Phones Are Too Expensive: 6 Good-Value Phones Compared, and Why the Xiaomi 17T Pro Is My Pick for Travel Abroad

📌 Update (October 2026): In the end, I didn’t wait for Black Friday. I bought the Xiaomi 17T Pro during Amazon’s Prime Big Deal Days sale. I’ll write about what it was like once it arrived (the first settings I changed, and whether it worked with Rakuten Mobile) in a separate post.

The phone I use now is an iPhone 12 Pro. I think I bought it about five years ago.

…Or so I thought. When I looked it up, the iPhone 12 Pro came out in October 2020. I might already be in my sixth year with it. (；´Д｀A

And now its battery can’t even last a day.

When I checked the battery status in Settings, the maximum capacity was 76%.

“Your battery’s health is significantly degraded.”

Significantly. It actually said significantly. ((((；ﾟДﾟ)))))))

On top of that, I’m going on a solo trip to the UK next summer. Traveling abroad with a phone whose battery can’t last a day felt a little scary.

Of course, I had other reasons too, but I decided to start gathering information!

So I started thinking about replacing it.

To be honest, I’m still undecided. Ha.

But for now, my top pick is the Xiaomi 17T Pro, and I plan to buy it on Black Friday.

Of-of course, on an installment plan. Side note: the Japanese word for this, 割賦, is read “kappu,” and I couldn’t read it myself at first. It simply means paying monthly, like a loan.

In this post, I cover:

• Why I wanted a new phone
• The points I decided on when choosing
• The six phones on my shortlist, and a comparison table made with travel abroad in mind
• My conclusion so far, and when to buy

If you’re like me and want a phone that won’t let you down abroad, or you’re thinking “phones are so expensive these days, isn’t there a good mid-range one?”, I hope this helps.

Once I buy one, I’ll add “what I went with” to this post, and after I’m back from the UK, “how it actually worked there.”

Prices and specs in this post were checked in October 2026. Prices change almost daily, so please check the store page before you buy.

Why I wanted a new phone

I use things until they break. But then a UK trip came up

I’m not someone who needs a high-spec phone. I’ve used iPhones for years, but they’ve gotten pretty expensive, and they’re not something you can just casually buy anymore.

So I use them until they break. If I hadn’t decided to go to the UK, I probably would have kept using this iPhone.

That said, I’m not buying a new phone just for the UK trip. But when you travel, you use your phone for so many things. Going with an iPhone whose battery can’t last a day would cause a lot of trouble. I also want to take photos and videos, and I’ll definitely use maps a lot. So I started thinking a phone with a big battery would be nice.

Why I decided on this trip: Why I decided to travel solo to the UK: 8 years of learning English, and my first trip to an English-speaking country (in Japanese)

Not just for the trip: I’ve always loved cameras

Still, if the trip were the only reason, I’d probably end up thinking “wait, why did I buy this?” once it’s over.

The other big reason is that I’ve always loved cameras.

My current camera is a Fujifilm X-H2 (a mirrorless camera). Its video is stunning, and on a tripod it might be unbeatable. But when I film while walking, the shake is really bad.

Honestly, I think phones are better for video while walking. Even if I take the X-H2 to the UK, I want to record the trip mainly with phone video.

Also, I’m the kind of person who believes “the moment you decide is the right time.” After a little over five years of taking good care of my iPhone 12 Pro, I thought maybe it was time to graduate and get something new. ƪ(˘⌣˘)ʃ

I also considered a battery replacement or a used phone

Of course, I thought about options other than buying new.

Just replace the battery?

In Japan you sometimes see battery replacement shops even inside supermarkets like AEON. It usually costs about ¥10,000–20,000. An official Apple battery replacement for the iPhone 12 Pro costs ¥15,600 (out of warranty, as of October 2026).

Plenty of my friends have replaced their batteries and kept using their phones. I think that’s a really good way to do it.

But I don’t have great memories of battery replacements.

