The Best Android Phones You Can Actually Buy for Under $500 Right Now

Spend $500 on a phone right now and you’re not settling — you’re choosing between four genuinely good options, which is a new problem to have. A few years ago, “budget Android phone” meant a laggy chipset and a camera that fell apart in anything but daylight. That’s not really true anymore, and the current crop under $500 proves it.

I’ve been tracking four phones that keep coming up as the real contenders this fall: the Google Pixel 10a, the Nothing Phone (4a) Pro, the Samsung Galaxy A37 5G, and last year’s Pixel 9a, which refuses to go away because retailers keep discounting it into relevance. Here’s how they actually stack up, and which one I’d tell a friend to buy.

The pick for most people: Pixel 10a ($499)

Google released the Pixel 10a on March 5 with no price increase over its predecessor — still $499, same as the Pixel 9a and 8a before it. What you get for that money is a Tensor G4 chip, 8GB of RAM, a 6.3-inch Actua display that Google says is 11% brighter than the 9a’s, and a 48MP main camera. None of that is class-leading on paper. What is class-leading is the update policy: seven years of OS updates, security patches, and Pixel Drops, per Google’s own announcement. No other phone on this list comes close, and it’s the single best reason to spend the extra money over the Pixel 9a rather than chase a discount.

The one that surprised me: Nothing Phone (4a) Pro ($499)

This is the first time a Pro-tier Nothing phone has officially launched in the US, and at $499 it’s a real alternative rather than a novelty import. It runs a Snapdragon 7 Gen 4, which on paper out-muscles the Pixel 10a’s Tensor G4 in raw benchmark terms, and Nothing’s transparent-back design language still looks like nothing else in this price bracket. The tradeoff is software longevity: Nothing commits to just 3 years of OS upgrades and 6 years of security updates, per its own announcement, versus Google’s blanket seven-and-seven. If long-term support is your priority, that gap matters more than the extra horsepower.

The cheapest real AMOLED: Galaxy A37 5G (from $450)

Samsung’s A37 5G starts at $450 for the 128GB/6GB model and moves to $540 for 256GB/8GB, though 9to5Toys has already tracked it down to $399.99 and $489.99 respectively in its first real discounts since launch. It packs a 6.7-inch Super AMOLED display, an Exynos 1480 chip, and a 5,000mAh battery with 30-minute fast charging — genuinely strong hardware for the price. Samsung backs it with six years of OS upgrades and six years of security updates. It’s not as fast as the other two, but the screen alone makes it worth cross-shopping if you watch a lot of video on your phone.

The sleeper: Pixel 9a (MSRP $499, often $349–$449)

Google hasn’t discontinued the Pixel 9a, and retailers clearly want it gone before the 10a fully takes over shelf space. 9to5Toys tracked the 256GB model at an all-time-low $449 and the 128GB model at $349 earlier this year, and similar drops keep resurfacing. Spec-for-spec it’s roughly “90% of the 10a,” as one buying guide put it — same general design, slightly dimmer screen, one fewer year of guaranteed updates on the back end since its support clock started a year earlier. If you can find it at $350–$400, it’s arguably the better value than the 10a. At full price, it isn’t.

Bottom line

If you’re buying at full price and want to hold onto the phone for years, get the Pixel 10a. The seven-year update promise is worth more than any single spec on this list, and it’s the newest hardware of the bunch. If a big screen and Samsung’s ecosystem matter more to you than raw speed, the Galaxy A37 at its discounted price is hard to argue with. And if you see a Pixel 9a at $350 or less, buy that instead of feeling like you’re settling — you’re not.

Sources: Google Blog, PhoneArena, 9to5Google, 9to5Google, Samsung, 9to5Toys, 9to5Toys, Android Central. Featured image: Photo by Jonas Leupe on Unsplash.