Summary:
- Realme X50 Pro 5G, the best alternative for less than £500
- Pixel 4a 5G, the best camera smartphone for less than £500
- Xiaomi Mi Note 10, the best camera phone alternative for less than £500
- Xiaomi Mi 9T Pro: The best value for money at less than £500
- iPhone SE 2020: Apple's best smartphone for less than £500
- Poco F2 Pro, a flagship for under £500
- Samsung Galaxy A71, the mid-range par excellence going for less than £500; Other alternatives below the £500 mark
Editor's choice: OnePlus 7T, the best smartphone for less than £500
As with every other comparison concerning the best smartphones, this is a personal choice of the author who in this case, happens to be me. This choice has obviously been debated within the editorial staff and I will therefore give you my colleagues' recommendations should theirs differ from mine.
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The OnePlus 7T, in my opinion, happens to be one of the best premium smartphones on the market in terms of price/performance ratio, even after going a year into its release.
I've been using it since its launch in October 2019 as a daily driver. Of course, I'm changing smartphones almost every other week for my reviews at the moment. But during the moments when I do not have a model ready to evaluate, I always switch back to my good old OnePlus 7T.
One of my first articles for NextPit was actually a 100-day test, which I invite you to read if you want my complete opinion on this product. Overall, it is still a flagship from last year that somehow fits in perfectly even a year later.
The Snapdragon 855+ chipset is more than adequate to meet all of my gaming needs, even the most demanding titles. The fluid 90 Hz AMOLED display with HDR10+ support is not as advanced as it was back in 2019 but many of the more expensive 2020 models still come with an LCD screen, like the Xiaomi Mi 10T Pro (albeit with a 144 Hz refresh rate).
The 3,800 mAh battery does seem ridiculously tiny compared to what is available currently. Personally, I don't have any major battery life issues. I have a fairly intensive usage pattern with up to 7 hours of screen time on average and I can easily last a full day (12 hours minimum) before seeing the remaining battery life drop below the 20% mark. The Warp Charge 30T capability has also been surpassed by leaps and bounds compared to the solutions offered by Xiaomi, Realme, or Oppo, but the charging rate remains effective, especially when it takes under an hour to return back to 100% battery life.
The camera module has never been the strong point of OnePlus smartphones, but reviewers and fanboys of other brands often tend to exaggerate these flaws. For a smartphone that costs less than £500, the 48 MP camera module is fine, although it's getting old and you're also entitled to a telephoto lens. The software processing capability, while lagging behind, certainly sees an improvement from its predecessors, especially for the Night Sight mode.
The OnePlus 7T is scheduled to receive OxygenOS 11 that is based on Android 11 by December 2020. It will still receive a major upgrade to Android 12 as well as a two-year security patch. This is something to consider if you plan to keep it for at least two years, which would be until 2022.
But all in all, it's the smartphone that I'd recommend with my eyes closed, provided you can find it for less than £500 in the market place. In my opinion, offers from Amazon and Fnac/Darty that I've been able to spot are not reliable. On the manufacturer's official store, it retails for £469. But you can be sure to find it on promotion during Black Friday, so I would advise you to wait a little bit longer.
You can read the full OnePlus 7T review by NextPit here
The best smartphones for less than £500 NextPit advises you to buy
After presenting the editorial staff's choice, which is subjective and will certainly not please everyone, let's move on to the rest of the selection. It's not a question of including all of the models available for under £500 here, but to focus on the best ones according to our opinion.
Realme X50 Pro: the best alternative for less than £500
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In France, the Realme X50 Pro 5G was launched in May 2020 with a starting price of £699. It is one of the most affordable 5G flagships available on the market. It has since dropped quite a bit in price and can be found for less than £500 euros in the market place. It has a good chance of being promoted during Black Friday 2020, so do keep a lookout for good deals then.
The Realme X50 Pro is the most powerful smartphone under £500 in this entire selection, as it is powered by Qualcomm's Snapdragon 865 SoC. You would have no worries about smooth navigation or handling even the most demanding mobile games.
