Best phones under £400 | 2018

When you push aside budget and premium phones, you get smartphones that sit at a nice price tag but still have a lot to offer, which may be hard to believe when you look at some of the premium devices out there. But if you don’t believe us then why not read on to see what you can get for under £400.

Sony Xperia XA2 Ultra - £349

If you’re looking for a large screen, a brilliant camera and a battery that can get you through the day and night then the Xperia XA2 Ultra sounds like it could be just right for you.

With a 6" full HD display, you’ll never complain about a small screen and it offers a great experience when watching videos, especially because the display is edge-to-edge. It also offers amazing performance thanks to 4GB of RAM, its Qualcomm Snapdragon 630 processor and 32GB of storage space. Whilst the latter may not be sufficient for you, it supports a SD card up to 256GB, which should be more than enough for a mobile device.

Where the XA2 impresses is in its camera. It has a 23MP rear camera and boasts not one but two selfie cameras, giving itself a competitive edge. The two cameras consist of one 16MP and one 8MP camera, with the latter designed for taking group shots due to its super-wide angle.

Finally, it has a powerful 3,850 mAh battery so you can expect to use your phone all day and still get through the night. Pretty impressive, right?

iPhone 6S - £349

Having been released in 2015, the iPhone 6S is not exactly a recent smartphone but it’s not old either and shouldn’t be disregarded. For anyone looking for a smartphone for texting, making calls, web browsing, watching videos and playing games it does more than a good enough job.

It has a 4.7" Retina HD display, so you’re not losing out on high definition and has a fingerprint sensor for added security. As for the camera, it rocks a 12MP iSight camera and a 5MP FaceTime camera. Admittedly, it’s not a phone for those that really want to step up their mobile photography game but the camera is good enough for those that just want to capture moments. As a bonus, it has 4K video recording capability, which is totally the thing now.

In terms of performance, it still runs very well and is still supported by Apple with iOS 12, which is always good news.

Huawei P20 Lite - £249

If you fancy dropping your budget even further, you can pick up the Huawei P20 Lite for just £249 and yet it still has a lot to offer.

You get a stunning 5.8" FHD+ edge-to-edge display, a dual 16MP + 2MP camera as well as a 16MP selfie camera. The dual lens lets you make your main object stand out and blurs the background, which helps make your photos look that little more professional and cool too.

It’s a fantastic phone at a fantastic price and is perfect for anyone that loves taking photos. On top of that, it runs off 4GB of RAM, the Huawei Kirin 659 chipset and a 3,000 mAh battery to get you through the whole day. It’s really not bad at all for under £400. In fact, it falls under £300 so it really isn’t bad.

Final thoughts

There may not be a heap of top smartphones under £400 but there are enough to give you choice and to meet your budget. They don’t tick every single box so each one is suited to different people.

For photo lovers, the Huawei P20 Lite sounds like the right one. For those looking for a large display as well as a really good camera then the Sony Xperia XA2 Ultra seems to be the one to go for and for those who just want an overall good smartphone, you can’t go wrong with an iPhone 6S.

Choices. Which one would you go for?