phones are almost always LCD, and they’re dimmer and less vibrant than the OLED screens in many high-end phones. Display: Most budget phones have 1080p screens now, but the minimum acceptable resolution is 720p.Most budget phones are unlocked, so you can switch carriers this gives you the most choice when you’re shopping around for good deals on a plan. While 5G is showing up in some cheap phones, it’s not yet a must-have feature even for high-end devices. We may recommend standout phones that work only on CDMA or GSM networks, but we won’t recommend models that are locked to a single carrier or have poor LTE or 5G band support. Carrier support: The best budget phones work on all major phone networks, regardless of whether the networks use CDMA technology (Verizon) or GSM technology (like AT&T or T-Mobile).

Budget phones with the best combination of price and performance usually cost between $200 and $300. Any phone we recommend is fast enough to handle basic tasks like email, web browsing, and media playback.

Performance: Most budget phones have a midrange processor and less memory than expensive phones offer.

If a manufacturer doesn’t have a good history of keeping phones updated, it’s harder to recommend that company’s phones. Lower-cost phones also tend to get fewer updates, so they should be running the latest Android software with recent security patches out of the box.

Software: A budget phone is slower than a high-end model, so it’s important that the software not be loaded down with unnecessary apps and heavily customized user interfaces that perform poorly.

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