Weekly deals: the best smartphone deals from Germany, the UK, the US and India
This week Motorola is launching some high profile models in different regions, while Samsung’s Galaxy S23 tempt would-be buyers with cashback offers. We also dug up a lot of deals on accessories (watches, ear buds and more).
The Motorola Razr 40 and Razr 40 Ultra are launching next week. Well, the vanilla model is already available in Europe, though Motorola Germany isn’t showing any stock. Amazon has units on hand, but is asking €900 instead of the €800 that this phone should cost.
Amazon does have the correct price for the Moto Razr 40 Ultra, €1,200, and will start shipping phones on June 15.
The Samsung Galaxy A34 was €320 for a 6/128GB unit a couple of weeks ago, now its price has slid down by €30. With 4 OS updates and 5 years of security patches, this is one of the best value-for-money phones for people who don’t change their phones very often.
You can pick up the cheaper Galaxy A14 5G as well – its Dimensity 700 chipset gives it next-gen connectivity and the 6.6” 90Hz LCD has FHD+ resolution, which isn’t a given in sub-€200 phones. There’s also a large 5,000mAh battery (15W charging) and a decent 50MP main camera. The phone has a 3.5mm headphone jack and a microSD slot to boot.
The Motorola Moto G72 forgoes 5G, but spends the savings on a better screen and camera compared to the A14. It has a 6.6” 10-bit 120Hz P-OLED display (FHD+) and a 108MP main camera, plus an 8MP ultra wide. The 5,000mAh battery charges faster (33W) and the microSD slot and 3.5mm jack are still here.
Next up, some Lenovo tablets. The Lenovo Tab P11 Gen 2 has an 11.5” IPS LCD (2,000 x 1,200px, 15:9) and a Helio G99 chipset. With 4 speakers and a 7,700mAh, this is a great browsing/streaming machine with the option for some gaming too (just don’t expect AAA titles to run at 100%).
The Lenovo Tab M 10 Plus (3rd gen) might be the better value for your money. It has LTE connectivity for Internet on the go (thanks to the Snapdragon 680 chip) and a 10.6” IPS LCD (2,000 x 1,200px, 15:9). You still get 4 speakers and a 7,700mAh battery for less money.
For even less money you can pick the Lenovo Tab M9. It combines a 9” IPS LCD (1,340 x 800px, 15:9) with a Helio G80 and a 5,100mAh battery. You also get very little RAM and storage (3/32GB), but at least there is a microSD slot. The M9 is not particularly capable, but it is half the price of the M10.
We’ll round things off with some smartwatches. The 2nd gen Apple Watch SE from last year is getting the watchOS 10 update, which is a major redesign of Apple’s wearable OS. Even the original SE is eligible for this update, as is the Watch Series 4 from 2018 – Apple supports its hardware for a long, long time.
Garmin unveiled the Fenix 7 Pro a couple of weeks ago and it has a number of improvements since the Fenix 7S generation. However, the 42mm model is €850. You can get the Fenix 7S Solar edition (42mm) for €575 and save a lot of cash. There’s no flashlight and you only get 16GB of storage instead of 32GB, but the premium for the Pro is quite high.
The black and white display of the Garmin Instinct 2 Solar makes it look old-fashioned, but it is so efficient that the solar panel can keep the watch powered forever. Well, forever as long as you use the GPS in Expedition mode. Check out our announcement post for a table with the battery life numbers (note: this is the 45mm model).
In the UK, the Galaxy S23 series is enjoying several cashback offers. For example, Amazon has the S23 Ultra (512GB) at £1,250 with £200 cashback. Samsung has a different take on the deal – the 512GB phone is £1,450, but the £200 cashback is paired with free Galaxy Buds2 Pro (valued at £220).
The Galaxy S23 (8/256GB) and S23+ (8/512GB) come with £100 and £150 cashback offers from Amazon and Samsung, but Amazon's base prices are lower. For example, the S23 is £750 on Amazon before the cashback, but it is £900 on Samsung’s own store. You still may want to check that store since beside the £100 cashback there is a guaranteed £100 trade-in value.
Another reason to visit the Samsung UK site is the Galaxy A54. It too has a guaranteed £100 trade-in deal – any Galaxy A-series or even a Samsung with a broken screen is worth at least £100. Other brands are accepted too, of course. And you can claim £100 cashback on top of that.
The Poco X5 Pro is a well-balanced phone – it has a Snapdragon 778G chipset and a 6.67” 120Hz 10-bit AMOLED display, plus a 108MP main and 8MP ultra wide camera, a 5,000mAh battery with 67W charging, even stereo speakers and a 3.5mm jack. Other than a microSD slot, there are no major omissions on this sub-£300 phones.
If you are looking for a cheap Android phone, the Honor X6 is just £100. It’s a 4G phone and its 6.5” LCD has only HD+ resolution, but you get a 5,000mAh battery, a 50MP camera along with a headphone jack and a microSD (which you’ll need as there’s only 64GB on board).
The Nothing Ear (stick) are stylish TWS buds with a lipstick-style case. They have good battery life too, but not the best audio quality we’ve heard. Check out our review for more.
A year ago Samsung announced that the SmartThings Find network has reached 200 million devices. Those are devices that can help you find your lost item if you have a Galaxy SmartTag attached. For better range (and direction indication) there is the SmarTag+ with UWB as well. Note that you need a phone that supports UWB (S23+ and S23 Ultra, for example, but not the vanilla S23).
