Ranking: Best smartphones for under 300 dollars/euros

The Poco X8 Pro presents itself as one of the most powerful smartphones in the affordable mid-range and impresses above all with its excellent price-performance ratio. The powerful MediaTek Dimensity 8500 Ultra in particular ensures that even demanding applications and gaming run smoothly. The smartphone remains comparatively cool and efficient even under constant load.

The Poco X8 Pro is a real price-performance hit that puts significantly more expensive smartphones under pressure in many areas.

The 6.6-inch AMOLED display with 120 Hz receives high praise. It offers a very high peak brightness of up to 3,500 nits, strong colors and a sharp display. The battery life is also one of the device's strengths. The large battery gets the Poco X8 Pro through long days of use without any problems and supports fast charging with up to 100 watts. The stereo speakers also deliver a surprisingly good sound for this price range.

In terms of the camera, the 50 MPix main camera is particularly impressive with natural colors and good details. However, there are weaknesses in the zoom and the ultra-wide-angle camera. Premium functions such as wireless charging or eSIM are also missing.

From our experience, the Poco X7 Pro is a powerful smartphone with no shortage of modern features, sold at an enticing price. Powered by MediaTek's Dimensity 8400 Ultra processor, it offers plenty of muscle for both mundane tasks and gaming. Its 6.7-inch OLED display with a resolution of 2,712 x 1,220 pixels has a refresh rate of up to 120 Hz and an impressive peak brightness of 3,200 cd/m².

Xiaomi's Poco X7 Pro offers a good price-performance ratio with decent power under the hood, an impressive display and solid battery life. Its cameras lag behind rival phones, and there are important features missing, like wireless charging.

The dual rear camera setup of the Poco consists of a 50-megapixel main sensor with optical image stabilization and an 8-megapixel ultra-wide-angle lens. While the primary camera delivers solid results in daylight, its zoom capabilities are not great, and neither are the wide-angle shots. The 6,000-mAh battery enables a battery life of over 16 hours. Thanks to the 90-watt fast charging, the battery is fully charged in around an hour. However, wireless charging is not supported.

The Galaxya56 5G presents itself as a strong representative of the premium mid-range: It impresses with a slimmer and lighter housing (7.4 mm, 198 g) made of Gorilla Glass Victus+ and aluminum frame as well as IP67 certification - a significantly more modern design with narrower display edges. The 6.7-inch Super AMOLED display not only offers a refresh rate of up to 120 Hz, but also a peak brightness of up to 2,000 cd/m². The GalaxyA56 5G delivers a balanced mid-range experience: elegant design, bright display, strong runtimes, future-proof software support and basic AI functions, but also limitations in camera zoom.

The Samsung Galaxy A56 is a strong all-rounder in the mid-range.

The battery has a capacity of 5,000 mAh and supports 45 W wired fast charging for the first time (previously only 25 W), which enables very good runtimes. Wireless charging is still not available. On the software side, Samsung relies on Android15 with One UI 7.0 and integrates AI functions such as circle-to-search, object eraser and best face for group photos in the mid-range for the first time. The smartphone is also supplied with Androidupdates and security patches for six years.

In terms of connectivity and features, it lacks a microSD slot, 6 GHz WLAN and UWB. However, dual eSIM, NFC, Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 5.3 are available.

The Nothing Phone (3a) is positioned as a powerful mid-range smartphone with solid features. It is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 7s Gen 3, which, in combination with up to 12 GB of RAM and 256 GB of internal memory, ensures smooth system performance. The 6.77-inch AMOLED display offers a refresh rate of 120 Hz and achieves a peak brightness of up to 3,000 nits, which ensures good readability even in direct sunlight. The device is IP64-certified and has a glass back with the characteristic Glyph interface, which uses LED light effects to visually display notifications and other information.

The Nothing Phone (3a) impresses with its good performance, attractive design and decent camera equipment.

The camera equipment includes a 50 megapixel main camera with optical image stabilization, a 50 megapixel telephoto camera with 2x optical zoom and an 8 megapixel ultra-wide-angle camera. The front camera has a resolution of 32 megapixels. Particularly noteworthy is the Essential Key, an additional button on the right-hand side of the device. A short press creates a screenshot, a long press records a voice memo. This content is collected in "Essential Space", an AI-supported app that organizes and categorizes the data.

The Poco M8 Pro 5G impresses as a strong, balanced option for the price. Particularly noteworthy is its very bright 120-Hz AMOLED display, which remains easy to read outdoors. Equally impressive is the large 6,500-mAh battery, which enables exceptionally long runtimes and is quickly ready for use again thanks to fast charging. Despite its larger display size, the device remains relatively handy.

The Poco M8 Pro 5G offers a very strong price-performance ratio and reaches upper-class levels in terms of display, battery and performance.

A Snapdragon 7s Gen 4 ensures smooth everyday performance and also masters more demanding apps with ease. The equipment includes modern standards such as Wi-Fi 6E, Bluetooth 5.4, NFC and IP68 certification. The main camera delivers solid results, while the ultra-wide angle is weaker. A positive aspect is the long update supply until 2031.

A special feature is the offline communication for direct connections without a network. Poco has to put up with criticism due to the advertising in HyperOS and the lack of eSIM, microSD and telephoto camera support.

