Here are the best times to buy a new phone and save big money

If you want to get a best deal on a new phone, you have to time your purchase properly, just as with any piece of electronics. Buying a phone on launch day may feel good, but financially, it’s often a mistake. To maximize savings you have to be smart and patient.

I’m a frugal person, and hate paying full price on anything, especially smartphones. To combat this, I’ve been paying close attention to phone prices over the years and have figured out the best times to buy a new one. Some of the tips below may be obvious, but some might surprise you.

Here are the best times to buy a new phone!

The best times to buy a new phone

During the pre-order period

While buying a phone on launch day isn’t the greatest idea, you can potentially win out by shopping during the pre-order period. You’ll still be among the first people to own the device, but you’ll be saving a bit of money, or at least getting more bang for your buck.

You can expect two types of deals during a pre-order period. The first one is a flat discount, with some retailers looking to undercut the opposition and secure more pre-sales. Be sure to check all of the big stores before placing an order.

The other type, which is more common, gets you a bunch of free goodies along with your order, and sometimes even gift certificates. Keep in mind however that these deals are usually reserved for the most popular and expensive phones, since retailers are already racking up a score and hoping you’ll stick around to spend extra (or at least, in the future).

Here are a few examples of great deals we’ve seen in the past. Those who pre-ordered a Samsung Galaxy S22 got up to $250 in credit, a four-month subscription to YouTube Premium, three free months of Spotify Premium, and six free months of SiriusXM Streaming. In years past, Samsung has offered everything from discounts to Galaxy Buds with pre-orders.

Up to a month or so before the new model comes out

This tip only applies to those who can be content with a soon-to-be-last-gen phone, but if that’s you, it’s worth waiting until around a month or so before a new model comes out, as that’s usually when retailers start offering discounts to clear out old stock. Discounts may also be available right after the new phone hits the market, sometimes even steeper than they were pre-release. Wait too long, however, and retailers may sell through their inventory.

For example, the Pixel 3, which launched with an $800 price tag in 2018, was available for just $400 the following fall, just a week or so before Google announced the Pixel 4 series. While this is an old example, the story is similar with a lot of newer devices.

Keep in mind that to get the best deals, you’ll still have to shop around. Check out as many online stores as possible to see which ones offer the largest discounts. For example, the Galaxy S22 Ultra was once listed at $1,200 on Samsung’s website at the same time as Amazon was selling it for $994 — that’s over $200 cheaper. This just goes to show that research is key to a good purchase.

During Black Friday

Black Friday takes place on the fourth Thursday of November every year, and offers substantial savings on phones and a ton of other products. There’s a plethora of deals available online, too, so you can avoid the crowds and riots at your local electronics store and shop from the comfort of your home.

To give you an idea of the amount of cash you can save, here are a few of the best Black Friday phone deals we saw in 2022:

• Pixel 7 — $499 ($100 off)
• Samsung Galaxy S22 series — Up to $400 off
• OnePlus 10 Pro — $549 ($250 off)

Remember that many retailers start offering deals a few weeks before Black Friday actually kicks off, so make sure to start doing your research then. And don’t forget about Cyber Monday deals as well, which are available on the first Monday after Black Friday.

During Amazon Prime Day

Amazon first announced Prime Day in 2015 to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Amazon.com. Each year the retailer offers significant discounts on phones, electronics, and just about every other product you can think of to Prime members. The event usually takes place in the middle of July, although not always on the same date. In 2022, there was also a Prime Early Access sale in October, effectively a second Prime Day.

If you’re a Prime member, you should definitely keep an eye out. If you’re not, you can always sign up for a free trial to get access to all the deals available without spending a dime more.

It’s worth adding that while Prime Day started as a 24-hour shopping event, Amazon extended it to 48 hours due to popularity. It takes place in loads of markets worldwide, including the US, UK, Australia, Canada, India, and Germany.

During Boxing Day sales and beyond

Boxing Day falls the day after Christmas Day (December 26). It offers significant discounts on phones and other products in places like the UK, Ireland, Australia, and New Zealand. However, it’s actually becoming an excuse for retailers in countries that typically don’t celebrate the holiday, so no matter which country you live in, it’s worth checking out post-Christmas deals.

