Best Phone Under $500 for 2023: New Features at Lower Prices

The Pixel 6A is still available, and at its permanently discounted price of $349, it still has a lot to offer. CNET's Lisa Eadicicco said in her Pixel 6A review that the phone includes many of the Pixel 6's best features, and that remains the case even as the Pixel 7A hits the market at $499.

The phone is slightly smaller than the Pixel 6, featuring a 6.1-inch OLED display and a refresh rate of 60Hz. And while it has a 12.2-megapixel main camera and a 12-megapixel ultrawide camera, photos taken look quite good using Google's photo processing software. Pictures can benefit from its Real Tone skin tone feature, Face Unblur, Night Sight for darker photography and the Magic Eraser for removing unwanted elements from a photo.

Pros:

• Great camera
• Affordable price
• Premium design for a midtier phone
• Among the first to get new Android updates

Cons:

• Somewhat dim display
• Not a great value alongside discounted Pixel 6
• Not as many years of guaranteed Android updates as Samsung
• Video quality isn't as good as still photos

The $450 Samsung Galaxy A54 5G has a lot of the look and feel of the more expensive Galaxy S23 series. It comes in a variety of bright colors and has a vibrant 6.4-inch display, the latter of which is larger than Google's Pixel 7A or 6A.

Samsung's device also includes a microSD card slot for expandable storage, which is a nice option for flexibility that's not available on the Pixel.

It's overall a solid option, but photography on both the Pixel 6A and the Pixel 7A edges out the Galaxy A54. In his Galaxy A54 5G review, CNET's Andrew Lanxon found Samsung's photos to look more saturated than those taken by the Pixel phones.

But if you're eyeing the $800 Samsung Galaxy S23 anyway, the Galaxy A54 is certainly worth an initial look, because it might include the essentials you want for less money.

Pros:

• Big, vibrant screen
• Expandable storage
• Affordable price

Cons:

• Processor and camera performance lags behind cheaper Pixel 6A
  

The $429 iPhone SE is a mix of an older design with the latest smartphone features, including Apple's A15 Bionic chip and 5G support. It's also one of the few phones on the market that includes a smaller, 4.7-inch screen.

It's that throwback design, which continues the general shape that Apple has used since 2014, that could be what you love or dislike most about this phone. If you want a larger iPhone in this price range, you can also consider the iPhone 11, and get a bigger screen and Face ID. But that phone does not include 5G connectivity.

The phone also only includes one 12-megapixel main camera, which does not support night mode. Most other phones in this roundup include multiple cameras and features like night mode, making the omission noticeable. However, photos make up for this by including the Deep Fusion photo-processing technique to enhance medium-to-low light photos, and Smart HDR4 processing for improving color and contrast. CNET Managing Editor Patrick Holland did find that video shot in 4K resolution at 60 frames per second is particularly good on the iPhone SE, but it will not include the Cinematic Mode seen on the iPhone 13.

Pros:

• Affordable
• Home button and Touch ID FTW
• Good battery life so far
• Camera takes good photos and videos

Cons:

• Lacks night mode for photos
• Screen could be brighter
• Bezels above and below screen look dated
• Selfie camera not on par with rear camera.
• 20-watt USB-C charger not included.

Motorola revamped the Moto G line for 2023, with redesigns that led to a lower starting price for most of the company's midrange phone line. For the Moto G Stylus 5G, it meant a $400 starting price for the stylus-equipped phone when compared to $500 for the 2022 model.

Despite the price cut, Motorola still includes a 6.6-inch display running at a 1080p resolution and 120Hz refresh rate. The phone also ships with up to 256GB of storage and 6GB of RAM, which is double the storage we usually see on phones in this price range. You can expand that even further using a microSD card.

In his Moto G Stylus 5G review, CNET's David Lumb notes that aside from the included stylus, the phone's $400 price, given its specs, might be a draw for someone considering this phone against the more expensive Pixel 7A. However, the Pixel 7A still outperforms the Moto G Stylus 5G in terms of performance and photography.

Pros:

• Bright display
• Good specs and speakers
• Long battery life Stylus is a fun addition

Cons:

• 10W charging is slow
• Night photos are blurry
• Not many stylus apps

With the launch of the iPhone 14 series, Apple discontinued the $500 iPhone 11, but it's still widely available. It might be a few generations old, but this phone is still more than capable, handling gaming well and equipped with two superb rear cameras. It is missing 5G support, which is increasingly improving as wireless carriers invest in the network, but the phone will work fine on LTE and Wi-Fi. The iPhone 11 also does not support MagSafe accessories, which were introduced alongside the iPhone 12.

Just note that some places may be selling refurbished versions of the phone since Apple itself is no longer selling new iPhone 11 models. Best Buy does not carry any unlocked models, so you'll have to sign up for a service plan through either AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile or Sprint.

Pros:

• Good battery life
• Nice cameras, especially Night Mode
• Solid video camera

Cons:

• Lacks a 2x telephoto camera
• Ultrawide camera doesn't have night mode
• No USB-C port.
• Has an LCD instead of OLED