Contrary to the basic model, the Realme X50, which happens to be one of the best choices at less than £400, we swap the 120 Hz LCD out for a 90 Hz refresh rate albeit with a better quality Super AMOLED panel. The 4,200 mAh battery does last quite a while and recharges quickly thanks to the extremely capable 65 Watts Super Dart Fast Charge technology from Realme.
The quadruple 64 MP camera module carries the merit of being versatile enough with the integration of a dedicated 12 MP telephoto lens (f/2.5, 54 mm equivalent) even if the software processing needs some work. But if you're obsessed with perfection and are looking for the most powerful model for less than £500, then the Realme X50 Pro is definitely the best choice.
You can read the full Realme X50 Pro review by NextPit here
Pixel 4a 5G: the best camera smartphone for less than £500
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According to my colleague Ben, who tested this smartphone for NextPit: "The Pixel 4a 5G is not only convincing as a smartphone, but also as an overall concept." Google is stripping its mid-range product right down to the bare basics that include what 95% of smartphone users find important: good system performance, great feedback thanks to very good speakers and an excellent haptic motor, an excellent camera, and an almost Nintendo'esque robustness thanks to the plastic casing.
The Pixel 4a 5G has a Snapdragon 765 SoC that offers 5G connectivity and a larger screen with 6.2 instead of 5.8-inches. In addition, Google has thrown in a wide-angle sensor to keep the famous 12.2-megapixel main camera company instead of a telephoto lens as found on the Pixel 4. The plastic back and the availability of a 3.5mm audio jack remained the same. For the new Pixel 4a 5G, Google is charging an extra £150 compared to the basic Pixel 4a.
It is not the most complete model, but if you are a shutterbug, then it is certainly the best choice in this price range.
You can read the full Google Pixel 4a 5G review by NextPit here
Xiaomi Mi Note 10: the alternative to the best camera smartphone for under £500
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When it was released in November 2019 at £550, the Xiaomi Mi Note 10 was the first smartphone to carry a 108 MP main photosensor. To a greater extent, the Xiaomi Mi Note 10 offers the most versatile camera module on the market in this price range.
Two dedicated telephoto lenses of 12 MP (f/2.0, 50 mm equivalent) and 8 MP (f/2.0) as well as an ultra-wide-angle lens of 20 MP (f/2.2, 13 mm equivalent) and a macro sensor are all part of the deal. So if you like to zoom in on your photos, this is definitely a good choice to limit the loss of detail.
The software processing is naturally far less efficient than the Google algorithms found in the Pixel 4a 5G, and my colleague Stefan noticed some rendering problems during his first camera review. For the rest, there is a 730G Snapdragon SoC, a 6.47-inch AMOLED screen, and a large 5,260 mAh battery that can be charged via a 30 Watt charger.
The Xiaomi Mi Note 10 does not shine as much in terms of photography as the Pixel 4a 5G and its SoC is a slower performer. But the screen is of better quality (HDR10 support) and its battery life is also longer lasting. On the official Xiaomi store in the UK, the Mi Note 10 is sold for £459.
You can read the complete camera test of the Xiaomi Mi Note 10 by NextPit here
Xiaomi Mi 9T Pro: the best quality/price ratio at less than £500
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I reviewed this smartphone before coming over to NextPit, and I ranked it as the best smartphone for less than £500 on the market. It even supplanted the manufacturer's numbered flagship range, making the Mi 9 almost obsolete upon its release. The Mi 9T Pro is now more than a year old but in our opinion, it still remains a highly recommended smartphone in the £400 to £500 range. It is officially displayed at £399 on the official Xiaomi UK store. Boasting improvements over the Mi 9T, it showcases its strong point: a totally borderless screen. This tour de force is made possible by its pop up front camera, an idea which almost all smartphone manufacturers have unfortunately abandoned since.
