While we all love the idea of owning eye-wateringly expensive Apple iPhone 11, Samsung Galaxy S10/+/Note and other bright shiny toys, the facts are that there are many top phones under $500.
Top phones under $500 – don’t be surprised to learn that >$1000 flagship phones only account for about 10% of global sales. Over 55% of phone sales are below <$500 and the value there is killing the $500-1000 sales.
For example, the cheapest Qi wireless charging phones were all over $1000 – Samsung Galaxy, Pixel, iPhone, LG and Huawei but cheeky upstart Mintt has it on the $399 Ultramintt Y3 – that is one of the top phones under $500!
Channel Seven Sunrise GadgetGuy Val Quinn reports on the top phones under $500
A 6.4-inch screen was the province of iPhone and Samsung Galaxy. Now all our contenders have them, and some are AMOLED as well.
Or how about a 48MP snapper? Formerly the domain of high end ‘cameraphones’ there are now several at $499 – OPPO Reno Z, Motorola One Vision and Nokia’s new 7.2. And some of these have a tri-camera setup with ultra-wide and depth as well as a huge 25-32MP selfie camera. No, they may not beat the Huawei P30 Pro camera, but at 30% of the price, they are outstanding.
And the days of cheap meaning slow processors, little memory or storage are long gone – the OPPO Reno Z has a massive 8/128GB (no microSD), and others have microSD slots to add more memory.
About the only thing missing at this price is IP68 waterproofing.
Top phones under $500
Here are how the top $499 phones stack up
Model | OPPO Reno Z | Motorola One Vision | Samsung Galaxy A50 | Nokia 7.2 |
Screen | 6.4” AMOLED | 6.3” LCD | 6.4” AMOLED | 6.3” LCD |
RAM/Storage GB | 8/128 | 4/128/micro-SD | 4/64/micro-SD | 4/64/micro-SD |
Rear Camera | 48+5MP | 48+5MP | 25/8/5MP |
48+8+5MP Zeiss lenses |
Selfie Camera | 32MP | 25MP | 25MP | 20MP |
Comms |
Wi-Fi AC, BT 5.0 NFC Dual Sim | Same | Same | Same |
Battery |
4000mAh USB-C fast charge |
3500mAh same |
4000mA same |
3500mAh same |
Website GadgetGuy rating | Review 4.9 | Review 4.8 | Announcement Expect 4.7 | Announcement Expect 4.8 |
Colour | Aurora Purple, Jet Black | Bronze | Blue, Black | Charcoal, Cyan Green, Ice |
Why buy |
Huge screen Dolby Atmos Under glass fingerprint Great pedigree |
Motorola (Lenovo) quality
21:9 CinemaVision Screen Pure Android | Samsung reliability and good specifications | Nokia is trying to regain the ‘throne’ and is making excellent handsets with Pure Android |
These all have high levels of AI (for an idiot-proof photo), fingerprint reader, and a build quality par excellence.
Lower cost <$450
While the $499 bracket has redefined what you can expect (and would have paid a few hundred dollars more for a few months ago) there are some diamonds in the rough you should consider.
Model | UltraMintt Y3 | Vivo S1 | Vivo Y17 | Ultramintt X3 |
Screen | 6.3” LCD | 6.38” LCD | 6.35” LCD | 6.3” LCD |
RAM/Storage GB | 4/64/microSD | 6/128/microSD | 4/128/microSD | 3/64/microSD |
Rear Camera | 20+16+5MP | 16+8+2MP | 13+8+2MP | 13+2MP |
Selfie Camera | 24MP | 32MP | 20MP | 8MP |
Comms |
Wi-Fi N Dual Band BT 4.2 NFC |
Wi-Fi AC BT 5 NFC |
Wi-Fi N dual-band BT 5.0 |
Wi-Fi N dual-band BT 5.0 |
Battery |
4050mAh USB-C fast charge Qi charge |
4500mAh micro-USB fast charge |
5000mAh micro-USB fast charge |
4050mAh USB-C fast charge |
Website GadgetGuy rating | Review 4.9 | Review 4.8 | Not reviewed yet Website | Review 4.4 |
Colour/Price |
$399 Amethyst |
$449 Aqua Blue Cosmic Purple |
$369 Mystic Purple Mineral Blue |
$265 Cobalt |
Why buy | ‘Obscene value’ Qi Charging You would pay hundreds more in a store | Vivo (OPPO) quality and very high specifications | Huge battery and good specs | A quality phone that offers the best for the money |
The Mintt Y3 stands out for Qi charge and overall functionality for the price. The vivo models are very well specified and aggressively priced.
GadgetGuy’s take – top phones under $500 – heaps of choice and not a lemon in sight
Later this month another Chinese brand realme will enter the market with four smartphones from $200-500. Watch out – this is OPPO’s little brother, and there will be strong sibling rivalry (vivo is also OPPO’s brother).
The most surprising is the Mintt Y3 – it offers obscene value via an online sales model only. We are told that soon Mintt phones will have the option (at extra cost) of a ‘white-glove’ home install to copy all your data, photos and contacts from your old phone – that is impressive and will overcome one of the chief pain-points to getting a new phone.
But, hey, any of these are excellent phones and punch well above their weight proving that you don’t need to mortgage the firstborn to get a decent daily drive.
Most buyers will eschew Telstra, Optus and Vodafone and buy pre-or-post-paid $20 monthly sims from MVNOs like Woolworths, Boost and Aldi – Telstra’s cheapest plan is $50 per month.