What are the best budget camera phones? Here are our top 6

Smartphone cameras have improved by leaps and bounds, rivaling dedicated cameras and other complex camera systems. If you don’t want to spend big bucks on the best Android phone cameras money can buy, there are also many awesome budget phones with great cameras. Here’s what to consider when looking for the best budget camera phones:

• How far can you stretch your budget?
• Do you want an Android phone or an iPhone?
• How important is versatility?
• Will you buy unlocked or via a carrier?

We must set some standards before we move on. What exactly is a budget phone? The definition is subjective, but we believe anything under $500 is considered a budget camera phone nowadays. Therefore, we won’t add any devices that go over that price point to this list.

What to look for in a good budget camera phone

The budget camera phones we list here are great options, but we can understand if you still have some doubts. There’s a world of possibilities out there. Let’s help you further with some indications of what you should look for in the best budget camera phones.

• How many cameras do you need? There’s a popular trend in which smartphone makers slap as many cameras onto a phone as possible to make you think it’s better. You might find four lenses on a $300 device, but you may never use them all, and they may not hold a candle to a pair of higher-quality shooters. No matter what, you can ignore devices that pass off macro cameras and depth sensors as extra lenses to fill space. A good ultrawide lens can replace a macro one, and depth information rarely requires its own shooter.
• What type of cameras do you need? Picking up from the point above, it’s good to consider the kind of images you want to capture. If you’re into landscapes, you might want a sweeping ultrawide lens to bring in every last detail. However, you might find yourself looking for a telephoto lens if you’re hoping to capture some wildlife. Or maybe you are into macro shots, in which case you should look for a good macro camera, but these are rare in smartphones.
• Megapixels aren’t everything: Just like the fact that four cameras aren’t always better than three, you also shouldn’t focus on looking for a high-megapixel camera phone. We would consider these phones with 50MP sensors or higher. That said, 108MP isn’t always better than 12MP. Many cameras with massive megapixel counts bin down to smaller images by default, while some 12MP lenses take advantage of larger sensors for excellent results. Google stuck with a 12.2MP primary sensor for years before adopting (and binning) a higher-resolution sensor for the Google Pixel 6 series.
• Do you want manual controls? If you’re coming from the world of DSLRs or mirrorless cameras, you might like a little more control in your life. Some phones offer in-depth apps that let you tweak settings like white balance and exposure compensation. If none of those terms sound familiar, you might be after a device with a more straightforward setup. For example, the Google Pixel 8 lets you control portrait mode and a few basic effects, but limits your manual power in favor of the Tensor processing smarts. If you’d rather do it all yourself, the Sony Xperia 1 V is a perfect example of a mighty manual setup.
• Software matters a lot: Sticking with the Pixel example, one of the reasons that Google didn’t update its hardware very often was because the processing software is just that good. Two phones may share the same image sensor, yet produce entirely different results, which all comes back to the onboard software. Powerful software also leads to better editing control over colors and object removal.

The Google Pixel 8a takes the crown as the king of budget camera phones

Google’s Pixel A-series has always offered incredible camera chops for the price, and the Pixel 8a kicks this up a level. It employs the same chipset as the flagship Google Pixel 8 Pro, lending to its excellent day-to-day processing performance. It also gives it a leg up over much pricier phones, thanks to its on-board Gemini AI computational smarts.

More importantly, the chipset also aides the phone’s excellent post-processing on images, which makes the most of its hardware. For the most part, the Pixel 8a doesn’t see massive camera sensor or lens upgrades over its predecessor. It includes a 64MP primary shooter that delivered excellent results in our testing, and a 13MP ultrawide lens that offered a 120-degree perspective. Like its predecessor, the Pixel 8a’s color reproduction and white balance are superb, and the natural bokeh is impressive, but what really puts it over the edge are special features enabled by the processor, like Night Sight, Magic Eraser, Photo/Face Unblur, and more. The phone takes excellent point-and-shoot photos, so you don’t have to be a professional photographer to get good results.

Camera performance isn’t everything, and the Pixel 8a is a great phone in other departments, too. The phone is on the smaller side, which makes it a great one-handed device. Of course, there are a few drawbacks, starting with the charging speed. The 18W wired charging and 7.5W wireless maximums are painfully slow.

If you can live with that, the Pixel 8a’s best feature is its price: $499. It’s hard to pass up, especially when you consider Google’s seven years of software support.

What makes it stand out?

• It can shoot incredible photos thanks to Google’s computational photography.
• Performance is excellent, as it has the same Google Tensor G3 chipset we saw on the Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro.
• The device is the perfect size for one-handed use.
• Google’s devices have simple, clean user interfaces and extensive software support.
• As a Pixel phone, this device will be among the first to get exclusive Google features first, like Gemini AI smarts.

The best of the rest: Six other excellent budget camera phones

The Google Pixel 8a is a stunning camera phone for a very reasonable price, but it’s not the only one around. We have a few other options that might be a better fit for some of you.

