IFTINFO – Weekly deals: the best smartphone deals from the UK, Germany, India and the US Leave a comment

This week we found some major discounts on current flagships, plus deals on mid-rangers and some entry-level phones. Use the links below to jump to your region:

UK

The new Galaxy S23 starts at £900 unless you engage in trade-in deals. The Galaxy S22 is still a fairly capable phone and it is a good deal cheaper at £540. This was the last generation of Exynos-powered S-phones in Europe, but the rest of the hardware is similar enough (it’s not like the S23 got a QHD LTPO display or faster than 25W charging).

Alternatively, you can pick up the Galaxy S21 FE 5G, that one does have a Snapdragon chip, even if it is the 888. The S22 is the better phone, but is it £70 better? If you’re fine with (or actually want) a larger 6.4” display, the FE could be better suited to you.

Alternatively, the Poco F4 GT will get you the newer Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 chipset and an even larger 6.67” display, not to mention super fast 120W charging (no wireless). The cameras aren’t as good as on the Samsungs, though.

If you want a flagship-grade camera, the OnePlus 10 Pro is still around and packs a trio of Hasselblad modules, including an 8MP 77mm tele lens. It also uses the 8 Gen 1 chipset and offers both 80W wired and 65W wireless charging for its 5,000mAh battery. It costs more than the three models above, however, at £600.

The Xiaomi 11T Pro is getting up in age (it’s a 2021 model), but it has a Snapdragon 888 for £350, £120 less than the S21 FE. While it doesn’t have a tele cam, the 108MP main camera does a decent job at zooming in. This phone also has 120W fast charging and a 5,000mAh battery (no wireless, though).

The Pixel 6a is under £300 and while its replacement, the 7a, is coming, Google has not set a reveal date yet (it’s rumored to launch in June). Leaks point to a €500 price tag on the mainland, so the 6a will probably stick around as the cheaper option.

By the way, you can get the Pixel 6a bundled with the Pixel Buds A-series. Or you can get the TWS headset on its own for just over £60.

Going up against the Pixel is the Galaxy A33. The new A34 is available in the UK already, but it costs £90 more. Compared to the Google Phone, the A33 offers a larger 6.4” 90Hz display (vs. 6.1” 60Hz), a microSD slot and a larger 5,000mAh battery with 25W charging (vs. 4,410mAh/18W).

We’ll make a quick detour through Apple land. Amazon offers the iPhone 14 for just under £800, a small discount compared to how much it costs on Apple.com. If that’s too much or you want a smaller phone, the iPhone 13 mini is £600 for a 128GB unit.

The Nokia G22 and Galaxy A13 both have medium-sized screens (6.5” and 6.6”, respectively) The Nokia offers a 90Hz IPS panel with HD+ resolution, the Samsung is sharper but slower with an FHD+ 60Hz display. The G22 has more processing power with the Unisoc T606 chipset, which features a pair of A75 big cores (vs. all A55 cores in the Exynos 850). Its 5,050mAh battery also does 20W charging (vs. 5,000mAh 15W).

Both phones have microSD slots and 3.5mm headphone jacks. Both phones have 50MP main cameras, but only the Galaxy has an ultra wide lens (5MP sensor). HMD partnered with iFixit to provide guides, tools and parts for fixing the G22 at home (Samsung does this only for its flagships).

We’ll wrap things up with a wide range of Galaxy tablets. The Galaxy Tab S8 may offer the best price/performance ratio. All three Tab S8 models use the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 chipset and start with 8/128GB memory configuration (they all have card slots).

The Galaxy Tab S8+ has a larger 12.4” Super AMOLED display, compared to the 11” LCD on the vanilla model. All three slates offer 120Hz refresh rate. The Galaxy Tab S8 Ultra is the biggest of the bunch and just plain big with a 14.6” display. Between DeX mode and several keyboard options, this can replace a laptop.

If those are too pricey, the Galaxy Tab S6 Lite (the 2022 re-release) costs less than half the Tab S8. It has a similarly sized 10.4” LCD, but it is a 60Hz panel. Also the Snapdragon 720G is anything but powerful. Still, with a microSD slot and speakers tuned by AKG, this can be a great pick for multimedia and casual browsing.

Or if you just want something cheap, the Galaxy Tab A7 Lite is down to £120. The 8.7” 1,340 x 800px display isn’t great and the Helio P22T is slower than even the 720G, but at that price this could work as tablet for the little one – if they break it, oh well.

Germany

Google I/O 2023 is scheduled for May 10 and we should get an update on the next-gen Pixels. For now there is the Pixel 7 and Pixel 7 Pro, which continue to duck under the pricing of Galaxy and iPhone flagships.

The Xiaomi 13 is normally a €1,000 phone, Amazon offers it for a bit less. It comes with a Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chipset but lacks the triple 50MP camera setup of the Pro model.

Speaking of the Xiaomi 13 Pro, its 1” camera can be yours for €1,300. This also includes a QHD+ 120Hz LTPO display and faster 120W wired charging (up from 67W). It’s a pricey phone, but its camera impressed in our recent shootout.

