We review old listings we’ve listed and sometimes we find that the price has gone up – in some cases it’s just a temporary discount that has expired, in others the price fluctuates with demand (and available supply) .
However, some phones – like flagships – can only go down. This is especially true for older flagships. Use the links below to jump to your region:
The Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra has an impressive camera, but last year’s Galaxy S22 Ultra still holds its own – and it’s cheaper. $300 cheaper, in fact, for the 256GB model. With three OS updates remaining and four years of security patches, this phone will be relevant for quite a while.
Next we wanted to look at some Google phones. The Pixel 7 is down to $550, and while it’s not the fastest flagship, it gets monthly updates from Google that often include cool new AI-powered features.
For about half that price, you can have the Pixel 6a with the previous Tensor chipset instead. The Pixel 7a is rumored to be launching in June and it might prove to be a better choice than both – but we’re only hearing rumors for now (Tensor G2, 6.1-inch 90Hz display, 64th generation). MP main camera and 5W wireless charging) and nothing more the price.
You can opt for the older Pixel 6 Pro and Pixel 6 instead. We’ve listed refurbished deals below, so the Pixel 6 can be yours for just over $200. Or you can get a new device for $420. This is how they compare to the 6a.
Galaxy A54 shipping begins April 6, with pre-orders starting a week earlier. It costs $450, but you can trade in an old device for up to $250 in credit, and you can also pick up a pair of Galaxy Buds Live for $50. If that doesn’t sound like a good enough deal, you can just grab the older Galaxy A53 for $400. The Exynos 1280 isn’t as good as the 1380, but the rest of the features are comparable.
Or you can go for the Motorola Edge (2022) for less money. The 6.6-inch 144Hz FHD+ OLED display and large 5,000mAh battery with both 30W wired and 15W wireless power make this a solid mid-range device for multimedia and light gaming (the Dimensity 1050 features a decently fast Mali-G610 MC3 GPU).
Apple sells refurbished iPhones on its website, but currently only offers models up to the 12 series (link here). For example, an iPhone 12 Pro Max (128GB) costs $760, but for $900 you can buy a refurbished iPhone 13 Pro Max (128GB) from Amazon instead.
Below are links to refurbished devices for all iPhone 13 models – note that there are two links, one for devices in excellent condition and one for devices listed as new. It costs a bit more, but you get a better maintained phone.
The price of the Samsung Galaxy S23 is already falling – it initially started at C$1,100, although that included a free upgrade to 256GB of storage. That offer is now over, but you can get the 128GB model for C$920.
For something more, you can have the Google Pixel 7 Pro instead – with a 6.7-inch QHD+ LTPO display versus the Samsung’s standard 6.1-inch FHD+ panel. And you get a 120mm periscope with a 48MP sensor instead of the Galaxy’s fairly basic 70mm 10MP module.
The Pro is a big phone, but if you want something smaller, the Pixel 7 is worth a look. This falls on a 6.3-inch FHD+ 90Hz display and it loses the periscope module, so most of the advantages over the S23 are gone — still, it’s over C$300 cheaper, so it’s hard to complain .
You can get even cheaper if you’re okay with ditching the high refresh rate overall and dropping the main camera to 12MP – we’re obviously talking about the Pixel 6a, which is slightly larger than the S23 and not as capable, but costs less than half.
The actual Samsung alternative to the 6a is the Galaxy A53. Yes, the new A54 will be available in a couple of weeks, but its starting price will be C$180 higher, so it’ll be competing with the Pixel 7, not the 6a. Compared to the 6a, the Galaxy A53 has a larger 6.5-inch AMOLED display (with 120Hz refresh rate), a higher-resolution 64MP main camera (both with OIS), a higher-resolution 32MP selfie camera (vs. 8MP) and a larger, faster 5,000mAh/25W battery (vs. 4,410mAh/18W).
There’s a new model that might interest you, the Galaxy A14 5G from January. At C$330, it’s not that much cheaper than the A53, but its specs are simpler — a 6.6-inch 90Hz LCD (FHD+), a 50-megapixel main camera (no OIS) without an ultra-wide partner and the 5,000mAh battery tops out at 15W. And you get less RAM and half the storage. For $80 more, the A53 seems like the better deal.
