Welcome to the top 15 smartphones that you can buy right now for $500 and with what we've seen in the last few months it's becoming really hard for us to recommend spending more than this and so.
1. Vivo V15 Pro ($399)
For $399 you get not disturb contemporary design but a Super AMOLED display that fills the front of the phone a powerful 48-megapixel triple camera and even a pretty good battery life. The main caveat being a mid-range snapdragon 675 chip but at the same time it's kind of amazing that were at a stage where our main complaint with this mid-range phone is that it comes with a mid-range chip that's just how competitive this market is right now and it is great for the consumer.
2. Mi Mix 3 ($470)
This is one of these slickest phones thanks to the Super AMOLED display on the front with its dual front cameras being activated with what might be the most addictive sliding mechanism on a phone to date and don't be fooled by the fact that this is last year's phone. The Snapdragon 845 chip inside of it is every bit as powerful as the mid-range chips released this year.
3. LG G7 ThinQ ($280)
This is going to seem like a really weird choice. But LG smartphones have maybe the worst value retention. But that also has a flip-side whilst it made almost no sense to buy this phone at launch. We've seen this thing brand new online now for $280. for $280 some of the best hardware of 2018 a good camera, a powerful speaker and a quad HD plus display. The battery is on the small side though at 3000 mAh.
4. Honor View 20 ($489)
The Honor View 20 really set the bar high for 2019. It released right at the end of last year with a flagship grade Kirin 980 chip. A pretty high end 48-megapixel camera and was one of the only phones in the world with a punch hole display. Now that a whole bunch of phones have come out with similar features. It doesn't quite stand as the mid-tier king but is still a very well rounded phone.
Alright now, We’re on the subject of Honor and Huawei though you've probably heard about the fact that they've been blacklisted from working with US companies which includes Google. So their future viability is uncertain so for this our advice would be that if after reading this article, you decide that an Honor or Huawei is the way that you want to go then just hold off for a few weeks just don't buy anything for now and we reckon within months’ time we'll have some sort of clarity or some sort of public statement from the company.
5. Samsung Galaxy A70 ($379)
The Samsung Galaxy A70 which comes with a massive 4,500 mAh battery combined with the fastest charging Samsung offers at 25 watts. It even has a 6.7 inch Super AMOLED display on the front. The main compromise here being a mint here at Snapdragon 675 chip but for a lot of users that's great.
6. Xiaomi Pocophone F1 ($299)
The Xiaomi Pocophone F1 is pretty good at everything performance, camera and battery even a year after its release are still comparable and so the fact that it's now even cheaper than it was before is a bonus.
7. Honor 20 ($499)
The honor 20 is amazing value for money and is actually one of the only situations, where we recommend the standard version of a phone as opposed to its pro counterpart. The standard Honor 20 is still powered by a flagship grade chip and is one of the only phones with this kind of power that is compact enough to be used in one hand. It has this side mounted fingerprint scanner, which is really tough to part with once you've got used to it and a quad camera setup although one of these is just for depth sensing.
8. Google Pixel 3a XL ($479)
The Pixel 3a XL and We're going to preface this by saying this is not a phone for a tech end. This is not a phone for a gamer. This is not even a phone for the person who wants the most beautiful design but what it is one of the cleanest and one of the easiest Android experiences. The software is blissfully like to use and the camera captures amazing photos effortlessly and battery life on this is off the charts a lot more than its 3,700 mAh capacity would suggest mind you that is already a pretty large cell but it's more the fact that the phone's hardware puts very little screen on the battery.
9. Huawei Mate 20 ($479)
This one makes sense for a lot of the same reasons as the Honor 20. You've got that flagship Kirin chip inside you've got a proper triple camera with an ultra-wide lens and a telephoto camera and the kind of design and materials that are usually reserved for flagship phones.
10. Samsung Galaxy S9 Plus ($499)
If you're going to go down that route of buying an old flagship phone instead of a cheaper newer one is the Samsung Galaxy S9 Plus, which software-wise is very similar to what the Samsung Galaxy A70 offers. But you can't shake that feeling of this being a flagship as opposed to a mid-range phone you get a flagship grade metal and glass body flagship great display and flagship grade Dolby Atmos speakers and so when you combine that together that's quite a tough combination for a newer mid-range phone to beat.
