The best phones under £200 in 2024

Consistently appearing on top-tier budget phone lists each year, Xiaomi is as reliable as it is popular right now, with millions of people opting for these terrific value phones that can easily pass off as high-end flagships.

The Redmi Note 12 devastates the competition with a gorgeous 120Hz display, excellent quick-charging battery and snappy performance bolstered by the Snapdragon SM4375 - Xiaomi has created a staggeringly brilliant smartphone to rival even the iPhone 14 Pro Max for performance alone.

For photography, however, the Xiaomi Redmi Note 12 doesn't quite blow us away - pictures appear somewhat saturated, but they're a huge step in the right direction for budget phones in general. The Xiaomi Redmi Note 12 is more than worth its price of admission - offering a huge amount of functionality and performance for the best possible price.

Shattering all expectations of what a smartphone under £200 can truly be, Samsung's Galaxy A14 5G is the perfect phone for powering through your busy day-to-day and has plenty to offer users for its low price.

From the incredibly solid 50MP triple camera to the particularly stunning Infinity-V screen with nice, narrow bezels for a clean and sophisticated look - the Samsung Galaxy A14 5G has the look and feel of a premium phone, but how does it run?

Unsurprisingly, Samsung has knocked it out of the park in terms of great performance with this budget Samsung phone - it runs very, very well for its price. With 64GB of storage and 4GB of RAM (which isn't small for a phone of its price), multi-tasking, switching between tabs and jumping into apps feels crisp and responsive - it's genuinely difficult to fault.

And if you want to save even more cash, pushing closer to the £100 mark is the Samsung Galaxy A14 4G version. You won't get the fastest mobile network data connection, but it'll still suit most general users.

Samsung's sensationally cheap A34 smartphone is a delightful breath of fresh air amongst the budget phone market. Packed with quality, the A34's 120Hz 6.6-inch screen is quality, and it has a solid array of hardware to back that up.

Perfect for mobile gaming, as well as taking plenty of pet snapshots, Samsung's A34 knocks it out of the park as one of the best phones of the year for its price.

Despite its many positive features, some users may argue that the A34 perhaps isn't the best phone for battery life available, but for most - it'll be plenty.

Nokia's well-established budget phone supremacy is continued with the Nokia G42 - a terrific cheap option for those looking to get the most bang for their buck.

Out of the gate, the G42 is well-made and solid, with excellent battery life for those who tend to leave charging till the last minute. For budget photographers, the G42 has a great AI-enhanced 50 MP triple camera that gives even higher-end phones a run for their money.

Despite the performance being capped by the G42's 4GB of RAM, it still runs just fine, with minimal performance issues whilst gaming, browsing and snapping pictures, it's an excellent phone for photography.

When we reviewed the Nokia G21, we were impressed at its performance, given its affordable price. Our main favourites were the long battery life and its decent performance for basic daily tasks. The G21 has a large display, and despite only being 720p, it's pleasant to use.

We can recommend this phone to anyone looking to use WhatsApp or Google Maps and do some internet browsing. Its modest 4GB RAM can keep programs like this running without an issue. However, if you try and push it with more taxing apps, like games, you're in for a bad time. But that's because, as with any budget smartphone, there are some compromises to make.

A couple more that you'll have to make with the G21 are the average camera quality, sluggish charging speed and lack of NFC. But, as long as you approach the Nokia G21 acknowledging that it's not a powerhouse, it is a reliable, good budget option focusing on durability and functionality.

Read our full Nokia G21 review.

Excellent gaming performance on a smartphone isn't limited to the ludicrously expensive market flagships, and with Motorola's Moto G53, there's no better option for its ultra-low price.

Bursting with fantastic tech specs that are far and beyond the Moto G53's budget, with particular props to the silky smooth 120Hz screen, which seems almost impossible for less than £200 - as well as the sizeable 128GB of storage for all your app/photo and of course, gaming needs.

The display itself suffers slightly from only having a 720p resolution, which isn't great by modern standards, but still manages to look sharp at the price, and with Android's Snapdragon 480+ processor, navigation is buttery smooth - truly transcending the price tag.

The Motorola Moto G53 is perfect for any budget phone buyer, whether you're a gamer or not - it's a great phone more than worth its cost.

This P30 from HUAWEU is a bit of a triumph of hardware specifications and budget - it manages to deliver a full HD screen larger than 6 inches too. And that screen has a certification for eye comfort, so using it for longer gaming or browsing sessions is nice and easy on the eyes.

Camera-wise, you have a 120-degree wide-angle lens as part of the staggeringly good 48MP triple rear camera array. And photography has been made even easier thanks to some AI scene recognition technology. It'll recognise what you're taking shots of from 22 categories and make adjustments to suit. So, your shots are really going to pop with this smartphone.

Lastly, under the hood you get 4GB of RAM - that's not the highest in a smartphone, but paired with the Turbo 2.0 GPU and Kirin 710 CPU, this thing really zips along. So, it's great for your gaming needs too.

Big, bulky, and indestructible, the X10 embodies all of the design ethos that the Nokia 3310 had - a tough, reliable phone that'll last you for years to come. With an impressive 1080p screen, a nice chunky plastic body, and sizeable bezels, the X10 feels pretty premium for a budget phone. Paired with Android 11, browsing is a total breeze, you really can't knock the quality.

Much like the Nokia 3310, the X10's battery life is seemingly limitless by modern standards. At 4400 mAh, it'll last you 48 hours at least before it's totally flat, making it a great companion on a night out when your phone is needed most.

Photography on the X10 is also pretty fantastic, with a quad camera that takes some lovely natural-looking photos in the right conditions, and while they're not mind-blowing, they are still impressive for a budget phone.

Of course, it isn't all roses; there's the weak mono speaker, which becomes tinny at high volumes and is easily covered by accident during use. Then there's the slow and outdated 18W charging which is all but entirely outmoded by modern 30W chargers, making charging an absolute chore.

Overall, however, we're really impressed with everything the X10 has to offer, it's a great phone for the busy commuter, a late-night club goer, or anyone in between.

Grab yourself a wonderful 5G smartphone for less than £200 with the miraculous OPPO A76, made for the go-getting commuter in need of quick access to their phone in a pinch, the gamers and the social media gurus bouncing between apps - the A76 can handle it all in its stride, all for less than half of the price of your typical flagship phone.

With a design that is fresh, sturdy and durable - a 6.5-inch display that is great for gaming and browsing, it's easy to see how this OPPO became as popular as it is. Great phones for photography don't come cheap, but even the A76's camera is wonderful.

The sound is great too, thanks to the brilliant speaker. This OPPO is hard to beat in terms of value, performance, design and sheer quality - it's a low-priced powerhouse of a phone that you simply can't ignore.

A fraction of the price of competing smartphones, and yet it still manages to hold its own, the DOOGEE N50 is a startlingly brilliant phone for less than £100 and brings a lot to the table in terms of performance for its price.

Not a groundbreaking smartphone by any means, the DOOGEE N50 is a reliable replacement for your smartphone when you're short of cash, and it'll handle your usual social media, browsing and gaming decently well.

Don't expect much out of the DOOGEE N50's photography or its gaming capabilities, however - they're certainly serviceable. Still, they could use some extra grunt to get you to play the year's best games.