Weekly Deals – The best smartphone deals from the UK, Germany, USA and India

We’ve welcomed several exciting and less exciting phones this week – some are up for pre-order, while others are available now.

UK

Asus unveiled the Zenfone 10 this week, and you can check out our full review of the phone for more details. It is in pre-order right now and you can get a small discount. Note that Asus will only ship the phone at the end of July.

Motorola’s 2023 foldables are fighting against Samsung. The Razr 40 Ultra in particular can be had for just under £900 with a promo code. We’ll see how things play out, but this should be less than the price of the Galaxy Z Fold5.

The cheaper Moto Razr40 is up for pre-order, though there are no promo codes we could find. That means the difference between the Vanilla and Ultra models is less than £100, and we like the Ultra much better.

If those are too expensive or you just don’t like foldables, check out the Motorola Edge 30 Ultra. It’s a real powerhouse with a 6.67-inch 144Hz P-OLED display, Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 chipset, and 125W wired/50W wireless charging. 200 MP (1/1.22″, OIS), a 12 MP 2x zoom camera and a 50 MP (114°) ultra wide angle camera.

Another new phone this week is the Nokia G42, a £200 5G phone (based on the Snapdragon 480+). This phone’s main selling point is its repairability: HMD has partnered with iFixit to supply the display, batteries, and charging ports for five years. Also note that there is a free pair of Nokia Comfort Earbuds + for you.

We recommended the Realme GT2 at £310 last week and it’s still available at that price. The Realme GT2 Pro is more expensive, but carries a newer Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 (vs. 888), 120Hz LTPO display with QHD+ resolution (vs. 120Hz LTPS, FHD+). In addition, the ultra-wide-angle camera has a 50 MP sensor and a 150° lens, much better than the 119° 8 MP module of the GT2.

The Samsung Galaxy S23 has finally brought Snapdragon to Europe, but despite some price cuts, it still has a flagship price. Last year’s Galaxy S22 has the less-than-perfect Exynos 2200, but the rest isn’t too different from the 2023 model.

There’s also the Galaxy S21 FE, which has a Snapdragon, but it’s the 888, not a big chip either. And it’s quite expensive.

Alternatively there is the Nothing Phone (1). Version (2) will be released next month with a Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1, this one uses the 778G instead. However, you can get a phone with 12GB of RAM and 256GB of storage for under £400 and we’re betting the phone (2) will cost more.

The Samsung Galaxy M13 is a nice basic phone. It’s not satisfied with an HD+ display, however it offers a 6.6-inch FHD+ (20:9) LCD along with a 50MP main camera and a 5MP ultra wide-angle camera. The 5,000mAh battery is large enough, although we wish it could charge a little faster than the 15W.

It’s a couple of years old now, but the Apple Watch Series 7 still holds up with features like ECG and 50m water resistance. This particular unit has a stainless steel case and 4G connectivity.

Germany

Asus unveiled the Zenfone 10 this week, and you can check out our full review of the phone for more details. It’s on pre-order right now and you can get a small discount, at least for the 8/256GB and 16/512GB models (but not the base 8/128GB).

Another new phone this week is the Nokia G42, a £200 5G phone (based on the Snapdragon 480+). This phone’s main selling point is its repairability: HMD has partnered with iFixit to supply the display, batteries, and charging ports for five years. Also note that there is a free pair of Nokia Comfort Earbuds + for you.

Redmi Note 11 and Redmi Note 11 Pro are both available with a discount of around 50 euros. Note that both are 4G phones. The Pro model offers a 108 MP (1/1.52″) main camera versus 50 MP (1/2.76″) on the vanilla model and a slightly larger and slightly faster display: 6.67″ 120 Hz versus 6.43″ 90Hz, both FHD+ AMOLED. The Pro also charges its 5,000mAh battery at double the power (67W versus 33W). Both phones have IP53 ratings, microSD slots, stereo speakers and 3.5mm jacks.

There is also the Realme 10, which is similar to the Redmi Note 11: it is a 4G phone with a 6.4″ 90Hz (FHD+) AMOLED display. It has a small 50MP (1/2.76″) main sensor but lacks of an ultra-wide-angle sensor (the Redmis have 8MP 118° modules). This one lacks an IP rating and stereo speakers, but does have a microSD slot and a 3.5mm jack. The 5,000mAh battery charges at 33 w.

If you want to go with Realme over Redmi, the Narzo 50 5G is probably your best choice. It has 5G (Dimension 810 chipset) and while it too lacks an IP rating and an ultra-wide camera, it does have stereo speakers, a 3.5mm jack and a microSD slot.

