Best Budget Phones 2025 – Top affordable smartphones under £300

What to look for in a budget phone

Even the best bargain phones are going to make some compromises, but they can still deliver a lot for the money. The cameras are usually the first to go – it’s rare to see good, affordable smartphones with three rear cameras. So if you do, you should investigate whether they’re actually any good. Remember, more megapixels doesn’t always mean better photos.

Once upon a time, only flagship phones had batteries of 5,000mAh or more, but now it’s quite common among the best phones under £300. But there is more to a long battery life than just battery size – a lot depends on how efficient the processor is, too.

Again, big screens were once confined to phones worth four figures, but today’s top budget smartphones regularly have 6.7-inch displays or bigger. Look for a high refresh rate too – 120Hz is perfect. That means the screen ‘refreshes’ its pixels 120 times a second, meaning it can keep up better with fast-moving content like games, resulting in little or no blurring.

Lastly, support is vital if you want to stay up on the latest features. Most modern phones come with at least five years of software and security updates, but some cheap models reduce this to just two years. So be mindful, and think about how long you want the phone to last you. You can keep using it with an older version of the software, of course, but you’ll miss out on newer features and it could be more susceptible to being infected by malware.

Who should buy a budget phone?

The best budget smartphones aren’t just for those with limited means. Maybe you’ve broken or lost your phone and just need something to tide you over while you save up or take time to choose a new flagship model. Or maybe you just don’t want to spend upwards of £600 on a phone when you could spend half that and get a lot of the same features.

Just be aware that if you want to take the best-quality photos possible or are a power user, a cheaper phone probably isn’t for you.

How we test and review phones

We use every review unit as if it’s our own, using every feature we can: the camera, apps, social media, emailing, streaming films, listening to music… basically anything it can do, we test. We spend weeks living with each phone and compare them all to their closest price rivals to give a good idea of how they sit with what else is available. And we’re completely unbiased, giving our unvarnished verdict on each handset irrespective of what brand it’s from.

Why trust Uswitch’s recommendations?

Uswitch started life in 2000 and has since built a dedicated mobile team of the industry’s best experts. We thoroughly review all the latest and best phones, as well as recommending phones at every stage of their lifecycle (including refurbed phones). This industry expertise combined with our unbiased opinion and passion for finding our users the best deals makes us one of the most trusted sources in the mobile phone world.