A long time ago, around the iPhone 5 days I think, I had the battery replaced once, and afterward the phone started popping open. Maybe the technician wasn’t very skilled, or maybe phones back then were flimsy and plasticky… I’ll never know. (ノД`)

By the way, I read that local repair shops often use non-genuine batteries, and once a phone has been repaired somewhere other than Apple, you may not be able to get official Apple repairs later. Cheap and fast is tempting, though.

Buy a used one?

I looked at used phones too, but for many models the difference between new and used was only about ¥20,000–30,000 (there are so many models that I couldn’t compare them all properly).

So I settled on a new phone for around ¥100,000 as the best option.

A brand-new latest-generation iPhone is pretty pricey, so I decided to look at Android phones too.

My five points for choosing

First, I want to say this: the best phone depends on who’s using it.

If you play games, or you already know “I want a high-spec phone to do this,” you can choose based on that. And some people just need LINE, a decent camera and calls. The best phone is different for everyone.

As for me, my main uses are:

• Studying English (with Anki, a flashcard app)
• Browsing the web and using apps
• Photos and videos, as a record of my travels

These take up about 80% of my phone time. So I don’t absolutely need a flagship. I decided to set a budget and settle on something that’s not too expensive and not too cheap.

With that in mind, these are the five points I decided on.

① The battery lasts (fast charging is a bonus)

It’s hard to say which point I can’t compromise on, but good battery life is really attractive.

A lot of phones these days have incredibly fast charging. I often saw people say Motorola is great at this. A battery that lasts and charges fast: that’s the ideal.

Maybe I only feel this strongly because my iPhone 12 Pro can’t last a day anymore. But it’s better to have it than not. Some phones have batteries so big that, depending on how you use them, you might not even need a power bank, so I’m curious about those.

② It shoots smooth video while walking

The camera doesn’t have to be top of the line. But since I film while walking, I want solid stabilization. If videos and photos look reasonably nice, that’s enough. I take most of my photos with my camera, but for video while walking, phones win. When I travel, I want to shoot some video too. Most recent phones seem fine for video anyway. Even my iPhone 12 Pro shoots really nice video.

③ It works abroad (two eSIMs and network bands)

This is what I researched the most this time.

My current carrier is Rakuten Mobile, and I use an eSIM (a SIM built into the phone, so you can add a plan online without swapping cards).

When I travel abroad, I want to add a travel eSIM (an eSIM for using local networks) while keeping my Japanese Rakuten Mobile line on the phone. In other words, I want a phone that can use two eSIMs at the same time. That way, I could also add another eSIM if I visit a different country along the way, or use two Japanese carriers like Rakuten and povo at once.

And when I looked into it, I was surprised.

My iPhone 12 Pro can’t use two eSIMs at the same time (the only combination it supports is a physical SIM card plus an eSIM). I had no idea. ( ﾟдﾟ) Apparently you can install more than one, but you can’t have two active at once.

So if I add a travel eSIM, I have to turn Rakuten Mobile off. I had no idea it worked like that… Rakuten Mobile includes 2GB of free roaming per month, but that means I couldn’t even keep it on as a backup just in case.

The other point is network bands.

A phone can’t pick up a signal unless it supports the bands each country uses (they’re called by numbers, like “Band 1” or “Band 20”). The main 4G bands in the UK are Bands 20, 8, 3, 1 and 7.

Band 20 (800MHz) is apparently good at reaching inside buildings and rural areas. My itinerary includes the countryside near a national park in the north of England, so this is something I want to keep in mind. Surprisingly, not many phones sold in Japan support Band 20, and I was impressed that iPhones do. When I asked my British tutor on Cambly, they said lots of people in the UK use iPhones. Ha. iPhone, huh ( ´∀｀)

④ Must-haves in Japan: Osaifu-Keitai and My Number Card

Even if a phone works abroad, it’s pointless if it causes problems in Japan. iPhones have no issues here at all, but with Android, it varied a lot: some models don’t support these features, and the cards you can register differ. o(｀ω´ )o

• Osaifu-Keitai (Android): Japan’s tap-to-pay system for phones. You can ride trains and pay by tapping with a linked credit card
• My Number Card features (the smartphone version of the digital certificate on Japan’s national ID card)

I absolutely need both. I already pay with QUICPay on my iPhone all the time, and I’ve registered my My Number Card and use it to file my tax return. Just tapping is so easy.

