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Buying a budget phone in Canada

Smartphones have been getting very expensive in recent years. If you are in the market for a new phone, you will find that most “premium” phones cost more than a $1,000. This is true for both Android as well as Apple phones. In this post, I will list some of the options for buying a budget phone in Canada.

Phone manufacturers realized that, because many people couldn’t afford the premium price tags, there was a need for a new category of smartphones. Tech reviewers call this new category of phones the “budget phone”.

Options

There are many options for buying a budget phone. However, I will pick only a few that are manufactured by well-known companies, and are available for purchase from the major Canadian telecom companies.

I know that there are a lot of Chinese brands that offer very good Android phones at affordable prices. For example, Xiaomi makes some really good phones. But I will not be talking about these phones because you cannot buy them in Canada on a phone plan. I will only mention the options where buying the budget phone in Canada is available.

Apple

Yes, I know, people don’t usually mention Apple when they’re talking about budget phones. However, Apple recently released their iPhone SE (2nd generation), and it fits nicely into this category.

4.7 inch display
Up to 256GB storage
12MP camera

The phone has some decent specs and performs well-enough for most people. If you are not into gaming on your phone, and you will be using it mostly for email, social media and light browsing, then this phone is an excellent choice.

You can buy the phone directly from Apple for $599 (plus taxes), or pay a monthly fee from any of the major Canadian telecom companies.

Samsung

If you prefer to go with an Android smartphone (like me!), then Samsung phones are a great option. People associate Samsung with expensive Android phones (think Galaxy S20 Ultra or Galaxy Note 10+). However, not many people know that this company also makes some very good budget phones.

The Samsung phone that I want to mention in this post, is the Galaxy A71.

6.7 inch display
64MP main camera (has 4 camera in the back)
6GB RAM
128GB storage
4500 mAh battery

The specs of the A71 are very impressive, especially when you consider that the full price of the phone is $599 (plus tax). If you don’t want to pay the full price upfront, you can also get the phone on a monthly plan from your phone carrier.

Google

If you prefer to go with “stock Android”, you don’t have a better option that buying a phone from Google. The company’s latest budget phone is the Pixel 3a.

5.6 inch display
12.2MP dual camera
4GB RAM
64GM storage
3000 mAh battery

Everyone knows that the Pixel phones provide some of the best camera performances in an Android phone. And for the starting price of just $549 (plus tax), you will also get the latest Android updates from Google as soon as they come out.

If you have a questions about any of these phones, leave a comment here or send me an email.

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