Apple unveiled its most powerful chipset yet, the M2 Ultra, and used it to power a new version of the Mac Studio (and the new Mac Pro). If you don’t need a 24-core CPU and 76-core GPU, how about a refurbished Mac Studio with an M1 Max (10 CPU cores, 24 GPU)? It costs £280 less than a new unit in the base 32/512GB configuration.
If you don’t have one already, you can pick up an Apple Magic Mouse to go with your Mac as well.
PC users, gamers especially, should check out deals on Nvidia RTX 3060 Ti cards. They cost less than the 4060 Ti – e.g. an MSI 4060 Ti Ventus 2X is £400, the MSI 3060 Ti Ventus 3X is under £300. Performance is nearly identical, if you disable DLSS 3.
We found OnePlus deals in three segments. Starting with the OnePlus 11 flagship, the 16/256GB model is now $700, down from its original price of $800 (the 8/128GB model is also $700). With a Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 and a 6.7” QHD+ LTPO display, not to mention a 50+32+48MP camera setup and a 5,000mAh battery with 80W charging, this is a lot of hardware for the price.
But maybe you can go down $270 in price and get the OnePlus 10T instead. It’s a year old at this point, but it’s young at heart with a Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 chip. You only get half the RAM and storage as the 11, however. Also, the 6.7” 120Hz AMOLED display isn’t an LTPO panel and only has FHD+ resolution. The 50+8MP camera lacks the Hasselblad touch too.
The company unveiled the Nord N30 this week – a cheap-ish 5G phone with a Snapdragon 695. We know it’s no-one’s favorite chip, but $300 buys you a 6.72” 120Hz IPS LCD, a 108MP main camera (no ultra wide) and a 5,000mAh battery with 50W charging.
We also found a lot of accessories on offer. Starting with the Samsung Galaxy Watch5 Pro, the Bluetooth model is $400, the one with LTE is only slightly more at $430.
For less than that you can have the Apple Watch Series 8 (45mm, aluminum) at $360 for the Bluetooth/GPS model. The one with LTE is $100 more.
If you want a cheap Apple Watch, the 2nd gen SE is available for $220 for a 40mm model and $250 for the 44mm one. All three Apple Watches will be updated ot watchOS 10 as soon as you set them up, of course.
Apple is rolling out an update to the AirPods Pro 2 that will enable Adaptive Audio, Personalized Volume and Conversation Awareness. You can pick up these buds with a $50 discount.
The more gaming-oriented among you may prefer Sony’s over-ear headphones instead. The INZONE H3 is 42% off and while it is a wired headset, it still supports 360 Spatial Audio.
If you want to go wireless, you should pick the INZONE H7 instead. It’s $120 more, but you get both Bluetooth and a proprietary low-latency wireless connection with the included dongle. Note that neither the H3 nor H7 have active noise cancellation, if you want that, you need to go up to the H9 (which go for $280).
The Motorola Edge 40 is launching in India soon with a ₹5,000 discount (this is for the 8/256GB phone). It boasts a vegan leather back for some colors and a Dimensity 8020 chipset with a 6.55” 144Hz P-OLED display. The 50MP main camera has a decently large 1/1.55” sensor and OIS and is joined by a 13MP ultra wide and 32MP selfie cameras. The 4,400mAh battery supports both 68W wired and 15W wireless charging.
The Realme Narzo 50 Pro is a 5G phone with a Dimensity 920 chip. It has a 6.4” 90Hz AMOLED display (FHD+) along with a 48+8MP camera on the back and a 5,000mAh battery with 33W charging. It has both stereo speakers and a 3.5mm jack (but no microSD).
The Narzo N55 is a cheaper 4G-only option with a Helio G88 (12nm). It has a spacious 6.72” IPS LCD (FHD+, 90Hz) and a 5,000mAh battery with the same 33W charging as its sibling above.
The Tecno Pova 4 costs basically the same, but it has the more advanced Helio G99 chipset (6nm). And it has a larger 6,000mAh battery, though its 18W charging is fairly slow. The one major downside of this phone is that the huge 6.82” IPS LCD (90Hz) has only HD+ resolution.
Another cheap option, this one under ₹10,000, is the Infinix Hot 30i. It too has an HD+ IPS LCD, though at 6.56” (and at that price) it is slightly more tolerable. It is powered by the Unisoc T606 and a 5,000mAh battery with 18W charging. The 13MP camera is pretty basic (the Pova can at least record 1440p video, this one tops out at 1080p/30fps).
If you’re looking for an Wear OS watch, the Samsung Galaxy Watch5 (Bluetooth) is down under ₹30,000 for both the 40mm and 44mm versions. LTE versions are available too if you need data connectivity that doesn’t rely on a phone.
Finally, some cheap TWS buds – the Realme TechLife Buds T100 are just ₹1,500. They don’t have ANC, but they do offer up to 28 hours battery life (with the case, the buds alone can go on for 6 hours) and a not-so-low latency mode of 88ms.
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Reader comments
It would be a better chip if it had more transistors and a better clock speed. 695 is a mid chipset in 2023 and its oversaturated.
- 12 Jun 2023
- kB5
- Anonymous
It would be a great chip if it supported 4K30 and 1080p60
- 11 Jun 2023
- 3SI