Prime Day phone deals in October: recap

2
Prime Day phone deals in October: recap
That's it! The second Prime Day of the year is now officially over. Now, if you're looking for a great phone deal, you may have to wait for Black Friday.

This article contains a recap of the deals we saw during the first and second Prime Day sale events (the one in July and the one in October).

October Prime Day Samsung Galaxy deals: recap


In July this year (the first Prime Day event), the offers on Samsung Galaxy phones were mind-blowingly awesome, to put it simply. Amazon, Best Buy, and Samsung itself were in the deal race, each offering incredible offers on the latest and greatest from Samsung.

Unlocked Galaxy S22 phones were generously discounted on Amazon with Prime membership. The Galaxy S22 Ultra was selling for 30% off during the sale event! On the other hand, Samsung was offering (and still is for now) enormous trade-in discounts, $1100 off for the Ultra, by the way, on all its hottest phones.

Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra
8.8

Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra


The Good

  • S Pen in a flagship, great for creatives
  • Industry-leading screen quality
  • Faster charging than before
  • 10X zoom camera is improved significantly
  • Video recording gets smoother stabilization
  • 4 years of major software updates!

The Bad

  • Battery life has gone down from the S21 Ultra
  • You get less RAM than last year
  • No microSD card slot, no headphone jack
  • Loudspeaker quality could be better
  • Jittery swiping, microstutter with gesture nav in One UI

Samsung Galaxy S22+
8.0

Samsung Galaxy S22+


The Good

  • Superb display
  • Beautiful design
  • Adequate battery life
  • Good haptics and audio quality
  • Okay performance

The Bad

  • Image processing too extreme
  • Noisy low-light image quality
  • Not very ergonomic
  • Marginal improvements over Galaxy S21 Plus
  • Gets hot during gaming and heavier loads

The Z Flip 3 and Z Fold 3, Samsung's ever-so-growing-in-popularity foldable phones, were also retailing with slashed prices during the shopping event. The Z Fold 3 was 30% off unlocked at Amazon, while its Verizon-locked variant was $700 off at Best Buy! The Z Flip 3's Verizon version was $600 off at Best Buy (half of the phone's price, mind you!), so Verizon customers willing to get a foldable phone would have been very, very happy during Prime Day 2022.

Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 3
9.0

Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 3


The Good

  • Solid build and feel, stable hinge
  • Excellent screens in and out
  • Both displays are 120 Hz
  • Improved software experience for multitasking
  • Smooth performance
  • Good speakers

The Bad

  • Folded, the phone is awkwardly thick and tall
  • S Pen is a separate purchase, which means most will miss out
  • Still has visible crease

Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 3
8.0

Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 3


The Good

  • Lower price makes it more accessible
  • Larger Cover Screen is a huge convenience
  • 120Hz is a big upgrade, makes for much smoother use
  • Phone feels very fast and nimble
  • Reassuringly well put together, nothing screaks or squeals

The Bad

  • It's hard to unfold it with just one hand
  • Gets hot easily even with basic tasks
  • Battery life is average at best
  • No telephoto zoom cameras
  • The crease is still there

As for the Prime Day October sale event, we got awesome enhanced trade-in deals from Samsung on the hottest phones.
Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4
9.0

Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4


The Good

  • Solid build
  • Empowering multitasking features
  • Beautiful displays
  • Stylus support
  • Smooth performance
  • Good battery life

The Bad

  • Expensive
  • Still has a crease
  • Thick and heavy, harder to carry around than a slab phone

Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 4
8.0

Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 4


The Good

  • Improved battery life
  • Main camera is much better now
  • Compact form factor with no real competition
  • Improved reliability, screen protector better glued
  • Faster charging

The Bad

  • Cannot open with one hand
  • Crease is still very much there
  • $1,000 price might be too high for some
  • Front screen is still too tiny

October Prime Day iPhones deals: recap


Well, what about iPhones? The iPhone 13 series were discounted at Best Buy in the beginning of the Prime Day week in July and some models were $100 off (no trade-in required).

