10 Best Cheap Smartphones (2022): iPhone, Android

Works on all three major US carriers.

Not to be confused with the Moto G Stylus 5G, the Moto G Stylus 2022 is the lesser version that lacks 5G support and NFC for contactless payments. It’s an otherwise perfectly fine phone, as I noted in my review, but it’s not an upgrade over its predecessor in any way. It performs well enough to run most apps and games, you get nearly two-day battery life, and it will get three years of security updates (but one OS upgrade to Android 12).

There are only two phones in this guide that support wireless charging: the iPhone SE 2022 and the Nokia XR20 (7/10, WIRED Recommends). If you want the convenience of not having to plug in a charger to juice up your phone, then that’s a good enough reason to spring for the XR20. (Read our Best Wireless Chargers guide for some recommendations.) It also happens to be a rugged smartphone without looking too gaudy or too thick. I dropped it three times onto the sidewalk during my testing and it barely got scuffed up (though that’s no guarantee it’ll survive every drop).

I didn’t include it before because its MSRP is technically $550, but you can now regularly find it for $500 or less. I was positively surprised when I tested the XR20 late in 2021. You get pretty reliable performance with the Qualcomm Snapdragon 480 5G, day-long battery life, a bright LCD screen, and dual-SIM support, which isn’t common on most phones sold in the US. There’s even a headphone jack, which is rare to see at this price these days, along with an IP68 water- and dust-resistance rating. 

Best of all, there’s a two-year warranty (also rare), and this phone will get three Android OS upgrades and four years of security updates, though don’t expect them to arrive quickly. (HMD, maker of Nokia phones, is notably slow with these updates.) The caveat? It doesn’t work on Verizon, and if you’re on AT&T, the phone won’t be able to access 5G networks. 

Works on T-Mobile and AT&T. No 5G support on AT&T. 

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I tested Motorola’s Moto G Power 2022 and Moto G Pure but don’t recommend them here because the 2021 Moto G Power trounces them in every way and costs nearly the same (if not less). It’s a similar story with HMD’s Nokia G50. It’s a fine phone, but it misses many features you’ll find on other $300 phones, including the Galaxy A32 5G. 

The Google Pixel 6A will launch at the end of July, and it’s likely to become our new favorite cheap phone. It’s worth waiting for if your budget can stretch to $450. We’re waiting on a few new unlocked TCL phones to hit the market as well (and some new Nokia phones), but otherwise, we’re happy with the picks we have in our guide right now.

If none of these phones have the features you want or they aren’t as powerful as you like, your best option is to look for last year’s flagship smartphones, which might be steeply discounted. Sometimes they’re easy to find, but some manufacturers stop selling them altogether (the 2021 Samsung Galaxy S21 series will soon disappear). Keep in mind that you’ll lose a year of software support, but that’s often still better than the software support available on cheap phones anyway.

5G is the next-gen network, but it’s not completely replacing 4G LTE just yet because it’s not available everywhere. You can read more about it here, but in short, 5G comes in two major types: sub-6 and millimeter wave (mmWave). The latter is usually only available in flagship phones and allows you to access superfast speeds, but you’ll rarely encounter mmWave (think select areas in major cities and certain venues, like stadiums and airports). Sub-6 isn’t much faster than 4G LTE, but it has a broader range and is more widely accessible these days. 

You need a 5G phone to be able to access 5G networks, and most of the smartphones we recommend here support sub-6 5G. That said, if there’s a phone here that doesn’t support it completely, don’t worry. You’ll still have a perfectly fine connectivity experience on 4G LTE. Still, if you’re paying $300 or more these days, you should expect sub-6 5G support on the device. 

If you buy an unlocked phone on this list and try to take it to one of your wireless carrier’s retail stores, they may tell you it isn’t compatible with the network. It likely is. Just use a paper clip or SIM ejection tool to pop the SIM card out of your current phone, then slide that SIM into your new phone. If it doesn’t work at first, reboot the phone or wait a couple of hours.

If you need a new SIM, try ordering one online from your carrier or try to get them to give you a SIM when you activate a line in the store (if you’re starting coverage). Tell them you have a phone. Many times, reps will want to sell you a phone; that’s one potential reason they might hassle you into buying a different device in the store.