Five best smartphones under R5,000 in South Africa

R5,000 is plenty of money to buy a highly capable smartphone in South Africa in April 2025.

Although there are many budget devices under R2,000, these often feature slower processors and lower display resolutions, making them better suited for basic applications.

With a budget of around R300 per month, you could pay off a R5,000 smartphone on a 24-month budget credit card repayment plan or loan with a 22% interest rate.

At this price, there are several models with features like high refresh rates, NFC payment support, and fast charging.

Launched in March 2025, the Samsung Galaxy A26 is the latest solid option for under R5,000.

While it does not offer as much as some Chinese brands in raw hardware, Samsung has packed the A26 with some alluring features that trickled down from higher-end models.

For better performance, the A25’s successor phone has inherited the Exynos 1380 chip from the Galaxy A35.

It also boasts a glass back instead of plastic, with Gorilla Glass Victus+. In addition, the A26 features an IP67 environmental protection rating, which is a first for Galaxy A20-series devices.

The A26’s camera system certainly won’t compete with the latest flagship iPhones, but the inclusion of optical image stabilisation (OIS) is a major strength.

OIS will help reduce blurry images for those with less steady hands.

Another major selling point is that Samsung offers four years of Android OS updates. Security updates will be provided until 31 March 2031.

One downside is that the maximum brightness peaks at roughly 780 nits, which may make the screen difficult to view in direct sunlight.

The 3.5mm audio jack that typically features on budget models is also missing, but microSD card support remains.

For those uninterested in the Samsung model, MyBroadband looked into four more smartphones released in the past year that offer the best specifications in the market for under R5,000.

Below are images and specifications of the Samsung Galaxy A26 and its biggest competitors in the sub-R5,000 budget smartphone segment in April 2025.

Samsung Galaxy A26 — From R4,347 (Amazon.co.za)

Xiaomi Redmi Note 14 4G — From R3,999 (Makro)

ZTE Nubia Neo 2 5G — From R3,999 (Bash)

Honor X7C — From R4,999 (Bash and Pep Cell)

Oppo A40M — From R4,999 (Takealot)