The battle between high-end smartphones is well documented with Apple and Samsung battling it out for top spot. But there’s an even fiercer battle going on at the other end of the market between companies keep to secure budget business.
The latest entrant is the Karbonn a50s, made and sold in India for just £26. That makes it hundreds of pounds cheaper than other handsets – for example, Apple's latest offering, the iPhone 5S, costs £549.
Compare mobile phone deals with Recombu
What do you get for your money?
The Karbonn a50s comes with a 3.5-inch touchscreen display, 512MB memory, dual-core 1.2Ghz processor, Wi-Fi connectivity, 2G and 3G mobile technology, and front and rear 2mp cameras.
It has Jelly Bean software installed so you can use Google services such as Gmail and Google Maps as well as downloading Android apps.
It even has some extras most phones don’t offer such as two SIM-card slots which enable the user to swap between two networks and two phone numbers – handy if you want to buy a cheap local SIM while abroad.
Oh, and it can do the old-fashioned stuff – such as calls and texts – too.
One downside is that the phone is only officially available to customers in India. However, bargain hungry Brits can buy the handset online and have it sent on to the UK where it will work on UK networks with a pay-as-you-go SIM card.
But if you don’t fancy importing a little-known brand halfway across the world, there are bargain handsets to be found in the UK too.
Compare mobile phone deals with Recombu
New from Nokia
The name might take you back to the brick-sized phones of the ‘90s but good old Nokia is still a player in the mobile handset market – you’ll soon be able pick up a Nokia smartphone for less than £100.
Microsoft has unveiled the Nokia Lumia 530, which looks set to be the cheapest Windows phone on the market. Its price hasn’t been officially revealed but respected technology website techradar.com estimates it will cost about £70.
The Nokia Lumia 530 has a four-inch display with 480 x 854 pixels and comes with a quad-core 1.2GHz processor and 512MB RAM. It has a 5MP camera but unfortunately no front camera option for selfie fans. There’s 4GB of storage but you can up this to 128GB by inserting a MicroSD card or store files automatically to the cloud.
One selling point is it arrives with the full version of the new Windows 8.1 operating system.
Another option is the Nokia X, one of Nokia’s first Android phones (most of its earlier phones run on Windows).
The Nokia X boasts a modest 1GHz Snapdragon S4 processor, with 4GB storage (plus a microSD card slot) and 512MB of RAM. The battery is 1500mAh, which should last all day.
Compare mobile phone deals with Recombu
Motorola money savers
Another trusted handset manufacturer taking the budget smartphone market by storm is Motorola. Its Moto G handset officially costs £135 but Tesco Direct is selling the 8G version for £119. The 4G version is a bit more expensive at a RRP of £159 but just £135 from Tesco.
Another option is Motorola’s Moto E for just £89. The 3G Moto E runs the latest version of Google’s Android software and has a 4.3in display, 5MP camera and all-day battery life. There’s 4GB of built-in storage and a microSD card slot for adding up to 32GB more space.
Compare mobile phone deals with Recombu
Other cheap smartphones
Mobile network Everything Everywhere is selling the EE Kestrel at £99 for the handset or on a £13.99 a month contract which includes the phone, 500MB of data, 500 minutes and unlimited texts each month.
Manufactured by Huawei, specifications include a 4.5 inch screen resolution, a 5MP camera, and 1GB of RAM. It runs Android 4.3 Jelly Bean software with the promise of an upgrade to the latest Android 4.4 KitKat at a later date.
Alternatively the Acer Liquid Z4 costs about £82 and for that you get a dual-core 1.3GHz processor and 512MB of RAM. The phone comes running Android 4.2.2 along with Acer's Liquid UI on top.
Compare mobile phone deals with Recombu