The Pixel 7A does miss out on the Pixel 7's battery-share feature and the camera's Action Pan mode and doesn't have all the AI features that define the more recent Pixel 8.Īnd if you want to save even more money, last year's Pixel 6A has received a permanent price drop to $349 and still has a lot to offer. It gets wireless charging, a 90Hz refresh rate and a 64-megapixel main camera paired up with a 13-megapixel ultrawide camera. The Pixel 7A includes the same Tensor G2 processor found in the 7 Pro that powers Google's Pixel-exclusive features. Google's $499 Pixel 7A compares so closely to the $599 Pixel 7 and $699 Pixel 8 that it's now tough to recommend the more expensive option. You can see the pros and cons of each of these phones below, with more details available in our full reviews. And the Moto G Stylus 5G takes nice photos, provides a roomy 256GB of space and throws in a stylus, but Motorola doesn't provide software support for as long as its competitors. Samsung's Galaxy A series of phones often look just like the Galaxy S line but instead run on a less powerful processor. Apple's iPhone SE and Google's Pixel 6A and 7A phones, for instance, have smaller screens, but all run on newer processors and software. These phones do make cuts that justify why they're cheaper than phones that cost more than $500, but those cuts are increasingly in areas that might not raise any particular flag when you just want a reliable device for everyday use. They even get several years of software and security updates to keep the phone going for longer.

Most of these phones include some features that you find on flagship devices that cost over $1,000. The best phones under $500 offer a good camera system, decent performance and a big display.

But budget handsets are getting better each year, and you don't need to spend a ton of money to get a phone that's packed with great features. Affordable phones used to offer dismal performance that results in a frustrating experience.

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