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Top 5 phones under £500
5 minute read
The hunt for a good-value smartphone can be overwhelming, so we’re here to help.
One of our wondrous members, wsjudd has put together his list of the top 5 phones you can take home for under £500. Winning. Let’s take a look.
wsjudd: Top 5 phones under £500
After four editions, I’m going to conclude this series by looking at the best-value smartphones under £500.
This is where things get a bit mad, as we get stuff like brand new iPhones (!), great value Android handsets from the likes of Sony and Google and even a couple of refurbished models that undercut the brand new alternatives.
As usual, all of these phones are from the giffgaff mobile phone marketplace. Here, you can find a new or refurbished mobile to suit your needs at almost any budget, so do check it out if none of my recommendations are quite right. With that said, let’s get into it!
5. iPhone SE 5G - £449
We start with something pretty neat - a brand new 2022 iPhone! This is the iPhone SE 5G, released in March, and it’s a dream come true for everyone that prefers the classic iPhone stylings to the new notchy design.
You get a home button rather than Face ID, a smaller but undisturbed LCD screen and a single rear camera - the way it used to be. Inside though, you get a modern A15 Bionic 5nm chipset, 64GB of storage and 5G connectivity.
This is Apple, so a long support period is a given, which also means you get updates to the latest iOS version for a very long time. Here, iOS 16.1 is available at the time of writing and no doubt future versions will also arrive. If you like the old-school iPhone look but still want a fast, modern phone, this could be the pick for you!
(https://www.giffgaff.com/mobile-phones/apple/iphone-se-5g/new)
4. Sony Xperia 1 IV Refurbished - £449
Sony’s candy-bar form factor smartphones provoke a giggle whenever I lay eyes on them, but after four generations, they surely must be selling well if Sony hasn’t changed things up!
This Xperia 1 IV offers a great spec sheet, including 256GB of storage, a 5000mAh battery and 4nm (!) Qualcomm Snapdragon chipset, enough to power some impressive possibilities to fill that ultra-tall (21:9) 6.5-inch 120HZ OLED display.
As with other recent Sony releases, you get upgrades to the latest Android versions, with lucky version 13 due to arrive soon, with little added bloat.
Sony makes a large proportion of the sensors used by other phone makers, so it’s no surprise that the camera system on board is impressive, with a triple 12-megapixel setup that offers wide, telephoto and ultrawide options. Altogether, a great choice for the money, and with £50 left over in the budget, you could opt for a higher-grade refurbished version if you prefer - or simply spend the excess on the world’s fanciest phone case.
(https://www.giffgaff.com/mobile-phones/sony/sony-xperia-1-iv/refurbished)
3. Google Pixel 6 - £449
I made a heartfelt case for the Pixel 6 in a previous article, where a refurbished model squeaked under the £400 budget, so I’ll keep things brief this time around.
The Pixel 6 is the best phone I’ve ever owned, with gob-smacking AI-enhanced language capabilities, brilliant photography and rapid upgrades to new Android versions. The hardware ticks all the boxes for me - high refresh rate OLED screen, high-end camera, comfy design - and the software experience is second to none. There are fancier options out there, but Google really nailed the essentials with the Pixel 6.
(https://www.giffgaff.com/mobile-phones/google/google-pixel-6/new)
2. Apple iPhone 11 - £469
The final Apple appearance in my recommendations belongs to the iPhone 11. It’s far from the latest iPhone, but these are the best phones under £500 - not under £1000.
The iPhone 11 comes with a modern-ish A13 Bionic 7nm chipset, dual 12-megapixel rear cameras and modern-style 6.1-inch LCD display, but the real features here are the ones built into every iPhone: great software support, access to a huge app store, reliable performance, Face ID authentication, top-notch cameras and a popular design that fits in a million different cases. The iPhone 11 delivers these at under £500, even brand new, and is well worth considering in this price bracket.
(https://www.giffgaff.com/mobile-phones/apple/apple-iphone-11/new)
1. Samsung Galaxy Z Flip3 5G Refurbished - £429
I think I’ve saved the best for last here, honestly. Folding phones were still an expensive novelty when I put together the last edition of these recommendations just two years ago, but now you can pick up a high-end folding phone for just £429 when you get it refurbished - incredible.
The Galaxy Z Flip3 5G folds in the middle to fit into tiny pockets or stand up by itself, yet it provides the power of a full-size smartphone. There’s a 120Hz OLED screen capable of an eye-scorching 1200 nits peak brightness, perfect for HDR, plus a dual 12-megapixel rear camera system with wide and ultra-wide options.
The 5nm Snapdragon processor is amongst the most powerful featured in these recommendations, and it’s backed by 8GB of RAM and 128GB of storage for serene multitasking. It makes me incredibly happy to see what many consider to be the future of smartphones - foldable, flexible, powerful handsets - available at a (relatively) budget-friendly price.
(https://www.giffgaff.com/mobile-phones/samsung/samsung-galaxy-z-flip3-5g/refurbished)
Wrapping up
Alrighty then - that brings us to the end of my ‘best phones under’ series - I hope you found it useful! Feel free to reach out with comments and suggestions on my Twitter, @wsjudd, and be sure to take a look at the rest of my best value smartphone guides linked below:
Thumbnail image credit: Photo by Andrea Piacquadio from Pexels
Check out the rest of wsjudd’s articles on the giffgaff blog today. And while you’re at it, why not take a look at our latest bargains?