One thus benefits 100% from the excellent OLED Full HD slab of 6.39-inches. We also find the Snapdragon 855 chipset underneath the hood, the high-end SoC of 2019 which still holds up very well in 2020 (its performance even exceeds the Snapdragon 765G in many aspects although 5G compatibility does have its quirks).
The Mi 9T Pro offers a triple 48 MP camera module with an 8 MP telephoto lens (f/2.4, 53mm equivalent) for added versatility. The aging Sony IMX586 48 MP sensor coupled with Xiaomi's upgradable software processing doesn't make it the best camera phone on the market, but it's pretty good overall.
The main difference compared to the Mi 9 would be the wireless charging capability. In my opinion, this is a feature that can be completely overlooked given the excellent price/performance ratio of the Mi 9T Pro. Unfortunately, I don't have the smartphone available to check it out, but from what I've read on the forums and on XDA Developers, the Mi 9T Pro has also received the upgrade to MIUI 12.
In my opinion, it's a great choice at less than £500 if you want plenty of value for your money, provided you can find a new unit in stock.
You can read the full Xiaomi Mi 9T Pro review by NextPit here
iPhone SE 2020: Apple's best smartphone for less than £500
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Usually excluded from such selections except for the high-end market, Apple finds its place in this selection of the best smartphones at less than £500 with the iPhone SE 2020 selling for £399.
I'm aware that many of you will be screaming in the comments, and that Apple users don't consider value for money to be as essential as Android enthusiasts do. If you're a fanboy and the mere mention of Apple in an article makes your hair stand on the end, then just walk away, will you?
Because the iPhone SE 2020 has the merit of offering a compromise that is rarely done by Apple previously. My colleague Julia obviously loved the smartphone and rightly sang its praises in her review.
Personally, it's not a product I would buy. But I have to admit that the iPhone SE breaks the pricing structure that Apple usually charged by keeping some hardware on its specifications sheet to be the equivalent of those found on the high-end spectrum: the Bionic A13 chip first and foremost, as well as wireless charging capability and IP67 certification.
What is seen as a mid-range price for Android devices happens to be the entry-level for Apple's smartphones. But the iPhone SE 2020 is not a discounted or budget iPhone. It's not a flagship killer either, and some restrictions imposed by Apple would be unforgivable and unthinkable should an Android-based manufacturer ventured to use it as a base idea for its models.
I'm obviously talking about the LCD screen with wide bezels, a single camera setup, and 64GB of storage in the base configuration. But unlike all of the other models in this selection, you'll have between 5 and 6 years of major updates to go with this smartphone.
So it's absolutely not a good choice in terms of value for money compared to Android, but it's the most accessible gateway to Apple's catalog and its famous "user experience." The iPhone SE 2020 has earned its rightful place in this selection, please don't be upset.
You can read the full iPhone SE 2020 NextPit review here
Sub-£500 alternatives NextPit has not reviewed
This section is dedicated to honourable mentions. These are models that NextPit hasn't been able to review yet, either for the lack of time or because we couldn't obtain it for you. In order to justify their inclusion in this list, we rely on the specifications sheet and information published on each model, as well as the opinion of fellow reviewers.
Poco F2 Pro: a flagship at less than £500
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This is the smartphone I regret not having been able to review the most. I don't know why Xiaomi didn't want to send it to us, but what is certain is this: it happens to be the most powerful smartphone on the market for less than £500, or even £400.
If I had been able to review it, I would undoubtedly have ranked it as the best value for money or the most powerful option. It could even have been at the top of this selection as the best model for less than £500 on the market.
In an op-ed written at the time of its release, I even explained that this is what a flagship-killer should look like in 2020. At its release, the Poco F2 Pro sold for £499 in the UK. You also get MIUI 12, the latest version of Xiaomi's stable Android skin. I've seen some reviews criticise its rather massive weight and dimensions and the presence of ads in the interface, which can be seen even in the native virus scan application.
