3 of the best smartphones for less than $200

CNET

Cheaper phones have a mix of modern technology with some of the best legacy features you can’t find on more expensive phones. For instance, you can get a phone with a 6.5-inch screen and multiple cameras, plus a headphone jack and expandable storage. However, these phones will likely run slower and may only receive a few software updates. But when it comes to using the phone itself, you’ll still be able to install most apps and get security updates. Here are three of CNET’s top picks for smartphones that cost $200 or less.

Best for update support: Samsung Galaxy A03S

<p>Samsung's Galaxy A03S has a 6.5-inch screen, capped at 720p resolution.</p>

Mike Sorrentino, CNET

Samsung's Galaxy A03S has a 6.5-inch screen, capped at 720p resolution.

Samsung’s Galaxy A03S, at $160, includes plenty of great features, and it could be a great fit for someone looking for the cheapest possible phone that can handle essential tasks. The phone’s 6.5-inch screen, capped at 720p resolution, is great for reading news, watching videos and playing games. Despite some performance lag found during our review, the phone is good at multitasking. But the 32GB of storage space could fill up fast; it may be worthwhile to consider a microSD card.

Samsung also plans to support the phone with at least four years of security updates, which at this price range is as good as it gets. It’s less clear how many software updates are scheduled, but the phone ships with Android 11 to start.

Best for more storage: Moto G Power (2022)

<p>The Moto G Power for 2022 starts at 64GB of space.</p>

Motorola

The Moto G Power for 2022 starts at 64GB of space.

The Moto G Power for 2022 at $200 sits at the higher end of this roundup, but it has plenty of onboard storage to show for it. The phone starts at 64GB of space; if that’s not enough, you can spend $50 more for the 128GB model or throw in a microSD card for up to 512GB of additional space. The phone also includes 4GB of RAM, which should help it through most multitasking.

The phone ships with Android 11, and Motorola is pledging one software update to Android 12 along with two years of security updates for the phone. This is on the shorter side, but the phone’s cheap enough you might consider the two-year timeline to be roughly as long as you were planning to keep the device.

5G for under $200: TCL 30 XE 5G

<p>The TCL 30 XE 5G has a 6.5-inch screen at 720p resolution with a 90Hz refresh rate.</p>

TCL

The TCL 30 XE 5G has a 6.5-inch screen at 720p resolution with a 90Hz refresh rate.

TCL has released one of the cheapest 5G-capable phones in the United States thus far with the TCL 30 XE 5G. The phone is now available at T-Mobile for $198. The phone has a 6.5-inch screen at 720p resolution with a 90Hz refresh rate, a triple-camera system with a 13-megapixel main camera, an 8-megapixel selfie camera and a rear fingerprint sensor. The phone includes 64GB of onboard storage and ships with Android 11.

While we haven’t used the phone, on a specs-level you can get better cameras and higher-quality screens with the other picks on this list, but those do not have 5G connectivity. Yet it’s also debatable how necessary having 5G is right now. 4G LTE connectivity works just fine for streaming music, video and other tasks.

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