⑤ Budget: around ¥100,000 for a new phone

I’d be happy if I could keep it to about ¥100,000. Yep. But I’m planning to pay in installments anyway, since I’m the type who likes to keep cash on hand. Ha. Somewhere between ¥100,000 and ¥130,000 would be… so specific, I know.

For an iPhone, I was open to a base model from one or two generations ago if it was around ¥120,000.

It turned out I didn’t have many reasons to stick with Apple

My computer is a Mac and my watch is an Apple Watch. Surrounded by Apple products, I used to think “for phones, it’s Apple or nothing.” I also think the iPhone is the best for security.

…Wait.

Then it has to be an iPhone…

But when I really thought about it, I don’t actually use that many features that need Apple devices to work together. In my setup, that is. Everyone’s setup is different.

I checked the things I was worried about, one by one.

Losing the Apple Watch is a little disappointing, but it’s not like I can’t live without it, so I’m OK with that.

In fact, about 70% of smartphones worldwide run Android. In Japan the iPhone is by far the most popular, but around the world more people use phones like the Samsung Galaxy or Xiaomi. So I figured Android probably isn’t any less convenient for everyday life than an iPhone.

Related: When I couldn’t hear the end of Anki’s audio on Bluetooth earphones, and the setting that fixed it (in Japanese)

⚠️ When switching from an iPhone to Android, it’s a good idea to turn off iMessage in your iPhone’s settings before moving your SIM. Otherwise, SMS messages may keep going to your old iPhone.

I have my banking apps and verification set up on my iPhone, so I plan to use both phones for about two months after switching. Once I feel “I don’t need the iPhone anymore,” I’ll trade it in to help pay for the new phone. (Apple Trade In offers up to ¥31,000 for an iPhone 12 Pro as of October 2026, as a discount on Apple products or an Apple Gift Card.)

The phones on my first shortlist

At first I was looking for a mid-range phone (decent performance, around ¥50,000–100,000). I compared things like the camera, screen size and how smoothly it runs.

motorola edge 60 pro

This was the first one that struck me as cheap. I saw it on Amazon for about ¥50,000–60,000 and thought it had more than enough performance for me.

And above all, the charging. With the included 125W charger (W = watts; the bigger the number, the faster it charges), it gets to a full charge in as little as 28 minutes. I’d heard Motorola charges fast, and the numbers proved it.

But when I looked at it from a travel angle, a few things bothered me.

• It doesn’t support Band 20, which is widely used in the UK
• For eSIM, it only supports a physical SIM plus an eSIM, so it can’t use two eSIMs at the same time
• Some reviews say video stabilization during fast movement is a bit lacking

Xiaomi 17T Pro

Xiaomi is a Chinese manufacturer. Reading lots of reviews, I was really drawn to the big screen and the fact that the camera is co-developed with Leica. Apparently there’s also a feature that adds the Leica logo to your photos and live photos (the kind that records a few seconds of motion so you can pull out a still), making them look like Polaroids. That’s what’s pulling me in.

The price is the sticking point. The step-down model, the “17T,” is cheaper, but the 17T doesn’t have Osaifu-Keitai. For me, that’s a tough one. Then again, I don’t commute by train, and you can ride trains with a credit card now, so maybe I don’t need it that much…

iPhone 17 / iPhone 17e

If I went with an iPhone, the lowest model would be plenty. One camera is fine. I had the impression they sold for around ¥120,000, but when I checked, Apple Store prices went up in July and September 2026: the iPhone 17 (256GB) is now ¥159,800 and the iPhone 17e (256GB) is ¥124,800. (；´Д｀A

Also, I have a feeling the iPhone’s battery capacity isn’t that big.