11. ZTE Nubia Red Magic 3 ($479)
The Red Magic 3 completely blew us away if you're happy with having a phone that weighs over 200 grams and one with above-average sized bezels it doesn't get much better than this. Having the most powerful components is only the start with this thing it has a massive 6.65-inch 90 Hz AMOLED panel. An incredible 5000 mAh battery which can pull through two days of medium use and a ton of features to appeal to the gamers you've got a customizable LED strip over here you've got proper shoulder buttons and probably the coolest thing is that this phone has an actual dedicated fan to keep temperatures down. It also has more or less the same a 48-megapixel camera as most of its rivals but it is let down a bit by a mediocre camera software and image processing.
12. OnePlus 7 ($539)
OnePlus 7 and don't be fooled by the fact that this phone has only one main camera and a second for depth it takes both amazing photos and amazing videos especially after a new update that's just dropped. But that's not even the best thing about the phone the software it's running on oxygen OS is incredibly fluid it is light it is fast and this time around the company also added stereo speakers.
13. Xiaomi Mi 9 ($470)
People have been telling us that they found it cheaper but the best price we could find for this was $470 and compared to the OnePlus 7 you do miss out on Oxygen OS which we personally prefer to shows us why skin. But it is cheaper while being just as powerful and also comes with a more versatile triple camera setup at the same time though whilst it really is a great phone it doesn't make much sense to buy the Xiaomi Mi 9 right now because of phone all come to very shortly.
14. Asus Zenfone 6 ($499)
The Asus Zenfone 6 and this phone is not what it initially seems on first impression you see this rotating camera setup anything. This is great yet another one of those phones that's really interesting to look at but that we wouldn't actually spend our money on. But right here Asus has got a device that walks all over that notion the battery life is exceptional with a mega 5000 mAh power cell. The UI is snappy and bloatware free and that camera is not just something to able at but it takes amazing photos and videos on not just the rear by the front too.
15. Redmi K20 Pro ($399)
The Redmi K20 Pro or the Xiaomi Mi 9T, they're both basically re-branded versions of the same phone and in almost every way this is Chinese Mi 9 but better it is cheaper and has a much larger battery and a display that fills the whole front of the phone no notches thanks to this motorized pop-up camera which also looks pretty slick thanks to the built-in LEDs.
So that is the $500 mark covered but if you did want to spend more than that if your budget can stretch there are 4 small phones, We would recommend right now.
You've got the OnePlus 7 pro which is a no compromise phone at under $700 and there's the iPhone XS Max if the Apple ecosystem is something you enjoy and you want to carry on investing in then this is still the best Apple has to offer plus it's just about to get a lot better with iOS 13.
The Huawei P30 Pro is the most impressive photo camera on a phone period whether your subject is a hundred meters away whether it has no lighting or whether it is right up close next to your camera. The Huawei P30 Pro can do it and we would say the word versatile that doesn't even quite cover it but just remember if you're planning on buying a Huawei phone then just hold on it doesn't mean to rush out and buy a different phone instead just wait for about a month and we think we'll have some clarity.
If money is no object, the Samsung Galaxy S10 5G is the best phone out there right now in my opinion it's the phone we choose to carry around every single day the Samsung Galaxy S10 Plus is a really good option too if you want something a little bit smaller and don't care at all for 5G.
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If you want to spend less, there are another four phones that we can recommend you've got the Moto G7 which is a really well-rounded an especially well-built phone for the price. You've got the Xiaomi Mi 9 SE which is a smaller trimmed-down Xiaomi Mi 9 but considering the price discount the fact that it still retains an ultra-wide and a telephoto camera is a real plus, then there's the Samsung Galaxy A50 which feels very similar to the A 70 to use but a little smaller there are some compromises like a slightly weaker processor and camera but considering how close the experience feels for almost $100 less for many this is actually better value. Another option is the Redmi Note 7 Pro maybe the cheapest smartphone to have a 48- megapixel Sony IMX586 powered camera, that is the same sensor as on the One Plus 7 Pro and it's also just all-round a well specification phone.
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