Best Phones Under $300 in 2024

The Motorola Moto G Power 5G is the most versatile option in this roundup, offering wireless charging, a 120Hz high refresh rate screen, Google Pay for contactless payments and a fantastic vegan leather design. Combine that with a camera that takes decent photos in bright environments, and a processor that is capable for most daily tasks, and you have a phone that’s both fun to use without cramming itself with the extra bells and whistles we see in higher priced phones.

Even though this phone does suffer from having a shorter software and security support timeline (1 year of major Android OS, three years of security updates) than Samsung’s Galaxy A25 5G, it is a more useful device. And it's this appeal that makes the Moto G Power 5G our top recommendation for a phone that costs $300 or less.

The Samsung Galaxy A25 5G’s best feature is its commitment to get four years of major Android OS updates and five years of security updates. If you're buying a new phone to last as long as it can before needing to buy a new one, then the Galaxy A25 is the cheapest one to get for the long haul. No other phone in this price range comes close to this level of support.

The Galaxy A25 5G has a lot to offer in other ways, including a decent 1,080p resolution screen and loud dual speakers for music. But I did find the phone to have issues with some multitasking. Its cameras struggle with indoor settings and its plastic design paired with a chunky camera notch feels dated compared to other phones in this price range. This makes Samsung’s $300 phone a good choice when all you need is a phone that will get years of support, but if you are looking for stronger performance and features, you should consider other options

The OnePlus Nord N30 5G includes a lot of features for the money, but its 50-watt charging speed is a standout for this price range. The phone can charge from 0% to 100% in 45 minutes, and most other phones that cost $300 or less need 90 minutes to two hours to do the same thing. Its large 6.72-inch, 1080p display runs at a 120Hz refresh rate and also makes apps, games, websites and streaming video animate smoothly.

It's worth calling out that the 108-megapixel main camera -- despite being an astounding megapixel number on the phone -- takes photos that are only marginally better than what I usually see from phones in this price range. That means it can take good, detail-filled photos in outdoor settings with plenty of light. Photos taken in darker settings are a struggle for the N30, with indoor photos looking washed out or blurry.

The phone will also only get one software update to Android 14 along with three years of security updates -- which is an average timeline for this price range, yet still disappointingly short.

While the OnePlus does face stiff competition from Google's Pixel 6A -- especially when the Pixel is discounted to $299 -- it does include a lot of functionality for its price.

Admittedly, I'm cheating by getting this phone into the list, but Google's Pixel 6A has been discounted to $320 a lot lately and is an easy recommendation when it's been discounted into a budget phone range.

Regularly $349, the Pixel 6A won our Editors' Choice Award last year. In her review, CNET's Lisa Eadicicco praised the phone for its great camera, Pixel-exclusive features like Magic Eraser, its colorful design and being among the first to get new Android updates. 

Although Google has since released the $499 Pixel 7A, the Pixel 6A is still getting two more years of software updates and four more years of security updates. This means it will continue getting new Android features and support from Google, and that remaining timeline is still more than you'll see from new 2023 phones that cost between $200 and $300.