Best smartphones under R1,000 in South Africa

Mobicel, Stylo, and iTel offer the best smartphones for under R1,000 in South Africa, a MyBroadband analysis shows.

We searched for five smartphones with the best specifications in this segment in June 2024 and found a myriad options available from Takealot, Bash, Pep Cellular, and Ackermans Connect.

Takealot is among the best online stores in terms of smartphone range and pricing, while Ackermans, Pep, and TFG-owned Bash focus primarily on the budget market.

The main criteria in our latest assessment was that the smartphones needed to be 4G-capable and released after 2020.

3G connectivity is substantially slower and could make online browsing and app usage unpleasant.

South Africa is also planning to shut down 2G and 3G networks by the end of 2027, effectively rendering any 3G-only devices useless.

Aside from 4G connectivity and model age, we also looked at screen sizes, storage, RAM, and battery size.

Two of the best five options were from Mobicel, a South African brand founded in 2007 by Ridhwan Khan with a focus on providing innovative devices at attractive price points.

Part of Khan’s strategy for the brand was to sell its phones through clothing retailers.

“I challenged retailers to put Mobicel devices in their stores at no cost,” he told IOL in an interview in 2017. “I found a way to minimise their risk and maximise my own potential to thrive.”

Another two of the best budget smartphones were from the lesser-known Stylo brand, not to be confused with LG’s own defunct Stylo line.

There is very little information about this manufacturer online, but the specifications of its devices qualify them for inclusion.

The last phone on our list was an older model from Hisense — the U964.

Hisense’s more recent releases below R1,000 lacked 4G connectivity but had better hardware than the U964 in other departments.

The same was the case for many sub-R1,000 smartphones from Premio and Tecno sibling Itel.

One thing to be aware of when shopping for budget smartphones is that their precise specifications and design might not be as readily available as higher-end devices.

Aside from the Hisense smartphone, there was no detail available online for the chips in the smartphones.

We also failed to find one photo of the Stylo Comet 4G’s back.

Shoppers should also bear in mind that budget smartphones under R1,000 are often network-locked. This is because many budget smartphones are subsidised by operators.

While the upfront cost is lowered, the operator recoups the losses on the device’s sale through cellular services like airtime, mobile data, voice minutes, and SMS purchases.

A network lock typically applies for a year, after which you will be able to request an unlock code from the network to access other operators’ services.

Below are the five best smartphones in South Africa for under R1,000.

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Mobicel iX — R999 (Bash, Pep, Takealot)

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Mobicel Z4 4G — R999 (Ackermans, Pep)

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Stylo Comet 4G — R999 (Pep)

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Stylo Inkosi Pro 4G — R999 (Pep)

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Hisense U964 — R799 (Takealot)

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