Your guide to the latest and best budget phones of 2017. Check out our latest reviews and buyer's guide on the top cheap phones for this year.
Your buying guide for the best budget phones in 2018
In our experience the best way to get a cheap phone is to buy it SIM-free then grab a great-value SIM-only deal. You won't be paying £50-odd per month for a phone for the next two years, and you can swap it for a newer model whenever you fancy it.
All the phones here cost under £200, which is just a third of the price you'd often pay for flagships such as the Galaxy S8, HTC U11 and LG G6 - take a look at our guide to the best phones on the market for more on those flagships.
Ranked in order below are our reviews of what we consider to be the best budget phones on sale right now. We've based this chart on the SIM-free price, specifications and performance.
You can click on a phone in which you're interested to read the full review, see example photos from the camera, and check out the benchmark results. And if you're ready to buy one, check out our best phone deals to make sure you find the best price.
If you're after a phone for under £50 take a look at our best basic phones roundup, which includes decent phones that trade off features for the best prices and cost from just £10.
Should I buy a locked phone?
You'll quickly find that some of the best deals on cheap phones are sold via mobile operators. What you need to watch for is whether these phones are sold locked to that operator's network.This is the case with the Vodafone Smart Prime 7, but if you don't want to become a Vodafone customer you should look elsewhere on the list for a non-network-branded handset, such as the Moto G5.
What about a Chinese phone?
An alternative is to buy a Chinese phone - you'll find some of these in our chart too. You might not have heard of the brands, and they won't be available on the UK High Street (save for the likes of Huawei and ZTE), but Chinese phones are well-known for offering amazing specs for the money and undercutting their European rivals.
In most cases you'll get a phone with a mid-range specification at a budget price.
Of course there are down sides - for example, what should you do if a phone bought from China is faulty? We've rounded up the major pitfalls in our article on buying grey-market tech, but if you're still interested you should see our round-up of the best Chinese phones for 2017.
What's the best phone for a child?
If you're looking for a budget phone for a child, look at our selection of the best kids' phones which includes some of the best budget phones along with a few others particularly well-suited to kids.
What will you get for your money?
If you're looking for a cheap phone, you have to accept the fact that the manufacturer is going to cut some corners to achieve that low price and you aren't going to get the same speed, features, and display quality as you might with a phone costing two, three, or even four times the price.
It used to be the case that budget phones were instantly recognisable by their low-resolution displays, meagre storage, and chunky, plastic bodies, but things are improving in this area all the time. These days, for £200 or less it's quite possible to buy a phone with a Full HD display and a sub 8mm-thick metal body.
Most will support 4G connectivity, but not all will support NFC (Chinese phones will often feature HotKnot which is a similar technology, but not the same as NFC.)
Best budget phones 2018 UK - best cheap phone reviews
1. Moto G5
There’s plenty of competition in Android’s budget market, but the Moto G5 is one of the best. The build quality alone feels like it belongs on a much more expensive phone, while the fingerprint gesture controls genuinely improve the Android experience.
The benchmarks and battery hold it back, but they're not unreasonable given the price. You'll find better specs in Chinese phones, but if you don't need a dual-SIM phone and you want the peace of mind of a proper UK warranty, it's a solid choice.
But do check out the G5s as well if your budget can stretch a little.
2. Nokia 5
We’ve long been lovers of the Moto G series for the top pick in the budget Android category, and the Nokia 5 nearly knocks it off the top spot. With a better camera, excellent performance and a stunning design, we are blown away by the low price tag offered here.
A downside is the screen resolution, but if you can look past this and you’re looking for an Android smartphone that costs less than £200, you can’t get much better than this.
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3. EE Hawk
The EE Hawk is a little gem at the start of 2018. The build is above average for the asking price, and it is a solid handset to go for if you simply need to use 4G data on a smartphone but don’t want to spend half your paycheck to do it. It is not a phone to game on due to the low powered internals, but it copes with video fine. The display is quite washed out, but the clean Android software makes up for this. You won’t want to post many pictures from the not-great camera on Instagram, but if you want a decent snapper, you’ll look at phones that cost more.
The EE Hawk is up there with the Moto G5 as one of the best budget smartphones in the UK.
4. Elephone P8 Mini
A similar performer to the UK’s best budget phone, the Moto G5, but with enhanced cameras and more storage, the Elephone P8 Mini is a great buy if you’re happy to import it from China.
5. Wileyfox Swift 2 Plus
Overall, we enjoy the Wileyfox Swift 2 Plus. It's an all-rounder, with features you'd expect from a flagship such as its fingerprint sensor and gorgeous design. But when you dig deeper you notice the flaws that better reflect its price tag, which is a bit of a shame. Closer inspection of its design shows that it's a bit rough around the edges, and the screen quality and battery life are beaten by similarly priced rivals. Therefore it's a tricky one to offer a solid verdict on. For the price, you're getting a good phone that looks deceivingly premium, but you could opt for the Moto G5 for a better screen and similar overall features at a lower price.
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