SMARTPHONES don’t have to cost the Earth – and going cheaper doesn’t necessarily mean making huge compromises either.
Consumers are so spoilt for choice these days, it’s almost hard to pick. But our crack Sun Tech team has chosen their top budget mobiles, revealing a slick handset that costs under £250 and a budget iPhone you’ve probably missed (with 26 HOURS of battery life, no less).
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Too often people tend to stick to what they know when upgrading, rather than considering more budget-friendly options that are just as good.
The Sun’s tech team gets their hands on loads of smartphones all the time, from the big, fancy devices to the cheap handsets.
Technology has now got so good that even the cheaper phones pack a punch, with many of the must-have features you would expect in an expensive mobile.
This includes fantastic battery, great cameras and tools that are actually useful to you.
Here are the three we recommend buying this year so far.
CMF Phone 2 Pro
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Jamie Harris – Assistant Technology and Science Editor
Chances are, you’ve never heard of CMF nor its parent brand Nothing.
The company only came about in 2020 and has shaken up the scene with much cheaper Android smartphones that do away with the usual bland designs.
I’ve not long reviewed the CMF Phone 2 Pro and I was impressed with the rugged look and how tough it felt in my hands.
The battery is also really good for a brand new phone this cheap, going well into the second day with regular usage.
So how much is it? A shocking £249.
Yes, there are some parts of it that aren’t as good, such as its resistance to water, with a lower rating compared to other phones.
And while the camera isn’t as impressive as others on the market you can still get some fairly decent shots.
You can read my full review on the CMF Phone 2 Pro here.
iPhone 16e
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Sean Keach – Head of Technology and Science
Every year we all complain that the latest iPhone doesn’t look all that different to last year’s iPhone. Or even the one before that.
Well friends, that’s a good thing.
It means most smartphones are now extremely good – even if you’re buying a properly cheap model, or one that’s a bit old.
Please don’t feel like you have to splash out on the flashest mobile with a four-digit price tag. You almost certainly don’t need one.
Enter the iPhone 16e, which is currently the cheapest model in Apple’s line-up.
It came out earlier this year (so you can say it’s new) and – to the untrained eye – looks just like the iPhone 16 (so you could feasibly pretend that it is one to your mates).
The battery life is wild. Apple says you’ll get 26 hours of video playback from it – and I struggled to run it down in my iPhone 16e review.
In fact, it serves up four more hours of use per charge compared to the pricier iPhone 16.
It looks the part with an all-screen design (including a posh 6.1-inch OLED display that’s probably better than your telly), Face ID scanning, and an Action Button that can be mapped to identify a song playing nearby or remind your daughter to feed the dog.
It’s even sort of future-proofed because it supports Apple Intelligence AI tricks (even the iPhone 15 doesn’t have that) thanks to the speedy processor on board, and also includes a USB-C charging port, for which cables are now extremely common.
And the upside is that this model costs £599, which is a whopping £200 less than the entry-level iPhone 16. Bargain.
That means you can get some very low monthly prices. We covered a Sky Mobile iPhone 16e deal recently that was £19 a month for the phone plus an extra £11 for 40GB of 5G data.
And let’s be honest: when the new iPhone 17 comes out later this year, you can probably pretend you’ve got that too.
Samsung Galaxy A56
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Millie Turner – Senior Technology and Science Reporter
While I’m an Apple girl through-and-through, the Galaxy A56 5G is a good enough deal to tempt even me.
This budget handset enjoys most of what’s good about the main Galaxy S25 phones, without the eyewatering price.
For just £499, consumers can get a glossy new smartphone jam-packed with Galaxy AI features.
The A56 runs on Android 15 with Samsung’s very latest One UI 7 on top.
That means it comes with some of Samsung’s biggest AI tools, some of which only just landed on the much more expensive Galaxy S25 series.
Like the magic eraser, for example, which can remove objects from photos.
Or, the AI-powered auto trim tool that quickly cuts videos to their best moments.
Samsung has also pledged to offer up to six generations of Android OS and One UI upgrades, as well as six years of security updates.
This is an increase from the four operating system updates and five years of security updates offered on the A55.
It means you get two extra years of not needing to upgrade your device, while still getting to enjoy some clever AI tools.
SAVE EVEN MORE ON YOUR NEXT MOBILE UPGRADE
To save even more money on your next upgrade, consider trading in your old handset.
Most companies will accept handsets for recycling even if it’s not one of their own brands.
Depending on the age and quality of the handset, you can get a nice chunk of money off the new phone’s cost.