I know the iPhone is the most reliable. But it’s nothing new. Ha.

In that case, I could just replace the battery. Oh, but then I’d still be stuck with only one eSIM. (cry)

Galaxy A57 5G

I was also torn on the Samsung Galaxy. At 6.9mm thick and about 179g, it’s thin and light, which is appealing.

But when I looked into it, the models sold in Japan don’t support Band 20 or Band 7. They support different bands from the overseas models, so this is something to watch out for.

Then I got distracted: Xperia 1 VIII

I was supposed to be looking at mid-range phones, but the more I looked, the more other phones caught my eye…

Sony’s Xperia 1 VIII. It’s really expensive, but I couldn’t help thinking it looks great.

Above all, the Xperia packs in Sony’s technology: picture processing from BRAVIA TVs, cameras from the Alpha line, and of course audio. The camera in particular is said to be excellent, and I’m really drawn to it.

One review I read said it’s great at correcting the up-and-down shake when you walk, which is very good news for me, since I like filming while walking.

When I saw “30W” in the charging specs, I thought “oh, so it doesn’t support fast charging,” but 30W does count as fast charging. Ha. Still, next to the Motorola and Xiaomi at 125W and 100W, it can’t help looking weaker.

And the price at Sony’s store: from ¥235,400. More than twice my budget. ((((；ﾟДﾟ))))))) I’m shaking.

My comparison table for travel abroad

So I put the phones I agonized over (“hmm… but… that one’s nice too…”) into a table.

This isn’t the usual gadget-lover spec sheet. It’s ordered completely by my own biased view of “does it work fine in Japan and won’t cause trouble when traveling abroad?” Instead of detailed numbers, I used ◎○△ and a few words.

What the table showed me: Android phones sold in Japan often lack Band 20

This was the biggest “huh, interesting” moment when I made the table.

Of the four Android phones, only the Xiaomi 17T Pro supports Band 20. The Japanese models of the Xperia 1 VIII, edge 60 pro and Galaxy A57 don’t support Band 20. Both the iPhone 17 and 17e do.

By the way, even if a Japanese phone’s specs say “800MHz supported,” that means the 800MHz used by Japanese carriers like docomo and au (Bands 18, 19 and 26). In Europe, 800MHz is a different band: Band 20. So “800MHz supported” doesn’t necessarily mean it works in Europe. (；´Д｀A

That said, even without Band 20, phones can connect in UK towns and cities using other bands (Bands 1, 3, 7 and 8), so it’s not like they won’t work at all. The places to watch out for are rural areas, deep inside buildings and on trains between cities.

If you’re like me and heading to rural areas too, it might be worth searching “[model name] supported bands” and comparing them with the main bands used in the country you’re visiting.

So, if you’re going to travel abroad, is it better to support more bands? I want a phone that works without stress not just in the UK, but in the US and Asia too, so I looked into this as well.

Generally, more is safer. But what matters more than the number is whether it supports the main bands in the region you’re going to.

Looking at “Use around the world” in the table, the 17T Pro and the iPhone 17 and 17e support the main bands in Europe, the US and Asia. Android phones sold in Japan often seem to be missing bands used in rural areas overseas. For Asia, almost all of the phones were fine.

Oh, and if the bands match, you can use the internet, maps and LINE. But calls with a local phone number are a different story. Most travel eSIMs are data-only, so calls will probably have to go through apps like LINE.

Tap-to-pay abroad depends more on your card than your phone

Another thing I was curious about was whether I could use tap-to-pay with my phone abroad.

Apparently you can ride the London Underground and buses just by tapping a contactless credit card or your phone. But I’ve never tried tap-to-pay abroad with my iPhone, and I don’t really know how trains work overseas.

