Phone makers are pushing to add more artificial intelligence to their devices, and that’s not just limited to flagships any more. Increasingly, less expensive midrange devices are also benefitting from the race to bring AI to phones.
It’s a replay of the trickle-down effect that’s involved other mobile phone features. Whether it’s improved camera capabilities, fast-refreshing displays or greater power efficiency, premium features that debut on flagships tend to find their way to other models over time. With AI capabilities, though, it seems like the pace of that migration is faster than ever.
You may not see every premium AI feature if you turn to a cheaper model (though there are a couple of noteworthy exceptions). But the breadth of AI features on phones that cost between $300 and $600 is definitely wider than it was at this time last year.
Here’s a guide to midrange phones that offer some form of noteworthy AI features and what you can expect if you turn to one of these devices to be your handset of choice.
Google Pixel 8a
Since the Pixel 6’s arrival in 2021, Google has equipped its phones with its own Tensor system-on-chip, with a focus on that silicon’s neural processing engine. As a result, AI-powered features have been a centerpiece of Pixel releases ever since.
That’s relevant to Pixel A series phones like the current Pixel 8a, as Google equips them with the same system-on-chip that debuted in its flagship phones the previous fall. In the case of the Pixel 8a, that means the Tensor G3 chip found in Google’s Pixel 8 flagships.
As a result, nearly everything a Pixel 8 phone can do, a Pixel 8a can handle just as well. (The major exception: Video Boost, which improves the quality of video clips, is exclusive to the Pixel 8 Pro.) The Pixel 8a also receives feature drops from Google that bolster its AI capabilities.
Highlights of the Pixel 8a’s AI capabilities include a number of photo editing features such as Best Take, in which you can swap in faces for people in group shots to make sure everyone’s looking their best, and the Audio Magic Eraser feature that removes distracting background noise when you capture video footage.
A Call Assist feature fields phone calls on your behalf and even gives you the option of sending a contextual reply to callers if you can’t pick up the phone. And of course, Pixel 8a owners can tap into the power of Gemini or use Circle to Search to look up information with a tap.
While the Pixel 8a offers the most polished AI experience among the best cheap phones, you may want to hold off on a purchase at the moment. Pixel 9a rumors suggest a launch of that newer model is imminent, and since the Pixel 9a will likely feature a newer Tensor G4 chipset, you can expect AI features that match those offered by the Pixel 9.
Likely Pixel 9a additions include the ability to record and transcribe phone calls — and get AI-generated summaries of those phone calls for easy reference — plus an Add Me feature in which you can insert yourself into the group shots you’ve taken. We’d also expect the Pixel 9a to adopt the Pixel 9’s Reimagine feature as well as the Pixel Studio app, both of which use text prompts to either edit your existing images or create entirely new graphics.
iPhone 16e
Up until February, if you wanted to try out Apple Intelligence features, you would need to pay a minimum of $799 for an iPhone that could run Apple’s suite of AI tools. The iPhone 16e reduces the barrier to entry to $599, as Apple’s lowest-cost phone features the same A18 silicon found on the iPhone 16.
As with the Pixel 8a (and soon the Pixel 9a), AI features available to the flagship iPhones also work on the iPhone 16e. That includes Writing Tools that run grammar and spell checks on anything you write in apps that accept text input or make suggestions to alter the tone of your writing. A highlight of Writing Tools is Describe Your Change in which you can use text to describe the type of tone you’re looking for, with AI following those instructions to produce a new draft.
Image editing tools let you remove unwanted people and objects from photos or create a slideshow of photos and videos from your Photos library with a text prompt. It’s also easy to find photos using natural language searches, and you can turn to Image Playground to generate illustrations of people in your library.
The iPhone 16e also features some of the initial changes Apple has made to Siri, including a new visual cue that lights up the edge of the display when the assistant is listening and the ability to interrupt the assistant or correct yourself mid-command. But more sweeping changes to Siri such as the ability to understand on-screen context are being put off until next year — that’s true of the iPhone 16e as it is for all other Apple Intelligence-compatible models.
Still, given that the A18 powering the iPHhone 16e is Apple’s most current chipset, you can expect the lower-cost iPhone to get iOS updates for years to come. And that includes new Apple Intelligence features.
