[uzakov]

You can get fairly cheap, by Western standard (under 200/250$) brand new phones with great screen, good camera, not many/no annoying apps that affect the daily usage [1], fairly cheap contract (around $5 a month)[2]. It does require some Googling/timing but possible.

While $200 is a lot of money for many people, there are options where you can go even lower and get a decent phone if you sacrifice some functionality (like not having a good camera)

[1] Poco X3 for example, during sale goes well under 250$. Note: it does have privacy concerns associated with it.

[2] https://imgur.com/a/d1lkYcc - £2 per month for 1GB data, 200 mins for calls