Samsung is more willing to discount its devices than Apple, but since it’s Black Friday, Amazon has discounts for both. We’ve also included other interesting deals we’ve come across, including Nothing and a pair of VR headsets.
Let’s start with the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra. Amazon has models with 512GB and 1TB storage space, the 256GB one is not included in this week’s offers. The 2024 S-phones are a couple of months away, of course, and there will be some pre-order perks, but the S23 Ultra has one of the best cameras of 2023, and its predecessor, the S22 Ultra, is also still on sale.
The Galaxy S23+ is available at a lower price for those who don’t need a 200MP main camera or periscope zoom. The S23+ is a solid all-rounder and will receive 3 more OS updates (after recently getting Android 14) and will see security patches until 2028, so it’s no big deal that the phone is a year old. – still has a long way to go before reaching retirement age.
You can also buy a new pair of TWS earphones: Samsung Galaxy Buds2 or Buds2 Pro. The Pro model has dual speakers (tweeter + woofer) for better audio and an IPX7 rating, so they have significantly more protection against water.
That said, the Galaxy Buds2 are much cheaper and still offer features like active noise cancellation and wireless charging for the case. The buds are rated IPX2, so they should be safe from sweat and rain, but definitely don’t drop them in the pool.
The Samsung Galaxy Watch5 Pro remained without a follow-up this year. This model has a large 590mAh battery compared to the 425mAh of the Watch6 Classic, both support 10W wireless charging. The Watch5 Pro is IP68 rated (water resistance up to 50m), has ECG and blood pressure monitoring.
Samsung’s redesigned SmartTag2 launched last month with new features like Lost Mode: It lets you add contact information to the tag so people who find it can scan it and call you. There’s also the new Compass View, which points you in the right direction to the tag, though keep in mind that this requires a UWB-enabled phone (the S23+ and S23 Ultra have UWB).
The Apple iPad (2022) is the latest in the vanilla series. It’s similar to the Air, but with an Apple A14 chipset instead of M1 – the latter is better for heavy multitaskers, but the former is cheaper. Of course you still get the split-screen multitasking of iPadOS, plus the A14 is still very fast.
If you need extra computing power, check out the Apple MacBook Air. This is the 15.3-inch model with the Apple M2 chip, configured with 8GB of RAM and 512GB of storage. This is larger than the M1 Air and has a Liquid Retina display, which in non-marketing terms translates to a slightly higher resolution and higher brightness (500 nits versus 400 nits). The newer model also packs a better FaceTime camera (1080p vs. 720p, though it’s up a notch) and better speakers (6 vs. 2 speakers).
The Apple Watch Ultra was designed as an adventure companion: it can dive up to 40 meters and is also equipped with a depth gauge. It has ECG and fall detection, as well as a loud built-in alarm, a large 1.92-inch OLED display with sapphire glass, and UWB, which can help you keep track of Apple AirTags (we’ll get to that).
If that’s too expensive for you, the Apple Watch SE (2022) has a smaller 1.78-inch display and more basic protection features: It’s rated for 50m water resistance (versus 100m for the Ultra, note: this is different from dive depth) and has Ion-X toughened glass. The biggest omission is the ECG function.
As mentioned, you can track Apple AirTags with the Apple Watch Ultra and any recent iPhone. You can pick up a single tag or a pack of 4.
The Nothing Phone (1) has remained around and is currently priced in the mid-range. It has a 6.55-inch 120Hz 10-bit AMOLED display and a Snapdragon 778G, as well as dual 50MP cameras (main + ultra wide). The 4,500mAh battery supports 33W wired charging and 15W wireless charging.
You can also get the Nothing Phone (2), but it costs more. That extra money goes towards a larger 6.7-inch display: this time a 120Hz LTPO panel, though still only FHD+ resolution. And a more powerful Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1. The cameras, however, are mostly the same. On the plus side, you get a slightly larger battery (4,700mAh) to compensate for the power draw from the larger display, and faster 45W wired charging (keeping wireless at 15W).
And since we’ve covered Samsung earphones, check out the Nothing Ear (2). They’re stylish and match the look of the Nothing phone, however, their audio quality and ANC aren’t up to par, at least not at this price.
We will conclude everything with two VR viewers. The first is the older Meta Quest 2. This doesn’t have the color passthrough of the new Quest 3, but is actively supported by game developers. It’s obviously cheaper than the new model, especially since this one comes with a A$100 Amazon gift card.
The second headset is the Sony PlayStation VR2. This only works with the PS5, so the overall cost is higher, but the Quest 2 as a standalone headset doesn’t have the processing power for current-gen graphics (you could hook it up to a PC, of course). The PSVR2 has the power and optimizations that come with the PS5.
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