While it may be fun to buy a new phone when it launches, it’s usually not a good idea to pay full price for it. If you do some research and wait a little while, you can save a lot of money on your next phone. Find the best smartphone deals by following these steps.
Contents
- 1 7 Ways to Find the Best SmartPhone Deals
- 2 Ignore Buzz and Focus on Value
7 Ways to Find the Best SmartPhone Deals
1. Get the best deal by Timing your Purchase
The best way to get a good deal on the latest smartphone is to buy it at the right time. There are several times a year when you can get deals. Here is the best way:
During the Pre-Order Period
It’s better to pre-order a new phone than to buy it when it comes out. During the pre-order period, smartphone companies often offer flat discounts or free stuff to try to get people interested in an upcoming product.
If you pre-order a new top phone from Samsung, for example, you usually get a pair of Galaxy Buds for free. Some of the perks of pre-ordering are store credit and free months of YouTube Premium or Spotify Premium, as well as flat savings and free stuff.
One problem is that pre-order perks are usually only available on high-end phones. If you’re looking for a mid-range or cheap phone, this tip might not work for you.
During Black Friday or Cyber Monday
Many people think that Black Friday is the best time to buy a new phone because it’s the last day of the Thanksgiving holiday weekend, and stores are vying for customers. Black Friday can get you discounts of 30% or more if you’re ready to deal with the crowds in shops or the online shopping madness.
You can also try your luck on Cyber Monday, the Monday after Black Friday. Smaller stores offer big deals on electronics and appliances to get people to shop online instead of in stores during the busy holiday season.
That way, you won’t miss the best deals. Learn how to get the most out of Black Friday and Cyber Monday.
Ahead of the launch of the next model
If you don’t mind having a phone that’s a year old, keep an eye out for sales. When a new model is coming out soon, stores will often lower the prices of old stock from last year to get rid of it. This is especially true if they think that more people will want the new model.
You can find really great deals if you look around, especially on Samsung Galaxy and Google Pixel phones. Also, smartphones don’t change that quickly these days, so getting a phone from a year ago won’t hurt you too much. Even worse, the battery life will be a little worse, and you’ll get one less year of software changes.
During Amazon Prime Day
You should take advantage of Amazon Prime Day if you are a member of Amazon Prime. It happens every year in July and has great deals on almost all kinds of goods, like smartphones and other electronics.
Still, you shouldn’t become a Prime member to get Prime Day deals if you’re not already one. First, look at what Amazon Prime users get and decide if it’s right for you.
2. Trade-In or Sell Your Original Phone
You can trade in your old phone when you buy a new one from any of the big smartphone makers. The price of the new model goes down, and your old phone is destroyed. This depends on how good your phone is and how much it’s worth on the market right now. This is a great way to get rid of your old phone.
Even though it’s easy to trade in your old phone, you might get more money for it if you sell it online. It takes more work and time, but a person who wants to use the gadget will almost always pay more than a business that wants to recycle some of its parts.
3. Use an Education or Employee Discount
A lot of smartphone companies give discounts to students, teachers, seniors, soldiers, and people who work in the emergency services. Samsung gives confirmed students and government workers in the US up to 30% off certain smartphones.
You might also be able to get deals through your job, a union, or a professional group. You can check the manufacturer’s website or call customer service to see if you can get a discount like this.
4. Get a Refurbished Phone
If you buy a used phone instead of a brand-new one from the company that made it, you can save a lot of money. When buyers are unsatisfied with their purchases and send them back to the company that made them, these used items are carefully checked for problems, fixed if necessary, cleaned, packed, and then sold again at a lower price.
To put it another way, it’s good for you and the environment. The one-year protection that comes with brand-new phones also covers phones that have been used before. You won’t have many choices, though, because there are few used phones available.
5. Use a Rewards Points Program
If a company makes most of the electronics you use, you should use its points program if it has one, like Samsung points. You’ll start getting rewards every time you buy something on the main site or the store app after you’ve signed up. You can use these awards to get the next thing you buy for less later.
6. Get a Referral Bonus
When you buy something through a rewards program, you get rewards. But when someone you refer buys something using your link or unique code, they also get rewards. There is a referral scheme from Samsung, and Google had a similar deal in 2023 with the Pixel 7.
It’s helpful if you’re the “tech person” in your group of friends and family and often tell them what to buy. Before you join the reference program, make sure you read and agree to the rules.
7. Shop through the Official Store App of the Manufacturer
A lot of big Android phone companies, like Samsung, OnePlus, and Oppo, have official store apps that give you a deal the first time you use them to buy something. The savings aren’t huge, and sometimes they’re only good on certain devices, but they’re still worth mentioning.
Ignore Buzz and Focus on Value
It doesn’t make sense to pay full price for an Android phone because it only holds its value for a short time. To find the best smartphone deals, you can use any of the tips on this list. But before you buy, make sure you do your study.
If you want an unknown phone, pre-ordering it is the best thing to do because you get a brand-new device for less money or with free stuff that you would have to buy separately. Wait for Black Friday deals if you want to save even more.