• Samsung Galaxy A35 5G: This might be your best bet if you’re looking for the best value. It offers the most bang for the buck.
• Apple iPhone SE (2022): iPhones have great camera phones, but they are known to be expensive. Not this one!
• Samsung Galaxy A25 5G: The A25 5G is for those looking to spend as little as possible on a good camera phone, while sticking to the Samsung ecosystem.
• OnePlus Nord 3: The Nord 3 is a better deal if you want more performance from your budget camera phone.
• Nothing Phone 2a: This device has a low price, an excellent design, and a pretty nice camera system.

The Samsung Galaxy A35 5G offers the most bang for your buck

The Samsung Galaxy A35 5G offers exceptional value. As we described in our review, it’s easily Samsung’s best budget phone launched in 2024. It’s also the best alternative to the Galaxy A55 5G, which won’t make the journey stateside.

Nevertheless, the Galaxy A35 5G is still a capable camera phone, featuring a 50MP main camera, an 8MP ultrawide, and a 5MP macro camera. The latter is pretty redundant, and we would’ve loved a telephoto, but you can’t demand too much from a $400 handset.

Other positives include a durable construction, a bright AMOLED panel for viewing your shots, and great battery endurance to keep you shooting all day.

What makes it stand out?

• It has a large AMOLED display with a smooth refresh rate.
• The cameras (especially the primary lens) are stunning for a phone at this price.
• It offers 5G on a budget!

The iPhone SE (2022) is the best budget camera phone for Apple users

The 2022 version of the iPhone SE is a worthy competitor in this space, considering its $429 price. It supports wireless charging, has water resistance, and sports the high-end A15 Bionic chipset. This processor is the same found on the non-pro versions of the iPhone 14, and unsurprisingly, it managed to beat Android’s best in our benchmarks (at launch).

As for the iPhone SE camera, it performs very well. However, you only get one rear sensor, which doesn’t give you the flexibility you get with something like the Galaxy A35 5G and its three cameras. Regardless, the iPhone SE 2022 is still among the best budget camera phones in the market, because the little it can do, it does very well. Images are crisp, color reproduction is spot-on, and the camera app is dead simple to use.

The phone is not without issues, though. Its design is quite dated, and the screen is small and offers a low resolution. Not to mention, it is getting a bit old now.

What makes it stand out?

• The A15 Bionic offers premium phone-level performance.
• The camera is excellent, even if this is the cheapest iPhone.
• You get the Apple promise: a straightforward UI, good performance, outstanding customer support, and more.

The Samsung Galaxy A25 5G is a super cheap phone that still offers an excellent camera

Other Samsung devices offer great bang per buck, but here’s a great option if you want something affordable that is readily available in the USA. The Samsung Galaxy A25 5G is a very good budget camera phone for those on a tighter budget. It costs $300, and has that great Samsung look we know many of you love.

The primary camera comes with most of the bells and whistles. This includes a high-megapixel 50MP sensor, an f/1.8 aperture, a 0.64µm pixel size, PDAF, and OIS. The secondary cameras feature 8MP and 2MP sensors. We didn’t think the secondary cameras were great, but it has a solid main camera.

This is a pretty neat phone, overall. Specs include an Exynos 1280 processor and up to 8GB of RAM. The 6.5-inch screen is nicely sized, has a Full HD+ resolution, and keeps the 120Hz refresh rate. And you’ll also get a 5,000mAh battery.

What makes it stand out?

• It has a very enticing price point.
• Performance and camera quality are excellent for the cash.
• The 5,000mAh battery offers a two-day battery life.

The OnePlus Nord 3 is still a great option if you seek great performance for a low price

The OnePlus Nord 3 isn’t quite as cheap, and it gets pretty close to our limit, at €499. It’s not widely available, so most of us will have difficulty buying it straight out. It can be easily imported, though. That said, it can be easily found on Amazon for under $420.

The OnePlus Nord 3 is actually quite an impressive device for a budget phone. It has a pretty large 6.74-inch with a 1,240 x 2,772 resolution and a 120Hz refresh rate. In our review, we were also surprised by its flagship-level performance. Build quality was also pleasant, as was the 80W charging, which took our test device from zero to 100% in about 35 minutes.

We’ll be honest here; we weren’t fans of the secondary cameras and video options. That said, the primary camera is pretty good. It’s actually the same sensor found on the OnePlus 11, which is a nice addition to an affordable phone.

What makes it stand out?

• Nice display with 120Hz refresh rate
• Flagship-level performance
• Super fast 80W charging
• Great main camera

The Nothing Phone 2a is a very unique phone with a good camera system

The Nothing Phone 2a is one of the most unique budget camera phones around. Its design is fun, features special lighting in the back, and will quickly stand out in a crowd. It has its downsides, such as limited US network compatibility and a lower IP54 rating. You can learn more about these issues in our Nothing Phone 2a review.

While we weren’t necessarily impressed by the camera performance, we did see very decent results in this department, which is something great to see at these price points. We were pleasantly surprised by the detail in the main camera, even if the phone’s zoom capabilities are a bit limited. And if you care for more pixels, this is a high-megapixel camera phone, featuring two 50MP sensors in the back and a 32MP sensor in the front.

Everywhere else, this is a pretty neat handset. You will get pretty nice performance, a nice AMOLED display with a 120Hz refresh rate, and quick 45W charging.

What makes it stand out?

• It has a very nice price.
• Solid main camera.
• Great battery life and quick charging.
• Awesome design.

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