The best phones under £300 in the UK

You can buy plenty of great phones in the UK, but £1,000-plus phones aren’t always the best choice. Instead, you can get a “flagship killer” for half that price, but even that can be hard to justify. What if you wanted to save even more money and still walk away with a good phone? In this post, we’ll run through the best phones under £300 in the UK!

The best phones under £300 in the UK:

Editor’s note: We’ll regularly update this list of the best phones under £300 as new cheap phones launch.

POCO X5 Pro

POCO is known for offering pretty awesome devices at floor-level prices. The POCO X5 Pro is one of them. It’s not usually one of the best phones under £300 in the UK, but we often see it get discounted right under £300. Its actual MSRP is £369.

All that said, if you can get the phone at a discount, you will get what could be the best phone in this price range. We gave it a pretty good review. We are fans of its slim and light design, and the primary camera performs well. The AMOLED display has a 120Hz refresh rate; you wouldn’t imagine this is a budget phone by looking at its screen. Not to mention, performance is pretty good for the price, thanks to the Snapdragon 778 processor and up to 8GB of RAM.

Now, if you can find no discount when you read this, you can go for the POCO M5s (£209 at Manufacturer site). It’s also a great phone, and it costs significantly less.

POCO X5 Pro specs:

OnePlus Nord CE 3 Lite

This phone has a colorful, fun design you’ll enjoy showing off. And it’s pretty capable, too. You’ll get a pretty capable Snapdragon 695 processor, along with 8GB of RAM. The 6.72-inch display is pretty nice, featuring a Full HD+ resolution and a 120Hz refresh rate. It also has a triple camera system, featuring a whopping 108MP sensor. The battery is large at 5,000mAh, and you can charge it at up to 67W!

Some of these features are pretty hard to come by, and they can even be rare in much more expensive handsets.

Nord CE 3 Lite specs:

realme 9 Pro

While it offers less than the realme 9 Pro Plus, the 9 Pro is still a great phone overall. You get a large 6.6-inch display, the mid-range Snapdragon 695 chipset, and three rear cameras.

There’s also a microSD card slot on board in case the 128GB of storage the phone offers isn’t enough for you. The battery comes in at 5,000mAh and supports 33W fast charging, and the fingerprint scanner is on the side, just like with a lot of Sony phones. The device also sports a headphone jack, which isn’t all that common nowadays.

realme 9 Pro

Redmi Note 12

The Redmi Note 12 is another great phone under £300 in the UK. The design is very nice, as you can see in the images above, and it’s actually much cheaper at £219 MSRP.

It comes with a 6.67-inch display featuring a 120Hz refresh rate. The whole thing is powered by a Snapdragon 4 Gen 1 processor and either 4GB, 6GB, or 8GB of RAM. A triple-camera system is on the back, with a 48MP primary camera. As per usual, it also sports a 5,000mAh battery, and it supports 33W charging.

Redmi Note 12 specs:

Samsung Galaxy A54 5G

Samsung’s Galaxy A series brings many great mid-rangers to the market, and one of the best phones under £300 in the UK is the Samsung Galaxy A54 5G. The thing is, this phone’s MSRP is higher at £449. That said, we see it discounted right below £300 very often.

If you can get the Galaxy A54 at discount, it is a fantastic deal. The phone may have no wireless charging, and the construction isn’t as good compared to the higher-end Samsungs, but we loved it in other departments. For starters, the design looks nearly as good as a Galaxy S23, the display is very colorful and vibrant, and everyday performance was outstanding considering the price range.

Battery life is also awesome. We managed to make it last about a day and a half on a full charge. Not to mention, Samsung’s update commitment is very generous. The phone will get four years of major updates and five years of security updates.

If you can’t find a deal, though, you could also take a look at the Samsung Galaxy A53 5G ($449 at Amazon).

Galaxy A54 5G specs:

Samsung Galaxy A14 5G

If you’re looking to really save money, the Samsung Galaxy A14 5G is definitely one of the best phones under £300 in the UK. It actually costs £219, and it’s a great option for those who prefer sticking with a renowned brand like Samsung. Not to mention you can very often find it at a discount now.

The device is pretty good for what you pay, too. We liked its 50MP primary camera, sharp 1,080p display with a 90Hz refresh rate, and excellent battery life. We managed to make it last for a couple of days on a single charge, thanks to that sizeable 5,000mAh battery.

Sadly, charging is a bit slow at 15W, though. The construction is also a bit plasticky. You’ll have to make some sacrifices if you want to pay so little for a pretty good smartphone.

Galaxy A14 5G specs:

Motorola Edge 40 Neo

Motorola has a history of creating quality mid-range smartphones. It’s especially known for its G series, but Motorola can offer great deals outside this line-up. The Motorola Edge 40 Neo is a clear example of this.

The phone comes with relatively good specs despite its £299.99 MSRP. You get a capable Dimensity 7030 chipset, up to 12GB of RAM, and a nice 6.55-inch P-OLED screen with a 144Hz refresh rate. The battery is also pretty large at 5,000mAh, and it can charge at 68W.

Edge 40 Neo specs:

Nokia X30

The Nokia X30 is another of those devices that cost more, but we’ve added it to this list because of how often we see it on discount. The MSRP is £399.99, but we usually see it going for much lower than £300.

At this price, the device is a great investment. Thanks to the Snapdragon 695 processor and up to 8GB of RAM, you get pretty good performance. It also comes with a 6.43-inch Full HD+ display, and an IP67 rating. The battery isn’t very large at 4,200mAh, but you can charge it at 33W speeds.

If you can’t find the Nokia X30 at a discount and need a phone, the next best option from the manufacturer is the Nokia G42 ($294.61 at Amazon).

Nokia X30 specs:

Those are the best phones under £300! If your budget can stretch a little further, check out the best phones under £500. Alternatively, you can take a look at the best phones under £200 if you want to save even more.