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Best Phones Under $500 for 2022: Feature-Packed, Low Prices

The best phones under $500 still have many of the newer features that you’re looking for.

The best phones under $500 really don’t sacrifice much in comparison to devices with much higher prices. Even better, there’s a lot of competition in this midrange space, making phones in this price range the first you should consider if you’re ready to upgrade or looking for a holiday gift. These phones typically cost between $400 and $500 while offering features like high refresh rate screens, 5G and photography processing software. But prepare for some tradeoffs, such as lower-quality cameras or an older processor.

Even at their lower prices, the best phones under $500 may hit most of the features on your checklist. Looking for a big 6.5-inch screen? Many of these phones have that, or there are also smaller displays if that’s your preference. Need a great camera? You’ll find that in most of these picks. Most of these phones don’t skimp on software updates either, with their makers promising at minimum three years of security updates.

There are some compromises made to keep costs low, and each company takes a different approach to make these cuts less noticeable. Apple’s iPhone SE and Google’s Pixel 6A, for instance, have a smaller screen and older camera setup, yet include new processors and software from these companies. Samsung’s Galaxy A53 has a spacious screen and impressive battery life, although it runs on a less powerful processor than the Galaxy S22. And the Moto G Stylus 5G takes nice photos, provides a roomy 256GB of space and throws in a stylus, but Motorola doesn’t provide software support for as long as its competitors.

Photography and video in particular are areas where these phones priced under $500 take a noticeable hit in comparison to their more expensive counterparts, but photo-processing software should help pick up some of the slack. For instance, while the iPhone SE has a single 12-megapixel camera that does not support night photography, its A15 Bionic chip does allow for Apple’s Deep Fusion processing. It’s a similar situation for the Pixel 6A, which uses a 12-megapixel main camera and a 12-megapixel ultrawide camera, yet can enhance those photos with processing powered by the phone’s Tensor chip.

You can see the pros and cons of each of these phones below, with more details available in our full reviews.

Best phones under $500

How we test phones

CNET tests phones by using them daily and comparing them with competing phones to assess their value. We consider a variety of factors, such as the phone’s screen, cameras, battery life, software, performance, features and ease of use.

For low-priced phones, we make sure these devices consistently work well when used in a number of situations. This includes many day-to-day activities like reading the news, listening to music, watching videos, texting, playing games and multitasking.

We test phone cameras in a range of environments, taking test photos outdoors in the daytime and nighttime, and indoors in darker settings. We use cameras in active environments, like a concert or a sports game, and with a variety of subjects including people, objects and pets. We also test available camera settings, especially those that are rarer in these price ranges such as Night mode and Portrait mode.

These anecdotal phone experiences are also combined with benchmark tests such as Geekbench performance testing and battery testing. We monitor battery life in two ways: By seeing how much power is typically left after a day of normal usage and by seeing how much battery is depleted during a more intensive hour with the phone. For the latter test, we’ll check how the phone’s battery holds up to a series of video calls, gaming, video streaming and web browsing.

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Last Chance: Nab These RayNeo Air 3s Pro AR/XR Glasses for $249 This Cyber Monday

Level up your gaming experience with these smart glasses while they’re $50 off.

Cyber Monday is here for a few more hours, and it’s a great time to save money on the latest tech. If you’re a gamer, there are plenty of deals that’ll save you big bucks. We’ve spotted this pair of RayNeo Air 3S smart gaming glasses for just $249 at RayNeo. This saves you $50 over its usual price of $299.

These RayNeo Air 3s Pro smart gaming glasses are lightweight, include built-in speakers and spatial audio that makes your experience immersive. They’re compatible with Android, iOS and Windows operating systems and consoles such as Nintendo Switch 2.

Love playing for hours on end? These glasses are TÜV SÜD Low Blue Light & Flicker-Free certified, which essentially means they’re gentle on your eyes and can reduce strain associated with being in front of a screen. These RayNeo Air 3s smart gaming glasses are also bright enough to let you see more detail than you’d get playing on a screen.

If you use glasses you can also take the Air 3s to your optician to get prescription lenses installed for a more comfortable view.

CHEAP GAMING LAPTOP DEALS OF THE WEEK

Deals are selected by the CNET Group commerce team, and may be unrelated to this article.

Why this deal matters

These RayNeo Air 3s Pro AR/XR glasses are compatible with multiple operating systems and consoles. They offer brightness, excellent sound quality and low blue light exposure. On a typical day they cost $299, but this deal brings these smart gaming glasses down to $249. Keep in mind that this deal is live for just a few more hours.

CNET is keeping up with as many Cyber Monday deals as possible so you can make the most out of these deals while they’re still around.

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Technologies

Today’s NYT Mini Crossword Answers for Tuesday, Dec. 2

Here are the answers for The New York Times Mini Crossword for Dec. 2.

Looking for the most recent Mini Crossword answer? Click here for today’s Mini Crossword hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Wordle, Strands, Connections and Connections: Sports Edition puzzles.

Need some help with today’s Mini Crossword? It’s a fun one, especially if you like carbonated beverages, or what as a native Minnesotan, I will forever just call «pop.» Read on for the answers. And if you could use some hints and guidance for daily solving, check out our Mini Crossword tips.

If you’re looking for today’s Wordle, Connections, Connections: Sports Edition and Strands answers, you can visit CNET’s NYT puzzle hints page.

