With a sub-S$400 budget, you’ll need to make some trade-offs. Still, cheap phones have come a long way in the last few years. If you know your priorities, you’ll find a Jack-of-some-trades device that meets your most important needs.
Performance and processor: Budget phones will never top benchmarks but chipsets from the likes of Snapdragon and MediaTek Dimensity offer competent performance for daily tasks. The budget models in this roundup offer 5G support, giving faster speeds.
Large-capacity batteries: The phones in this roundup include at least 5,000mAh batteries, which in most use cases will last an entire day.
Displays: Look for at least a full HD (1,080p) panel. Some of our shortlisted phones include AMOLED displays and all offer high-refresh rates (90–120 Hz) for smoother visuals.
Cameras: At the very least, your budget device should be able to take good daylight photos. Some models include optical image stabilisation (OIS) or AI-enhanced shots. Video recording at 4K is rare at this price point.
Storage and memory: The phones on this list include at least 6GB RAM and 128GB storage. This matters, especially if you want to keep the phone for a few years.
Durability: Most modern budget phones offer decent ingress protection and some even offer MIL-STD levels of shock proofing. Additional features like Gorilla Glass help improve durability.