Top 10 mid-range mobile phones

If you don’t want to, you don’t need to break the bank to have a quality smartphone, and actually there are a wealth of choices in the more affordable range, all with everything you need from a good-performing phone. Here’s a breakdown of a few phones that stand out.

Last updated - June 2023.

Powered by 5G and Apple's A14 chip to enable faster downloading, streaming and overall boot up times, the iPhone 12 is a speedy and powerful device. Also featured is a HDR display for crisp, clear viewing—and nano ceramic crystals in the glass display to protect the screen from the occasional drop and from scratches.

Complimenting the phones sturdy build is a brilliant dual 12MP camera set up on the back, allowing for fantastic photos in day or night, along with the capability of recording in 4K resolution for even clearer videos.

View it here

Samsungs’ A23 has a minimalist and sleek design, with an intuitive quad camera system, good enough to take good quality photos from any angle. And coupled with a full HD screen, high-performing battery and plenty of storage space—up to 1TB, it’s a very solid choice for a mid-range offering.

View it here

The newly released Galaxy A54 is a top choice for a mid-range phone, offering a high-quality cameras like its predecessor the A53, also featured is 6.4 inch full HD with a 120Hz refresh rate, which ideal for watching movies and videos on the go.

A repeat feature is the triple camera set-up on the back of the phone, with capability of recording in 4K resolution.

View it here

The Google Pixel phone series make for well-performing, good choices when it comes to mid-range phones—with long battery life and fantastic cameras with features like real tone and magic eraser, included to ensure photos look accurate to reality and are of high quality.

This all comes together in a compact, stylish package. And with the Google Tensor chip, with everything from video, to web surfing you'll be in for a seamless, no frills experience.

View it here

The honour 70 is a bit of an upgrade on the Honour 50, with much the same features, including a high-quality OLED display, though the 70 is slightly bigger at 6.6”. It boasts a fast-processing chip, made for multitasking and keeping you on your feet, so slow performance shouldn't be an issue.

View it here

The recently released Magic5 Lite is an upgrade on the previous Magic4 Lite—the Magic5 is a bit smaller but still comes in at a sizeable 6.67" it emulates much of the same features as it's predecessor, with a sleek build and a 64MP triple camera system. There's also a 16MP front facing camera for taking those crucial selfie shots.

And with a high-resolution AMOLED screen, and high refresh rate of 120Hz, it's a fantastic choice for streaming your favourite movies, shows or videos.

View it here

A 6.43 inch phone and reportedly Nokia's most eco-friendly phone to date with 100% recycled aluminium, the X30 is an intriguing option for a good mid-range phone. It has 6GB of RAM for swift everyday use with the phone and a crisp AMOLED screen for watching movies, TV and general videos in high quality.

It also features two rear cameras, a 13MP ultrawide camera and a 50MP camera for capturing high-standard photos in a variety of scenarios.

View it here

The iPhone XR comes in six different colours, with three storage capacities of 64GB, 128GB and 256GB, it also features a liquid HD display and is one of the smaller iPhones, coming in at 6.1 inches. It's rounded corners are reminiscent of the iPhone SE and it's also IP67 water and dust resistant (up to 1 metre for 30 minutes). 

Despite being a few years old, it's capable of optical image stabilisation, 4K video recording, auto-focus and 3x digital zoom, to name just a few of it's video features. The XR isn't a flagship iPhone by any means but it's still a solid choice for its price.

View it here

A solid all-round choice, the S20 FE has a high refresh rate of 120Hz and a bright, vivd AMOLED screen which is great for watching videos virtually lag free—and at 6.5", it's also notably larger than more recent Galaxy phones like the S21 and S22, which also helps with the viewing experience.

The phone is also capable of 25W fast charging, for getting your battery life up in a pinch.

View it here

Samsung's S21 is a top of the range smartphone, coming in at 6.2" but packed with impressive specifications, like 8GB RAM and the Exynos 2100 chipset for speedy web browsing and application use. It's supported by a full HD, 1080 x 2400 pixel display, with a triple camera system and the capability of recording in 8K resolution.

View it here

Read more: Top premium mobile phones on the market

Read more: View all Shopping Guides and Product Recommendations

Keep up with the top stories from Reader's Digest by subscribing to our weekly newsletter.

This post contains affiliate links, so we may earn a small commission when you make a purchase through links on our site at no additional cost to you.