Discover the cheapest 5G phone you’ve never heard of

Coolpad Legacy 5G phone.
(Image credit: Coolpad)

When we think of 5G phones, brands such as Samsung, Huawei and Apple’s highly-anticipated 5G iPhone come to mind. However, sometimes a company you least expect (or haven’t even heard of) will come along and deliver something you weren’t expecting - in this case, the cheapest 5G phone on the market. 

Popular 5G phones including the Galaxy S10 5G, the LG V50 5G and the OnePlus 7 Pro were launched in 2019 with a price range of $800 (£608) to $1,000 (£760). And we have come to expect this as the standard price range for super-fast 5G devices, but apparently it doesn’t have to be that way.

Affordable 5G is here 

Affordable 5G phones have finally arrived in 2020, making 5G technology much more accessible for consumers. At CES 2020, Chinese phone maker Coolpad launched its first 5G phone, known as Legacy 5G. The new device will be available in Q2 2020 and will cost “under $400”, making it the cheapest 5G phone on the market. 

The phone will be supported by the T-Mobile 5G and AT&T 5G networks. It will also work on the Sprint 5G network. 

The Legacy 5G 

The phone itself has a large 6.53-inch display and runs on Android 10. In terms of cameras, the smartphone features a 48MP and 8MP wide-angle rear cameras, with a 16MP front-facing camera. And the phone is powered by a Qualcomm 7250 processor and has 64GB memory.

Whilst the affordable price point will open up 5G to a larger number of people, the company is still relatively unknown. And it’ll be interesting to see how well Coolpad’s dive into 5G performs, and if it’ll provide any competition to the main market leaders.



Fiona Leake

Fiona discovered her love for investing and making money from a young age. Since then this interest has grown and now she loves writing about investing and business, and follows the 5G market closely. She is also a technology enthusiast, and so they tend to be her favourite investments.