Best cheap phones under $300 in 2022: Some of you may be interested in the best inexpensive phone under $300. As prices continue to rise, saving money is more crucial than ever. While the options for top phones at this price point are limited, we’ve compiled a list of a few that we believe are worthwhile.
Android is only available for $300 or less, as seen below. You could certainly get a secondhand iPhone for less than $300 elsewhere, but Apple’s cheapest new iPhone is the $429 iPhone SE (2022). Android is the way to go if you want a brand new phone when looking for the best inexpensive phone under $300.
And, as you might think, phones this cheap must make sacrifices. Some have significant limitations, such as low performance or subpar cameras.
However, all of the phones in our best cheap phones under $300 list have a long battery life. Cheap phones have greatly improved in recent years, with two of the devices below supporting 5G. These are the greatest solutions if you’re on a tight budget.
Best cheap phones under $300 right now
1. OnePlus Nord N20 5G
SPECIFICATIONS
REASONS TO BUY
- Beautiful design
- Good performance for the price
- Solid battery life
- Nice display
REASONS TO AVOID
- Very underwhelming cameras
The OnePlus Nord N20 is a lovely phone with an excellent price-to-performance ratio. It has a fantastic 6.4-inch AMOLED display with vibrant colours and deep blacks. Because the Snapdragon 695 is a reasonably fast small chip, the Nord N20 is the most powerful phone on this list.
While the cameras are average at best, the Nord N20 has a long battery life. On our battery test, it lasted 11 hours and 20 minutes. You could do a lot worse at $299 unlocked ($282 through T-Mobile/Metro by T-Mobile). It is compatible with 5G networks operating at sub-6GHz.
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2. TCL 30 V 5G
SPECIFICATIONS
REASONS TO BUY
- Battery lasts a long time
- Works with Verizon’s fast C-Band 5G
- Includes a headphone jack
REASONS TO AVOID
- Underwhelming processor
-
Useless macro camera
The TCL 30 V 5G represents usual trade-offs when looking for an inexpensive phone around $300. TCL’s $299 handset, on the other hand, is a phone that can last a long period on a single charge. On our battery test, the phone averaged 11 hours and 46 minutes, and when we activated its smart refresh mode, which reduces the refresh rate to extend battery life, the results improved to more than 12 hours.
You’ll need Verizon phone service to utilise the TCL 30 V 5G, but if you do, you’ll be able to take use of that carrier’s speedier C-Band 5G network, as the phone is compatible with that emerging 5G technology. We wish the TCL 30 V 5G had a little more processing power and better cameras, but these are often necessary trade-offs for a less priced phone.
3. Moto G Power (2022)
SPECIFICATIONS
REASONS TO BUY
- Battery lasts all day and then some
- 6.5-inch screen is a pleasure to look at
- Helpful gesture support
REASONS TO AVOID
- Noticeable lags when launching apps
- Dim display
While we don’t agree with Motorola’s new path in 2022, you can’t dispute that its G Series phones are reasonably priced. The Moto G Power (2022) is the best of the lot, even if this year’s edition falls short of previous generations.
The Moto G Power does the essentials for less than $300. It makes phone calls, surfs the web, and shoots photos, albeit lousy ones. It also has a long battery life, lasting 13 hours and 15 minutes in the battery life test. Just be prepared to make sacrifices with this one, especially in terms of performance.
Performance Comparison
| Geekbench 5 (single-core / multicore) | 3DMark Wild Life Unlimited (FPS) | |
| Nord N20 | 696 / 1995 | 7 |
| TCL 30 V 5G | 521 / 1776 | 6 |
| Moto G Power (2022) | 177 / 1011 | Could not complete test |
Display Comparison
To assess the display quality of a phone, we conduct lab tests to evaluate the brightness of the panel (in nits) as well as the colour saturation of each screen (DCI-P3 colour gamut). In some circumstances, larger numbers are preferable. We also use a Delta-E rating to assess the colour fidelity of each panel, with lower numbers being better and a score of 0 being perfect.
| sRGB (%) | DCI-P3 (%) | Delta-E | |
| Nord N20 | 179 (Vivid) / 103 (Gentle) | 127 (Vivid) / 73 (Gentle) | 0.34 (Vivid) / 0.3 (Gentle) |
| TCL 30 V 5G | 122 (Vivid) / 112 (Natural) | 86 (Vivid) / 79 (Natural) | 0.23 (Vivid) / 0.24 (Natural) |
| Moto G Power (2022) | 95 | 67 | 0.23 |
Battery life Comparison
Battery testing is one of the most critical exams we perform. We do a web browsing test over 5G (or 4G if the phone lacks 5G capabilities) at 150 nits of screen brightness till the battery dies. A phone that lasts 10 hours or more is considered good, and anything more than 11.5 hours makes our list of the greatest phone battery life.
| Battery life (Hrs:Mins) | |
| Nord N20 | 11:20 |
| TCL 30 V 5G | 12:14 (Adaptive) / 11:55 (60Hz) |
| Moto G Power (2022) | 13:15 (Adaptive) / 13:20 (60Hz) |
Last but not least, we put the finest phones through their paces by taking images outdoors, indoors, and at night in poor light to see how they stack up against their closest competitors. We photograph landscapes, cuisine, portraits, and other subjects, and we let you be the judge with side-by-side comparisons in our assessments.