Apple iPhone 13 Pro Max
9.3

Apple iPhone 13 Pro Max


The Good

  • Amazing battery life
  • Super bright display with great colors
  • Fastest performance of any phone
  • Improved camera
  • Best video quality of any phone

The Bad

  • Lacks fast charging
  • Size is a bit extreme and it is a heavy phone
  • Cinematic Mode needs some more polish
  • No USB-C makes life more complicated

Apple iPhone 13 Pro
9.3

Apple iPhone 13 Pro


The Good

  • Big improvements in battery life
  • ProMotion 120Hz is great
  • Great photo quality in all conditions
  • Best video quality of any smartphone
  • Cinematic Mode
  • Apple A15 is the fastest chip on the market

The Bad

  • Relatively slow charging speeds
  • No USB-C makes life more complicated
  • Phone has gotten a bit too heavy
  • Oversized cameras look plain ugly

Apple iPhone 13
8.5

Apple iPhone 13


The Good

  • Much improved battery life
  • Dynamic and jolly photos in more challenging conditions
  • Easy to view outdoors display with perfect calibration
  • Snazzy Cinematic video mode
  • Double the predecessor storage for the same price

The Bad

  • Slow display refresh rate for the price point
  • Wired and wireless charging take comparatively long
  • Cinematic video mode is finicky without good lighting
  • Taller notch eats into some video formats
  • Worse value for money ratio than the iPhone 13 Pro

We all know that it can be quite the challenge to hunt for a deal on an iPhone (especially the newer models!). Well, the best iPhone Prime Day deals didn't go over the $100 mark, except for some of the older models like the iPhone XS. Simply put, you had discounts ranging from 6% to 10% on iPhones during the sale event. But those were discounts on the latest iPhone 13 models!

As for the Prime Day October sales – we got the iPhone 14 series with trade-in offers at Best Buy (carrier contract was necessary for the deals there).

Apple iPhone 14
8.5

Apple iPhone 14


The Good

  • Improved low-light photos, color balance, and dynamic range
  • Faster graphics subsystem and connectivity options
  • Bright display
  • Good battery life
  • Much cheaper to repair

The Bad

  • Too wide of a specs and performance gap with the iPhone 14 Pro
  • Display calibration is lacking
  • The new penta-core GPU is a battery hog
  • Slow charging

October Prime Day deals on Google Pixel phones: recap


For Google Pixel 6 adopters, things were glorious during Prime Day in July. The Pixel 6 Pro saw a generous $200 discount on Best Buy and Amazon (for the unlocked version). The vanilla Pixel 6 was $100 off at Best Buy, and the deal at the retailer required activation of the unlocked phone.

Google Pixel 6 Pro
9.0

Google Pixel 6 Pro


The Good

  • Superb design
  • Sharp OLED display with 120Hz refresh rate
  • Good battery life
  • Great performance
  • Versatile camera setup
  • Great image quality
  • Loud and rich speakers
  • Wireless charging on board

The Bad

  • Slow fingerprint sensor
  • Android 12 has some quirks

Google Pixel 6
9.0

Google Pixel 6


The Good

  • Great price to value
  • Good-looking OLED screen with 90 Hz refresh
  • Great camera
  • Android 12 runs fast and smooth
  • Smart features and exclusive Assistant functions

The Bad

  • Speakers are thin-ish
  • Android 12 needs some polish in presentation
  • Tensor chip is smart but not a super-performer

We also have a Prime Day Pixel 6 deals recap article, so feel free to check it out as well.

And at the second Prime Day, the deals on the Pixel 6a and the Pixel 6 Pro were glorious as well.

Google Pixel 7
8.5

Google Pixel 7


The Good

  • Compact and friendly design
  • Bright display
  • Excellent $599 starting price
  • Overall good image quality with the signature Pixel look
  • Good battery life

The Bad

  • Ultra-wide camera is still not wide enough
  • Some camera quirks and shutter lag
  • Not very inspiring performance-wise

October Prime Day deals on OnePlus, Motorola, Nokia phones: recap


Prime Day was great also for OnePlus buyers, and especially Motorola phones adopters. First off, the OnePlus 9 and OnePlus 10 Pro were discounted at Amazon (11% off for the 10 Pro there).

OnePlus 10 Pro
8.5

OnePlus 10 Pro


The Good

  • Great performance with good thermal management
  • Gorgeous display
  • Nice haptics and lovely sound
  • Premium design
  • Versatile camera
  • You get a charger in the box

The Bad

  • Sometimes bleak image colors
  • Color temperature inconsistencies between the different lenses
  • No auto Night Mode

OnePlus 9
9.0

OnePlus 9


The Good

  • Pretty, functional design, solid build
  • Beautiful screen
  • Fast performance
  • No-nonsense user interface

The Bad

  • Camera was a bit of a letdown
  • Speakers are shrill

Motorola phones blew all deals out of the water though! Almost every phone model from Motorola was discounted during the sale event, on Amazon, as well as on Motorola's own website. We are talking big deals here: Motorola Edge from 2021 was 43% off at Amazon, the foldable Moto Razr again 43% off, while models from the Moto G series, including the G Stylus, had discounts ranging 30-35%. Best Buy also matched some of the Moto discounts and had some Moto models more affordable than ever.

