5 Best Smartphone for Teens and Kids Affordaboe in 2024

While most teachers would argue that smartphones are the work of the devil, being able to contact your child at any time far outweighs any negative effects smartphones may have on children. Not to mention that trying to convince a child that he or she doesn’t need a smartphone just because other kids have them is a battle that only the most lion-hearted and tenacious parents should attempt to win.

Knowing that, sooner or later, you’ll have to buy your son or daughter a smartphone anyway, you may as well do it now and select one that both your youngster and your wallet will love.

How to Select a Smartphone for a Child

Right off the bat, forget about all flagship and high-end devices, such as the latest and greatest iPhone or those expensive bezeless wonders from Samsung and other premium smartphone manufacturers. Yes, your child would most likely worship you as a god for a week or two if you gave them a top-of-the-line smartphone, but what is the chance that the smartphone will live a long and happy life and not end up display first on the ground within the first month?

Besides, there aren’t any essential features that mid-range and budget devices lack compared to high-end smartphones. The difference mostly boils down to build and performance. The trend has recently been for high-end smartphones to feature all-glass rear panels, whereas less expensive devices are still sticking with plastic and aluminum. And since you don’t want to give your child a smartphone that’s more fragile than the future of post-Brexit Great Britain, mid-range and budget smartphones are the better choice.

That leaves us with performance, which is what you should focus on when selecting a smartphone for your child. Select a device that doesn’t struggle even under heavier loads because you can be sure that it will be pushed to its limits. A sharp rear camera and a capable front-facing camera for selfies are guaranteed to make any teenager happy, and any parent cringe, while good battery life is always welcome by everyone.

Motorola Mote G5 Plus

Crowned as the king of the mid-range category, the Moto G5 Plus is a fast, all-metal smartphone from Motorola with a big heart and even bigger aspirations. The Qualcomm Snapdragon 625 processor with Adreno 506 GPU is the mobile equivalent of Toyota Corolla. They don’t cost too much, but you can bet that they’ll get you anywhere you want to go, and you’ll even enjoy the ride.

Judging by today’s standards, the 5.2-inch Full HD display with Corning Gorilla Glass 3 and water-repellent nano-coating is neither too large nor too small—it’s just perfect for both mobile gaming and comfortable one-hand use.

The 12 MP rear camera has an f/1.7 aperture and a dual-LED flash for low-light shooting, highly accurate autofocus, and the support for 4K video capture at 30 frames per second. The front-facing camera has 5 MP and, for such an affordable smartphone, takes beautiful pictures.

To top it all off, the Moto G5 Plus ships with the latest version of the Android operating system, Nougat, which features a brand-new multi-window view, a virtual reality mode, and countless performance and security optimizations. For the price, the Moto G Plus is more than a safe bet—it’s the best mid-range smartphone on the market.

Samsung Galaxy J7

Don’t let the attractive low price fool you into thinking that the Samsung Galaxy J7 doesn’t have any outstanding features. As one of only a handful of smartphones in the price range, it has a front-facing camera with an LED flash. The camera has 5 MP and an f/1.9 aperture, and, with the flash activated, it takes clear selfies even at night. The rear camera has 13 MP, f/1.9, and a 28mm focal length.

Smartphones from Samsung come with Super AMOLED touchscreens, which, unlike LCD screens, emit light from individual pixels. So, when you display a black image, the black pixels are simply off and don’t receive any power. Consequently, Super AMOLED screens often reproduce colors more accurate than LCD screens and have higher contrast ratios. The Galaxy J7 has a 5.5-inch HD display, which translates to 267 pixels per inch.

The Exynos 7870 chipset from Samsung ensures reliable, smooth performance, and the 3,000 mAh battery stores enough juice to keep the smartphone up and running for an entire day.

Apple iPhone SE

While most kids want to own an iPhone because of its cool factor, it can’t be denied that iPhones are among the best smartphones in the world. The only problem is that a new iPhone can set you back as much as a decent laptop. Fortunately, Apple recently came out with the Apple iPhone SE, which is essentially the same phone like the iPhone 5s (with better specs).

Unlike most modern smartphones, it’s nicely compact and easy to hold in only one hand, thanks to the 4-inch display. The rear 12 MP iSight camera was one of the best smartphone cameras at the time of its release, and it still outperforms most mid-range and budget cameras even in 2017.

Apple’s A9 chipset powers the iPhone SE. Because it supports the 64-bit architecture, all the newest iOS apps, as well as future system updates, will work without a hitch.

BlackBerry PRIV

We’re long past the heyday of physical smartphone keyboards. Most users have come to terms with the inherent inaccuracy of virtual keyboards. Most—not all. There are still some users who swear by the tactile feedback physical keyboard provide, and the BlackBerry PRIV is aimed exclusively at this market segment. If you have a child who spends every waking hour texting and instant messaging, a smartphone like the PRIV makes a lot of sense.

The price of the BlackBerry PRIV has decreased dramatically since its release, yet its hardware specifications have not aged. The 5.4-inch screen with 1440 x 2560 pixels offers fantastic image quality. The 3410 mAh battery has enough power to withstand up to 22.5 hours of mixed use, and the 18 MP dual-flash camera with Schneider-Kreuznach optics and optical image stabilization delivers professional pictures with little effort.

As a nice bonus, the PRIV comes with a host of sophisticated security features designed to protect users against hacking, malware infestation, and data theft.

Moto G Pure

The Moto G Pure is an ultra-affordable smartphone with a huge 3D-capable display. Even though the display measures 6.5 inches, the smartphone itself isn’t enormous (at least no as you might expect), and the large screen real estate is easy to get used to.

Because you need plenty of processing power to render various 3D apps and games smoothly, Moto G Pure has equipped the Y6 Max 3D with the MT6762G chipset and 3 GB of RAM. The 4000 mAh should last up to 2 days of moderately heavy use, and it takes just a while to charge it to 100 percent thanks to the presence of quick charge technology. It’s hard to believe that the manufacturer could afford to use a high-quality 13 MP rear camera instead of a generic sensor from an OEM manufacturer.