But the ads are easily removable by following my rather comprehensive dedicated guide, although I hate going through the motions to do so. You also don't need a high refresh rate or stereo speakers, which the Poco F2 Pro lacks in order to reside on the high-end smartphone spectrum. But these are shortcomings that caused the price drop of this smartphone, which has now dipped under the £500 mark, and that makes it all the more desirable.
You can read NextPit's article on the launch of Xiaomi's Poco F2 Pro here
Samsung Galaxy A71: the mid-range par excellence for less than £500
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The Galaxy A range alone represents a large part of the mid-range offering in the smartphone market (although it also includes entry-level models, which were previously in the J range).
The Samsung Galaxy A71 is the big brother of the Galaxy A51 and the successor to the highly successful A70. It's also a smartphone released at the end of 2019 at £479, and unlike almost all the models in this selection, released in 2020. Nevertheless, it remains a very good choice at less than £500 or even £400.
It stands out in particular for its large 6.7-inch Super AMOLED screen, compared to 6.5-inch of viewing real estate for the A51. With its 64 MP main sensor, 5 MP portrait mode, 12 MP ultra-wide-angle, and 5 MP macro mode, the A71 provides a very versatile module for this price range.
The smartphone is based on the Snapdragon 730 SoC that is mated to 6GB of RAM and 128GB of internal storage, and is further expandable up to 512GB via microSD. And the OneUI interface, which is the most popular skin on the Android market, remains very pleasant to use as I've been able to explain in my many reviews of Samsung smartphones this year.
It's not the best choice in my opinion though, as some colleagues may have noticed battery life issues inherent to most Samsung smartphones as well as slowdowns due to the aging chipset. But the Samsung Galaxy A71 is very strong in its class where photos are concerned, although the SoC might not the best available but the quality of the screen achieved by Samsung is hard to live up to among its competitors. And if you're a OneUI fan, it's definitely a good choice.
What can you expect from a smartphone for less than £500?
The segment between £400 and £500 lies within the mid-range market, as explained in the introduction. In this price range, we can talk about the top end of the mid-range, with smartphones offering a much more attractive package that has its compromises. You can even find old flagships, sold for £600 before but whose price has plummetted a lot since their release.
One can therefore find OLED screens with high refresh rates between 90 and 120 Hz easily. Mid-range processors like the Snapdragon 765G are commonplace and in my opinion, a minimum requirement for a 2020 model. But if we were to extend the selection to the 2019 flagships, we can also find last year's high-end processors like the Snapdragon 855 or 855+.
Some flagships of Xiaomi, Poco, or Realme, even offer completely premium specifications sheets at the level of 2020 standards and can be found for less than £500 in MarketPlace. Overall, this is the price range that I advise you to keep a lookout for as actively as possible during promotional periods such as sales or the upcoming Black Friday.
It is also almost common to have smartphones costing less than £500 to arrive equipped with triple or even quad-camera modules with a main sensor that sports 48, 64, and even 108 MP. We are also more likely to have dedicated telephoto lenses rather than 3D and macro sensors, where the latter two tend to be pretty much tacked on as an afterthought, on models that go below the £400 and £300 mark.
In this price range, compromises tend to vary from one manufacturer to another. For instance, you can very well find a powerful smartphone, equipped with a nice OLED display and also with good battery life for less than £500. And you are also able to opt for an "older" flagship that will remain competitive for at least another good years (or more), before it forgoes Android updates and security patches.
Overall, this is the most complicated price range to arrive at a selection. Most of the models sold for less than £500 euros at their release are less interesting than the most affordable flagships like a OnePlus 8T or a Xiaomi Mi 10T Pro (£599), and I will always advise you to invest a little more.
And if your budget is really restrained, I would consider the pure mid-range units at less than £400 as a more relevant choice. Between £400 and £500, you will therefore often be dependent on promotional periods and the possibility of price drops based on the market cycle.