Motorola Edge (2021)

Motorola Edge (2021)


View full specs

Motorola Edge+ (2022)
8.6

Motorola Edge+ (2022)


The Good

  • Amazing performance
  • Intuitive and clean software
  • Great display
  • Impressive battery life
  • Very fast charging
  • Stays cool even during gaming
  • Charger in the box

The Bad

  • Average video performance
  • Unimpressive ultra-wide camera
  • No periscope or telephoto lens

Motorola Moto G Stylus (2022)

Motorola Moto G Stylus (2022)


View full specs

Motorola Moto G Power (2022)
6.0

Motorola Moto G Power (2022)


The Good

  • Dirt cheap price
  • Great battery life
  • Solid 128GB of on-board storage
  • Fast and accurate fingerprint scanner

The Bad

  • LCD screen with bleak colors and low resolution
  • Feels stuttery
  • Runs older Android 11 at launch
  • Average camera quality
  • Poor haptics

Amazon's October Prime Day sales event was great for buying a Motorola or OnePlus phone. Even the OnePlus 10 Pro was discounted during the sales.

There's on important thing to mention. For you to be able to get a Prime Day discount at Amazon during the event, you have to be a Prime Member. You can click the link below and get your Prime subscription ready to score some generous phone discounts:

Subscribe to Amazon Prime Day here: 30-day free trial

Are Prime Day cell phone deals worth it?


That's a very good question and there is no definitive answer on whether or not Prime Day deals on cell phones are worth it. Getting an iPhone with a big Prime Day discount is an interesting challenge; however, this year in July, cell phone deals rocked. The newest iPhone 13 series got discounted by $100. In the Android phone department, especially on models from Samsung and Motorola, as well as OnePlus, the deals were epic!

Cell phone deals on Prime Day are worth it especially when it's a pure discount, like Amazon or Best Buy. Of course, choosing a good plan with your carrier related to a deal for a phone you like is also good strategy, just make sure you calculate everything yourself and don't forget to ask your carrier whatever question comes to mind in case you're wondering about a deal.

How to get the best cell phone deals on Prime Day?


Although finding the best deal is somewhat a challenge, we have some tips that might come handy when the sale event begins. First off, we recommend making sure to track price changes on a product you have set your eyes on.

In order to monitor price changes on a phone you like, you can add it to your card without ordering, and that way, you can get notified by Amazon if the price tag changes. Additionally, you can compare the same device's price at other retailers or at your carrier to get a bigger picture of the deal you're thinking of going for.

On the topic of getting the best Prime Day deal, we even have a nice guide on how to shop Prime Day deals, with tips and tricks you can use during the sales to make the best purchase.

How to pick the best smartphone deal?


We get it, the smartphone market is saturated, and it's often hard to figure out if a deal is really... a deal, or you are getting very little value for your money.

OK, here are a few rules of thumb:

  • Check model year - devices from 2022 or 2021 will always be the best to go for, as they are fresh, powerful, and still get the latest software. Exception:
  • Yesterday's flagship is better than today's midranger - a Galaxy S21 (2021) will be the better phone than a Galaxy A53 (2022). One was made to be the top-tier phone of its time, the other one was made to meet a budget. And the old flagship will come at massive discounts! Obviously, there's a threshold of how back you can go with this rule.
  • Make sure you scroll through the color options - some devices get bigger discounts only in certain paintjobs.
  • Don't shy away from carrier contracts - if you are approaching the end of your current contract or have already passed the date, it's a great time to re-subscribe and get an awesome phone deal to boot.
  • Consider trade-in? Typically, you can get better money for your old phone on the second-hand market. However, selling the phone yourself can be an ordeal, especially if you need to figure out shipping or communicating with rude buyers. During the sales events, some stores are running so-called "enhanced trade-ins" that can give you better value for your phone, with no extra headaches attached!
  • Before you pull the trigger - make sure that deal really is a... deal. Websites like camelcamelcamel.com will show you the pricing history of products, lowest-ever price, and recent price. That way, you can figure out if you really are saving as much as it says on the device's page, or if it's smoke and mirrors.
  • Pull the trigger - once you've made sure you've found a bargain — the bargain that you want — there's little time for hesitation. Sales events usually don't last long and products circulate out from the deal spotlight (or they sell out due to limited quantities), just as October 12 happens to be the final Amazon October Prime Day date.
Loading Comments...
FCC OKs Cingular\'s purchase of AT&T Wireless