The best mid-range phones are closer to flagships than ever before, and there are always plenty of great deals to be found on affordable handsets.
That could take already affordable mid-range handsets and make them downright irresistible. You might have to give up on luxuries like waterproofing or wireless charging (though some of these phones have those!) but you can get top processors, amazing battery life, fast charging, and slick multi-lens cameras at some surprisingly affordable prices.
What are the best mid-range phones?
Check out our list of the best mid-range phones to find out which handsets we love right now. And if your budget is a little different, then look at our separate guides to the best flagship phone deals and best budget phone deals.
Best UK mid-range phone deals
Google Pixel 6 (8GB/128GB)
This is a superb price for the outstanding Pixel 6, which is still a fantastic phone even a year after its release.
Samsung Galaxy A52s (6GB+128GB)
Samsung’s star mid-ranger for 2021 – the upgraded Galaxy A52s – features a 120Hz AMOLED display, 5G, a 25W fast-charging 4500mAh battery, IP67 water and dust resistance, and a quad rear camera.
Oppo Find X3 Lite (8GB + 128GB)
With £160 off, the excellent Find X3 Lite is about the cheapest it’s ever been – and we gave it 4 stars in our review.
Mid-range phone buying advice
Mid-rangers are typically a mix of competitively-priced fully-fledged flagships, more affordable members of the same product family as a company’s top device with reduced performance, or a dedicated device, designed to deliver a certain premium feature (or features), without breaking the bank.
Deciding which one best suits your needs falls to a number of factors. If you want raw performance, a former flagship will stand you in better stead but will more likely suffer more from waning software support sooner than less powerful but newer dedicated mid-ranger compatriots.
Flagship-adjacent phones will try and offer the closest experience to a product line’s true top-tier offering but will likely skimp on the processor and/or RAM available. While dedicated mid-rangers don’t aim to excel based on their price point, save for one or two key areas, chosen by the manufacturer.
As ever, buying from phone makers you trust is always the way you go, even if it means paying a little more for a similarly-specced phone. Bigger companies’ products are usually held to higher quality standards and should anything go wrong, they’ll likely offer more robust customer support.
Where do you find the best deals on mid-range phones?
The simple answer is that the best places to buy phones tend to be the same places you’d buy most of your tech: electronics shops and department stores. You can also check with carriers and networks, not to mention going direct to manufacturers’ websites. Here are some ideas to get you started:
US stores
UK stores
How to find deals
If you’re looking to buy a phone outright, rather than on-contract, Amazon has some of the biggest bargains, but make sure you check the specs carefully – third-party sellers sometimes use Amazon to shift international stock, which may vary slightly from what you find locally.
If you find that you’re missing out on Amazon’s Lightning deals, which run for just a few hours and offer limited stock, we’d recommend signing up for Amazon’s 30-day free trial of Prime, which will get you access to deals 30 minutes before everyone else. Plus, you’ll get free next-day delivery with the Prime trial, as well as access to Prime Instant Video and more. Sign up for Prime now.
If you want to know more about the current mid-range phone market, check out our best mid-range phones roundup or if all the entries here still seem a little too pricey, have a look at our best budget phones roundup instead, where every entry costs under £250/$350. We also have a general roundup of the best tech deals right now, worth checking in on too.
Author: Dominic Preston, Contributor, Tech Advisor
Previously Tech Advisor's Deputy Editor, Dom covers everything that runs on electricity, from phones and laptops to wearables, audio, gaming, smart home, and streaming.