Galaxy A56 / Galaxy A36 / Galaxy A26
The Galaxy A35 and Galaxy A55 models released by Samsung last year offered very little in the way of AI capabilities. The two midrange phones included Circle to Search support, but that was about it.
Things are changing with the 2025 midrange phones Samsung introduced in March, with the Galaxy A56 getting the bulk of the improvements. The Circle to Search feature returns, with improvements similar to what Samsung introduced with the Galaxy S25 flagship launch earlier in the year. Circle to Search can now look up phone numbers, email addresses, URLs and even songs that are playing around you.
A new Best Face feature mimics the Best Take capability on Pixel phones, letting you swap out different faces to improve group shots. Auto Tim adds to the Galaxy A56’s video editing tools by automatically cutting and assembling video clips. Other image-editing features include an object eraser for removing unwanted things from photos and the ability to create custom filters that mirror the tone and lighting of photos you like.
The Galaxy A56 ships to the U.K., Australia and other parts of the world in March, with U.S. availability confirmed by Samsung for later this year. In the meantime, U.S. bargain hunters can turn to the new Galaxy A36 and Galaxy A26 midrange models, which include some — though not all — of the A56’s improved AI tools.
Specifically, the Galaxy A36 and Galaxy A26 will also see the improved Circle to Search features as well as the My Filter and Object Eraser tools that the Galaxy A56 adds. The Galaxy A36 will also offer Edit Suggest, where you can use AI to get suggested editing enhancements.
The $399 Galaxy A36 and $299 Galaxy A26 miss out on the Best Take feature coming to the more expensive Galaxy A56, so if that’s a key addition for you, you may want to wait for that $499 phone to go on sale in your part of the world.
Nothing Phone 3a / Nothing Phone 3a Pro
AI isn’t a huge selling point with the latest budget phones from Nothing, which has put more emphasis on improvements like a dedicated telephoto lens on both models. But there is an Essential Space app that relies heavily on AI to help you more easily store and sort key information you’ve saved for later.
Both the Nothing Phone 3a and Nothing Phone 3a Pro now have an Essential Key button on their ride side that automatically captures screenshots when you press it once; press and hold to record audio memos to yourself. Anything captured by the Essential Key is stored in the Essential Space app, which can tap into AI to summarize the ky data in a screenshot or transcribe and summarize your voice memo.
Essential Space doesn’t just store these items, (though there are tools for grouping related screens and voice memos together in one folder). It also can generated tasks or to-dos based on the information you’ve collected.
In my testing for a Nothing Phone 3a review, I found the feature to have some rough edges that could use polishing over time. But I also suspect it’s a feature that will prove its value the more you use it. At any rate, I wouldn’t consider Essential Space reason enough to get the latest Nothing phones — their camera performance and long battery life are the real selling points. But the nod toward AI is nice to have in phones that start at $379.
OnePlus 13R
The good news if you’re considering the OnePlus 13R is that this $599 phone has the same AI capabilities as the regular OnePlus 13 flagship that costs $300 more. But of the phones listed here, the AI tools are probably the least complete, at least in my OnePlus 13R testing.
Like many Android devices, you’ll get Circle to Search support, and there are plenty of AI-powered editing tools that will sound very familiar to what’s available on smartphones of recent vintage. AI Eraser is very effective at removing unwanted photo bombers and other objects from photos while AI Reflection Eraser is more hit or miss at getting rid of reflections in your images.
The Intelligent Search feature included with the OnePlus 13R is more effective at tracking down files the more things your store on your phone. And while I liked some elements of AI Notes when testing out this feature — namely, the auto-formatting features — the rewrite tool strips any personality out of text you’ve written.
Outlook: AI features on midrange phones
You sometimes have to give up features when opting for lower-priced midrange phones. But as you can see from the options listed above, AI capabilities aren’t necessarily among the tools you’ll be sacrificing. Look for the number of AI features to expand as phone makes look to show their superiority with AI, and that includes software updates bringing new features, especially on phones like the iPhone 16e, Pixel 8a and Galaxy A models that promise lengthier support windows.
