Affordable is relative to one's own concept of what that means. And best depends entirely on what features you want/don't want in a phone. However, the A series phones give you good bang for the buck, but stay away from the lowest end one, the A1x. Go for the A3x or 5x. They should all be below $500, and last year's model would be just as good as this year's model. If you want more features than the A series has (AI, etc), you could look for a refurbished S24, but only buy refurbished from a reliable source. Samsung sells refurbished trade-ins on their site.
------------------------------------------------------------- Please mark any response that helped you as your solution. -------------------------------------------------------------
A3x, such as A35 or A36. You can get basic feature you need: AOD, Edge Panel, Good Lock support, including screen recording
S FE, such as S24FE or S25FE. Flagship performance with lower price. You get camera assistant support and Galaxy AI, including if you need wireless charging feature, this is for you all in one package w/o breaking your wallet
S Plus or S Ultra. If you need S Pen then Ultra is for you, every the best feature inside Ultra. However S Plus is basically S Ultra w/o S Pen and w/ downgraded main camera. But S Plus offer you QHD+ screen, UWB support, big battery with 45W charging speed, every S FE feature inside S Plus.
If you are going to give a recommendation, at least say why you recommend it so the OP can make an informed decision. After all, they don't know any of us, so our opinions are just opinions to them.
------------------------------------------------------------- Please mark any response that helped you as your solution. -------------------------------------------------------------
S23 512GB. Its a flagship phone, with the perfect size and running with the Snapdragon 8 gen 3. Only for $420 The Galaxy S25FE However might be more expensive, but its supposed to be cheaper than the flagship model. Previous phones run on an 8 core processor but the S25FE has 10. Which is insane. Both these phones are the most Bang for your buck.
