New £69 Android phone could be the smartphone bargain of the year

Smartphones can cost a pretty penny these days, with the iPhone 16, Samsung Galaxy S25 and Google Pixel 10 all commanding lofty £799 price tags. These companies all sell more expensive versions of these phones too, that cost more than £1,000.

That’s a lot of money. Thankfully you don’t have to remortgage your house just to get a new smartphone, as there is a competitive market for lower-cost Android handsets in the UK. One of the latest affordable phones to be announced is Motorola’s Moto G06, with the eye-catching price of just £69.99.

That’s right: for a penny under £70 you will soon be able to buy an Android phone that can call, text and access every app you’d expect it to. The bargain device even offers specs that you won’t find on the iPhone 16 - even if Apple’s phone is admittedly more powerful overall.

Motorola also announced a version called the Moto G06 Power that has a larger battery and costs £89.99.

“For users searching for an unbeatable overall experience at a lower price point, look no further than the Moto G06 power and Moto G06,” Motorola said in a press release. “With stunning displays, powerful AI-powered 50MP camera systems and luxe designs, these phones are ideal for budget-conscious buyers who don’t want to compromise on quality.”

The Moto G06 has a sizable 6.88-inch display that, as you’d expect for the price, is an LCD panel rather than more premium OLED. But Motorola has still managed to squeeze a screen with smooth 120Hz refresh rate into this budget blower - a spec that has the 60Hz iPhone 16 beaten.

Apps and text scroll a lot smoother the higher the refresh rate, with 60Hz panels looking less zippy. Then again, you’re sacrificing pixel density on the Moto too, with a 720p resolution that is below the 1080p required to call it HD. If tip-top specs don’t bother you, it shouldn’t be an issue.

You get a single 50MP rear camera which should do the job for day time shots, and it’s good to see Motorola not put on unnecessary, bad 2MP lenses on the back to simple say the phone has dual lenses. You get night mode, a live filter, portrait mode, Pro mode for granular controls and even Google Lens integration to Google search what your viewfinder sees.

A front-facing 8MP lens sorts out selfies and video calls.

You may only get 64GB of storage but with a microSD card slot you can expand that up to 1TB if you want to carry around all your music and video files. 4GB RAM should keep simple apps like WhatsApp, YouTube, TikTok and Google Maps ticking over, but a RAM Boost mode can kick things up a notch if you want to multitask or do some light gaming - but this is not the phone to get if Genshin Impact is your thing.

Even though the G06 Power gets a 7,000mAh battery for only £20 more, the regular G06 still has a sizable 5,200mAh cell that should keep things ticking over for well into a second day.

Add to that IP64 dust and water resistance and Gorilla Glass 3 protection on the screen, and you’ve got a well rounded low-end Android phone with features you could only dream of at this price a few years ago.

"With the new Moto G06 and G06 Power, we’re proud to deliver incredible features at an accessible price point,” said Miles Norman, UK&I Country General Manager at Motorola”. The G06 power stands out with a massive battery designed to last longer and keep pace with today’s always-on lifestyles. This launch underscores our strategy of bringing powerful, reliable technology to more people around the world."

Both phones go on sale in October in the UK.