The smartphone industry has more or less saturated over the past few years. But this is not a bad thing for consumers. As smartphones and the hardware inside them are maturing, consumers are getting powerful, good quality specs at affordable prices. These days, you’ll easily find budget phones with AMOLED displays and high refresh rate and even 5G support, which wasn’t possible a few years back.
What’s more surprising is that there are non-Chinese brands like Samsung and Nokia who have managed to release interesting budget smartphones over the past couple of years. So, today, when we take a look at the Best smartphones under $300, we not only have brands like Xiaomi, Realme in this list but also smartphone makers like Nokia and Motorola, giving you a wide variety of options in the budget segment.
BEST SMARTPHONES UNDER $300
Table of Contents
Galaxy A33 5G
The Galaxy A33 5G is a well-balanced mid-range smartphone from Samsung. It features a 6.4 inches FHD+ Super AMOLED Infinity-U panel with a 90Hz refresh rate and Gorilla Glass 5 protection. Inside, the phone comes with Samsung’s latest 5 nm-based Exynos 1280 SoC and gets up to 8GB of RAM. It comes with the Android 12 based OneUI 4.1 out of the box and gets IP67 water and dust resistant certification. The A33 5G features a 5000mAh battery with 25W fast charging.
In the camera department, the smartphone has a 48MP primary camera with OIS, an 8MP ultrawide sensor, and a 2MP depth camera onboard.
KEY FEATURES
- 6.4-inch Super AMOLED FHD+ display with a 90Hz refresh rate.
- Samsung Exynos 1280.
- 4GB/6GB/8GB LPDDR5 RAM, 128GB/256GB UFS 2.2 ROM.
- 48MP+8MP+5MP+2M rear cameras, a 13MP Front camera.
- 5000mAh battery, support 25W fast-charging.
- OneUI 5 is based on Android 12 OS.
ZTE Axon 30 5G
The ZTE Axon 30 5G is a year-old device but features impressive specs and hardware to deserve a place in this list. Usually, the phone retails for more than $400 but after recent price cuts and coupons, the phone is available for around $300.
One of the biggest highlights of this mid-ranger is the under screen camera on its front, enabling the screen to be without a notch for the front camera. You won’t get to experience Under display camera on any phone around $300, making the phone pretty special. You can also read our review here.
The ZTE Axon 30 features a symmetrical, non-perforated 6.92-inch AMOLED screen with 1.07 billion colors and a resolution of 2460 x 1080 pixels. It also comes with DTS: XUltra 3D sound effects that can provide an immersive audio and video experience. Under the hood, the phone is powered by a Snapdragon 870 processor with UFS3.1 flash memory and supports memory fusion technology with up to 12GB physical RAM version.
On the back, the phone comes with a 64-megapixel Sony IMX682 sensor teaming up with an 8-megapixel ultra-wide-angle sensor, a 5-megapixel macro, and a 2-megapixel depth-of-field lens. The Axon 30 also features a 4200mAh battery with 55W fast charging.
KEY FEATURES
- 6.92-inch AMOLED FHD+ display with a 120Hz refresh rate.
- Qualcomm Snapdragon 870 Octa-core processor.
- 6GB/12GB LPDDR5 RAM, 128GB/256GB UFS 3.1 ROM.
- 64MP+8MP+5MP+2M rear cameras, a 16MP Front camera.
- 4200mAh battery, support 55W fast-charging.
- MiFavor 11 is based on Android 11 OS.
Realme 9 Pro
The Realme 9 Pro features a 6.4-inch AMOLED screen with an FHD+ resolution as well as support for a 90Hz refresh rate. It is powered by an octa-core MediaTek Dimensity 920 chipset paired with up to 8GB RAM while there is 256GB internal storage onboard. Under the hood, Realme 9 Pro crams a generous 4,500mAh battery and has support for 60W fast-charging.
For camera, the phone packs a 50-megapixels main camera with an 8-megapixels ultra-wide sensor and a 2-megapixels macro camera to assist with closed-up captures. For selfies, there is a 16-megapixels front-facing camera.
On the software side, the device runs on Realme UI 3.0 based on Google’s latest Android 12 OS out of the box.
