Discounts and deals are keeping the Pixel 7 relevant after the 7a launched, meanwhile the Galaxy A54 is getting some solid deals of its own. Now might be a good time to pick up some earbuds too (unless you’re waiting for Sony to drop the WF-1000XM5).
The Google Pixel 7 is under threat of becoming obsolete after the launch of the 7a, but good offers keep it in the game – while not a straight discount, Amazon sells the phone at $600 with a $100 gift card, effectively bringing the price down to $500.
For comparison, the Pixel 7a has an MSRP of $500, but its actual price in stores is already starting to slip. Not by much yet, but the phone is barely a month old.
If you want a 120Hz QHD+ display and a telephoto camera, the Pixel 7 Pro is still the only relevant option in the Google family and that won’t change until the Pixel 8 series arrives later this year.
If you want a cheap Pixel instead, the Pixel 6a is down to $300. Since the 7a price hasn’t fallen much (yet), so the older 6a isn’t feeling the squeeze.
The Samsung Galaxy S23 series has been selling below MSRP for a while now. This week the Galaxy S23+ price in particular is lower than it has been in several weeks.
We’ll wrap up with the Galaxy Buds2. They are quite light and feature ANC plus Qi wireless charging and at $100 they undercut the AirPods (3rd gen) by about $50 at current prices.
The Google Pixel 7 and 7a are at the same price right now and the old flagship has the better hardware with a slightly better screen, bigger main camera sensor and faster wireless charging.
A cheaper option with great software support is the Samsung Galaxy A54, which will get the flagship-tier of updates – 4 OS versions and 5 years of security patches. It’s bigger than the Pixel 7a (6.4” vs. 6.1” displays) and is equipped with a larger battery (5,000mAh vs. 4,385mAh), which gave it a much better endurance rating (119h vs. 76h).
A cheap model from the 2023 A-series is the Samsung Galaxy A14. Cheap though it may be, it has a 1080p display (6.6” FHD+ LCD) and an ultra wide camera (just 5MP but still). Also, there is a headphone jack and a microSD slot on board (this unit comes with 128GB storage built in).
While there are many Android-based handheld consoles on the market, few of them are as powerful a typical mid-range phone, never mind a flagship. Most phones have better screens too. So, instead of a dedicated device, you can just get a set of controllers to attach to your phone. The GameSir X2 Pro comes with 1 month of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, so you will be able to try out various Xbox games through streaming as well.
Speaking of streaming, here are a couple of ways to spruce up an aging TV – both the Chromecast and Fire TV Stick support 4K streaming and they run custom versions of Android aimed at TV-scale UI.
The Samsung Galaxy A54 is a great all-rounder with an IP67 body, great display (one of the best in its class), impressive battery life, flagship-class update schedule (4 OS, 5 years of security patches). Right now its at MSRP, but you can grab a £100 cashback to make the effective price around £350. This offer is available from both Samsung and Amazon.
The iPhone 13 mini is the last mini that Apple will make in the foreseeable future and will probably remain on sale for quite a while. However, Apple is charging £650 for the base 128GB model, but you can have it for £50 less if you get it from Amazon.
For something more current, the 128GB iPhone 14 is down to £764. That’s just over the price of an iPhone 13 from Apple’s online store (£750).
Next up are several tablets. The Samsung Galaxy Tab S7 FE is a 12.4” slate with a 2,560 x 1,600px LCD (just 60Hz). This is the Wi-Fi model, so it gets the more powerful Snapdragon 778G chipset.
Similarly sized yet more powerful is the Galaxy Tab S8+. This one has a 12.4” 120Hz AMOLED (2,800 x 1,752px with HDR10+) and a Snapdragon 8 Gen 1. This is the LTE model and is twice the price of the Tab S7 FE.
There are cheap options too, e.g. the Galaxy Tab A8 10.5 is around £200 – a bit more or a bit less, depending on whether you want LTE or not. It has a 10.5” 1,920 x 1,200px LCD quad speakers and a 7,040mAh battery.
