Skip the Flagship; Just Buy One of the Best Budget Android Phones

howtogeek.com:

Many of us yearn for the best flagship smartphones that manufacturers can make, but their prices are increasingly hard to justify. This begs the question: what exactly do we lose out on when we opt for a budget phone instead?

Budget Phones Are Fast, Reliable, and Have Fancy Features Now

We all remember how horrible cheap smartphones used to be a decade ago. My first phone was a $140 Samsung Galaxy Ace Plus—a phone from 2012 that had a single-core processor, no selfie camera, and a tiny 3.65" display.

Now, compare that ancient brick to a modern $150 budget phone like the 2024 Moto G Play, a phone with an 8-core Snapdragon 680, 50MP main camera, 6.5" 90Hz display, and many other features to boot. The feature set checks all the boxes; I argue that most people could use this phone daily without growing to hate it. To give some perspective on the price, you could outfit a small office with several Moto G Plays instead of purchasing a single Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra.

This isn't to say that you should go out and buy a $150 phone, as these phones have some notable drawbacks. They often get poor software support, might have inferior build quality, and are not environmentally friendly. Still, you could spend three times the amount and still stay within the "budget phone" range.

A great example is the Samsung Galaxy A54 5G. I spent some time this weekend comparing the Samsung Galaxy A54 5G to its more expensive cousin, the Samsung Galaxy S23+. To my great surprise, I couldn't tell the difference between the two. Both have stunning displays that are plenty bright, have a premium design, and are incredibly fast and snappy. Look at these photos and tell me which is which:

Unless you're a Samsung aficionado, you won't be able to tell the difference. The only giveaway that the A54 is cheaper is the slightly thicker bezels on the front—the A54 is on the right. Another close contender to the A54 in terms of price is the slightly older Samsung Galaxy S22. It's more premium and