Written November 2025
Best overall: iPhone 13 (2021)
Key Specs:
- A15 Bionic processor & 4GB RAM
- 6.1″ 2532×1170 460 PPI 60Hz Super Retina XDR OLED display with ~1200 nits of peak brightness, Ceramic Shield protection, 174g weight
- 12MP Wide + 12MP Ultrawide + 12MP selfie camera
- ~3240 mAh battery with 20 W wired charging and 15 W wireless (MagSafe) charging
- Will likely get updates until 2027 or 2028
The iPhone 13 is actually my first ever phone and the phone I’ve owned and daily driven since December 2023. It’s a great phone for its price of ~$275 in 2025, and I have personally experienced all of its upsides and downsides. First of all, its A15 Bionic chip, the same one found in the iPhone 14 and iPhone 13 Pro, is fast and makes for a mostly lag-free experience, with the occasional stutter scrolling on apps and playing games (which I think may actually be due to the 4GB of RAM) that doesn’t bother me much. It has a great camera, taking lifelike, cinematic-looking photos with its 12MP main lens, and it has great night performance as well. Its ultrawide camera is good as well, largely maintaining the quality of the main lens minus some of the more realistic colors and with an added bit of graininess. This phone is made from aluminum and glass with Ceramic Shield, and this sturdy build quality plus a JetTech case has made for my phone emerging unscathed from many a drop. It also makes the phone feel modern and premium, especially with its Super Retina XDR display and more modern notch. My battery life using this phone lasts long enough for a full day of use with plenty of charge left over (albeit with low power mode on all day) with a screen time of 2 1/2 hours on average and a battery health of 88%. Overall, it’s one of those phones that has everything you need and nothing you don’t, making for a functional phone that doesn’t break the bank, and I highly recommend it for the budget class of under $300. It can even be found in excellent condition often below $275 with a bit of looking, and if you don’t mind a bit of cosmetic damage, it can be found for even cheaper at lower condition levels.
| Cons: | -4GB of RAM is limiting -60Hz display & no telephoto lens |
It’s actually decent value now: iPhone 14 (2022)
Key Specs:
- A15 Bionic processor & 6GB RAM
- 6.1″ 2532×1170 460PPI 60Hz Super Retina XDR OLED display with 1200 nits of peak brightness, Ceramic Shield protection, 172g weight
- 12MP Wide + 12MP Ultrawide + 12MP selfie camera
- 3279mAh battery with 20W wired charging and 15W MagSafe wireless charging
- Will likely get updates until 2027-2029
- IP68 dust and water resistance
This will be a short description, as the iPhone 14 has minimal differences from the iPhone 13 mentioned above. Everything is the same, except the iPhone 14 has 6GB of RAM, good for future-proofing if you want to keep your phone for a while. It has Emergency SOS, Roadside Assistance, and Messages via satellite and Crash Detection for peace of mind. It has slightly larger camera sensors, Action Mode for more stable video, Photonic Engine, and 4K 30FPS Dolby Vision video recording in Cinematic Mode. Lastly, it has a 5-core GPU rather than a 4-core GPU for very slightly improved gaming performance and some more advanced sensors. In reality, these differences aren’t very noticeable in day-to-day use of the handset. It also has the downgrade of no physical SIM card support. However, I believe that for around $300 in excellent condition or even less in good/very good condition, meaning only a bit more of a cost than the iPhone 13, these upgrades can be worth it, especially if you plan to keep your phone for longer than usual, you value the peace of mind of the satellite features, or you have any other reason to pick up this phone.
| Cons: | -Minimal differences from the slightly cheaper iPhone 13 -No telephoto lens & 60Hz display |
What NOT to buy at the $300 price point:
- iPhone 12 Pro
- Before you get mad at me for putting this phone in the dreaded bottom section of the page, I want to start off by saying that if you can find this phone for under $250, it is a good deal. However, this phone, for the price point of $260-290 it usually goes for, is not a good deal. While this phone does give you a 2x telephoto lens and 6 GB of RAM, the cons outweigh the pros, as this phone has a slower chip than the iPhone 13, a worse camera setup overall minus the addition of the telephoto lens, a larger notch, probably less software support (this is debatable), and worse battery life. However, this is still a great phone in 2025, but I wouldn’t pay more than an iPhone 13 for it.