Read more: Tips and Tricks for Solving The New York Times Mini Crossword

Let’s get to those Mini Crossword clues and answers.

Mini across clues and answers

1A clue: Fittingly, the letters that bookend «Get along well»
Answer: GEL

4A clue: Coke, e.g.
Answer: DRUG

6A clue: Sprite
Answer: PIXIE

8A clue: Pepsi ___
Answer: COLA

9A clue: Subway scurrier
Answer: RAT

Mini down clues and answers

1D clue: Measure of a country’s economic output, for short
Answer: GDP

2D clue: N.Y.C. mayor Adams
Answer: ERIC

3D clue: Vegas casino shaped like a pyramid
Answer: LUXOR

5D clue: ___ monster (venomous lizard)
Answer: GILA

7D clue: Have a bite
Answer: EAT

Don’t miss any of our unbiased tech content and lab-based reviews. Add CNET as a preferred Google source.

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Technologies

Samsung’s Galaxy Z TriFold Is Coming to the US Early Next Year

This triple-display foldable looks like a slim phone-tablet hybrid. It’ll first arrive in Korea later this month.

After months of teasing a triple-display foldable phone, Samsung is gearing up to launch what it’s calling the Galaxy Z TriFold — because foldables with just one hinge are so last year. 

The phone is slated to become available first in Korea on Dec. 12, and will then launch in other locations including China, Taiwan, Singapore and the United Arab Emirates. It’ll arrive in the US in the first quarter of 2026.  

To get this caveat out of the way: a trifold phone doesn’t actually fold three times. Rather, devices like the Z TriFold have a main screen with two hinges, allowing the phone to fold into three sections. They appear to be more of a hybrid between a phone and, when unfolded, a tablet. The Z TriFold boasts a 10-inch display when unfurled and a 6.5-inch cover display. 

«The company’s decade-long experience in foldable category innovation inspired Galaxy Z TriFold’s uniquemulti-folding form factor, which uses an inward-folding design to protect the main display,» Samsung said in a blog post. «The foldingmechanism has been precisely engineered for easy opening and closing, with an auto-alarm alerting the userof incorrect folding through a series of on-screen alerts and vibrations.» 

A Galaxy of features comes together

The Galaxy Z TriFold appears to borrow elements from two of its siblings: the Galaxy S25 Edge and the Galaxy Z Fold 7. Both phones are impressively thin, with the Edge measuring 5.8mm and the Z Fold 7 measuring 4.2mm thick when unfolded. 

The Z TriFold goes one step further. It’s just 3.9mm thick «at its thinnest point,» Samsung says. Reading the fine print reveals that measurement excludes «the camera and the preinstalled protective film.» The thickest panel is the center one, which measures 4.2mm. The panel with the side button is 4mm thick. Still, that should all help to reduce bulk when the three screens are stacked shut on top of one another. 

The rear triple-camera system includes a 200-megapixel wide-angle camera, similar to the Galaxy S25 Ultra, S25 Edge and Z Fold 7. There’s also a 12-megapixel ultrawide and 10-megapixel telephoto camera. For selfies, you’ll find 10-megapixel front-facing cameras on both the cover and main screens. 

Like Samsung’s other premium phones released this year, the Z TriFold is powered by a custom Snapdragon 8 Elite processor. It also has a 5,600-mAh three-cell battery — a nice upgrade over the 4,400-mAh battery on the Galaxy Z Fold 7. Samsung notes this system «has been placed ineach of the three panels of the device for balanced power delivery and all-day endurance.» The phone supports 45-watt super-fast charging. 

The Z TriFold has two different-sized hinges, «creating a smoother, more stable fold despitevarying weight and components across the device,» Samsung notes. This also helps to reduce the gap between the screens. The titanium hinge housing «resists wear over time,» and the phone’s Advanced Armor Aluminum frame should also help with durability, while preventing the screens from touching when folded shut. 

The Z TriFold borrows another trait from the Z Fold 7: an IP48 rating. That means the phone can be submerged under 1.5 meters of water for up to 30 minutes and is protected against solid particles larger than 1 millimeter, but not against dust. Meanwhile, Google’s Pixel 10 Pro Fold boasts an impressive IP68 rating for water and dust resistance. 

Samsung’s triple-display foldable has Corning’s Gorilla Glass Ceramic 2 on the front, while the back is made of ceramic-glass fiber-reinforced polymer. 

Why would someone buy the Galaxy Z TriFold?

So what’s the point of a phone that unfolds into a giant 10-inch display? Samsung says the Z TriFold is ideal for multitasking.

«Users can use the screen with endless versatility — they can create across three different portrait-sized apps side-by-side without interruption, resize apps inmulti-window to view the most important information clearly, or hold it vertically when reviewing documents forimproved focus,» the company notes.

Samsung also says a wider screen can be good for watching movies and TV shows. And if you’re watching a YouTube video, you can simultaneously read the comments on the neighboring display. Samsung notes that «minimized creasing on the device keeps content seamless anduninterrupted.» That’ll be a crucial element. 

The phone’s AMOLED cover and main screens have a refresh rate up to 120Hz. The cover display boasts 2,600 nits of peak brightness, while the main screen features a peak brightness of 1,600 nits. 

The Galaxy Z TriFold will arrive with Android 16 and One UI 8. It’s not clear how much the phone will cost, but given the Z Fold 7’s $2,000 starting price, it’ll probably be a pretty penny.

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