The best budget smartphones of 2026

Budget guide

How to choose budget

Budget smartphones run modern apps, take competent daily photos, and stream video without thermal throttling. The best budget phones of 2026 cost less than £400. The Google Pixel 8a, the Samsung Galaxy A55, and the Nothing Phone (3a) Pro all sit comfortably inside the budget bracket.

Display

Budget phones ship with 6.1-inch to 6.7-inch OLED or LCD displays. The Samsung Galaxy A55 has a 120 Hz Super AMOLED panel. The Google Pixel 8a runs at 120 Hz on its OLED panel. Higher refresh rates produce smoother scrolling than the legacy 60 Hz default.

Chipset

Budget chipsets handle daily apps and casual gaming. The MediaTek Dimensity 7300, the Snapdragon 7 Gen 3, and the Google Tensor G3 power most current £200 to £400 models. Sustained gaming on these chipsets sits around 30 to 60 frames per second in modern titles.

Camera

A 50 megapixel main sensor with optical image stabilisation produces sharp daylight photos and acceptable low-light photos. The Google Pixel 8a uses a 64 megapixel main sensor with Google's computational photography pipeline. The Nothing Phone (3a) Pro mounts a 50 megapixel main sensor with a 50 megapixel telephoto lens.

Battery and charging

Budget phones carry 4500 to 5000 mAh batteries. Wired charging speeds range from 18 watts on the Pixel 8a to 50 watts on the Nothing Phone (3a) Pro. Wireless charging is rare in the budget bracket and present only on a few flagship-adjacent models.

The best budget smartphones of 2026