The phone sold simply as the “iPhone” isn’t the cheapest phone Apple sells. There’s a cheaper model currently known as the iPhone 16e—and while this is described as the most affordable iPhone, that doesn’t actually make it an affordable phone.
Apple’s cheapest iPhone costs $600
The iPhone 16e retails for $600. That’s not an unreasonable price to pay for a phone. It is, after all, only $200 less than the regular iPhone. The latter is a few hundred dollars less than the iPhone Pro Max, which also sells well each year. Most American buyers get their phone through their carrier, where the price is broken down into monthly payments or reduced by deals to entice customers to stay.
All that said, $600 is an unreasonable price to pay for the iPhone 16e. You’re better off buying last year’s iPhone, which will deliver much better cameras, a sharper screen with smoother animation (if you get a Pro model), and roughly the same length of software support. You’ll also get MagSafe, which the iPhone 16e shockingly lacks—meaning the Google Pixel 10 is compatible with more MagSafe accessories than the iPhone 17e. $600 is also the cost of the iPhone 16e without any modifications. If you increase the storage and the memory, you’ll quickly end up with a $900 phone that still has a low refresh rate 60Hz display, a giant camera notch, and incompatibility with the vast legions of MagSafe accessories.
The iPhone 16e also marks a price hike relative to the outgoing iPhone SE. $600 is $170 more than the starting price of that phone, and it’s still over a hundred dollars more than the version with 128GB of storage.
The Google Pixel 9a is $100 less
If you’re willing to venture outside the Apple ecosystem, then the story gets even worse for the so-called affordable iPhone. The cheapest phone in Google’s Pixel lineup is the Google Pixel 9a, and it starts at $500. Google’s phones also regularly go on sale. At the time of writing, I could buy a Pixel 9a outright from Best Buy or Amazon for $400.
8/10
- SoC
-
Google Tensor G4, Titan M2 Security Coprocessor
- Display
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6.3-inch, 1080 x 2424 pOLED, 60-120Hz, Corning Gorilla Glass 3
- RAM
-
8GB
- Storage
-
128GB, 256GB
The latest Pixel has high-end cameras, great battery life, and is the most durable model yet—all for $499.
The Pixel 9a is also, in various ways, the better phone. The screen animation is much smoother, thanks to a variable refresh rate that goes all the way up to 120Hz—twice that of the iPhone 16e. You’ll also get a tiny camera cutout in place of the giant notch found on Apple’s phone. Software preference is subjective, for sure, but there’s also plenty of reason to get more excited for Google’s Material 3 Expressive design language over Apple’s Liquid Glass introduced in iOS 26.
You can get a far better phone for $600
If you do have $600 burning a hole in your pocket, you don’t have to settle for a phone that’s filled with deliberate compromises. There are many phones you can get for $600 instead of an iPhone 16e.
You can treat yourself to the OnePlus 13R, a phone with 12GB of RAM, twice the storage, and three rear cameras—three times the cameras as the iPhone 16e.
If you want to stick with one of the more well-known brands, you can buy a Samsung Galaxy S25 FE for $650 and walk away with a phone that looks and feels like Samsung’s more expensive models. As a phone that often goes on sale, it’s currently less than $600 on Amazon.
- SoC
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Exynos 2400 Deca-Core (4nm)
- RAM
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8GB
- Storage
-
128 or 256GB
- Battery
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4,900mAh
- Operating System
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Android
- Dimensions
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161.3 x 76.6 x 7.4mm
The Galaxy S25 FE offers a lot of the benefits of the S25 flagship line at a fraction of the cost.
Instead of “cheap,” try out “interesting”
Let’s also consider all the shapes an Android phone can take that you can’t find an iPhone in. If you like the idea of a flip-style foldable, the Moto Razr 2025 has a $700 MSRP but is regularly on sale for under $600.
Then there are phones with physical keyboards, like the Unihertz Titan 2. It’s a phone aimed at BlackBerry fans, and while I didn’t fall in love with this device, it only goes for just $400. If you want your physical keyboard to come with an E Ink screen, the Minimal Phone can be yours for $500.
With any of these devices, you have hardware that feels more novel than yet another slab, and you won’t be carrying around a phone that you and others simply view as the cheap one.
If you just want the most affordable phone you can get with many years of support from a reputable company, Samsung drastically undercuts Apple and Google. The differences between the Galaxy A55 and the Galaxy S25 aren’t that noticeable to many shoppers, and the former only costs $400. Meanwhile, the Galaxy A16 5G costs less than $200, and it still comes with six years of updates. You can supply a family with these phones for the cost of the cheapest iPhone. It’s the phone I’d likely get my parents if they asked for one today.
- Brand
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Samsung
- Display
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6.7-inch AMOLED
- RAM
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4GB
- Storage
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128GB
The Galaxy A16 5G is a no-frills budget phone with a vibrant OLED display, refined software, and a respectable 5,000mAh battery. It will also get six major Android OS updates.
