Our Picks
Phones that cost $300 or less have many of the features you need daily, and also tend to be some of the best values around. Sub-$300 phones like Motorola's Moto G Power 5G (2024) and Samsung's Galaxy A25 5G have NFC for contactless payments, high refresh rate displays for gaming and smooth animations, support for wireless charging and come with years of software updates. To get a phone down to a $300 price there are compromises. Cameras tend to be a mixed bag. Phones at this price tend to either have a "fun" design or one that can last years, but you can’t have both. Luckily for you, there are a number of great smartphones that cost $300 or less to choose from. Here are our favorites that we tested and reviewed.
We should note that there's a new version of the Moto G Power for this year, and the Samsung Galaxy A26 was recently announced. We look forward to testing both and will update this list once we have.
What is the best phone under $300?
The best phone you can buy for under $300 is Motorola’s Moto G Power 5G for 2025. It comes with a colorful vegan leather back that adds to an eye-catching design that we don’t typically see in lower-cost phones -- the pale lilac color is definitely something to behold. The Moto G Power 5G also has standout features like support for Google Pay contactless payments, 30-watt wired charging and 15-watt wireless charging. We were able to take some decent photos with the Moto G Power, and its multitasking capabilities make it a great choice for most daily tasks. We just wish that Motorola overhauled its software and security update promises alongside its design, as the phone will receive only one OS update to Android 15 and three years of security updates.
Best phones under $300
Best phone under $300
Pros
- NFC/Google Pay
- Good battery life
- Wireless charging
- Moto shortcuts
Cons
- Short software support timeline
- Screen is too dim in sunlight
- Lacks IP rating for dust and water resistance
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 (one 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.
Best cheap phone for long-term use
Pros
- Decent performance
- Loud speakers
- Software support
Cons
- Drab design
- No wireless charging
- Mixed photography
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 1080p 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
Best phone for fast charging
Pros
- Truly fast charging
- Large 120Hz refresh-rate screen
- NFC for contactless payments
Cons
- Photos are a mixed bag
- Short software-update timeline
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.
Best phone to get on sale
Pros
- Great camera
- Affordable price
- Premium design for a middle-tier phone
Cons
- Dim display
- Not as many years of guaranteed Android updates as Samsung
- Video quality isn't as good as the photos
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.
Factors to consider when buying a $300 phone
These cheaper devices tend to scale back significantly in one area or another in order to achieve those low prices. Most commonly, these drawbacks include limited software support, carrier support or bloatware (preloaded apps that you never asked for). These trade-offs often mean that these devices should not be used after two to three years, especially after security update support ends.
It's also notable that while these phones retail for $200 to $300, many of them are often available at a deep discount -- or even for free -- as part of a carrier subsidy deal. If you are planning to stick with the same wireless carrier for two years, these phones could just become part of the cost of your service.
How we test phones
Every phone on this list has been thoroughly tested by CNET's expert reviews team. We actually use the phone, test the features, play games and take photos. We assess any marketing promises that a company makes about its phones. If we find something we don't like, be it battery life or build quality, we tell you all about it.
We examine every aspect of a phone during testing:
- Display
- Design and feel
- Processor performance
- Battery life
- Camera quality
- Features
We test all of a phone's cameras (both front and back) in a variety of conditions: from outdoors under sunlight to dimmer indoor locales and nighttime scenes (for any available night modes). We also compare our findings against similarly priced models. We have a series of real-world battery tests to see how long a phone lasts under everyday use.
We take into account additional phone features like 5G, fingerprint and face readers, styluses, fast charging, foldable displays and other useful extras. We also weigh all of our experiences and testing against the price so you know whether a phone represents good value or not.
Read more: How We Test Phones
Other phones we tested
This year there aren’t many other phones in this price range that hit the $200 to $250 price range, but if you want to go a bit cheaper our top pick under $200 is the Samsung Galaxy A15 5G. While I found this phone to be noticeably slower in performance than the Galaxy A25, it does include the same pledge of receiving four years of software updates and five years of security updates, making it an appealing option when all you need is a phone.
Motorola’s $200 Moto G 5G (2024) is also a decent option that comes close to being an excellent $200 phone thanks to a similar vegan leather design and the Moto G Power (2024), inclusion of NFC and decent cameras. However I found the Moto G 5G to struggle with multitasking, making it harder to recommend if you find yourself often swapping between apps.