Last week we listed the whole iPhone 14 generation, which had pretty solid discounts on Amazon. Those are still available, so this week we wanted to focus on the previous generation. Apple is still selling the non-Pro duo, but you can get a better deal on Amazon.

The Redmi Note 12 4G went on sale just this week and can be had for €200. That’s €100 less than the 5G version (though note that the Note 12 5G has double the storage). Other than the chipset, the two models are pretty similar.

For another €100 on top of that you can pick up the Redmi Note 12 Pro with double the RAM and a more respectable Dimensity 1080 chipset (instead of the Snapdragon 4 Gen 1 in the vanilla 5G model). This one also has faster charging and OIS on its 50MP camera (1/1.56”).

Alternatively, the venerable Samsung Galaxy A52s is still around and can be had for €130 less than the new Galaxy A54. The new model has some advantages, though that price gap makes them seem pretty small.

What the Nokia has going for it is a microSD slot (both have 3.5mm jacks) and a stock Android that will be updated to Android 14 and will continue to get security patches until the end of 2024 at least.

The Nokia X20 costs €50 more than the Realme 9 Pro+, even though the Realme has the better chipset (Dimensity 920 vs. Snapdragon 480) and better camera (50MP main with OIS, 8MP ultra wide vs. 64MP main, 5MP ultra wide) and faster charging battery (4,500mAh 60W vs. 18W). The Realme also has a 6.4” 90Hz AMOLED display compared to a 6.67 IPS LCD (60Hz) on the X20.

India

The OnePlus 10T and iQOO 9T both cost the same at ₹50,000. They have large 120Hz AMOLED FHD+ displays and both are powered by the Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1. The batteries are similar with a slight advantage for the OnePlus, 4,800mAh/150W for the 10T and 4,700mAh/120W for the iQOO.

The iQOO 9T has the lightly better cameras, though with mostly identical main modules, it also offers a better ultra wide (13MP vs. 8MP) and a short zoom lens – 12MP 47mm.

Samsung started shipping the Galaxy A54 a week ago but initially the 8/128GB units were hard to find. It’s ₹2,000 cheaper than the 8/256GB version and you can pick up a 256GB microSD for less than that (or go with something bigger, a 512GB SanDisk is ₹3,330).

The iQOO Neo 6 and Galaxy S20 FE are fairly close in price (don’t forget to click the ₹3,000 coupon for the Samsung). The iQOO uses the Snapdragon 870 chipset, the S20 FE the vanilla Snapdragon 865. Both have mid-sized 120Hz displays (FHD+ AMOLED panels). The iQOO stands out with its 4,700mAh/80W battery vs. 4,500mAh/25W for the Galaxy (though it also has 15W wireless).

The Galaxy S20 FE has a 3x zoom camera (8MP) and a microSD slot, however, Android 13 is likely its last OS update (it is a 2020 model after all). The iQOO is from mid-2022.

The vivo Y100 and Y56 went on sale last month. They are fairly similar, except hat the Y100 has the better screen (6.38” 90Hz AMOLED vs. 6.58” 60Hz IPS LCD, both FHD+), better chipset (Dimensity 900 vs. 700) and better main camera – 64MP with OIS and 4K video vs. 50MP, no OIS, no 4K. The Y100 also has 44W fast charging for its 4,500mAh battery, the Y63 has more capacity (5,000mAh) but only charges at 18W. Still, its also ₹5,000 cheaper.

The Samsung Galaxy A14 5G – the SM-A146B variant specifically – uses the new Exynos 1330 chipset and has a 6.6” 90Hz LCD with FHD+ resolution. Its 5,000mAh battery is as slow to charge as the Y56’s (it supports only 15W charging) and it has a comparable 50MP main camera (neither has an ultra wide lens).

The Tecno Spark 8 Pro is a rare sight in the sub-₹10,000 segment – full-fledged Android (version 11, but still), an FHD+ display (6.8” IPS LCD), a large 5,000mAh battery with 33W fast charging and an okay 48MP main camera (no ultra wide). It also has a microSD slot and a 3.5mm jack. It doesn’t have 5G connectivity, but the Helio G85 chipset is normally found in much pricier phones.

USA

While Samsung was taking pre-orders for the Galaxy S23 series, it offered a free memory upgrade – an offer that has since expired. Amazon is bringing it back, though. This means that you can get a Galaxy S22 256GB for the same price as the 128GB unit.

The Galaxy S23+ and S23 Ultra switch to 512GB for no extra cost over the 256GB models.

The Sony WF-1000XM5 are just around the corner, but the old XM4 left us with little to complain about even after months of usage. Currently they are $50 below their usual price.

Sony also has the highly specific Link Buds, which are designed so that you can always hear your surroundings – they have a hole in them! For a more traditional design with Active Noise Cancellation, you can get the LinkBuds S instead (they aren’t as good as the WF-1000XM4, but they cost $50 less too).

Alternatively, you can have the Google Pixel Buds Pro at the same $150 price tag. We have reviewed all of these buds so you can read up on which ones will suit you best. If the prices are too high for you, you can also grab the Pixel Buds A-series for about half the cost.