So at first I thought, “for reliability, it has to be the iPhone, right?”

But as I looked into it, it turned out to depend more on the card than the phone.

My main card is a JAL Card (Visa). Here’s what the JAL Card official FAQ says:

• iPhone (Apple Pay): The JAL Card Visa can only be used through QUICPay (a payment service that only works in Japan). You can’t pay with your phone abroad
• Android (Google Wallet): The JAL Card Visa can’t be added in the first place

…Wait, so neither works! o(｀ω´ )o

In other words, whether it’s an iPhone or Android, I can’t pay with my JAL Card through my phone abroad. The most reliable option abroad is tapping the card itself (if your card has a “)))” mark, it supports contactless). You still earn miles with contactless payments. My JAL Card has the mark, so in the UK I’ll probably just tap the physical card.

Of course, many Visa and Mastercard cards issued in Japan can be added to Apple Pay on an iPhone and used for contactless payments abroad as they are. The iPhone is definitely easy to use abroad, but my takeaway was that you should first check how your own card works with phones.

Oh, and London’s transport authority (TfL) also warns that if you travel using your phone, you should watch out for a dead battery. You have to tap in and out with the same card or phone, and if your battery dies along the way, you might be charged a higher fare. Then again, I think the same goes for Japan.

Battery life matters even more abroad.

My conclusion so far: Xiaomi 17T Pro

After comparing everything, my top pick for now is the Xiaomi 17T Pro.

For travel, I want something that:

• Has a battery that lasts
• Takes reasonably nice videos and photos
• Works abroad (two eSIMs and the right bands)

And I want something that’s reasonably priced overall. With all that in mind, the 17T Pro hits the sweet spot.

• A 7,000mAh battery (mAh = battery capacity; most of the other candidates are 5,000mAh). Some reviews say “with normal use you can go two days without charging.” And it charges fully in 48 minutes at 100W
• A camera co-developed with Leica. Reviewers say stabilization works well for video while walking
• Supports Band 20 and Band 8 in the UK. This matters for me, since I’m heading to rural areas
• Two eSIMs, Osaifu-Keitai and the My Number Card: all supported

Another feature I’m personally excited about is Leica Live Moment. It takes moving photos of about 3 seconds. It would be fun to capture UK scenery in moving photos and put them on my travel blog. ＼＼٩( ˊωˋ )و //／／

I was looking for a mid-range phone, got distracted by the Xperia, and ended up back at the 17T Pro. That’s about how it went. Ha.

Some people have concerns about Chinese-made phones, but I’m not planning to keep anything particularly sensitive on it, so it’s not a big issue for me.

Things I’m unsure about

Of course, there are some things that bother me.

Reports that its own OS (HyperOS) is hard to use

Xiaomi uses its own Android-based OS called HyperOS, and I saw some people say it’s “hard to use.” From what I found, out of the box it can show ads and lots of preinstalled apps, and its battery-saving settings can be so strict that LINE and email notifications don’t come through.

But apparently you can fix this by reviewing the settings at the start (turning off ads and removing battery-saving restrictions for individual apps), so once I buy it, I’ll try it myself and add an update here.

Weight

At 219g, it’s the heaviest of the candidates. The camera bump is pretty big too.

My morning lunch problem

Honestly, this is my biggest dilemma.

Every morning when I buy my lunch, I take only my phone and pay with QUICPay on Apple Pay (with my JAL Card), since I earn miles that way.

But as I mentioned, the JAL Card Visa can’t be added to an Android phone. If I switch to the 17T Pro, I won’t be able to pay with just my phone anymore. And carrying my long wallet around is a bit of a hassle…

Or so I thought, but when I thought about it more, paying with a physical card probably isn’t a big deal once I get used to it. Ha. So the 17T Pro is still my top pick.

By the way, while many reviews say it works fine with Rakuten Mobile and povo, it apparently doesn’t support one of docomo’s 5G bands (n79), so if you’re on a docomo line, you might want to keep that in mind.

