It has been quite a while since Amazon had good offers on iPhones, but this week things are different. Back in February, the iPhone 15 was €790 for a 128GB unit and €950 for a 256GB one. Now these versions cost around the same again, but more importantly, the rest of the 15-series is discounted too.
The iPhone 15 Plus is under €1,000 and offers a large screen for €375 less than the Pro Max version. True, the 6.7” OLED display runs at only 60Hz, but it does have the Dynamic Island instead of that outdated notch. And you get a high resolution main camera (48MP), plus USB-C with video out.
The iPhone 15 Pro is still north of €1,000, but considering that Apple is still charging €1,200 for it, the discount looks pretty nice. The Pros do have 120Hz displays (LTPO panels to boot) and dedicated telephoto cameras – 12MP 3x in this case.
While the Pro is one of the more compact flagships out there, the Pro Max is Apple’s best. This includes a 120mm periscope (5x, 12MP sensor) for the best zoom yet, at least on the iOS side of the fence. The 15 Pro Max and 15 Plus have stellar battery life – our tests report 16:01h and 16:33h active use ratings, respectively.
You may want to go back a generation, especially if you need more storage. The iPhone 14 starts at €700 and while the jump to 256GB is fairly pricey, it’s still less than the 15 256GB.
There’s also the iPhone 14 Plus, keeping it under €1,000 even in the 256GB trim. Note that the 14 series still use 12MP main cameras, notched displays and Lightning ports.
The budget option is still the iPhone SE from 2022. This will be the last hurrah for the iPhone 6-8 design with the TouchID Home button and chunky bezels around an IPS LCD. The upcoming SE (expected later this year) should switch to an iPhone 14 design (and OLED display), which also means that it will be physically larger too.
As an alternative, the Samsung Galaxy S23 is sticking around to offer Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 (for Galaxy) in a land used to Exynos chips inside the S-series. It’s 25% off its MSRP and the 256GB version is only €20 more – well worth the price, considering that Samsung dropped the microSD a long time ago.
The Galaxy S23 FE is also around, but here it uses the Exynos 2200. Still, it is a good deal cheaper than the S23.
We also wanted to mention the Galaxy S24+ – Amazon is offering a free storage upgrade, so the 512GB model costs the same as the 256GB one. And keep in mind that this year the plus model has a QHD+ display and 12GB of RAM.
Time to look at some cheaper phones. The Redmi A3 runs full-blooded Android at €100. It has only 3GB of RAM, which is pretty tight, and the 64GB storage will need a microSD card. The 6.71” IPS LCD is roomy (and runs at 90Hz), but has only 720p+ resolution. And the 5,000mAh battery lasts quite a while, but it takes a long time to charge at 10W.
The €30 premium for the Poco C65 is a worthy upgrade. You get much more RAM (8GB) and storage (256GB, still with a microSD slot) and a more powerful Helio G85 (relative to the G36). The 50MP main camera is a solid upgrade over the 8MP snapper of the A3 and the 5,000mAh battery gets 18W charging. The display is pretty much the same, though, a 6.74” IPS LCD (90Hz) with 720p+ resolution.
The next step up is either the Poco M6 Pro or the Redmi Note 13 (4G). Both have 4G chipsets (Helio G99 Ultra and Snapdragon 685, respectively), but the Poco offers more storage under €200, faster charging too (67W vs. 33W). The Redmi, however, has the better camera – 108MP (1/1.67”, no OIS) vs. 64MP (1/2.0”, OIS). Both have 3.5mm headphone jacks and microSD slots.
Speaking of, if you have a phone with a microSD slot, you can pick up a 512GB Samsung EVO Select card for just €35. There are smaller capacities, but at these prices you may as well get the 512GB one.
We may get a commission from qualifying sales.
