5 of the best Android phones without AI

While manufacturers tout the new technology as a useful tool that streamlines your experience, a growing subset of users want a phone without AI because they find it intrusive, distracting and a privacy risk. Until a phone has on-device AI, it doesn’t have AI in the strictest sense. If it has system-level AI features that you can completely disable, it deserves a spot on the list as well. The same goes if AI apps like Gemini, Copilot, and ChatGPT come pre-installed, as these are optional and can be uninstalled.

It makes sense to look at older, minimalist Android phones because many of them don’t support the AI ​​features that manufacturers offer. There are also a few recent phones that qualify, but the selection lacks flagship devices. With these caveats in mind, here are some options to consider if you’re looking for an AI-free smartphone.

The Google Pixel 7a features a Tensor G2 chip with 8 GB of RAM. It’s quite snappy even in 2026, but not at the level of current flagships, and tends to overheat quickly. Although the chip is capable of advanced machine learning to process images and translate languages ​​faster, you won’t find any forward-facing AI features, such as Circle to Search, Gemini Live, Magic Compose, and Pixel Screenshots, that come with later Pixel phones.

That’s because the Pixel 7a doesn’t have the hardware capability to run Gemini Nano. That’s good news in this case since that’s exactly what you’re trying to avoid with this phone. It comes with AI-enabled apps and features thanks to Gemini, but you can turn them off completely by uninstalling the app and disabling a few settings.

When the Pixel 7a was released in 2023, it was one of the best Android phones you could get on a budget, with an introductory price of $499. Since Google discontinued it, you can get a used or renewed Google Pixel 7a for around $200 on marketplaces like Amazon. Even if the phone had decent battery life when it launched, any device you buy now will likely have some degradation. So it’s best to control your battery expectations. This is also one of the Pixel phones that will receive updates up to Android 17, so you’ll have support for a few more years.

Currently, you can only find Motorola’s in-device AI, Moto AI, in flagship smartphones like the Razr and Edge smartphone series. The Motorola G Power (2026) is part of the Motorola G series, which has been around since 2013, and only supports app-based generative AI capabilities. You just need to remove all pre-installed AI apps like Gemini and ChatGPT to make it AI-free.

This is a budget phone, which is why it lacks hardware capable of running generative AI locally. You can get the Motorola G Power (2026) for $299.99, but you’ll have to accept the fact that you’ll only use it for everyday tasks, such as browsing, casual photography, and streaming. You simply won’t play demanding games or edit photos professionally with its MediaTek Dimensity 6300 chipset.

Regardless, the Motorola G Power (2026) remains a modern device that you won’t have to spend a fortune on. Its eight GB of RAM is already capable of multitasking smoothly, but it gets extra memory thanks to its RAM Boost technology, which offloads certain tasks to internal storage when applications need them. Speaking of storage, the phone comes with 128GB, but it’s expandable up to a terabyte since it’s one of the Android phones still featuring a microSD slot.

It’s hard to find Samsung phones without AI that are still supported. Previously, the life cycle of Android software lasted between two and three years, but Samsung has extended it for its flagship and mid-range phones. So it was a bit of a surprise when it announced that the Samsung Galaxy A16, released in January 2025 in the United States, would get six years of Android updates. It’s not even a mid-range Galaxy A series phone like the Galaxy A57 (it has some Galaxy AI tools built in), but an ultra-budget phone that you can get for under $150.

The Galaxy A16 has a follow-up, the Galaxy A17, which incorporates some Galaxy AI features. As an entry-level phone, you can expect the Galaxy A17 to perform everyday tasks well, similar to the Motorola G Power (2026). These phones simply aren’t designed for heavy-duty tasks and can heat up quickly if you push them. On the plus side, you get a bright and vibrant 6.7-inch Super AMOLED display and a 5,000mAh battery that can easily last you through the day. You can also disable most or all AI features on it.

A minimalist phone is a great choice if you want to escape AI. But it goes further by helping to escape some of the modern pitfalls of smartphones, such as excessive screen time, notification overload, and bloated and distracting user interfaces. The Minimal Phone, released in February 2025, runs on the Android 14 operating system. You have full access to the Google Play Store, allowing you to download the apps you need, such as Spotify, WhatsApp, Google Docs, Google Maps, and banking apps. So it’s not a completely stupid phone, but something that falls somewhere in the middle.

This phone has a design that evokes BlackBerry vibes, with a QWERTY keyboard offering tactile feedback. It has a 600 x 800 pixel E Ink touchscreen, which is a screen aimed at imitating ink on paper. There are no distracting colors or visual overload from glare and brightness, making it comfortable for the eyes.

For a starting price of $499 for the version with 6GB of RAM and 128GB of internal storage, the Minimal Phone may not be worth buying just to escape AI, but it may be a good buy if you’re really looking for a phone that will also reduce your screen time. Other sticking points beyond price include a difficult-to-use camera, lack of 5G support, ghosting when refreshing the screen, and a slow touchscreen at times. But for a smartphone that tries to give you a basic experience, the Minimal Phone is one of the best options.

Another minimalist Android phone that can help you escape AI while reducing your screen time is the $439 Mudita Kompakt. It has an E Ink display (800 x 600 pixels) and runs on a custom Android operating system called MuditaOS K. Although the Minimal Phone still lets you stay connected to Google, this one has been completely stripped of all Google (de-Google) apps and services. It’s a stupid phone in the purest sense, and that can be a good thing, especially if you’re primarily looking to escape Google’s ecosystem. It just puts more emphasis on simplicity than smart features.

Besides, you will not find the Google Play Store, Gemini or any other third-party application here. It goes even further than the Minimal Phone with minimal experience in this regard. The Mudita Kompakt’s apps are specifically designed to work on its E Ink display. You can download third-party apps if you have the Android Package Kits (APKs), but you are not guaranteed smooth performance.

Mudita Kompakt’s lack of links to Google also improves privacy. You don’t have to worry about ads and tracking. You can easily put the phone into offline mode with just the press of a button, which disables cellular, GPS, Bluetooth, microphones, and camera. All basic offline functions and apps will still work, including maps for when you need navigation.

The biggest question we had to ask ourselves when selecting these phones is what exactly it means for a phone to not have AI. If we include machine learning, which is a subset of AI, then we would only have stupid phones like the Mudita Kompakt on the list. Other phones have machine learning algorithms running in the background to improve performance, camera, battery life, and other specific tasks. These are not things that bother the average person about AI.

What we mean by lack of AI is the lack of features offered by dedicated AI chips, such as text and image generation, real-time translation, removing objects from photos, and human-like conversations. Machine learning is therefore acceptable if we consider AI narrowly. Additionally, while OS updates may add AI capabilities to the phone, we’ve been looking for clear ways to disable the experience altogether. That’s why phones like the Google Pixel 7a are on the list.

We also excluded phones that were not supported by the original equipment manufacturer (OEM). When software support ends, you officially know an Android phone is too old. For example, we could have easily included the Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra in the list because it’s still a usable phone in 2026 and doesn’t have AI. However, Samsung stopped supporting it in 2025. The longer an operating system goes without an update, the more likely it is that hackers will find vulnerabilities to exploit.