Best phones under $500

Buying a phone on a budget can feel like a stroll through a minefield. There are walls in the major electronics stores covered with cheap phones, some from brands you’ve never heard of. In some ways it can feel like a greater risk buying a cheaper phone than something more expensive, even when you’re spending less money.

And yet, there’s never been a better time to shop for phones under $500. The evolution of smartphones has seen upgrades in hardware far outpace the needs of software, so you can now get a large-screen, multi-camera phones and zippy performance, and not give up food for a month.

The Motorola G85 isn't just the best budget phone we reviewed last year, it's one of the best phones under $500 we've ever reviewed. As far as bang for buck goes, this thing is hard to beat. It's got a generous from factor, blazing 5G connectivity, a crisp OLED display clocked at 120Hz and solid battery life.

The camera can be a little bit hit or miss and it's missing a few premium perks but for the asking price, the Moto G85 is a fantastic buy.

There's more to like about the OPPO A80 5G than just next-generation connectivity on a budget. Rather than rely on three or four camera that don't add up to much, this device puts almost all its chips in on a single 50MP main camera sensor.

On top of that, the OPPO A80 is kitted out with a MediaTek Dimensity 6300 processor, 8GB of RAM and a generous 256GB of on-board storage plus a 5100mAh battery. Those specs might not add up to something that can knock our current pick for the best smartphone under $500 champion off its throne but its nothing to scoff at either.

Even if it's not the crown jewel of Samsung's budget-friendly Galaxy A series, the Samsung Galaxy A25 4G is still a solid pick at $399. A savvy Exynos processor is paired up with a sizable battery and an armada of optical hardware on the back of the device. It's far from premium, but there's plenty to like here.

CMF FTW. Nothing's first foray into thrifty territory is unique and hard to beat. The CMF Phone 1 comes kitted out with a 6.67-inch OLED display clocked at 120Hz, 8GB of RAM and a surprisingly beefy MediaTek Dimensity processor. Throw in two days of battery life and you've got the makings of a machine built to let you make the most of the faster speeds that 5G smartphones are capable of.

HMD is now hocking budget smartphones under its own name and while the HMD Pulse Pro isn't a perfect premiere, there's still plenty to get excited about here. Even if it runs on a humble processor that can't keep up with some of the competition on this page, the software experience is clean and the battery life is fantastic.

If you can afford to spend a little more than $500, you probably won't regret it. On the other hand, those who opt to save a few hundred bucks should be able to pick up what the HMD Pulse Pro puts down without too much hassle.

While the quirks and shortcomings of expensive flagship devices can sometimes take a longer period of regular usage to reveal themselves, a bad budget phone can't hide the truth for long. For that reason, the best advice we can give to those looking at buying a mobile phone under $500 is to try and get some hands-on time with it before spending the money.

Walking into your local Telstra store or JB Hi-Fi outlet might seem excessive, but it's usually the fastest and easiest way to get the answers you're looking for when it comes to buying a budget handset.

• What does the screen look like? The screen resolution (the total number of pixels) is far less important than a good screen with good colour and good responsiveness.
• Is the processor fast enough? Open apps like the web browser and compare how long it takes to load.
• How much storage does it have? Cheap phones may only have 16GB or 32GB of onboard storage and you will find this disappears pretty quickly after you install your favourite apps.

When it comes to the devices on the market for more price-sensitive consumers, smartphones tend to be  pretty homogeneous. Part of the reason for this is that the only options available at this end of the market are those running on Google's Android mobile operating system. With no iPhones in the mix, budget smartphones often boil down to the specs and little else.

It doesn't help that the manufacturers of sub-$500 Android devices are typically less likely to invest in the research and development than they would be with more expensive smartphones due to the smaller margins involved.

When it came to deciding on our picks for the best mobile phones under $500, we kept several factors in mind. This included:

• Display quality and size: Resolution isn't the only thing that matters.
• 5G connectivity: Faster speeds are good, but long battery life is better.
• Build quality and design: Just because a phone is cheap doesn't mean it has to feel cheap.
• Camera: While any smartphone camera at this price-point is going to involve some amount of compromises, we tended to privilege devices with camera hardware that was closer to the current crop of mid-range and premium smartphones out there over those that had less in common with those more expensive devices.
• Software pedigree: Invariably, the more budget-friendly a smartphone is, the more bloatware is typically involved. We try to recommend devices that veer in the opposite direction.