New phones may get all the likes, but not everybody yearns for the latest and greatest mobiles. If you’re on a tight budget, or you just don’t want to carry around a phone worth hundreds of pounds, what are the options?
You could buy an affordable new phone, and make do with reasonable features but a distinctly entry-level experience. Or you could snap up an older, pre-owned phone, and get top-line specs at a much lower price.
Yesterday’s flagship phones often match or beat today’s cheapest phones for processing power. Their screens are usually better, and they may come with features like waterproofing and 5G that you don’t get on a cheap handset. If you’re tempted by a classic, read our guide to the best old phones - we’ll help you pick out the true bargains.
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The iPhone 13 may be the latest thing - and we think the iPhone 13 Pro is the best smartphone you can buy - but the iPhone 12 Pro is still remarkably appealing. It looks almost identical to Apple’s newer flagship, and offers a similar set of features. These include 5G support, waterproofing to six metres, and a blisteringly fast processor.
The iPhone 12 Pro has a 12 megapixel (MP), three-camera setup at the rear, covering wide, ultra-wide and telephoto angles. While it’s not as good as the much improved unit in the iPhone 13 Pro, it still turns in brilliant photo and video quality - especially in low light conditions that leave its contemporaries floundering.
Perhaps this phone’s most dated feature is its screen. While it’s a 6.1” OLED with a bright, crisp image, it’s limited to a refresh rate of only 60Hz, which even when it was launched compared poorly to its high-end competitors. At 2,532x1,170 pixels, the screen’s resolution isn’t the highest you’ll find, either.
This caveat aside, there’s little to date the iPhone 12 Pro: a great looking, strong performing, high-end phone. With Apple likely to support it to 2027, buying a refurbished iPhone 12 Pro is the ideal nearly-new choice.
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Maybe it seems odd to include a phone you can still buy new in our ‘best old phones’ list, but the truth is that the Pixel 4a is due for replacement soon, and is already showing its age. Launched back in August 2020, Google’s affordable Pixel gives away plenty to newer models. Look at its specs, and the most notable omissions are no waterproofing, and no support for 5G. Dig deeper and you’ll spot that its Snapdragon 730G is well off the pace of newer phones, too.
So while you can still buy one new, it makes the most sense to snap up a certified refurbished Google Pixel 4a for a much lower price. You’ll get a phone running the latest version of Android, and due for at least one more major update before support ends in August 2023. At the same time you’ll benefit from its comparatively pure version of Google’s OS, enhanced with useful Pixel-only features including the Recorder app, which can transpose speech in real time.
The Pixel 4a has other strengths, despite its mid-range specs. Most notably, its single 12MP camera punches well above its weight when it comes to photo quality. It’s not a match for an iPhone in dim light, but it takes exceptional photos in most other conditions. As such, the Pixel 4a is still a favourite here at Mozillion, and worth snapping up if you can find a good Pixel 4a deal on the marketplace.
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The OnePlus 8 Pro is another older phone that’s still available new, if you shop around, but it’s increasingly rare. Regardless, you’ll get an even bigger saving on a refurbished OnePlus 8 Pro. This was one of the flagship phones of 2020, combining a large, high-res screen with the relatively high-end Qualcomm Snapdragon 865 chip and support for 5G.
This is a decent phone for gaming. Scoring around 1,100 points in the taxing 3DMark Wild Life Extreme benchmark, it has slightly more than half the 3D power of today’s fastest Android phones, meaning it’s still capable of smooth framerates and slick gameplay in all but the most demanding games. Its 6.6” AMOLED screen adds to the entertainment, with 1,440x3,168 pixels and a smooth 120Hz refresh rate.
The OnePlus 8 Pro won’t disappoint if you’re into photography. Its 48MP main camera is teamed with a 16MP ultra-wide and 2MP macro unit. There’s even a 16MP selfie camera. Best of all, there’s hours of power for everything, thanks to the phone’s huge 4,500mAh battery.
The OnePlus 8 Pro can’t quite keep pace with the speed of the latest phones, but it has all the features you need. Its only real downside is that its software updates are due to end in April 2023. It’s a lot of phone for the money, but it won’t feel new forever.
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If you don’t fancy or can’t afford a new iPhone, the iPhone 11 Pro offers a lot of smartphone for a reasonable budget. Examples often go for under £400 on the Mozillion marketplace, yet this is still one of the fastest phones available - only newer iPhones are comprehensively quicker.
It’s important to note that the iPhone 11 Pro is a big step up over the vanilla iPhone 11. Most importantly, the flagship comes with a crisp and bright OLED screen, while the regular iPhone 11 makes do with a far less impressive LCD. The iPhone 11 Pro also has a triple camera setup supporting Night Mode, Apple’s heroic technology for great photos in near darkness.
Like other iPhones, the iPhone 11 Pro should receive support for around seven years, meaning you can expect to get iOS upgrades until 2026 or beyond. On the flipside, this phone doesn’t support 5G, so it may begin to show its age in bandwidth-intensive gaming or streaming. But if you can live with slower mobile data, a refurbished iPhone 11 Pro is still a great long-term bet.
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If you’re happy to settle for a significantly older phone, Apple’s iPhone XS should be top of your list. Launched more than three years ago, there’s no doubt it’s now some way behind the curve, but for the money there’s lots to recommend it - not the least of which is that Apple will keep it updated until 2025.
The iPhone XS has the same bezel-less style pioneered on the iPhone X. Unlike its cheaper contemporary, the iPhone XR, the iPhone XS has an OLED screen that’s better than the LCD you’d get on a new phone at this price. This phone is waterproofed to two metres, and it supports wireless charging.
Best of all, the iPhone XS uses Apple’s Bionic A12 chip. While this is three generations behind the A15 Bionic in the iPhone 13, it still holds up surprisingly well against new Android phones. While you won’t experience smooth frame rates in the most demanding 3D games, this phone still has the power to cruise through everyday games and apps.
The iPhone XS doesn’t support 5G - you need an iPhone 12 or newer for that. Its battery life is also less impressive than on recent phones - we got it to loop a film for only 10 and a half hours. Despite these weaknesses, it’s still a stunning phone, with ample performance that belies its age. If you’re looking for a refurbished iPhone, this is the cheapest and oldest one we’d particularly recommend.
The iPhone X ushered in a new era of iPhone design, making everything that came before it look dated. Its huge screen and updated features made it a sensation - but that was four years ago. Is it still worth buying today? Read our review.
The iPhone 8 Plus was the last big iPhone with bezels above and below the screen. It’s better than an iPhone 8 or an iPhone 7 Plus, but it is getting on a bit. Today it’s comparatively cheap, but does that mean you should buy one? Read our iPhone 8 Plus review.
The iPhone XS Max was Apple’s first plus-sized flagship phone since the design changes introduced with the iPhone X. It’s a big, beautiful slab of a phone - but is it worth buying now it’s three generations old? Read our iPhone XS Max review.
