What is better – a year old flagship or a current mid-ranger? If they are close enough in price, the high-end hardware tends to be the better pick as we’ll see with a few phones this week.
UK
A few weeks ago the Realme GT2 was selling for £360, but its price has fallen by £50 since then. This makes is a great deal for a Snapdragon 888 chipset and a 6.62” 120Hz AMOLED display (FHD+), complete with a 5,000mAh battery and 65W fast charging.
The Xiaomi 12 goes to show that sometimes and old flagship is better than a current mid-ranger. This sub-£400 phone is slightly smaller than a Pixel 7a with its curved 6.28” 120Hz AMOLED display (12-bit, FHD+). It’s powered by a Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 and it offers a 50MP main cam (with OIS) and 13MP ultra wide (123°), plus a 32MP selfie camera.
The Samsung Galaxy Z Flip4 successor will launch next month and Samsung usually offers solid early bird deals. However, the outgoing Z Flip4 can be had for £700 thanks to a £200 cashback deal on Amazon.
We’ve seen claims that the leaked price for the Nothing Phone (2) is higher than what the actual price will be. We don’t know whether that’s true or not, but we do know that the fully-loaded 12/256GB version of the Phone (1) is under £400.
While you’re at it, you can pick up a Nothing Ear (stick) for a complete the transparent look. A couple of weeks ago these stylish TWS buds were £10 more.
If you want to do some work on an iPad, a physical keyboard is a must-have. Logitech has a few options available, starting with this slim folio case for the iPad 10th gen.
If you have an older iPad (2019-2021), then this case will fit it. It’s pricier than the one above because it’s more rugged – Logitech claims that it exceeds the MIL-STD-810g drop test standards.
Germany
This one is for true believers with deep pockets – the Sony Xperia 1 V is a niche device that is aimed mostly at photography enthusiasts. Sony is not in the habit of discounting its phones (it’s not like it is competing for market share), but MediaMarkt is offering a €223 discount, which will be automatically applied in the cart.
OnePlus may have pulled up stakes, but unless you work for Nokia, you shouldn’t feel bad about picking up a OnePlus 10 Pro at a lower price point. At €760 this is competing with the Galaxy S23/S23+. Of course, you still get full hardware and software support.
Next up, a trio of A-series 2023 models: the Galaxy A54, A34 and A14 5G. The prices are significantly lower than MSRP, we’re talking €100+ discounts here. The A54 and A14 5G are sold and dispatched from Amazon, the A34 is sold by Intersa Global Store and dispatched by Amazon.
The Poco F4 GT is a year old but its Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 keeps its performance fresh. It has a 6.67” 120Hz AMOLED display (FHD+, HDR10+) and a 4,700mAh battery with a whopping fast 120W fast charging (100% in 17 minutes).
Apple may be allergic to discounts, but Amazon is not, so it has knocked €210 off the price of a 128GB iPhone 14 Pro.
Pixel owners can pick up this 2nd gen charging stand, which will max out their phones’ wireless charging capability at 23W. This works with other brands too, of course, though they might find it a bit slow. Anyway, it also charges other gadgets like a pair of Pixel Buds, for example.
Italy
The stylish Realme 11 Pro+ is better liked than its sibling because it packs a 200MP main camera (vs. 100MP) and an ultra wide module (just 8MP 112° but it’s up against nothing). The Pro+ model also has double the resolution on the selfie camera (32MP) and faster charging (100W vs. 67W) for the 5,000mAh battery.
The Realme GT2 Pro price continues to fall as the phone ages up. While its hardware may be 18 months old, the 6.7” 120Hz LTPO2 display and Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 are a great deal at €435. You also get 50+50MP cameras and a 5,000mAh battery with great endurance (117h) and 65W fast charging.
The Xiaomi 13 Lite is just a few months old and while its 6.55” OLED panel is 12-bit, it only has FHD+ resolution. It is powered by the rare Snapdragon 7 Gen 1 chip and a 4,500mAh battery with 67W fast charging. The 50+8MP rear camera is nothing to write home about as it is capped at 1080p video recording.