Key criteria:
- OLED screen at 90/120 Hz refresh rate
- Snapdragon 765G, 855, or even 865 chipset
- Solid batteries at over 4,000 mAh capacity
- 48, 64 or even 108 MP main camera sensors
Compromises
- Android updates and security patches on older flagships
- Storage is not always expandable
- Wireless charging and IP certification is not widespread
- The most interesting models require you to wait for special offers or a natural price drop
How did NextPit select its best smartphones for less than £500?
As explained in the introduction, this list is arbitrary since it is based on the preferences of the author (in this case, me) and the rest of the editorial staff (the list was discussed among all the reviewers).
We decided not to make a catch-all list and to select only the best smartphones between £400 and £500 according to several categories: the best all-in-one, the best value for money, the best in photography, with possibly the best alternatives.
But the goal here is not to rank the list in order of greatest to the least. Purchasing a smartphone is the product of several selection criteria. One rarely chooses his smartphone for a single criterion such as battery or screen, the idea here is to offer you an entire device and its experience delivered.
The selected models are nevertheless selected on the basis of certain objective criteria such as price, performance (as observed by benchmarks), their specifications sheets, etc.
As for a review, this list is the product of several subjective opinions but is always partly supported by objective and verifiable elements. We also remain attentive to the community by taking into account readers' recommendations in the comments to populate the selection.
Concretely, only models that have been reviewed at the time of publishing were selected. The smartphone is put into context with the current state of the market, taking into account possible price reductions, the release of new competing models, its availability for purchase, etc. If a model is not available, it will be replaced by a new one (deservedly so) on paper to be part of the selection. Seeing that there are models that we could not review, we have also included them by basing our recommendations on the opinion of competing tech sites that have reviewed those.
How to find your smartphone at the best price?
I've devoted an ultimate and complete guide to anticipating price drops, sort through promotions, compare prices, avoid marketplace scams...in short, to buy a smartphone online at the best price without being scammed. In short, to buy a smartphone online at the best price without being fooled. This guide will be particularly useful at a price range of less than £500, where it is heavily dependent on good deals and promotions in order to find the most interesting models, as explained in the previous section.
Instead of telling you which is the best smartphone for your needs and your budget, I explained how to search for it online and most importantly, how to find it at the best price without getting ripped off. This article currently includes 4 topics of a series that will continue for a long time. It will therefore be updated as it goes along. Think of it as a book, a Wikipedia page for the online shopper that you can consult at will.
You can find the links of the 4 topics separately below, with a quick summary:
- Always check that the original price has not been inflated by the seller to artificially increase the amount of the discount.
- On the marketplace of Amazon or others, beware of third-party sellers and exclusion of VAT.
- Always compare the prices of a smartphone before you buy it.
- You can find a cheaper or better-priced smartphone without waiting for selections from specialized tech sites or Black Friday type promo periods.
- The "Buy on Google" interface of Google Shopping is a good joker, to find exclusive promotions when the Marketplaces do not offer much.
- How to buy a smartphone at the best time by anticipating price reductions?
- The commercial calendar (sales, Black Friday) is not the most reliable source of information. It must therefore be in tandem with each manufacturer's release calendar.
- A good price for a smartphone is 20% less of the original price at the time of its release.
- This type of discount will be found mainly on offers from third party vendors in MarketPlace, where the usual precautions (origin, the identity of the seller, the inclusion of VAT) are therefore enforced.
- You have to wait at least 3 months (and 6 maximum) to reach this threshold of less 20% for an Android smartphone.
- The range of 3 to 6 months range also applies to Apple smartphones, with lower price reductions compared to Android.
- Buying on AliExpress or Gearbest is not a risk-free purchase.
- You can go through these sites legally.
- European and French sellers cannot match Gearbest or AliExpress's tax-free rates.
- You may be required to pay these taxes upon delivery. Always keep in mind that you will probably have to add 20% of the price paid to get the final rate.
- Warranty and after-sales service are not as comprehensive as those from Amazon, Fnac, or the manufacturer's official store itself.
What do you think of this selection? Which models do you think we have forgotten and deserve to be included? Do you find the advice and methodology sections useful? What do you think of this new format? Give us your feedback in the comments section!
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