The best phones under £200 in the UK

While expensive flagship smartphones grab all the headlines, there’s a booming market for budget phones in the UK, which is excellent if you want to save some cash. While you won’t receive all the latest bells and whistles, cheap phones can still offer competitive performance, camera quality, and extra features. All without breaking the bank. Here are some of the best phones under £200 you can buy in the UK.

The best phones under £200:

Editor’s note: We will update this list of the best phones under £200 as new ones launch.

Samsung Galaxy A14

The first and only Samsung phone on this list is the Galaxy A14, which won’t blow your socks off in terms of performance but can still handle day-to-day tasks just fine. It also has a great design and comes in at just £179 MSRP.

The large 6.6-inch display offers Full HD+ resolution, while the camera setup features three lenses, including an ultrawide camera that’s way more useful than the budget macro shooters you usually get on phones under £200. There’s a MediaTek Helio G80 chipset under the hood that’s paired with 4-6GB of RAM. You also get a side-mounted fingerprint scanner, a large 5,000mAh battery with 15W charging, and support for expandable storage. The Galaxy A14 is also expected to get a whopping four years of security support, which is fantastic for this price.

If you want a version with faster cellular data speeds, there’s also the Samsung Galaxy A14 5G, which costs over £200.

Samsung Galaxy A14 specs:

Redmi Note 12

It’s easy to get lost in the ever-confusing sea of entry-level smartphones from Redmi. However, this one stands out thanks to its excellent on-paper value for money.

The Redmi Note 12 ‘s MSRP is slightly higher than our £200 goal, at £219. But we’ve seen it offered for less than £200 when on discount, and this happens pretty often.

It comes with a total of three cameras, a 6.67-inch Full HD+ display with a 120Hz refresh rate, a massive 5,000mAh battery, and Android 12 straight out of the box.

You get dual-SIM support. It also has microSD expansion and a 3.5mm headphone jack, both of which are pretty rare these days. Also offered are 33W fast charging and an IP53 rating to keep you safe from dust and water.

Redmi Note 12 specs:

Motorola Moto G62

Motorola’s G-series phones have been a mainstay of the UK’s mid-range for years now, and the Moto G62 is another winner for the venerable budget family. It launched in June 2022 and comes with very nice specs for the price.

Packed inside, you’ll find the Snapdragon 480 Plus chipset and 4GB of RAM. The display is of a decent size at 6.5 inches. The 1080p definition is pretty standard these days, but the panel has a 120Hz refresh rate, which is pretty rare in this price range.

The phone also sports three rear cameras, a 5,000mAh battery, and a side-mounted fingerprint scanner. This is a great bundle in the world of phones under £200.

Moto G62 specs:

Nokia G22

The Nokia G22 offers quite a lot for the price, considering it comes in at just £149. Nokia licensee HMD Global will hook you up with a large 6.5-inch display with a 90Hz refresh rate and HD+ resolution.

While it’s far from unusable, the Unisoc chip sometimes made the phone feel sluggish when flicking through apps and menus. Thankfully, you get extras like a headphone jack and microSD card slot to up the value, as well as an IP52 rating for protection against water splashes.

HMD is also happy to boast about the three-day battery life you can achieve with the 5,050mAh cell, and for good reason. The lack of 5G probably means you can push it a bit further than usual, and it is a fair trade-off at this price. 20W wired charging is also faster than we’ve seen on many affordable Nokia devices.

However, What sets the Nokia G22 apart is its focus on repairability. HMD Global joined forces with iFixit so that you can easily fix the phone yourself, using iFixit tools and guides. We tested the process and found that it’s super easy to swap out the battery with a new one, though there are also DIY methods to replace the screen and charging port. Combine this with the use of sustainable materials on the 100% recycled plastic back and a battery capable of maintaining over 80% capacity after 800 cycles (the industry standard is 500), and you’ve got a phone that’s a great pick for eco-conscious buyers on a budget.

Nokia G22 specs:

realme 9i

realme remains one of the fastest-growing brands in the smartphone space, focusing mainly on the budget segment. The realme 9i is the company’s take on a sub-£200 smartphone and packs a fair few features for the price.

It’s powered by Qualcomm’s 4G-ready Snapdragon 680 processor, which means you’ll miss out on top-end speeds. On the bright side, you can choose from 4GB or 6GB of RAM with up to 128GB of expandable storage onboard. realme’s 6.6-inch display offers a 90Hz refresh rate and a Full HD Plus resolution, so it should work well to catch up on your favorite shows.

realme brought 33W charging back to its 9i, promising a full battery in just 70 minutes. Add in a 50MP primary camera and 16MP selfie camera, and there’s not much to complain about. Overall, the realme 9i is a solid option for those in the market for a sub-£200 with excellent battery life and dependable performance.

realme 9i specs:

Motorola Moto G23

You no longer have to resort to the Moto E series to get ultra-cheap smartphones. The Moto G series has some, and our favorite one right now is the Motorola Moto G23. It’s still a pretty good budget device, even if it’s right under £200.

For starters, the 6.5-inch display offers a 90Hz refresh rate with Motorola’s standard HD Plus resolution. You get a MediaTek Helio G85 processor to keep things moving, and it comes with 4-8GB of RAM, along with 64GB or 128GB of storage. The Moto G23’s 50MP primary camera isn’t excellent, but it’s great for the money you’re cashing out, and you get two other sensors for shooting flexibility.

Finally, Motorola packed a sizeable 5,000mAh battery under the hood. And it charges pretty quickly, thanks to 30W wired charging. And the lack of 5G means it’ll be tough to drain, too. It also comes with no wireless charging, but that is pretty standard when you’re paying so little for a phone.

Motorola Moto G23 specs:

POCO M4 Pro

Poco’s M4 Pro packs plenty of power and versatility for its price tag. It’s amped up with MediaTek’s Helio G96 chip and has a sharp Full HD+ display. The phone also sports an IP53 rating, a headphone jack, and a microSD card slot, all of which are becoming rare, especially in budget phones.

There are a few different memory variants available, with the 6GB/128GB version being the one retailing under £200. It currently goes for around £180, which is quite the deal.

On the software side, you’re getting POCO’s MIUI 13 based on Android 11, although we expect the phone to get Android 12 soon. MIUI has seen many tweaks over the past couple of years to streamline the user experience, although it’s still not for everyone.

The Poco M5 is already out, but we still think the M4 Pro is a better phone. There is another version of the M5 in the next section, though. That one is pretty cool.

POCO M4 Pro specs:

POCO M5s

The POCO M4 Pro is great, but it is getting older. If you want a phone that’s always under the £200 threshold, and is actually a bit newer, then the POCO M5s might be more to your liking.

Its specs are a little less exciting, but it’s still an excellent phone for the price. You get a MediaTek Helio G95, and the base version starts at 4GB of RAM. The 6.43-inch screen has an AMOLED panel, ensuring great color reproduction and deep blacks. And if you care for battery life, this thing holds a substantial 5,000mAh battery.

POCO M5s specs:

There you have it, our picks for the best phones under £200. If you want to spend a bit more, check our guide to the best phones under £300 and the best phones under £500. We’ll add more great budget phones to this list as more hit the market.