Best budget phones with (near) bezel-less displays

You don’t have to spend a $1,000 to get a phone with a bezel-less display. Although this design trend was more or less exclusive to flagship phones at first, it has since trickled down to mid-range devices. There are plenty of affordable phones with high screen-to-body ratios out there, offering solid specs, great design, and various other bells and whistles. Here are the best ones you can get, all of which cost less than $350.

Nokia 7.1

The Nokia 7.1 has a 5.84-inch display with a notch on top. The bottom bezel definitely isn’t the smallest we’ve seen, but it’s still a lot thinner than its predecessor.

Don’t miss: Best Nokia phones — what are your options?

The near bezel-less design isn’t the only great feature of the Nokia 7.1. The device is part of Android One, which means it runs a stock version of the OS and is guaranteed at least two years of Android updates. It also sports a dual-camera setup on the back with ZEISS optics, and a Bothie mode, which lets you capture video with the front and rear cameras at the same time.

The Nokia 7.1 is a mid-ranger, packing the Snapdragon 636 chipset along with 3 or 4GB of RAM under the hood. It’s the most expensive phone on this list, retailing for exactly $349.99 on Amazon. You can get it in blue or silver via the button below.

Specs

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• Nokia 7.1 review: Not your father’s Nokia
• Nokia 7.1 specs: Another great mid-range Android One smartphone
  
• Nokia 7.1 vs the competition
• The Nokia 7.1 camera could finally be worthy of the PureView legacy
  

HONOR Play

This is a gaming-centric phone. Although it’s affordable, the handset packs a lot of power under the hood. It comes with the Kirin 970 SoC, which is also found in the HUAWEI P20 Pro, and 4 or 6GB of RAM. Additionally, the device features Honor’s GPU Turbo technology, which apparently boosts GPU efficiency by up to 60 percent, diminishes single-frame SoC energy by 30 percent, and reduces power consumption by 15 percent.

The phone sports a large 6.3-inch display with a notch and a headphone jack on board. It doesn’t look anything like the gaming phones we’ve seen from companies like Razer and Asus — there are no any extra fans, fancy lights, or other over-the-top design elements. This phone has a dual camera at the back, a metal body, and a 3.750mAh battery.

The HONOR Play is a great deal. You can get it on Amazon for just $320, which is a steal if you ask me. However, the device was not officially released in the U.S., so this is the international model.

Specs

Read more

• HONOR Play review: Flagship specs on a budget
• HONOR Play specs: Kirin 970 and 6GB of RAM on the cheap
• Pocophone F1 vs HONOR Play: Inbetweeners
• Top 5 HONOR Play features

Pocophone F1

The near bezel-less Xiaomi POCOphone F1 was announced in August. The device impresses with high-end specs and an affordable price, although it is missing a few things you typically find on flagship phones.

The display measures 6.18 inches, offers Full HD+ resolution, and has a notch. You’ll find the Snapdragon 845 chipset under the hood, which also powers devices like the Galaxy Note 9, LG V40 ThinQ, and OnePlus 6T. The POCOphone F1 also sports up to 8GB of RAM, a dual-camera setup, and a large 4,000mAh battery.

There’s no wireless charging, IP rating, or fancy features like an in-display fingerprint scanner. The design doesn’t scream premium either, as the back is plastic rather than glass or metal. However, these things are normal given the price point of the POCOphone F1 — you can get it on Amazon for just $340.

Specs

Read more

• Pocophone F1 review: Can’t argue with Snapdragon 845 for $300
• Pocophone F1 specs: It has flagship power, but is that it?
  
• Pocophone F1 vs OnePlus 6 specs: Is Xiaomi’s phone the new OnePlus One?
  
• Pocophone F1 may be cheap, but it still aces JerryRigEverything’s durability tests

HUAWEI P20 Lite

The P20 Lite sports a so-called bezel-less design, but its screen-to-body ratio is slightly lower than the more expensive P20 Pro. The phone falls into the mid-range sector, featuring the Kirin 659 chipset, 4GB of RAM, and 16 and 2MP rear cameras.

Don’t miss: Here are the best HUAWEI phones you can buy right now

The display comes in at 5.84 inches and the battery has a capacity of 3,000mAh, which is quite small given the overall footprint of the device. Other specs and features include a headphone jack, dual-SIM support, and Android Oreo with Huawei’s EMUI skin on top. The handset also sports a dual-camera setup on the front for adding the bokeh effect to your selfies.

The P20 Lite offers less than the HONOR Play and POCOphone F1, but it also costs less. You can get it on Amazon for $235. Keep in mind this is an international variant and doesn’t come with a warranty.

Specs

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• HUAWEI P20 Lite and P20 Pro, the two bookends of the P20 series, arrive in India

Samsung Galaxy A8 (2018)

The Samsung Galaxy A8 (2018) has a near bezel-less design like the Galaxy S and Note phones, but it doesn’t have a curved screen. It was announced at the end of last year and falls into the mid-range category.

It’s a compact device by today’s standards, featuring a 5.6-inch display. It’s powered by Samsung’s own Exynos 7885 chipset and has 4GB of RAM. What makes it stand out from most other Samsung phones is its dual-camera setup on the front, which lets you capture selfies with blurred backgrounds.

Other specs and features include a rear-mounted fingerprint scanner, IP68 water resistance, and NFC with support for Samsung Pay. The orchid grey version of the Galaxy A8 (2018) is listed on Amazon at around $320, while the black variant of the device will set you back a little more — $345.

Specs

Read more

• Samsung Galaxy A8 and A8 Plus announced: Sleek, selfie-focused mid-rangers
• Samsung Galaxy A8 and A8 Plus (2018) specs: Infinity Display and a dual selfie camera
• Spec showdown: Samsung Galaxy A8 series vs Galaxy A7 and A5
  
• Here are the best Samsung Galaxy A8 2018 cases

Xiaomi Mi A2 Lite

The last model on our best affordable bezel-less phones is also the cheapest one — you can get it on Amazon for $185. That amount of money gets you a device with a 5.84-inch display, the Snapdragon 625 chipset, and a massive 4,000mAh battery. You also get a clean, bloat-free software experience, as the Mi A2 Lite is part of Google’s Android One program.

Even though it’s a budget device, it still has a dual-camera setup on the back for those bokeh shots. The phone also has a headphone jack, a rear-mounted fingerprint scanner, and dual-SIM support. It ships with Android 8.1 Oreo on board, with the Android Pie update expected soon.

The Xiaomi Mi A2 Lite listed on Amazon is the international model — the phone wasn’t officially released in the U.S. It only works on GSM networks and does not have a warranty.

Specs

Read more

• Xiaomi Mi A2 and Mi A2 Lite announced: High-end camera hardware for Android One
• Xiaomi Redmi 6 Pro (Mi A2 Lite) review: Another day, another good-enough Redmi
• Xiaomi Mi A2 and Mi A2 Lite specs: The next Android One experience

These are the best cheap phones with a near bezel-less design in our opinion, although there are a few other great options out there. Which ones would you add to this list? Let us know in the comments.