A few months ago Apple launched refurbished iPhone 13 models in Europe, the older iPhone 12 series are also available. For example, an iPhone 12 Pro Max (128GB) costs £780, but you can get it for under £500 on Amazon. The 12 Pro is £690 from Apple.com, £444 from Amazon UK. The iPhone 12 and 12 mini (128GB) are £590 and £500 respectively from Apple, £342 and £274 respectively from Amazon.
The Nothing Phone (1) gets even better with every update. The phone (2) is on the way and it will be a premium device (a Qualcomm exec said it will use the SD 8+ Gen 1), but its price is unknown and it’s not clear if Nothing also has a new midranger in the works.
The Galaxy A54 will go on sale in the UK later this month, priced at £450 for an 8/128GB unit. While its Exynos 1380 is significantly better than the 1280 in the older Galaxy A53, the A53 costs £285 for a 6/128GB device. However, the A54 comes with a paid pair of Galaxy Buds2. So if you need a TWS headset, the price difference is not that big.
Nokia X10 is from 2021 and launched with Android 11 (it has since been updated to version 13). However, HMD Global has promised 3 operating system updates and 3 years of security patches, which means there’s another to come. That’s not a lot, but the X10 is a 5G phone for £156, making it a not-so-bad deal, especially if you prefer your Android clutter-free.
The Redmi K50i sports a fast 144Hz LCD (6.6 inch FHD+) and a fairly powerful Dimensity 8100 chipset. However, it costs more than the Galaxy M53, which uses the older Dimensity 900 chip and has its AMOLED display updated at “only” 120Hz. The Samsung’s strength lies in its 108 MP main camera (vs. a 64 MP sensor on the Xiaomi).
The batteries are similar in size (5,080 mAh and 5,000 mAh, respectively), but the Redmi charges at 67 W (64% in 30 min, 53 min to 100%) compared to just 25 W on the Galaxy. The Redmi has a 3.5mm jack, the Galaxy has a microSD slot instead.
The OnePlus Nord CE 2 Lite is less capable than both, with a 120Hz LCD (6.59-inch FHD+) and a Snapdragon 695, which means the 64MP main camera can’t record 4K video (and there is also no ultra-wide, the couple above). has 8MP UW cameras). The 5,000mAh battery charges at 33W, which is fast but not mind-blowing. So unless you really need anything under £20k, we’d go with one of the phones above.
Here’s something brand new – the iQOO Z7 was announced earlier this week, with sales starting on March 21st. This phone has a 6.38 inch 90 Hz AMOLED display (FHD+), is powered by the Dimensity 920 and has a 5000 mAh battery with a 44 W charge (50% in 25 min) and has a 64 -MP camera with OIS. It starts with Android 13 and iQOO has promised two operating system updates and 3 years of security patches. Amazon already has a landing page and the 6/128GB unit costs ₹17,500, you can get 8GB of RAM for ₹1,000 more.
The Z7 will compete against the Realme Narzo 50 Pro, which also costs £17,500. Its Dimensity 920 is nothing outstanding, but it could prove to be the better chipset. This phone features a 6.4-inch 120Hz AMOLED display (FHD+), a 48 + 8 + 2 MP camera and a 5,000 mAh battery with 33W charging.
Finally, a couple of cheap options. We recommended the Samsung Galaxy M04 two weeks ago, but its price has since fallen by £1,000. This puts it closer to something like the Nokia C12, but still leaves a relatively large gap.
There’s a reason for that. The M04 runs Android 12 (with One UI Core 4.1) instead of Android 12 Go Edition like the Nokia. It also has twice the number of CPU cores (A53 lots of them) and runs them at higher clock speeds to boot. The displays are comparable (6.5-inch vs. 6.3-inch, both HD+ LCDs), but the Galaxy has the better camera (13MP/1080p vs. 8MP) and larger battery (5,000mAh vs. 3,000mAh) . It’s clearly the better phone, but it also costs 40% more (or, to put it in absolute terms, ₹2,500 more).
