The best budget phones of 2023

Can you get a phone for under $100 USD that offers a wide range of features that other top smartphones offer? Actually, yes, you can! And, the best budget phones are beginning to boast better features, too, including 5G, faster CPU speed, more RAM, and high-quality screens. Here’s what to know about budget phones and how to choose the right phone.

Build and design

Why are budget phones so cheap? It’s often because they use different materials to create the exterior and internal design of the phone. If you want a durable phone, look for phones with damage-resistant glass (such as Gorilla Glass). Unfortunately, most budget phones don’t offer this feature. However, they do have one thing working in their favor in terms of differing designs. They’re often made with plastic instead of glass, which helps to reduce the possibility of overheating, improves flexibility, and is less likely to crack when dropped (yeah, we’re looking at you, iPhones).

If the screen is particularly important to you, we suggest researching whether or not the phone has an LCD or OLED/AMOLED screen. Budget phones tend to only have LCD screens due to the fact that they’re thin, light, and cheap to produce. OLED and AMOLED screens offer a high contrast ratio and are more energy-efficient, which makes them more expensive to produce and therefore can add to the retail price of a phone that features such a screen.

Processing

Similar to the way in which they use cheaper materials to build the exterior skeleton of the phone, manufacturers also often incorporate cheaper processors to bring the prices of their phones down for budget-friendly offerings. However, this isn’t always the case. The Motorola Moto 5G, for example, includes a Snapdragon 765 processor, which kicks the phone’s CPU speed up to beyond the average speed for top smartphones today. Among the top budget phones of 2021, the CPU speed for all phones is above average, and most of them feature at least 6GB of RAM.

Battery

Do budget-friendly phones skimp on battery life? Actually, no. You’ll note that budget-friendly phones such as the Oppo A72 and the Poco X3 NFC come loaded with at least 5,000mAh of battery power (the average is just under 3,200mAh just to put this in perspective). However, don’t expect to enjoy fast-charging or wireless charging capabilities with budget-friendly phones. Instead, focus on the type of battery included and the overall battery power to gauge whether or not it’s the right phone for you.