Smartphones you can buy for under R500 in South Africa

South Africans in the market to buy smartphones for under R500 have several options.

The World Inequality Database income comparison tool shows that 62% of South Africa’s population earns less than R5,000 per month.

Smartphones are the only way for many to access the Internet and communicate with their loved ones.

However, many South Africans cannot afford high-end flagship smartphones or monthly contracts of R500 and above.

We looked at the smartphones from some of South Africa’s most affordable online cellular shops — Pep Cellular, Mr Price Cellular, and Ackermans Connect.

Of the ten smartphones listed here, the Tecno Pop 2 Mini is the most affordable at R329. This gets you a 3G-capable device with a 4-inch display, 512MB RAM, 8GB storage and a 1500mAh battery.

South Africa’s mobile networks are not proponents of devices that don’t have at least 4G support, as they would like to shut down their 3G and 2G networks.

Communications minister Khumbudzo Ntshavheni also recently announced that South Africa will ban the importation and distribution of 2G devices by end-February 2023.

However, it is notable that there were no 4G devices available for under R500 from these stores.

Most of these smartphones run some version of Android Go, a stripped-down version of Google’s mobile operating system designed for smartphones with 2GB RAM or less.

The Mobicell Rave has the most updated operating system on this list. It runs Android 11 Go, while most of the other devices run Android 8.1 Go.

Conversely, despite the Stylo 721 costing R499, it has the most outdated operating system on the list — Android 3.0 Honeycomb.

Itel’s AC13 is the only smartphone on this list with 16GB of storage, compared to 8GB for the rest.

Hisense’s U605 has the highest resolution camera on the list, with a 5MP Front camera and a 2MP Rear camera.

The Vodacom Kicka 5 has the biggest battery at 1800mAh and the largest screen at 4.95 inches for R499.

It should be noted that some of these devices are locked to a specific mobile network service provider, which we have indicated in the specification table for each device.

Tecno Pop 2 Mini — R329 (Pep Cellular)

Hurricane Iris Plus — R349 (Pep Cellular)

Mobicel Star — R379 (Pep Cellular)

Itel AC13 — R399 (Pep Cellular)

Stylo 721 — R399 (Pep Cellular)

Mobicel Vibe Blue — R429 (Mr Price)

Mobicel Rave — R449 (Pep Cellular)

Hisense U605 — R499 (Pep Cellular)

Kicka 5 — R499 (Ackermans Connect)

Mobicel Vibe — R499 (Ackermans Connect)

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