Best mid-range phones: TOP picks for 2026, from the iPhone 17e to Pixel 10a

Once upon a time, choosing a mid-range phone meant compromising on premium features, but in 2026, the best mid-range phones are closer than ever to their flagship counterparts. We've reviewed all of the latest mid-range phones, and in this video, I'll be rounding up our favorite models from the past year to help you decide which device to go for. With flagships now costing upwards of $1,000, we've chosen phones that cost between $500 and $700 and thrown in some region-exclusive mid-range devices for the UK and Australia, too. So, strap in for our pick of the best mid-range phones of 2026. Before we dive into the video, make sure to scan this QR code to learn more about becoming a TechRadar insider. Membership is completely free and gives you access to exclusive perks, rewards, and more. If you're an Apple fan, the cheapest iPhone available from Apple directly is the iPhone 17e, and it's definitely more of a mid-range phone than a budget handset. For starters, it looks a lot like the premium iPhone 17, so you're not made to feel like you're getting a knockoff model by choosing this cheaper option. The two phones are almost identical in size and weight. Both have aluminum frames with CeramicShield 2 protection on their respective displays, and both are rated IP68 for water and dust resistance. The iPhone 17e also gets the same customizable action button as the iPhone 17, which was once an exclusive feature of Apple's top-end iPhone 15 Pro. What you don't get with the 17e is a dynamic island cutout at the top of its 6.1-inch display, a 120Hz refresh rate, or any form of telephoto or ultra-wide camera. The high refresh rate is the biggest miss here, since all of the other phones on this list will feel faster to navigate than the iPhone 17e. But if you're already using a phone with a 60Hz refresh rate, you may not notice the difference. As for cameras, the 17e actually uses the same 48-megapixel main sensor as all the other iPhones in the iPhone 17 lineup. But if you're a keen zoom photographer, you might want to consider the other models on this list that do feature a telephoto lens. When it comes to software and performance, the 17e is plenty powerful and will remain supported with iOS updates for at least the next five years. And while Apple has been dragging its heels on the AI front, the 17e is expected to get Siri AI when it lands later this year. So, while you won't have Gemini-style assistants at your disposal immediately, you can expect the iPhone 17e to feel more powerful once iOS 27 arrives in September. On battery life, Apple's cheapest iPhone still delivers all-day endurance and you'll get wired and wireless charging speeds of 20 and 15 watts, respectively. In essence, then, if you're looking for a no-frills iPhone that will remain powerful and supported for years to come, or you just want a small mid-range handset, the iPhone 17e is a great value pick. The Samsung Galaxy A57 is your best mid-range option if you're a fan of Samsung's One UI software and value having a big, bright display above all else. This phone boasts a 6.7-inch 120Hz Super AMOLED Plus panel, which looks as good as anything you'll find at this price range. You'll also get what Samsung calls Vision Booster, a feature that turns brightness and vibrancy up to 11 when the A57 recognizes that you're watching content outdoors. In other words, this phone is perfect for scrolling through social media, watching YouTube, and streaming movies, but it's not quite powerful enough to handle high-end mobile games. That's because Samsung's Exynos 1680 chipset is just fine. You'll get better performance on the iPhone 17e and other phones on this list, but the A57 does carry out core smartphone functions with ease, so it's not too much of a concern. The phone's cameras are also good rather than great. You get a 50-megapixel main lens, a 12-megapixel ultrawide lens, and a 5-megapixel macro lens, and while we were able to capture some pretty decent shots, the A57 lacks a camera wow factor that some other mid-range phones definitely have. Still, Samsung's photo editing features are among the best in the game, and you'll have plenty of time to play around with them because the A57 lasts for around a day and a half on a single charge. It actually uses the same 5,000 milliamp battery as the flagship Galaxy S26 Ultra, though of course, you're limited to a slower 45-watt charging speed here. Overall then, the Galaxy A57 is a display champion with strong battery life and capable software, but it's not a particularly powerful phone nor an overly impressive shooter. As a quick side note, the Galaxy S25 FE is also a good option from Samsung if you can find it for a lower price than the A57. It boasts a telephoto camera, wireless charging, and a slightly more powerful chipset, but otherwise, it's a similarly specced device. Google's A-series Pixel phones combine premium software with smart camera features at an affordable price, and the Pixel XA is the best example of that formula yet. There's still no telephoto camera to speak of here, but the Pixel XA's 48-megapixel main lens and 13-megapixel ultrawide lens are best in class, with Google's balanced color science helping to deliver photos that are impressively true to life. The XA also ships with a lot of the same software features as the X and X Pro, including Camera Coach, which is basically an AI-assisted tool for improving your photography skills, These are genuinely experience-improving tools that don't feel gimmicky, and they mark the Pixel XA out as having the cleanest and most reliable software of all the mid-range phones. Unsurprisingly, though, the XA falls a little short in the performance department. Oddly, it uses the same chipset as the Pixel 9A, which is weird because A-series Pixel phones typically get Google's latest processor, offering flagship performance for a much lower price. Instead, the XA runs on last year's Tensor G4 chipset, which is perfectly fine for everyday tasks like streaming and scrolling, but it struggles in more power-intensive situations like gaming, image editing, and exporting video. Still, this shouldn't be a deal-breaker if you're not planning on using your phone like you would a flagship, and the same caveat applies to pretty much all phones on this list. The XA's 6.3-inch display, meanwhile, is absolutely flagship quality, offering smooth 120-hertz scrolling and excellent pixel density. As for battery life, we managed to get just over 15 hours of life from the phone's 5,100mAh cell, which is on par with the all-day battery life claims offered by other phones on