KEY FEATURES
- 6.4-inch AMOLED FHD+ display with a 90Hz refresh rate.
- MediaTek Dimensity 920
- 6GB/8GB LPDDR5 RAM, 128GB/256GB UFS 3.1 ROM.
- 50MP+8MP+2MP rear cameras, a 16MP Front camera.
- 4500mAh battery, support 60W fast-charging.
- RealmeUI 3.0 is based on Android 12 OS.
OnePlus Nord N20
The Nord N20 5G is an excellent budget phone in the US market. It comes with a 6.43-inch AMOLED panel with a punch-hole in the upper-left corner and features the iconic alert slider on the side. The phone is powered by the Snapdragon 695 SoC and comes with 6 GB of RAM and 128 GB of storage, along with a MicroSD card option. It houses a 4,500mAh battery that supports 33W fast charging.
On the photography front, the OnePlus Nord N20 features a 16-megapixel selfie camera and a 64-megapixel triple camera unit on the back. The rear camera setup also includes a 2-megapixel monochrome camera and a 2-megapixel macro camera.
KEY FEATURES
- 6.4-inch AMOLED FHD+ display with a 60Hz refresh rate.
- Qualcomm Snapdragon 695 Octa-core processor.
- 6GB LPDDR5 RAM, 128GB UFS 2.2 ROM.
- 64MP+2MP+2MP rear cameras, a 16MP Front camera.
- 4500mAh battery, support 35W fast-charging.
- OxygenOS 11 is based on Android 11 OS.
OnePlus Nord CE 2 5G
The OnePlus Nord CE 2 is pretty similar to the Nord CE, with the only difference being the camera bump. The phone has a 6.43-inch FHD+ AMOLED HDR10+ certified display with a 90Hz refresh rate. The display has a punch-hole cutout located in the top left for the front camera. The phone is powered by the MediaTek Dimensity 900 octa-core SoC that features inbuilt 5G and WiFi 6 modems. You get 8GB of LPDDR4x RAM and 128GB UFS 2.2 storage with MicroSD card support.
For photography, the smartphone houses a triple camera system comprising of a 64MP primary sensor, an 8 MP ultra-wide camera, and a 2 MP macro lens. The primary 64MP sensor has a large f/1.7 aperture, which helps it capture vibrant images even in low light environments.
Overall a well balanced phone, especially if you are a fan of the OnePlus ecosystem. You can check out our review here.
KEY FEATURES
- 6.4-inch AMOLED FHD+ display with a 90Hz refresh rate.
- MediaTek Dimensity 900 processor.
- 6GB/12GB LPDDR5 RAM, 128GB/256GB UFS 2.2 ROM.
- 64MP+8MP+2MP rear cameras, a 16MP Front camera.
- 4500mAh battery, support 65W fast-charging.
- OxygenOS 12 is based on Android 12 OS.
Moto G Stylus
The Moto G Stylus is the only phone in this list with Stylus support.
It comes with a 6.8-inch IPS LCD display that offers an FHD+ resolution, a 20:9 aspect ratio, and a 90Hz refresh rate. For processor, you get the Helio G88 with 6 GB of RAM and up to 256 GB of internal storage. You also get a 5,000mAh battery that is promised to last for up to 2 days. At the back is a 50-megapixel main camera along with an 8-megapixel ultrawide lens and a 2-megapixel macro camera.
KEY FEATURES
- 6.8-inch LCD FHD+ display with a 120Hz refresh rate.
- Qualcomm Snapdragon 695 Octa-core 5G processor.
- 6GB/8GB LPDDR5 RAM, 128GB/256GB UFS 2.2 ROM.
- 50MP+8MP+2MP rear cameras, a 16MP Front camera.
- 5000mAh battery, support 10W fast-charging.
- Android 12 OS.
Nokia G50
The Nokia G50 isn’t the most powerful phone in this list. But it comes with a refined vanilla UI with 2 years of OS upgrades, which I’m sure a lot of users would appreciate.
Under the hood, the phone features a Snapdragon 480 chip with 4GB / 6GB of RAM and a 50MP triple camera system at the back. On the front, you get a relatively large 6.82-inch screen, but with only HD+ resolution. For battery, you have a 5000mAh capacity one with 18W charging support.
