WhistleOut Awards 2026: Best Value Phone
Announcing the phone WhistleOut's reviewers judged the strongest price to performance result of the past 12 months.
Winner: Nothing Phone 4a
The Nothing Phone 4a is a phone that exudes bang-for-buck. While it’s easy to like its unique design, the real proposition is the fact Phone 4a overindexes on features you’ll actually care about. It’s super snappy, has a reliable battery, and is the only phone in its price bracket to have a properly good telephoto lens.
Runner-up: Samsung Galaxy A57
The Samsung Galaxy A57 was Highly Commended as a strong lower cost alternative.
An award-winning journalist, Alex has been writing about consumer technology for over a decade.
Fergus Halliday is a journalist and digital content editor at WhistleOut Australia. He’s written about technology, telecommunications, gaming and more for over a decade.
How we judge this award
Getting more from a device than its price tag suggests is the measure behind this award, judged by WhistleOut's editorial review team across nearly every phone launched in Australia over the past 12 months. Judging weighs price, performance, battery life, screen quality, camera, design and overall user experience together, with this award weighted looking at what's on offer relative to cost.
The Judges
Alex Choros
Fergus Halliday
Digital Content Editor
Past winners
| Year | Winner | Runner-up |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | CMF Phone 2 Pro (Highly commended: Motorola Moto G75) | - |
| 2024 | Motorola Edge 50 Fusion (Highly commended: Nothing Phone 2a) | - |
| 2023 | Motorola Moto G53 (Highly commended: Samsung Galaxy A34 5G) | - |
| 2022 | Motorola Edge 20 Fusion (Highly commended: iPhone SE (2022)) | - |
| 2021 | Google Pixel 4a (Highly commended: Moto G 5G Plus) | - |
| 2020 | iPhone SE | - |
| 2019 | Google Pixel 3a | - |
Related awards
Phone Of The Year Best High Performance Phone Best Phone Design See all WhistleOut awards
FAQs
Who won Best Value Phone in 2026?
Nothing Phone 4a was named the 2026 winner of the Best Value Phone award.
Has Nothing won this award before?
Nothing won this award last year for the CMF Phone 2 Pro.
Does WhistleOut get paid by award winners?
No. Award placements are editorially independent of any commercial relationship with providers. See our How We Work page for details on how WhistleOut earns money.