this list. For charging, the XA offers 30-watt wired and 10-watt wireless speeds, though there's no magnetic PixelSnap compatibility here like you'll find on the Pixel X and Pixel X Pro. So the Pixel X is a software powerhouse with excellent cameras for its relatively modest price tag, though you will have to be cautious about what you ask of its so-so chipset. As value for money goes, the Nothing Phone 4a Pro is among the best phones around. This is the only mid-range device so far to come with a telephoto camera, it's the largest phone on our list at 6.83 inches, and it's also probably the most interesting in terms of its design and software. And where else to start except for the 4a Pro's looks? Put simply, this phone is unlike anything else on the market with Nothing ditching the transparent rear panel of its other phones for an industrial aluminum backplate on the 4a Pro. Your eyes are immediately drawn to the huge camera module on the back, which features the Glyph Matrix introduced on the Nothing Phone 3 last year. Comprising 137 mini-LEDs, this interactive screen is capable of displaying several different types of content, from person-specific notifications to Glyph toys like spin-the-bottle and rock-paper-scissors. Glyph Matrix can even double as a pixelated viewfinder for selfies, which is a nice retro touch for those who miss the Game Boy camera. And sure, it's a bit of a gimmick, but if you're looking for a mid-range phone that grabs attention, there are a few more suitable candidates than the Nothing 4a Pro. Under the hood, the phone is powered by Qualcomm's Snapdragon 7Gen4 chipset, and while this isn't the most powerful CPU on the market, it still gives the 4a Pro an edge over most mid-range rivals. Notably, that chipset is paired with an impressive 12 gigabytes of RAM, so you won't experience any slowdown when jumping between apps, and the game experience is actually pretty solid too. As for whether 4a Pro asks you to compromise, well, its cameras can be a little inconsistent. Don't get me wrong, it's definitely great to have a 50 megapixel telephoto lens with 3.5x zoom at this price range, but the 4a Pro does have a tendency to overexpose some shots and underexpose others in the same lighting conditions. Colors also aren't quite as accurate as those you'll find on shots captured with the Pixel 10a or iPhone 17e, but overall, this phone is still capable of taking great pictures. As for battery life, the 4a Pro can run for a day and a half at a push before needing a top-up, but it's best to think of it as having all their battery life like most other mid-range phones. Its 50-watt wide charging speed, however, is the fastest of any phone mentioned so far, and it'll get you to 50% charge in around 35 minutes, which is pretty good going. So, the Nothing 4a Pro is a plus-size mid-range phone that will certainly turn heads, and if you can stomach some camera inconsistencies, it's a great all-rounder at a great price. The OnePlus 15R is the most expensive phone on our list by quite a distance, but it still falls below that $700, £700 ceiling, so it's worth discussing as a premium option. And for that higher price, you do get several flagship-level features, including a 7,400-milliamp battery, which is even bigger than the battery in the standard OnePlus 15. As a result, you'll get at least two days of battery life from the 15R, which blows everything else in the mid-range category out of the water. The phone's 80-watt charging speed is also much faster than anything else you'll find at this price range, so the 15R really is the mid-range battery champion. Other premium features include a 6.8-inch display that can reach 165 hertz if you're playing a game that can run at that rate, and the phone's Snapdragon 8 Gen 5 chipset sits just below the flagship 8 Elite Gen 5 in terms of power. For cameras, you get a 50-megapixel main lens and an 8-megapixel ultra-wide, both of which take natural-looking photos with plenty of detail. What you don't get here is any form of telephoto lens, which is a bit weird since the OnePlus 13R did come with a 50-megapixel zoom camera. As we've discussed, telephoto lenses aren't a regular feature of mid-range phones, but at this higher price, we can be more critical of OnePlus for not including such a lens on the 15R. OnePlus's OxygenOS software is clean and easy to get the hang of, but you do only get four years of Android updates with the 15R, which is a few years fewer than you'll get with the Samsung and Google phones we've already mentioned. Overall then, the OnePlus 15R is a flagship-adjacent phone with incredible battery life, top-end power, and strong cameras, but it isn't the runaway winner by every metric. All of the phones we've mentioned so far are available to buy in the US, but if you're watching this video from the UK, there are a few more mid-range phones worth considering. The Motorola Edge 70 Fusion boasts a huge 7,000-mAh battery, a gorgeous 6.78-inch screen, and a more interesting design than most other phones in this price range. Motorola's software isn't as polished as other Android skins, and the phone's Snapdragon 7S Gen 3 chipset isn't anything special, but the Edge 70 Fusion still offers an impressive all-around experience for not a lot of money. Next up is the Xiaomi 17T, which is all about cameras and performance. This phone's MediaTek Dimensity 8500 Ultra chipset and 12GB of RAM make it a better gaming phone than most midrange handsets, and Xiaomi throws in a 5X telephoto zoom lens for good measure. It doesn't look particularly interesting nor boast any special software features, but the Xiaomi 17T is a great value option for those who can buy it. The POCO X8 Pro Max offers a bigger battery than even the OnePlus 15R, and it yields over two days of battery life regardless of how you use it. Again, you're getting 12GB of RAM with this phone, so it can handle multiple apps and high-end gaming with ease, though POCO's take on Android isn't anywhere near as clean as rivals. Still, as bang for your buck goes, it's hard to beat the POCO. Lastly, the Honor 600 is another great value all-rounder. It offers a bright display, long battery life, and smooth performance, and in our testing, the 600 was only let down by inconsistent camera performance and some less-than-useful AI features. Its design also takes some not-so-subtle hints from Apple, but if you're after an iPhone-like phone that runs Android, the Honor 600 is an excellent option. And there you have it, our roundup of the best mid-range phones of 2026. Let us know your favorite device in the comments below and head to techradar.com for our full reviews of each model.