Best Phones Under $500 for 2022: Upgrades at Low Prices

Lisa Eadicicco/CNET

The Pixel 6A replaces the Pixel 5A because the $449 budget-friendly model of its flagship telephone. CNET’s Lisa Eadicicco referred to as it the “greatest Android telephone below $500” in her Pixel 6A evaluation, calling out the way it retains the identical Tensor chip seen within the $599 Pixel 6 and plenty of of its options.

The telephone is barely smaller than the Pixel 6, that includes a 6.1-inch OLED show and a refresh charge of 60Hz. And it has the same digital camera to the Pixel 5A, together with a 12.2-megapixel important digital camera and a 12-megapixel ultrawide digital camera. However by together with the Tensor chip, pictures can profit from its Actual Tone pores and skin tone characteristic, Face Unblur, Evening Sight for darker pictures and the Magic Eraser for eradicating undesirable components from a photograph.

Although the telephone is only some months previous, there are already events during which the Pixel 6A is discounted even additional to $299, which is an unbelievable worth.

You are receiving value alerts for Google Pixel 6a (128GB, Charcoal)

Lisa Eadicicco/CNET

Kevin Heinz/CNET

You are receiving value alerts for Apple iPhone SE (64GB, Starlight)

Mike Sorrentino/CNET

Angela Lang/CNET

You are receiving value alerts for Apple iPhone 11 (Yellow, 128GB)

Andrew Lanxon/CNET

The Nothing Telephone 1 is not obtainable within the US. However for international locations the place the telephone is obtainable, it gives a placing design and respectable specs for the cash. The £399 telephone (which converts to roughly $480 or AU$700) is adorned with LED strips on the again, every of which is known as a “glyph,” that gentle up for alerts and notifications. That design is accompanied by two 50-megapixel cameras: a large angle and an ultrawide. Across the entrance is a 6.55-inch 120Hz show with a 2,400-by-1,080-pixel decision and a 16-megapixel selfie digital camera. The telephone runs on a Snapdragon 778G Plus chip, with fashions that begin with 8GB of reminiscence and 128GB of storage.

All that quantities to a telephone that compares nicely inside the value vary, particularly given its digital camera high quality and appears. However for now, we’ll must see if future Nothing telephone fashions find yourself getting a launch within the US.

For many individuals, a telephone that prices lower than $500 will seemingly have all the pieces you want for communication, pictures and leisure. In some circumstances, the telephones even present among the newest options seen on higher-end telephones like easy 120Hz refresh charges and a number of cameras.

Nonetheless, you need to be conscious of — and OK with — the restrictions a telephone could have in comparison with its dearer counterparts. For example, if you would like an iPhone with an even bigger display than the iPhone SE and iPhone 11’s screens, your subsequent best choice is the $899 iPhone 14 Plus. That is far exterior the $500 value vary, however you additionally get further advantages like an improved digital camera. 

Alternatively, if you would like a telephone with an even bigger display and if working Android is ok, you may have loads of choices which can be below $500.

Sure, yow will discover a number of cheaper telephones that take nice pictures, whether or not it is by way of the digital camera obtainable on the machine, picture processing software program on the telephone or — is most frequently the case — a mixture of each. 

Apple’s iPhone SE contains the A15 Bionic chip, which helps Good HDR4 processing and Apple’s Deep Fusion processing. Good HDR4 helps with bettering coloration and distinction, whereas the Deep Fusion processing helps with medium- to low-light environments. CNET Managing Editor Patrick Holland put collectively a sampling of pictures and movies taken on the telephone throughout his evaluation, which may be watched on the CNET Highlights YouTube channel. Nonetheless, the iPhone SE additionally has just one 12-megapixel digital camera, and that digital camera doesn’t help evening pictures.

Over on the Android aspect, the Google Pixel 6A contains the corporate’s Tensor chip, which brings pictures options like Actual Tone for capturing extra correct pores and skin tones, Face Unblur for fixing an individual’s face and Magic Eraser for eradicating undesirable objects. However it has a 12-megapixel important digital camera paired up with a 12-megapixel ultrawide digital camera, which takes good pictures however is a transparent step down from the 50-megapixel important digital camera seen on the Pixel 6 and Pixel 7.

Samsung’s Galaxy A53 is an attention-grabbing case: Iit has a important 64-megapixel digital camera alongside a 12-megapixel ultrawide, 5-megapixel macro digital camera and 5-megapixel depth digital camera. Whereas that is extra megapixels than the 50-megapixel important digital camera on the Galaxy S22, the picture element is a step down with the S22 in a position to produce pictures with higher distinction and sharpness.

Every firm takes a distinct method towards cheaper telephones.  

The iPhone SE, for instance, has a latest Apple processor packed inside an in any other case dated telephone design. Google’s Pixel 6A likewise contains the brand new Tensor processor, however makes use of an older 12.2-megapixel important digital camera as a substitute of the 50-megapixel important digital camera discovered on the $599 Pixel 6.

Samsung’s Galaxy A53 takes the other method. It features a processor that is slower than the Galaxy S22’s however contains different trendy options like a display with a excessive refresh charge.