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

This week has been fairly quiet, with the exception of Wednesday’s Galaxy Unpacked event – there were a few other launches, but most of the companies gave Samsung a big hand. So, sure, this week’s deals post showcases the new Galaxy S23 series (and we’ve got a special offer for US buyers), but we’ve also found some solid discounts on plenty of 2022 phones.

Use the links below to access your region:

UNITED STATES

Samsung launched the Galaxy S23 series this week and has started taking pre-orders, shipping is expected in a few weeks (though some may get their units sooner).

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

Plus, for the US, we have special offers 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, for example, from 256 GB to 512 GB for the Galaxy S23 Ultra. This is especially valuable for the vanilla S23, which is the only one still on base 128GB storage.

Samsung also unveiled the new Galaxy Book3 series, including the first Ultra member of the family. We also have a laptop special, 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 Galaxy’s are too expensive, the trusty Motorola Edge 30 Pro is an option – in the US you’ll usually find it as ‘Edge+’. Its Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 (non-plus) is from early 2022, but it’s still very fast. And the 6.7-inch 144Hz 10-bit (FHD+) display makes it a sleeping gaming phone.

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

If you’ve winced at all of the above prices, even Moto’s, here’s a 5G phone under $200. This unassuming phone has a 6.6-inch FHD+ (90Hz) display, a microSD slot and a 3.5mm jack, plus 5G and Wi-Fi 5 for a fairly fast connection. And a big 5,000 mAh battery too.

UNITED KINGDOM

Samsung launched the Galaxy S23 series this week and has started taking pre-orders, shipping is expected in a few weeks (though some may get their units sooner).

You can check out our hands-on review for a closer look at the new flagships. We’re still testing phones and 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, for example, from 256 GB to 512 GB for the Galaxy S23 Ultra. This is especially valuable for the vanilla S23, which is the only one still on base 128GB storage. You can get it from Samsung.com, but Amazon is also offering the same deal. And if you’re trading in an old phone, Amazon will add an extra credit – £150 if you get the S23 Ultra, £100 for the other two. There are additional perks like 6 free months of Disney+ and 10% off Samsung wearables.

At the bottom of Samsung’s offering is the Galaxy M33. It has 5G connectivity on a budget (courtesy of an Exynos 1280 chipset) and has a 6.6-inch 120Hz FHD+ display for browsing and light gaming (it’s an LCD, though, no Super AMOLED here). The 5,000mAh battery will also last quite a long time on a single charge.

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

The Honor X8 has a similar sized screen (IPS LCD) with a 90Hz refresh rate. This one is 4G only with a Snapdragon 480 and the camera setup is nothing out of the ordinary. The 4,000mAh battery is also slower, 22.5W, but again, that costs half the price of the Honor 70.

Germany

Amazon has dropped the prices for both Pixel 7 models. We’ve linked the 128GB versions below, but you can get a 256GB unit instead – the discount on those is slightly lower, though. Still, the final price is lower than what you would get from the Google Store.

Although it doesn’t have the impressive cameras of its higher-end siblings, the Honor Magic4 Lite is one of the cheapest 5G phones and you get a spacious 6.0″ FHD+ 120Hz IPS LCD screen. 81 inches, plus a 4,800mAh battery with 66W fast charging.

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

However, if you really want to be cheap, the Moto E22 runs Android 12 and costs €100, making it €20 cheaper than the Moto E13 with Android 13 Go Edition. At that price, you’re upgrading to an HD+ display, but even the new G53 doesn’t have an FHD+ resolution.

Then the Poco M5 and M5. The ‘s’ model costs €45 more, but has a 6.43-inch AMOLED display, an 8MP ultra-wide camera and 33W fast charging for its 5,000mAh battery . The vanilla M5 model has a 6.58-inch 90Hz IPS LCD display instead, but no ultrawide camera and just 18W charging.

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

For slightly 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 quite similar (including the microSD slot and 3.5mm jack).

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

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

India

Tecno’s impressive Phantom X2 Pro is available at a deep discount. As a reminder, this one has a 50MP 1/1.3″ main camera and a single 50MP 65mm (2.5x) pop-up telecamera and a 13MP ultrawide. The pop-up camera is one of the best portrait cameras we’ve ever tested.

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

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

Amazon offers promotions on the Oppo A74 5G, A77 and A77. 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 older Oppo A74 5G from 2021. It’s got 5G (duh), an FHD+ display, better chipset, and an ultra-wide camera. It’s not perfect, but given the prices we know which of the three we prefer.

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