The Best Smartphones for Less Than 500 Euros

With its 6.1-inch large OLED display Huawei's P40 is a comparatively compact smartphone with powerful components. It is powered by a Kirin 990 5G with 8 GB of RAM and 128 GB of storage, the latter of which can be expanded via nano memory card. In addition to Wi-Fi 6 and 5G the P40 also supports a wide variety of LTE bands, and should thus be able to connect to networks world-wide.

The Samsung Galaxy S10 features a 6.1-inch Curved Dynamic AMOLED display, where the front glass is only interrupted by a gap for the two front cameras. Depending on the model, you either get a ceramic or glass rear cover (Gorilla Glass 5). The frame is always made of stainless steel and results in a very sophisticated impression.

The Galaxy smartphone is powered by a fast Exynos 9820 SoC in combination with 8 GB RAM and up to 512 GB internal storage, which is expandable via microSD card. You will usually get the 128 GB SKU for less than 500 Euros. Fast LTE and Wi-Fi 6 are also included, while other connectivity includes Bluetooth 5.0 with dual-audio, MST, Ant+, and NFC. The list of features is pretty complete and it also supports wireless charging in both directions, so you can also charge other devices with your smartphone via induction. We also like the versatile cameras, even though the results are not perfect.

There are not many drawbacks. The battery runtimes during the review were not great and is is not very enduring in everyday situations, either. The facial recognition is certainly not as secure as a high quality 3D recognition, and the Korean manufacturer still does not include aptX HD for its high-end smartphone.

The Poco F2 Pro is Xiaomi’s attempt to continue the first Pocophone’s legacy, which offered flagship quality components at mid-range prices. It comes with an extremely bright super AMOLED display with decent color accuracy and support for HDR content running at 60 Hz. The smartphone is powered by a Snapdragon 865 with either 6 or 8 GB of RAM and either 128 or 256 GB of non-expandable storage. It continues to feature an IR blaster as well as a 3.5-inch headphone jack.

The Xiaomi Mi 9 is a powerful smartphone with high-end ambitions for a very good price. It does not only offer a very big 6.39-inch AMOLED screen (16.23 cm, 100.2 cm²), but also a bright backlight and well-balanced colors. If you select the global ROM SKU, you also get the required DRM certification to stream corresponding contents in HD, which was not a matter of course for previous Xiaomi smartphones. 

The Mi 9 is shipped with powerful hardware including a Snapdragon 855, 6 GB RAM and 64 or 128 GB internal storage. However, you cannot expand the storage, so you should not save money at the wrong end. We also liked the camera during our review and the battery runtime is okay, despite the comparatively small battery.

The Google Pixel 4 has dropped in price significantly over the past few months, and it has quite a lot to offer: 5.7-inch 90 Hz OLED display, fast SoC, IP68 certification, wireless charging, 3D face detection, and last but not last the guarantee that it will receive updates for a very long time.

The LG G8s ThinQ offers everything you expect from a modern smartphone. The 6.2-inch P-OLED screen has a resolution of 2248 x 1080 pixels and comes with a comparatively wide notch, which looks similar to the iPhone. However, this notch contains the real highlight of the smartphone – a ToF sensor from Infineon. It does not only enable better portraits and perhaps the fastest 3D facial recognition right now, but also wireless gesture controls. The latter is a good idea from LG, but the handling takes time getting used to and the functionality is still limited.

At the back you get a triple-camera with an additional ultra wide-angle as well as a telephoto. The battery capacity is comparatively small with 3550 mAh, but LG still manages to squeeze good runtimes out of it. The smartphone is also protected against dust and water according to IP68, has passed 14 tests according to the military standard MIL-STD 810G and supports wireless charging. A pretty complete package for less than 500 Euros.

Apple’s Apple iPhone SE (2020) is based on the iPhone 8 and features the exact same case with identical footprint and somewhat antiquated display to body ratio. In return, its internal hardware is up to date as it features Apple’s fastest currently available SoC as well as numerous other noteworthy features, such as Wi-Fi 6, wireless charging, or an IP67 certification.

The ZTE Axon 10 Pro features good specs with its 6.47-inch AMOLED screen (FHD+), a fast Snapdragon 855 with 6 GB RAM and 128 GB internal storage, which can be expanded. The 48 MP main camera is supported by an ultra wide-angle as well as a telephoto to ensure good picture quality.

The 4000 mAh battery ensures long battery runtimes and can be quickly charged via cable, but wireless charging is also supported. Only the panel brightness could have been higher.

Samsung's Galaxy S9 is once again a powerful smartphone, but there are only small changes compared to the previous model. The hardware specs are very good with a new and powerful Exynos SoC, 4 GB RAM and 64/256 GB of UFS 2.1 storage. The display was slightly tuned as well and the bezels, which were slim to begin with, are even smaller than before. Otherwise, the S9-series offers great features as well: LTE Cat. 18, Bluetooth 5.0, storage expansion via microSD, IP67 certification, wireless charging, USB 3.1 with DisplayPort support, a fingerprint as well as Iris scanner and more. This also includes a new dual-camera, which can automatically switch between an f/1.5 and f/2.4 aperture depending on the lighting conditions and takes great pictures.

Thanks to the update to Android 9.0 Pie and the One UI, Bixby now finally supports German. The Samsung smartphone also gets a bit bigger and heavier. The battery is identical to the previous model, but the battery runtime is still not very convincing and worse than its predecessor. It is also unfortunate that the Korean company only equips the Galaxy S9 with a single-camera solution. One fact that is only rarely talked about: The Galaxy S9 is much better protected against drops than before.

The LG Velvet features a 6.8-inch POLED display and can be expanded with an equally large dual screen. Its mid-range SoC performed adequately, and where available the LG Velvet will also connect to 5G networks. Gaming required some compromises but in return it features a decent triple-camera array, USB 3.2, wireless charging, and last but not least an IP68 and MIL-STD certification.