The Samsung Galaxy A34 is dubiously cheap, at €257 it is well below the €470 price over at Samsung.com. Still, this unit is dispatched by Amazon, so you can always return it.
The Samsung Galaxy A14 5G enjoys a more modest discount, but it’s enough to make it a sub-€200 5G phone. It has an 6.6” FHD+ LCD (90Hz) and a 5,000mAh battery (15W), though it is missing an ultra wide camera. There is a microSD slot and a 3.5mm jack on board.
The Redmi Note 12 4G is cheaper than the A14 and is equipped with a better screen (6.67” 120Hz AMOLED), plus it has an 8MP ultra wide camera to boot. However, it misses out on next-gen connectivity as the Snapdragon 685 is old silicon with a couple of coats of paint on top. The 5,000mAh battery does do 33W charging, though.
USA
The Samsung Galaxy A54 is down to $400, $100 less than a Pixel 7a (well not quite, hold that thought). Samsung is offering the better software support (an extra OS update compared to Google’s deal). This one also has a microSD slot, but it is larger (6.4” display vs. 6.1”).
Speaking of the Pixels, the Pixel 7 flagship is down to $517, just a bit higher than the MSRP of the 7a.
However, the Pixel 7a price is progressively falling and is already down to $470. It was $488 when we checked on it last week. You can wait a few weeks for it to fall further, but there are no guarantees with price fluctuations.
The OnePlus Nord N30 is still quite fresh, so it’s price hasn’t budged from the $300. However, Amazon is throwing in a free pair of Nord Buds 2, which is worth $60 on its own.
The Moto G Power 5G is a bit cheaper than the N30. It runs on a Dimensity 930 instead of a Snapdragon 695, but neither can record 4K video. The Moto has lower resolution main cam (50MP vs. 108MP). Also, the Motorola has a smaller screen (6.5” vs. 6.72”), both are 120Hz FHD+ LCDs. The final thing to note is that Motorola settled for a slow 15W charging, while OnePlus offers 50W (both phones have 5,000mAh batteries).
The Amazfit T-Rex Pro is a 2021 model, but since this isn’t one of the Wear OS watches – it uses a proprietary OS instead – it’s in software category that moves slowly. Anyway, the reason to get the T-Rex Pro is its 10ATM water resistance rating and MIL-STD-810G certification, plus up to 18 days of battery life (40 hours with continuous tracking). It’s basically a smartwatch for the outdoors.
India
We have been keeping an eye on the Phantom X2 pair for quite a while now and their prices had been sitting at ₹50,000 for the Pro and ₹40,000 for the vanilla model since February. Finally, we have movement.
As a refresher, both phones have massive 6.8” 120Hz AMOLED displays, Dimensity 9000 chipsets and 5,160mAh batteries with 45W charging. The Phantom X2 Pro stands out with its unique 50MP zoom camera (2.5x) with a unique retractable lens. The 50MP main camera is better too with a large 1/1.3” sensor (1.2µm pixels). For comparison, the vanilla X2 has a 64MP main cam (with OIS) and a 13MP ultra wide (the same UW module as on the Pro).
vivo quietly launched the Y36 in India, but not quietly enough for us to miss the outdated notch. The global Y36 has a punch hole instead. Other than that, the two models are nearly identical, save for the lack of NFC and the different memory configuration.
Also new this week is the Honor Pad X8. New in the country, anyway, this slate is actually from September of last year. It has a 10.1” LCD with 1,920 x 1,200px resolution and a Helio G80 chipset. The battery is quite small at 5,100mAh, but at least the tablet is thin and light (7.6mm and 460g).
The OnePlus Bullets Wireless Z2 are affordable neckband style headphones. In our review, we found the audio quality lacking – they are way too heavy on the bass. But if that’s your thing, go for it, the Z2 offer solid build quality and comfort, plus excellent battery life.
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