If you’re in the market for a new smartphone, the good news is in 2025 you don’t have to spend the earth to get a very solid device. Although there are phones out there that cost £1,000 or more, you can easily spend less than a third of that and get a smartphone that does absolutely everything you want.

The world of Android provides the most choice when it comes to price, and Samsung is a leading name. Phones like its recently released Galaxy A26 are go-to options if you want to spend less given its £299 RRP, but a new phone just announced from firm rival OnePlus could give the A26 a run for its money.

Also listed for £299 - but currently £249 as part of a launch price-cut offer - is the new OnePlus Nord CE 5, a budget phone that’s packed with specs that you might not expect for the price.

The phone has a 6.77-inch OLED display with a zippy 120Hz refresh rate, paired with a MediaTek Dimensity 8350 Apex chipset and 8GB RAM. On paper, that’s pretty powerful, meaning the OnePlus could better serve gamers on a budget.

OnePlus’s Gaming HDR and Ultra HDR modes also promise “a more realistic, immersive visual experience across entertainment and gameplay.”

The Nord CE 5 is powered by a 5,200mAh battery, a sliver more juice therefore than the 5,000mAh cell in the Galaxy phone. OnePlus also offers up to 80W wired charging speeds, wiping the floor with Samsung’s sluggish 25W on the A26.

OnePlus also gives you software tools such as Battery Health Engine and Bypass Charging that help to prolong the overall life of the battery inside.

If it’s cameras you’re interested in, the OnePlus Nord CE 5 has you covered with a 50MP Sony LYT-600 main camera sensor that borrows “the flagship-level RAW HDR algorithm from the OnePlus 13”, according to the firm, which should help with picture quality and clarity.

Around the front, the CE 5’s selfie camera is a 16MP shooter, one-upping the 13MP front-facing camera on the Galaxy A26. OnePlus’s phone also has a more modern design with its camera cut-out a fully round circle. Samsung’s A26 instead opts for a waterdrop design, which is still perfectly functional, but harks back to an older era of phone design.

Both phones also come stuffed to the gills with the two companies’ respective artificial intelligence (AI) features, but at this price, don’t expect too much.

One area OnePlus is beaten by Samsung here is with software updates. Though the Nord CE 5 gets a respectable four years of Android OS updates and six years of security updates, the Galaxy A26 promises six years of each. If you want to spend as little as possible on an Android phone but get the longest support, that’s excellent longevity.

The OnePlus Nord CE 5 is on sale now from OnePlus at the introductory price of £249. At the time of writing, this also comes with two free gifts of a fast charging brick (there isn’t one in the box) worth £39.99 and a pair of Nord Buds 3 Pro worth £79.