The Realme Narzo 50A Prime is €20 cheaper and is quite similar to the Narzo 50. However, this is a 4G phone, its 6.6-inch IPS LCD runs at just 60Hz (the Pro does 90Hz), the battery from 5,000 mAh recharges at just 18 W , there are also other downgrades such as no stereo speakers. The Narzo 50 5G is easily the better choice of these two.

If you want something really cheap, the Redmi A2 costs only 80€. It’s not a great phone with its HD+-only 6.52-inch IPS LCD, Helio G36 chipset with Android Go Edition, and base 8MP camera, but it has expandable memory, a 5,000mAh (10W) battery, and a headphone jack. And did we mention that it only costs €80?

There are also a couple of Realme tablets: the 10.4″ Pad and the 8.7″ Pad Mini. Note that the larger tablet has a much better display (2,000 x 1,200 px vs 1,340 x 800 px) and bigger battery (7,100 mAh vs 6,400 mAh), but their chipsets are pretty similar.

If you’re in the mood for an Apple Watch, this first-generation SE is pretty cheap: This is the 44mm aluminum version with GPS.

A 2021 Apple Watch Series 7 costs more than twice as much, but has a nicer stainless steel casing, and this unit also has 4G connectivity. This is a 41 mm watch with a Milanese handle.

United States of America

The Motorola Razr+ is one of the best foldables on the market right now, and while Samsung’s Galaxy Z Flip5 is just around the corner, Motorola’s aggressive pricing in the US ($1,000 MSRP) keeps the Razr+ competitive. Amazon’s deal makes it even better if you have Prime: It gives you $150 off.

The Galaxy Z Fold5 will also be unveiled late next month, but nothing we’ve heard so far suggests that Samsung will lower its prices. So the older Z Fold4 will stay relevant for a while, and you can pick one up for $1,350 ($450 below its introductory price, which will also likely be the Z Fold5’s introductory price).

While there is a newer N300 model, the older OnePlus Nord N200 may be the better choice. Its 6.49-inch (90Hz) IPS LCD has FHD+ resolution while the newer model has dropped to HD+. Okay, the N300 has the better camera (48MP vs 13MP) and faster charging for its 5,000mAh battery (33W vs 18W), the N200 is still a good option if for T- Mobile and Metro who want an affordable 5G phone.

The Nokia G100 is an affordable and basic Android. It’s powered by the Snapdragon 662 (remember that one?) and a 5,000mAh battery (15W charging). However, the 6.52-inch IPS HD+ LCD display and 13MP camera hold it back.

The Cat S42 H+ is a good work phone. It is IP69 rated (water resistant to 1.5m for 35 minutes) and has been drop tested from 6ft onto a steel floor (it is also MIL-STD-810H compliant). Furthermore, H+ stands for “Hygiene Plus”, a special silver ion coating that prevents bacterial growth. The phone is also resistant to bleach and other chemicals (rated at 3,000 cleanings with a bleach wipe).

Are you missing the physical photos? This Canon portable printer is capable of producing 2.7-inch square photos. This one uses dye-sublimation technology (rather than Zink paper), so you can pick up a pack of 20 sheets for $14.

India

Prices for Samsung’s Galaxy S23 series haven’t changed much recently, here’s a look at current prices for a 256GB phone:

That means Apple’s iPhone 14 and 14 Plus are cheaper than the S23 and S23+, even if you get the pricier 256GB models. The two iPhone 14 Pro models are quite expensive, but you can buy them for the S23 Ultra if you’re willing to settle for 128GB of storage.

The Realme Narzo 50 Pro is a 5G (Dimension 920) phone with a 6.4″ AMOLED (90Hz) FHD+ display. The cameras are pretty basic – 48 MP (1/2”) main and 8 MP ultra wide angle – but you get a 5,000mAh battery with 33W charging, a 3.5mm headphone jack, and stereo speakers (no IP ratings or microSD card slots, though).

The Realme Narzo 50 is a cheaper 4G-only phone (Helio G96). It comes with a larger LCD, a 6.6-inch 120Hz FHD+ panel, a microSD slot, and the same 5,000mAh/33W battery. However, it loses the ultra-wide camera and stereo speakers.

For a little more you can pick up the Samsung Galaxy M14 instead – this is a 5G phone (Exynos 1330) with a 6.6-inch 90Hz FHD+ LCD. There’s no ultra-wide camera, no water resistance, or speakers stereo, but you get a bigger 6,000mAh (25W) battery and a microSD slot.

Finally, a pair of Sony Bluetooth headphones. The WI-XB400 is an affordable neckband headset that promises 15 hours of battery life and fast charging: 10 minutes of charging equals 60 minutes of playback.

The Sony WF-C500 are TWS buds that cost twice as much, but you get better battery life (up to 20 hours with the case, 10 hours with the buds only), 360 Reality Audio and goodies like Fast Pair, plus they’re IPX4 rated.