Samsung Galaxy S10e Prism Black 128GB

The S10e's feature set is in the 84th percentile, which is its one big party trick at this price. But you're buying a refurb with a mediocre battery and a camera that's in the bottom third of our database. It's a compact, capable phone for under $150 if you can handle the cosmetic damage and don't stray far from a charger.

Let's be real about the Snapdragon 855. In our database, it's in the 30th percentile for performance, which puts it well behind the curve compared to anything released in the last three years. We're talking about a chip from early 2019. That doesn't mean it's unusable, but you'll feel the age in heavier apps and gaming. Paired with 6GB of RAM, multitasking is fine for a few apps, but don't expect it to keep a dozen things open without a reload. The 128GB of storage is a nice surprise at this price point, and the microSD slot means you can easily throw in a 512GB card for a ton of media storage.

The 3100mAh battery is the real bottleneck here. It's in the 44th percentile, which is mediocre even when the phone was new. With a refurbished unit, you're almost certainly dealing with a degraded cell. You'll be lucky to get through a full day on a single charge, and that's with light use. The saving grace is wireless charging and reverse wireless charging, so you can top up your earbuds or a friend's phone in a pinch, but you'll need to be near a charger more often than not.

Stacked against the Google Pixel 8 Pro or the Apple iPhone 13 Pro Max, the S10e is in a completely different league, and not in a good way. Those phones dominate in camera and performance, where the S10e is in the 36th and 30th percentiles respectively. The Motorola Edge 2024 is a more interesting comparison. It'll give you a modern, clean software experience with 5G and a much better battery, though you'll lose the compact size and headphone jack. The Xiaomi Redmi Note 14 Pro+ 5G absolutely destroys the S10e on battery life and charging speed, but it's a massive phone. You're choosing the S10e for one reason: it's small. If that's not your top priority, literally every other competitor here is a better all-around device.

Value here is a total gamble. The price spread is wild, ranging from $110 to $619 across vendors. At the low end, around that $110 mark, you're getting a lot of core smartphone functionality for the price of a nice dinner. But you have to accept the 'Grade C' condition, which means the phone will look like it's been through a few wars. At the high end near $619, this is a terrible deal. You're in used Pixel 8 or iPhone 13 territory for that money, both of which will run circles around the S10e in every single metric. If you're hunting for a deal, stick to the bottom of that price range and go in with your eyes wide open about the cosmetic damage.

The Samsung Galaxy S10e lands in a weird spot in our database. Its feature set is a genuine standout, sitting in the 84th percentile, which means you're getting things like an IP68 rating, wireless charging, and a headphone jack that most modern flagships have abandoned. But the overall score of 38.3 out of 100 tells a different story. This is a phone defined by its compromises, and the biggest one is that you're likely buying a refurbished unit with a 'C' grade, which explicitly means dents, cracks, and screen scratches are part of the deal. It's a capable little phone wrapped in a potentially rough package.

At 150 grams with a 5.8-inch screen, it's one of the last truly compact phones that doesn't feel like a toy. The Snapdragon 855 processor and 6GB of RAM are old news by benchmark standards, landing in the 30th percentile for performance. But for everyday scrolling, messaging, and light app use, it still holds up better than you'd think. The real pain points are the battery, which was small to begin with and has likely degraded in a used model, and a camera system that's firmly in the lower third of our rankings. You're buying this for the size and the price, not to win any photography contests.

Skip this if you care about battery life or camera quality at all. The 3100mAh battery was already underwhelming, and a used one will leave you hunting for outlets by mid-afternoon. The camera is in the 36th percentile, so your photos will look soft and noisy compared to even a $300 modern phone. Also, if you need 5G, this is a non-starter. The connectivity is stuck on 4G and ranks in the 27th percentile. Anyone who wants a phone that just works all day without babying it should look elsewhere.

The Galaxy S10e is a niche pick for a very specific person. If you want the smallest possible phone that still feels like a real smartphone, and you're willing to live with a scuffed-up refurb and carry a battery pack, the sub-$150 price is tempting. The feature set is surprisingly rich for the money, with wireless charging and water resistance that you won't find on most new budget phones. But for anyone who cares about camera quality, battery life, or having a device that looks pristine, this is a hard pass. The performance is just too dated to recommend as a daily driver for power users.