The best phones from KES 20,000 to KES 60,000, ranked by what you get for the money

Picking a phone between KES 20,000 and KES 60,000 is hard because the spec sheets all look the same. Nearly every phone has a 50MP camera. Most claim 8GB of RAM and a battery of 6,000mAh or more. Those numbers tell you very little about how the phone will feel a year after you buy it.

So we scored over 100 phones launched in 2025 and 2026 on the parts that do decide it, then divided each score by the price. The phone that gives you more for every shilling ranks higher. We split them into three budgets: about KES 20,000 to 30,000, KES 30,000 to 45,000 and KES 45,000 to 60,000. Many of you import your phones, so this is a global list. It includes phones sold only in China or India.

The surprise is in the middle budget. Four of its five best-value phones launched in 2025, not 2026. That’s because memory chips got more expensive this year and phone makers passed the cost on. Earlier this month we covered Samsung adding USD 100 to the Galaxy S26 range for the same reason, and cheaper phones have been hit just as hard. The OnePlus Nord 6 launched in India in April at about KES 53,000. After three rises it is about KES 64,000, which pushed it off this list. Last year’s phones with flagship-class chips held their prices, so they now beat most 2026 phones at the same money.

KES 20,000 to KES 30,000

1. Samsung Galaxy A17 4G: about KES 20,800

Samsung launched it in Kenya at KES 20,800 in September 2025, and it’s the best value on this whole list. The Helio G99 chip is slow and 4GB of RAM fills up fast. You get an AMOLED screen, a main camera with OIS and six Android upgrades, with security patches until 30th September 2031.

2. Motorola moto g57 power: about KES 21,900

Its Snapdragon 6s Gen 4 is faster than the Galaxy’s chip, and its 7,000mAh silicon-carbon battery is bigger. Silicon-carbon is a newer material that packs more energy into the same space. Importing one? The European model’s battery is rated at only 5,100mAh. Updates are its weak spot: one Android upgrade and three years of security patches.

3. Tecno Camon 50 (4G): about KES 28,700

It has the best camera in this budget, a Sony LYTIA 700C sensor with OIS, and a 1.5K AMOLED panel at 144Hz. Tecno’s footnote says the chip draws the picture at 1080p and an upscaling chip stretches it to fill the panel. It’s as slow as the Galaxy, and Kenyan units have a 6,150mAh battery. In Kenya it went on pre-order at KES 34,999 in February.

4. realme Narzo 90: about KES 23,200

realme launched the Narzo 90 in India in December 2025 at INR 16,999 for 6GB and 128GB, and we found no official price change since. You get an OLED screen at 120Hz, a 7,000mAh battery and three Android upgrades with four years of updates. The Dimensity 6400 Max is about as quick as the Galaxy’s chip, and the second camera is a 2MP mono lens, so there’s no ultrawide.

5. Infinix GT 30 5G+: about KES 26,700 – the fastest phone in this price segment

The GT 30 5G+ launched in India in August 2025 at INR 19,499 for 8GB and 128GB. It has the same kind of 1.5K AMOLED screen at 144Hz as the Camon 50, and its Dimensity 7400 is the fastest chip of these five, paired with LPDDR5X RAM. The 64MP Sony IMX682 camera has no OIS, and Infinix promises two Android upgrades and three years of security patches.

Also in this budget’s top 10:

1. the HMD Vibe 2 Pro (about KES 21,900),
2. Nothing Phone (3a) Lite (KES 28,700),
3. Samsung Galaxy A08 (KES 23,300),
4. POCO M8s 5G (KES 24,500) and
5. Samsung Galaxy M17e 5G (KES 25,300).