Optus Mobile Review ALDI Mobile Review Amaysim Mobile Review Belong Mobile Review Circles.Life Review Vodafone Mobile Review Woolworths Mobile Review Felix Mobile Review Best iPhone Plans Best Family Mobile Plans Best Budget Smartphones Best Prepaid Plans Best SIM-Only Plans Best Plans For Kids And Teens Best Cheap Mobile Plans Telstra vs Optus Mobile Optus NBN Review Belong NBN Review Vodafone NBN Review Superloop NBN Review Aussie BB NBN Review iiNet NBN Review MyRepublic NBN Review TPG NBN Review Best NBN Satellite Plans Best NBN Alternatives Best NBN Providers Best Home Wireless Plans What is a Good NBN Speed? Test NBN Speed How to speed up your internet Optus vs Telstra Broadband ExpressVPN Review CyberGhost VPN Review NordVPN Review PureVPN Review Norton Secure VPN Review IPVanish VPN Review Windscribe VPN Review Hotspot Shield VPN Review Best cheap VPN services Best VPN for streaming Best VPNs for gaming What is a VPN? VPNs for ad-blocking But $700 still ain’t cheap, which is why we also have options for less than our greenest cash note. That’s the bottom end of the budget scale, with $100 increments to better features. Regardless of how far your wallet can reach, you’re certain to find something here to pair with one of Australia’s best cheap mobile plans. So, without further ado, here are our top picks for the best cheap smartphones in 2023. The Google Pixel 6a sports a 6.1-inch FHD+ OLED display with a 60Hz refresh rate. The front of the device is punctuated by a teardrop-shaped 8MP front-facing camera, while the back is armed with a dual-lens camera that combines a 12.2MP wide angle lens with a 12MP ultrawide one. Powering it all is the same Google Tensor processor found in last year’s flagship Google Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro, complemented by 6GB of RAM and 128GB of on-board storage. It comes with a gorgeous 4.7-inch Retina HD full-screen display, a decent 64GB of internal storage, and a speedy processor. The camera offers decent results, even if it struggles with lowlight photography, and there’s baked-in software-support longevity thanks to its beefy innards. Here’s how much it’ll set you back on a plan. An asking price of $599 here gets you an Android smartphone with a slick AMOLED display, sharp looks, snappy processor and a standout multi-lens rear camera with a 64MP main sensor. Premium perks like wireless charging aren’t included, but budget buyers will still find plenty to like about the OPPO Reno8 Lite 5G. If you’re in the market for a decent smartphone under $400, the Moto G62 5G should be a shoe-in for your shortlist. Those who can afford to spend more will find that doing so is worth it, but those who cannot should be able to do more than just live with what the OPPO A54s delivers. Although the Moto E7’s 720p IPS display isn’t much to look at, the 5000mAh battery powering the device ensures that it’ll be visible for long time before you need to recharge. At $199, there are always going to be compromises. Thankfully, the Motorola Moto E7 does a decent job of making the right ones. The new Nokia 225 is a more than worthy headliner here. The device’s physical buttons are great for first-time phone users, while the 2.4-inch polarised screen is both the right size and designed to be easy to read in sunlight. Unlike the smartphones on this page, the Nokia 225 is close to a dumbphone. It can still use apps like Twitter and Facebook, but that’s about it. Other than that, there’s some light entertainment in the form of reimagined Snake, an FM radio, an MP3 player, and a 0.3MP camera for taking basic snaps. While this limited featureset can’t compete with the latest iPhone, the battery life blows it out of the water at up to 19 hours of talk time. At this and other budget-friendly pricepoints, consumers will rarely get everything they want. However, doing your research can be key to making sure that you choose a device with the right compromises. Manufacturers of sub-$500 Android devices are typically less likely to invest in the research and development than they would be with more expensive smartphones due to the smaller margins involved. For that reason, budget smartphones often boil down to the specs and little else. The devil is in the details here. So when it came time to decide our picks for the best mobile phones under $700, we kept a few factors in mind. These included:
Display quality and size: Resolution isn’t the only thing that matters. 5G connectivity: Faster speeds are good, but long battery life is better. Build quality and design: Just because a phone is cheap doesn’t mean it has to feel cheap. Software pedigree: Invariably, the more budget-friendly a smartphone is, the more bloatware is typically involved. We try to recommend devices that veer in the opposite direction.
While there are clear benefits, less-demanding consumers might not even notice them. If you’re looking to buy a cheap smartphone, 5G probably isn’t worth it unless you see it as a form of a future-proofing over the long-run. Still, it always pays to look around and do your research. Even if you can’t find the exact cheap phone you’re after, you might be able to find something pretty similar at a bargain price.
