Best Phone Under $200: Our Top Pick Checks All the Boxes – CNET

The $200 Moto G Stylus doesn’t have 5G but instead includes a built-in stylus along with a decent 50-megapixel main camera. The Stylus did a nice job taking photos while I was in a variety of environments, including indoors and outdoors. I particularly enjoyed the phone’s take on Portrait mode, and it captured a clear photo of the plant wall in CNET’s New York office that I use for photo testing. The 6.5-inch 720p display is also able to run at a consistent 90Hz refresh rate, providing smooth animations while navigating apps and reading websites.

The phone is otherwise let down by Motorola’s software and security update policy for its G series of phones, covering only one software update and three years of security updates. That, combined with the lack of 5G or NFC, mean that while it’s a great choice for better pictures, there are a number of ways this phone could become left behind as the years pass. But if you’re planning on using this phone for only two to three years, you could get a lot of value out of this device.

Samsung’s Galaxy A03S at $160 (roughly £126, AU$240) could still be a great fit for someone looking for the cheapest possible phone that can handle most essential tasks. The phone’s 6.5-inch screen, capped at 720p resolution, is capable for reading the news, watching videos and playing games. Despite some performance lag found during our review, the phone is good at multitasking. But the phone’s tiny 32GB of storage space could fill up fast, so if you’re considering this phone, it may be worthwhile to think about expanding the storage with a microSD card.

The A03S, first released last year, is getting four years of security updates, meaning that there are still three left. It’s less clear how many Android version updates are scheduled, and unlike the newer A14, it doesn’t have 5G support or NFC. While those two benefits along with the A14’s 64GB of internal storage are worth the extra $30 price increase, you can still get some mileage out of the A03S if you’re simply looking for the cheapest Samsung phone possible.

The $170 Moto G Play’s best feature is how its 5,000-mAh battery can stretch itself to three days of battery life. However, beyond that, it’s important to disclose that this device is one of the more frustrating phones for under $200.

The phone’s MediaTek Helio G37 processor and 3GB of RAM had a challenging time loading apps, and its 32GB of space gets filled up quickly. The phone does include a microSD card slot for storage expansion. Photography was also consistently fuzzy, and the $160 A03S easily outdid the Moto G Play in my photography test.

Despite releasing in 2023, the Moto G Play ships with Android 12 and will receive only one software update to Android 13. It will also receive three years of security updates, which is standard for Motorola’s G series of phones.

Ultimately, while I am including this phone on the list due to its long-lasting battery — which is possibly due to how underpowered this phone feels — I would sooner point you to any other phone on this list before choosing the Moto G Play.