When to buy? Why I’m waiting for Black Friday

I do believe “the moment you decide is the right time,” but if I’m going to buy it anyway, I want to buy it when it’s cheap. So I set my sights on Black Friday.

Here’s what I found:

Xiaomi’s official store

Xiaomi’s biggest sale of the year is said to be Black Friday (in 2025 it ran from November 21 to December 1, with up to 51% off). By the way, the 17T Pro’s price went up on September 1, 2026 (the 256GB model went from ¥119,800 to ¥139,800), apparently because memory prices are rising. (；´Д｀A

Amazon

In 2025, Black Friday had an early-access sale from November 21 to 23, and the main sale from November 24 to December 1.

Yahoo! Shopping

In one past example, preorders before the 17T Pro’s release came with up to 22% back in points, for an effective price of ¥90,300. But you can’t predict when deals like that will come. Black Friday (November 25 to 30 in 2025) and the “Cho PayPay Festival” sale also seem like good times to buy.

When comparing, I recommend looking at how much you actually pay including coupons and points, not the listed price. I plan to line up store prices on Kakaku.com (a Japanese price comparison site) before buying.

What about the new 18T Pro?

I still have time before the UK trip, so I wondered if a new “18T Pro” would come out. There’s a rumor it’ll be released in Japan around January 2027 (a Japanese model number has been spotted, but the specs and price are still unknown).

When a new model comes out, the older one tends to get cheaper. But new models are most expensive right after launch, and phone prices overall are going up right now. Plus, my current iPhone’s battery can’t last a day…

So I plan to decide on Black Friday.

Summary: it’s fine to choose a phone based on what you want to do

After all this research, what I felt most is that the best phone really depends on who’s using it.

But if you also want to use it when traveling abroad, I think it’s worth checking these three things before you buy:

• Can it use two eSIMs at the same time? (So you can add a travel eSIM while keeping your home line)
• Does it support the bands in the country you’re visiting? (For Europe, make sure Band 20 isn’t missing)
• Tap-to-pay depends more on your card than your phone (Check your own card first)

My answer for now is the Xiaomi 17T Pro. Once I buy it on Black Friday, I’ll add what I went with and why. And after I’m back from the UK, how it actually worked there. Stay tuned! ♪( ´θ｀)ノ

Related posts: Why I decided to travel solo to the UK: 8 years of learning English, and my first trip to an English-speaking country (in Japanese) / When I couldn’t hear the end of Anki’s audio on Bluetooth earphones, and the setting that fixed it (in Japanese)

English expressions from this post (B2–C1)

Suitman is working toward Eiken Grade 1 (the top level of Japan’s best-known English test), so here are a few useful phrases from this post, picked out by AI.

① on the fence (= undecided; unable to choose)

I’m still on the fence about which phone to buy.

Picture someone sitting on top of a fence, unable to pick a side. That’s exactly me right now.

② dealbreaker (= one thing that makes you reject an option)

No Osaifu-Keitai is a dealbreaker for me, so the cheaper model is out.

A handy way to say “the 17T has no Osaifu-Keitai, and that rules it out for me” in one word.

③ bang for the buck (= value for the money you pay)

The Xiaomi 17T Pro gives me the most bang for the buck.

This is how I’d say “good value overall” in English. (“Buck” is casual American English for a dollar.)

Dictionaries I used to check the meanings:

• on the fence｜Cambridge Dictionary
• dealbreaker｜Cambridge Dictionary
• bang for the buck｜Cambridge Dictionary

References:

• iPhone 17 specifications (Apple, in Japanese)
• Xiaomi 17T Pro (Xiaomi official, in Japanese)
• Xperia 1 VIII SIM-free specifications (Sony, in Japanese)
• JAL Card FAQ: Does the JAL Card support Apple Pay? (in Japanese)
• Contactless and mobile pay as you go (TfL)