The Lenovo Tab M10 HD (2nd gen) is cheaper but with a 10.1” 1,280 x 800px display, it can’t make good use of high quality streaming options. The 5,000mAh battery is on the small side as well.
The Samsung Galaxy A04s is a basic £100 phone but it did get updated to Android 13 (with One UI Core 5). It has a fairly large 5,000mAh battery with 15W charging, a microSD slot and a 3.5mm headphone jack. The 6.5” HD+ LCD is not very sharp and the 50MP camera is alone on the back, but it’s a solid package for the price.
If you’re on the lookout for TWS buds, here are some Apple buds. The 3rd generations AirPods come in two flavors – wired-only charging (Lightning) and MagSafe. The latter is only £10 mode expensive and we think the wireless charging is worth the small premium.
Although, the AirPods Pro 2nd generation are not that much more expensive (£55 more). They have wireless charging by default and as of recently they gained new features like Adaptive Audio, Personalized Volume and Conversation Awareness.
The new Apple Mac mini with an M2 chip (8-core CPU, 10-core GPU) is available with a £50 discount for the base 8/256GB model. This petite desktop computer punches above its weight when it comes to performance.
If you just want a high-end streaming device, check out this refurbished Apple TV 4K (3rd gen). We recommend paying the extra £10 for the 128GB model as besides having double the storage, it also has an Ethernet port, which can help out if you in apartments with crowded Wi-Fi.
Let’s kick things off with a couple of older high-end models. The OnePlus 10R had its first birthday in May, but it packs a fairly powerful Dimensity 8100-Max chipset and a large 6.7” 120Hz AMOLED display (FHD+), which keep it relevant. Don’t forget to claim the ₹3,000 coupon as that will reduce the price to ₹32,000.
The Xiaomi 12 Pro is even older – it launched in China in the last day of 2021. However, it was a proper flagship with a Snapdragon 8 Gen 1, a 6.73” QHD+ AMOLED (a 120Hz LTPO panel) and a triple 50MP camera, plus fast wired and wireless charging (120W and 50W, respectively).
Tecno launched the Camon 20 series last month. The Camon 20 Pro 5G is not the top model of the series (there’s the Premiere with that kooky 108MP ultra wide cam), but it’s a fairly capable phone. It gets its 5G modem courtesy of the Dimensity 8050 chipset, which drives a 6.67” 120Hz AMOLED display (FHD+). It’s powered by a 5,000mAh battery with 33W charging. The 64MP main camera (1/1.7” sensor) has OIS, but it lacks an ultra wide companion.
The Tecno Camon 20 is a cheaper 4G option with a Helio G85. The slower chipset is paired with a 60Hz AMOLED display (same size and resolution as the Pro) and same 5,000mAh battery (33W). The 64MP main camera has the same sensor, but it loses the OIS feature.
The Redmi 11 Prime 5G is cheaper and yet it has next-gen connectivity (though the Dimensity 700 it uses is anything but next gen). It has an IPS LCD (90Hz) instead of AMOLED and a 5,000mA (18W charging). There’s no ultra wide camera here either.
The Realme Narzo 50i Prime starts at ₹7,000 for the 3/32GB model and the upgrade to 4GB of RAM and 64GB storage is only ₹500, so that’s the one to get. You can have even more storage thanks to the microSD slot (yes, there’s a 3.5mm headphone jack too). The 5,000mAh battery is large but slow to charge at 10W. The Unisoc T612 even has a pair of Cortex-A75 cores, so it’s no slouch (especially with the extra gig of RAM).
The Samsung Galaxy Buds2 are heavily discounted, the white/black color combo in particular, though the white/lavender one is only slightly more. These buds come with a light case (with Qi wireless charging) and ANC.
The Realme Buds Wireless 2 Neo are neckband-style headphones and they are pretty cheap. There’s no ANC here, but the 17 hours of listening time and IPX4 water resistance are good features to have in this class.
A couple of weeks ago we listed the GoPro Hero11 action camera at ₹45,000. It’s now down to ₹43,000, but that’s still may be too much for some. If you’re willing to go give up some of recent image stabilization features of the 11, there are the Hero10 and Hero9 at noticeably lower prices.
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