The phone is currently available for under 200 Euros in multiple markets, making it a good option for budget users.
KEY FEATURES
- 6.8-inch HD+ display with a 120Hz refresh rate.
- Qualcomm Snapdragon 480 Octa-core processor.
- 4GB/6GB LPDDR5 RAM, 64GB/128GB UFS 2.2 ROM.
- 48MP+5MP+2MP rear cameras, a 8MP Front camera.
- 5000mAh battery, support 18W fast-charging.
- Android 12 OS.
Moto G82
The Moto G82 is another great option from Motorola’s stable under $300.
The phone sports a 6.6-inch AMOLED screen with an FHD+ resolution and support for 120Hz refresh rate. Under the hood, there’s a Snapdragon 695 processor paired with 6GB of RAM and there is 128GB of expandable storage onboard. The processor also comes with a 5G support.
The Moto G82 packs a 5000mAh battery with 30W wired fast-charging runs on Android 12 OS out-of-the-box.
KEY FEATURES
- 6.6-inch AMOLED FHD+ display with a 120Hz refresh rate.
- Qualcomm Snapdragon 695 5G Octa-core processor.
- 6GB/8GB LPDDR5 RAM, 128GB UFS 2.2 ROM.
- 50MP+8MP+2MP rear cameras, a 16MP Front camera.
- 5000mAh battery, support 30W fast-charging.
- Android 12 OS.
Doogee S89 Pro Rugged Phone
If your budget is limited to $300 and are looking for a good rugged phone, the Doogee S89 Pro will likely fit your requirement. It features a 6.3-inch LCD FHD+ display and runs on the latest Android 12 OS. The rugged phone comes with IP68/ 69K and the latest MIL-STD-810H certifications that make it waterproof, dustproof, and shock resistant. The phone can be sprayed, splashed on, or completely submerged in water without worrying about breakage and damage.
The rugged Doogee model comes with the MediaTek P90 chipset and features 8GB RAM and 256GB of internal storage, which can be expanded to 512GB. There are triple rear cameras including a 64MP Sony main sensor, a 20MP night vision camera, and an 8MP wide-angle camera. For your selfies, you have a 16MP sensor in the front.
The rugged phone is fueled by a massive 12000mAh battery and comes with a 65W fast charging brick.
KEY FEATURES
- 6.3-inch IPS LCD FHD+ display.
- MediaTek Helio P90 Octa-core processor.
- 8GB 256GB UFS 2.2 ROM.
- 40MP+8MP+ 20MP Night Vision rear cameras, a 16MP Front camera.
- 12000mAh battery, support 65W fast-charging.
- Android 12 OS.
Huawei Nova 9 4G
One of the biggest highlights of the Huawei Nova 9 is its beautiful curved display on the front.
The phone has a 6.57-inch OLED “120Hz Original-Color Curved Display” with 300Hz touch sampling rate. It also has a P3 wide color gamut. Under the hood, the phone features a Snapdragon 778G 4G processor, paired it with up to 8GB of RAM and 128GB of storage.
The phone features a 50MP Ultra Vision Main Camera with a 1/1.56-inch sensor with an RYYB color filter array that captures 40% more light than an RYYB sensor. You also get a 8MP ultrawide angle camera, a 2MP macro camera, and a 2MP depth sensor. On the front, there’s a 32MP shooter for selfies.
You get a relatively compact 4300mAh battery with support for 66W Huawei SuperCharge fast charging inside.
Note that the Huawei Nova 9 does not support 5G.
KEY FEATURES
- 6.57-inch OLED FHD+ display with a 120Hz refresh rate and HDR10.
- Qualcomm Snapdragon 778 4G Octa-core processor.
- 8GB LPDDR5 RAM, 128GB/256GB UFS 2.2 ROM.
- 50MP+8MP+2MP+2MP rear cameras, a 32MP Front camera.
- 4200mAh battery, support 55W fast-charging.
- EMUI 12 – No Google Play Services.
So these were some of the best $300 smartphones of 2022. If you think we missed out on any good phone from this list, let us know in the comments down below.
