Weekly deals: the best smartphone deals from the US, the UK, Germany and India

04 February 2023

This week was pretty quiet, save for the Galaxy Unpacked event on Wednesday – there were a few other launches, but most companies gave Samsung a wide berth. So, of course, this week’s deals post features the new Galaxy S23 series (and we have a special deal for US buyers), but we found solid discounts on plenty of 2022 phones as well.

Use the links below to jump to your region:

• USA
• The UK
• Germany
• India

USA

Samsung launched the Galaxy S23 series this week and started taking pre-orders, shipping is scheduled for a couple of weeks from now (though some might get their units earlier).

You can check out our hands-on review for a closer look at the new flagships. We’re still testing the phones and we are sharing some of our findings, like the Galaxy S23 Ultra vs. S22 Ultra camera shootout, for example.

Also, for the US we have special deals from Samsung.com, which will help you get $50 more Samsung Credit than you normally would. Just follow the links below. Note that during the pre-order period you get a free memory upgrade, e.g. from 256GB to 512GB for the Galaxy S23 Ultra. This is especially valuable for the vanilla S23, which is the only one still on 128GB base storage.

Samsung also unveiled the new Galaxy Book3 series, including the first Ultra member of the family. We have a special deal for the laptops too, you can get 10% off the price if you have Samsung Credit (which you will, if you get one of the S23 phones).

If the Galaxys are too pricey, the stalwart Motorola Edge 30 Pro is an option – in the US you will usually find it under the “Edge+” name. Its Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 (non-plus) hails from early 2022, but is still plenty fast. And the 6.7” 144Hz 10-bit display (FHD+) makes this a sleeper gaming phone.

Is there anyone who wanted a Sony Xperia 1 IV that still hasn’t bought one? Well, if there are, this is for them – the 8/512GB unit is $1,200. It comes with Sony’s unique variable focal length tele camera and pro apps for photos and videos. And still the only 4K-class 120Hz AMOLED display on the market (outside of its predecessor, of course).

If you winced at all the prices above, even the Moto one, here is a sub-$200 5G phone. This unassuming phone has a 6.6” FHD+ display (90Hz), a microSD slot and a 3.5mm jack, plus 5G and Wi-Fi 5 for pretty fast tethering. And a large 5,000mAh battery too.

UK

Samsung launched the Galaxy S23 series this week and started taking pre-orders, shipping is scheduled for a couple of weeks from now (though some might get their units earlier).

You can check out our hands-on review for a closer look at the new flagships. We’re still testing the phones and we are sharing some of our findings, like the Galaxy S23 Ultra vs. S22 Ultra camera shootout, for example.

Note that during the pre-order period you get a free memory upgrade, e.g. from 256GB to 512GB for the Galaxy S23 Ultra. This is especially valuable for the vanilla S23, which is the only one still on 128GB base storage. You can get that from Samsung.com, but Amazon has the same deal as well. And if you’re trading in an old phone, Amazon will add extra credit - £150 if you’re getting the S23 Ultra, £100 for the other two. There are additional perks like 6 free months of Disney+ and 10% off Samsung wearables.

On the lower end of Samsung offerings is the Galaxy M33. It features 5G connectivity on a budget (courtesy of an Exynos 1280 chipset) and has a 6.6” 120Hz FHD+ display for browsing and light gaming (it’s an LCD, though, no Super AMOLED here). The 5,000mAh battery will last quite a while on a single charge too.

Next up, two Honor phones. The Honor 70 costs double the X8, but it has 5G (Snapdragon 778G+), its 6.67” OLED display runs at 120Hz and you get a pair of high quality cameras (54+50MP), plus a 4,800mAh battery with 66W fast charging.

The Honor X8 has a similarly sized screen (IPS LCD) with 90Hz refresh rate. This one is 4G only with a Snapdragon 480 and the camera setup is nothing to write home about. The 4,000mAh battery is slower too, 22.5W, but again, this costs half as much as the Honor 70.