You can potentially find deals the entire week after Christmas, frequently extending into January. People generally spend less money during this period, having already spent a fortune in the run-up to Christmas, so retailers start offering discounts to get people to pull out their wallets. In the last few years I’ve got a lot of great deals a few days after Christmas on various electronics, and have seen many other deals on mid-range and high-end phones.

When to buy the latest Samsung Galaxy, Google Pixel, and more

Let’s get even more specific. We’ve looked at price charts for some of the more popular phones out there to figure out when you can get your hands on them as fast as possible at a great price.

Best time to buy Google Pixel phones

Never buy a Pixel phone at full price, as you can get a big discount or free gift if you buy one within the first month or so after launch. For example, Best Buy offered a free $100 gift card with the Pixel 7 series.

Best time to buy Samsung Galaxy S phones

Samsung generally releases its latest Galaxy S phones in February, and trade-in deals are your best chance to save. The Galaxy S22 series received discounts in the hundreds of dollars provided you were willing to part with your previous device. You can also wait until summer (in the northern hemisphere), when there are substantial discounts without the trade-in requirement.

Best time to buy OnePlus phones

The best time to buy a OnePlus phone is during Black Friday or December. The company once offered a $250 Black Friday discount on the OnePlus 10 Pro, and there were similar deals available in other countries.

If you happen to miss OnePlus’ Black Friday deals, you still have a chance to save in December, or possibly even January. The company frequently offers Boxing Day sales, and celebrated its eighth birthday in January 2022 with plenty of discounts. Keep in mind, of course, that you might not see the same level of celebration for every anniversary.

OnePlus sometimes provides discounts in August as part of a Back to School promotion. There are can also be periodic events like OnePlus Wednesdays, but when they happen, expect more modest discounts.

Best time to buy Moto G phones

Moto G phones usually start getting their first discounts — up to $50 — around two or three months after they go on sale. But to get the best deal possible on any Moto G phone (or Motorola phones in general), waiting for Black Friday is the way to go.

Best time to buy iPhones

Apple typically announces its latest iPhones every September, shipping them the same month or in October at the latest. The tech giant avoids discounts like the plague despite making money hand over first, but you can find a few deals offered by retailers and carriers during Black Friday.

Your best bet is to try your mobile carrier. AT&T, for example, offered up to $1,000 off for consumers buying an iPhone 14 series device with a qualifying trade. It’s worth it to them, since you’re signing up for a phone plan, not just hardware.

There are plenty of iPhone deals available each Black Friday, but they differ considerably from year to year. You’ll have to do a bit of research on your own to find the one that suits you best.

Bonus tip: How to know if you’re getting a good deal

When shopping on Amazon, phones that are $100, $200, or even $300 off might seem like great deals, and a lot of the time, they are. But not always! Sometimes the retailer jacks up the price for a day or two before lowering it down again to make it seem like you’re getting a bargain. Alternately, the list price may just be way too high for what appears to be no other reason but to make the “discount” look like a steal. Keep in mind that this is a common practice in the retail world, and not something exclusive to Amazon.

In any event, you have to be smart about things. Your best bet is using a tool like CamelCamelCamel, which shows you how a price of a phone listed on Amazon changes over time.

As an example. I was browsing through the German version of Amazon a while back, since it’s where I do a lot of my online shopping, and came across a listing for the Samsung Galaxy M30s. The list price was €591.76, while the discounted price was €249. That means the retailer was offering a €342.76 discount on the phone, or so it seemed.

Using CamelCamelCamel, we can quickly determine that the phone was never actually priced at €591.76. The highest it’s ever been on Amazon was €259, which means that you were only getting a €10 discount. What’s more, we can see that the phone made it to €218 at the end of November 2021 (during Black Friday) .

If we do a little searching on Google, we can figure out that no retailer had the Galaxy M30s priced at around €600, as the MSRP of the handset was roughly €260.

Naturally, Amazon doesn’t always have the best deals available, so it’s essential to use a price comparison tool in addition to CamelCamelCamel. I’m European, so I’ll use the Galaxy M30s as an example again and the website preis.de as my comparison tool. After searching for the Galaxy M30s on the website, I saw plenty of better deals on Samsung’s mid-ranger from reputable sellers. For example, Rakuten offered the handset for roughly €218, €31 cheaper than Amazon.

It’s the same story in the US and most other regions. If you live in the US, there are plenty of price comparison websites available, including Google Shopping and Yahoo Shopping — check out more of them here.