It’s that time of the week again; let’s take a look at the best smartphone deals from Germany, UK, USA and India. Some of last week’s deals are still active so you can check them out, this week we focused on new deals. Use the links below to jump to the section for your country:
Germany
The Google Pixel 7 and 7 Pro are $55/50 off, and Amazon is buying old phones, so is Google, but Amazon will add $100 on top of the trade-in value (it calls this a “trade-in boost”). These are the best Pixel flagships Google has made to date; check out our reviews for more details.
The Sony Xperia 10 IV packs a 12 + 8 + 8 MP triple camera (including a telephoto lens) and has stellar battery life; he is also one of the smallest Androids of 2022.
Next up, the Edge 30 series. Starting with the Motorola Edge 30 Ultra, it’s expensive, but it has a Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1, a 6.67-inch FHD+ OLED display @ 144Hz, and a 4,610mAh battery with 125% wired charging. W and 50 W wireless. The camera is quite special: it was the first 200 MP (1/1.22″, OIS) main sensor, a 50 MP (114°) ultra wide angle and a 12 MP (2x) telephoto, plus a 60MP selfie camera.
The Motorola Edge 30 Pro is a big drop in price, and aside from the camera, it doesn’t lose too much. It uses the older but still fast Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 chip and has a very similar 6.7″ 144Hz OLED display. Camera-wise, the 50+50MP setup isn’t bad; it’s just not on the same level as the Ultra The 4,800mAh battery supports 68W wired and 15W wireless charging.
A little further down there is the Motorola Edge 30 Fusion: it costs €80 less, however, with a Snapdragon 888+, a downgrade to a 13 MP ultra-wide-angle camera (same 50 MP main camera) and a selfie cam from 32MP (up from 60MP), may not be worth the savings. The display is smaller, 6.55″ (still a 144Hz FHD+ OLED), and the battery is also smaller (4,400mAh) and wireless charging is missing.
If you want an affordable Motorola, the Edge 30 Neo might be a better choice. At $300, it offers a 6.28-inch FHD+ 120Hz display, a Snapdragon 695, 64+13MP cameras, and a 4,020mAh battery with basic 68W wired and wireless charging.
Here is an interesting choice, the Motorola Defy (2021). While not for everyone, this rugged IP68/MIL-SPEC-810H phone can be a great work phone as it can withstand drops to concrete from a height of 1.8m/6ft. It also has a long battery life, 129 hours of endurance, so you can take it hiking too.
UK
As in Germany, the Pixel 7 and 7 Pro are available at small discounts (£40 and £55 respectively), plus a trade-in credit option. Google will take your old phone and even give you a discount, but Amazon is offering £100 more than the old phone’s value (it calls this a ‘trade-in boost’).
Then there is the Nothing Phone (1). Carl Pei says the phone (2) isn’t on the horizon, so you don’t have to worry about a new release coming soon after you buy the phone (1). It’s a stylish phone with a lot of fans; it remains to be seen whether Nothing will become the new OnePlus.
The Samsung Galaxy M23 is a budget 5G phone, £200 cheap. That doesn’t mean it’s bad: the 6.6-inch display has an FHD+ resolution and a 120Hz refresh rate, there’s a 50MP main camera and an 8MP ultra-wide-angle camera, plus a 5,000 battery. mAh (25W charging). Combined with a Snapdragon 750G chipset, it covers all the bases (including a microSD slot and 3.5mm jack) on a modest budget.
Next, some tablets. The Samsung Galaxy S7 FE is a 12.4-inch slate and uses an LCD display rather than AMOLED like the similarly sized Tab S8+. This one is less powerful with a Snapdragon 778G chipset, but it also costs less. And it has the usual productivity goodies like DeX, an included S Pen stylus, and an optional keyboard cover.
The Galaxy Tab S6 Lite (2022) is smaller, 10.4″ and uses a weaker Snapdragon 720G. However, it’s cheaper and you still get a stylus in the box, DeX is also supported.
Amazon has the “cheap tablet” market on the corner, however, you have to install the Google Play Store manually (if you want to, which you probably do). It’s not difficult, but it’s a hassle. And FireOS runs behind core Android. So, something like a Galaxy Tab A7 Lite could be a hassle-free alternative to Fire tablets.
United States of America
The Sony Xperia 1 IV is not a mainstream flagship and its price is a bitter pill for many to swallow. But it’s a flagship with a microSD slot and a 3.5mm jack, not to mention the unique variable focal length telephoto lens (85-125mm). A 256GB version was once available, but it’s gone, and when you pay that much money, you might as well get the 512GB version.
The foldable revolution might seem mired in pricing issues, but at $850, the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip4 is nearly the price of a Galaxy S22. It is quite compact when folded and offers more screen space when unfolded. The Flip also has the faster Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 chipset and the same battery, 3,700mAh.
Apple no longer sells iPhone 13 Pro models, although you can probably still find new units from other retailers. Or you can save some money and get a refurbished phone: Amazon sells “as new” iPhone 13 Pro and Pro Max units and even offers a 1-year warranty for them.
India
The iQOO 9 Pro is an all-rounder flagship. This is the Legend Edition with BMW M finish, but the beauty goes beyond the surface: in this case it includes a 6.78″ QHD+ 120Hz display (HDR10+, Dolby Vision), as well as a Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 chipset and battery 4,700mAh with 120W wired and 50W wireless charging. It could pass for a gaming phone, but it also has a pretty decent camera setup, with a main 50MP (1/1.57″, OIS), a 50MP ultra wide angle (150° very wide FoV) and even a 16MP telephoto (2.5x magnification).
A cheaper phone that can still play games is the Xiaomi Redmi K50i. It has a 144Hz, 6.6-inch FHD+ resolution LCD display, and it’s a great panel too, featuring 10-bit color with Dolby Vision support. The Dimension 8100 packs a powerful GPU for the price, and you get a fast-charging 5,080mAh (67W) battery. The 64 + 8 + 2 MP camera is nothing to write home about, but something had to give.
Tecno has released a special Mondrian-inspired version of the Camon 19 Pro, which changes color when its rear is illuminated by the sun. The phone itself has a large 6.8-inch 120Hz (FHD+) LCD and large 5,000mAh (33W) battery, plus a 64MP (1/1.7-inch, OIS) main camera and telephoto lens. 50MP (2x). No ultra-wide angle lens, though.
Finally a couple of cheap Nokia phones. The Nokia G21 comes with 2 years of OS updates (counting from global launch) and 36 months of security patches. Quite good, considering the price range. The phone itself is fairly basic with a 6.5-inch HD+ 90Hz LCD display, a Unisoc T606 chipset, a 50MP camera, and a 5,050mAh battery with 18W charging.
In the sub-₹10,000 category is the Nokia C21 Plus. It’s an Android 11 Go edition phone, but with an aluminum frame (plastic back), scratch-resistant glass and splash-proof design, this is a great basic smartphone which offers far more features than something running KaiOS.
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