The Galaxy A36 5G has a 6.7-inch AMOLED display with a refresh rate of 120 Hz and a peak brightness of up to 2,000 cd/m². The product is IP67-certified and therefore protected against liquid or dust damage. Its front is protected by Gorilla Glass Victus+. The Samsung smartphone is powered by Qualcomm's Snapdragon 6 Gen 3 processor, supported by 6 or 8 GB of RAM and up to 256 GB of storage. There is no micro-SD card slot; meanwhile, the internal 5,000-mAh battery supports fast charging at up to 45 watts.

Samsung's Galaxy A36 5G is an affordable mid-range smartphone that stands out with its security features and long software support.

On to cameras. The main rear sensor has a resolution of 50 MP with optical image stabilization built in; there is also an 8-megapixel ultra-wide-angle camera and a 5-megapixel macro camera. For the front camera, it's 12 MP.

A special feature of the Galaxy smartphone, Knox Vault protects sensitive data such as PINs and passwords using both hardware and software resources. Samsung also guarantees six years of security updates and up to six OS version (Android and One UI) updates for the phone.

The Note 15 Pro 5G offers an almost border-less, very bright AMOLED display with Gorilla Glass Victus 2, as well as IP68 protection and extremely long battery life of over 30 hours in our Wi-Fi Web surfing test. Its 6,580-mAh battery, reverse charging and 45-watt charging make it the endurance star of the mid-range category. Build quality is strong here, in part due to a metal frame, and water protection.

The Redmi Note 15 Pro 5G is a very attractive mid-range smartphone with a top-level battery. Its performance is solid.

The smartphone's 200-MP main camera sensor delivers decent, if not particularly sharp photos during daytime, with autofocus doing its job poorly in low light, and the ultra-wide-angle camera shots lacking detail. The Dimensity 7400 Ultra SoC is sufficient for everyday use, but in gaming, it is often only good for 40-50 fps; rival devices do better.

Good speakers, accurate positioning, and six years of security updates are some more positive features worth a mention, whereas Android 15-based HyperOS with advertising, and Wi-Fi 6 without 6-GHz bands are something to criticize.

The Moto G75 features premium build quality and is IP68-rated for liquid and dust/dirt resistance. Its 5,000-mAh battery delivers long enough runtimes and supports 30-watt wired as well as 15-watt wireless charging. A 6.78-inch IPS display with a resolution of 2,388 x 1,080 pixels delivers brightness of up to 1,000 nits and is free of PWM flickering, making it a good choice for sensitive users.
The Moto's 50 MP-primary camera sensor takes high-quality images, while the 8-MP ultra-wide-angle lens produces average results. Other highlights include fast Wi-Fi 6E, accurate GNSS performance, and support for various Bluetooth audio codecs. Additionally, Motorola promises six years of software updates, which is a major benefit.

The Moto G75 is an overall good mid-range smartphone with solid performance and a strong feature set.

However, it has its share of drawbacks, too, including the absence of a 3.5-mm headphone jack; mediocre speaker quality; and the lack of a charger in the box.

The Phone 2 Pro has a plastic body with visible screws; unusually enough, it also has support for modular accessories. The back is now non-removable, which bumps up water resistance to IP54 at the expense of some modularity.

The product has a 6.77″ display with a refresh rate of 120 Hz, 10-bit colors as expected from an AMOLED panel, HDR10+ and high peak brightness, making it one of the best panels money can buy in this price range.

The Phone 2 Pro impressed us with long battery life, decent camera setup, long software support and (finally) NFC.

The phone's 5,000-mAh battery delivered very good runtimes in our testing and can be charged relatively quickly at up to 33 watts (not wirelessly, though). A mid-range SoC from MediaTek allows for solid everyday performance here, while offering little performance reserves.

Its triple rear camera, consisting of 50-MP primary and telephoto sensors and an 8-MP ultra-wide-angle one, delivers solid everyday photos and, as a first for the series, a real 2x optical zoom. However, optical image stabilization is lacking and shots with the wide-angle lens have issues in the peripheral areas. It does not fare well when lighting is poor, either.

The Moto G77 relies on a 6.78-inch AMOLED panel with 2,772 x 1,272 pixels, 120 Hz and extremely high brightness. Its colors are very accurate, but low-frequency PWM spoils the fun somewhat. A MediaTek Dimensity 6400 with 8 GB of RAM delivers performance suitable for everyday use but mediocre nonetheless, while the 256-GB UFS 2.1 storage only delivers average transfer rates.

The Moto G77 impresses with its slim design, large battery and bright display.

The modem impresses with broad 4G/5G band coverage and eSIM. Wi-Fi is limited to 802.11ac (Wi-Fi 5; 1x1 - no MIMO) and correspondingly, low speeds. The 108-MP main camera delivers plenty of details, while the 8-MP ultra-wide-angle one is significantly weaker, and there is no 4K video recording on offer. The 5,200-mAh battery is sufficient for around 20 hours in our Wi-Fi Web browsing test. With 30-W charging, replenishing the phone's power reserves takes around 1.5 hours. Its software is based on Android 16 with updates expected until 2030.