Germany

Amazon has cut the prices of the two Pixel 7 models. We have linked the 128GB versions below, but you can get a 256GB unit instead – the discount on those is slightly smaller, though. Still, the final price is less than you would get from the Google Store.

While it doesn’t have the awesome cameras of its more premium siblings, the Honor Magic4 Lite is one of the cheaper 5G phones and you get a roomy 6.81” FHD+ 120Hz IPS LCD, plus a 4,800mAh battery with fast 66W charging.

Not everyone loved the new Moto mid-rangers in last week’s poll. Some of the older models offer better deals, e.g. the Moto G42 is down to €150. It doesn’t have 5G, but what it does have is a 6.4” FHD+ AMOLED display and a price lower than the Moto G13 (which doesn't do 5G either).

Though if you really want to go cheap, the Moto E22 runs full-blooded Android 12 and it costs €100 – that makes it €20 cheaper than the Moto E13 with Android 13 Go Edition. At this price you do drop to an HD+ display, but even the new G53 doesn’t have FHD+ resolution.

Next up, the Poco M5 and M5s. The “s” model is €45 more, but has a 6.43” AMOLED display, an 8MP ultra wide camera and 33W fast charging for its 5,000mAh battery. The vanilla M5 model has a 90Hz 6.58” IPS LCD instead, but no ultra wide camera and only 18W charging.

Both phones have FHD+ displays, both are 4G only (Helio G95 for the M5s, G99 for the M5, but the M5s has 2 extra gigs of RAM), both have microSD slots and 3.5mm headphone jacks.

For a bit less than the Poco M5 you can get the Realme 9i instead. It uses the Snapdragon 680 chipset and has faster 33W charging, but is otherwise pretty similar (including the microSD slot and 3.5mm jack).

Finally, a couple of watches. Amazon sells the Apple Watch Series 8 (aluminum version) for a bit less than Apple itself does. The version linked below is the 41mm GPS model, but you can get the 41mm GPS+Cellular for €535. If you want the bigger 45mm model, the GPS version is €475 and the GPS+Cellular is €575.

Much cheaper and with much longer battery life (up to 2 weeks) is the Huawei Watch GT 3 SE, though the smart features are more limited. Still, the watch does 24/7 heart rate tracking along with sleep and exercise tracking.

India

Tecno’s impressive Phantom X2 Pro is available with a healthy discount. As a reminder, this one has a 50MP 1/1.3” main camera and a unique 50MP 65mm (2.5x) pop-up tele camera and a 13MP ultra wide. The pop-up camera is one of the best portrait cameras we have ever tested.

The Phantom X2 is available as well. This one has a more traditional camera setup (64MP main, 13MP ultra wide, no tele) and has 8GB of RAM instead of 12GB. Other than that, it’s identical to the Pro, including the 6.8” 120Hz AMOLED display (FHD+), Dimensity 9000 chipset and 5,160mAh battery with 45W wired charging.

We featured the Realme Narzo 50 Pro last week, but its price dropped by ₹2,000 since then, which felt like reason enough to mention it again. Long story short, 6.4” 90Hz FHD+ AMOLED display, Dimensity 920, 48+8+2MP cameras, 5,000mAh battery with 33W charging.

Amazon has promotions on the Oppo A74 5G, A77 and A77s. And to make things more confusing, the A77 costs the same as the A74 5G. A quick comparison should tell you why we picked the old Oppo A74 5G from 2021. It has 5G (duh), an FHD+ display, a better chipset and an ultra wide camera. It’s not perfect, but given the prices we know which of the three we’d rather have.

Finally, the Xiaomi Redmi 10 Power offers a Snapdragon 680 chipset (4G) and a 6,000mAh battery. For a bit more cash you can probably get a better phone (see above), but if you’re strapped, this one isn’t a bad pick. Just note that it has an HD+ display and runs older Android 11 software.