Deals: the best smartphone deals from Amazon's Great Indian Festival

29 September 2024

Amazon has kicked off the Great Indian Festival or “GIF”. Let’s not get into arguments about how to pronounce that and look at the offers. There are some massive discounts and some more restrained ones, here are the ones that caught our eye.

The Xiaomi 14 is a whopping 40% off. This phone is technically from last year, but it has the current Snapdragon 8 Gen 3. And it is smaller than most flagships with a 6.36” LTPO OLED display. It has an impressive triple 50MP Leica camera on its back and a relatively large 4,610mAh battery with fast charging (90W wired, 50W wireless). It will receive 4 OS updates, starting with Android 15 soon-ish.

The Xiaomi 14 Civi is 25% off and while we strongly prefer the regular 14, the Civi could interest selfie-obsessed folks. It has two 32MP cameras on the front, one with a wide and one with an ultra wide (100°) lens. The rear cameras are in a 50+50+12MP configuration, which includes a 50MP 50mm portrait cam. The Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 is a bit slower, but quite good given the price. Also, some might appreciate the extra room on the 6.55” OLED display.

The OnePlus 12R is great value for money thanks to its Snapdragon 8 Gen 2. Yes, it’s a generation behind, but for a mid-₹30,000, it’s a great chip. And you get a sharp 6.78” LTPO OLED display. The cameras are kind of basic (50+8+2MP), as is the IP64 rating. The 5,500mAh battery with 100W charging is nothing to sneeze at, though.

We’re also including the OnePlus 12 here – the regular discount isn’t great, but with an SBI credit or debit card, it gets better. This phone has the current Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 and a proper Hasselblad camera with 50MP main, 64MP 70mm tele and 48MP ultra wide. It also features 50W wireless charging for the 5,400mAh battery.

The iQOO 12 is a whopping ₹13,000 cheaper (not counting the bank offer mentioned above) and also gets you the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3. The camera hardware is quite similar, barring the Hasselblad name. The battery is smaller (5,000mAh) and only supports wired charging (120W). There are a few other areas where the OnePlus is slightly better (e.g. 510ppi display vs. 453ppi), but the price savings make the iQOO hard to overlook.

Instead of a Xiaomi 14, you can have a Samsung Galaxy S24. Yes, it costs more for less RAM and less storage. Speaking of, we recommend the 256GB option as it uses faster UFS 4.0 chips (the 128GB version is UFS 3.1). The Samsung is smaller (here is how they size up) and will receive 7 years of support. Do you prefer OneUI over HyperOS? That is another consideration.

The Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra is also part of the GIF sale, but it only has a modest 9% discount and only the 512GB model is available. It has solid cameras and the unique advantage of the S Pen, but its price is the only one on this list with six digits.

The Realme GT 6T is available in a variety of configurations – make sure to tap the coupon as it reduces the price by up to ₹4,000! The 6T gives the OnePlus 12R a run for its money with basically the same 6.78” LTPO OLED display and similar camera setup, but the Snapdragon 7+ Gen 3 is no match for the 8 Gen 2.

The OnePlus Nord 4 deal relies on coupons and a small discount for SBI credit and debit cards. This model has a beautiful aluminum unibody like in the good old days. It uses a Snapdragon 7+ Gen 3 like the Realme, but misses out on the LTPO panel (the 6.74” 120Hz OLED display is still quite good, though).

The OnePlus Nord CE4 doesn’t have a cool metal body and it only gets the non-plus Snapdragon 7 Gen 3. The 6.7” display has a lower resolution (1080p+ vs. 1240p+) and the dust and water resistance drops to IP54 (from IP65 on the Nord 4). That said, the camera and battery are more or less the same and you get to save some cash.

The OnePlus Nord CE4 Lite is hard to recommend – it’s not that much cheaper and its Snapdragon 695 chipset is really old at this point. The rest of the phone isn’t bad, but we’d rather have the non-lite CE4.

The Samsung Galaxy M35 has a great 39% discount. This 5G phone is based on the Exynos 1380 and offers a 6.6” OLED display with 120Hz refresh rate and FHD+ resolution (keep that in mind for comparing with the phones below). It brings a 50MP main camera and an 8MP ultra wide, plus a huge 6,000mAh battery with 25W charging.

The Tecno Pova 6 Neo 5G launched only a couple of weeks ago, so 18% off is a bigger discount than we can expect for a phone this new. While the Dimensity 6300 is no speed demon, it does connect you to 5G networks. We’re more worried about the 6.7” 120Hz IPS LCD – it only has HD+ resolution. And 18W charging is quite slow for a battery with 5,000mAh capacity. On the plus side, you won’t find another 108MP camera in this price segment.

The Lava Blaze 3 5G is also new and has the same Dimensity 6300 chipset, nearly the same 6.56” 90Hz IPS LCD with HD+ resolution too. The 5,000mAh/18W battery is basically the same too. The Blaze is cheaper, but you lose the 108MP camera (you get a 50MP module instead).

The Tecno Pop 9 is so new that it is still on pre-order. If you pre-book now (with a ₹500 deposit), you will be able to buy this phone for ₹9,500 instead of its MSRP of ₹12,000. It’s a 5G phone, so we see the Dimensity 6300 yet again. And another HD+ IPS LCD, a 6.6” 120Hz display this time. The rear camera has a 48MP Sony sensor. Note that sales will start on October 8, so you need to complete the purchase before then.

The Samsung Galaxy M15 is worth a look. You don’t get a ton of RAM at the base price, just 4GB, but you can go up to 6GB or 8GB (each is a ₹1,000 upgrade). This is also a 5G phone, but it uses the Dimensity 6100+ instead. At least you get a display with FHD+ resolution, a 6.5” 90Hz OLED panel. And the same 6,000mAh battery with 25W charging as the M35 too.

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