Best Samsung Phone Deals: Galaxy S21, Galaxy Z Flip 3

In the last few years, Samsung has made a name for itself in the phone industry; whether it’s the brand’s top-of-the-line foldables or the flagship Galaxy S22, it’s easy to say that Samsung dominates the industry alongside Apple. As such, Samsung phones tend to be in high demand; although being an industry leader, they tend to be quite expensive, which is why these deals on their top-end stuff should help you get an awesome phone without breaking the bank.

Best Samsung phone deals

Samsung Galaxy S21 FE 5G — $550, was $700

Why Buy

• Excellent 120hz screen
• Great overall battery life
• Minimalist design
• Ships with Android 12 and will be patched until Android 15

The Samsung Galaxy S21 is the flagship of telephones and only really has competition, mainly from the iPhone 12 & 13, although it can be quite expensive given it’s a high-end phone. That’s where the Samsung S21 FE comes in, providing the same framework as the flagship version, only with a lower price and reduced specs, making it accessible to more people.

The best thing to remain in the S21 FE is the Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 chip that’s also featured in the Samsung S21, meaning you get pretty much the same level of performance, which is always something we can appreciate. Besides that, the overall size comes in at 6.2 inches, slightly smaller than the Samsung S21, and it has an AMOLED display with a 120Hz refresh rate, with a 2400 x 1080 pixel resolution, and given the smaller size of the screen, that provides a slightly higher pixel density of 421 PPI, compared to the 411 PPI of the normal S21. It also comes with 8GBs of RAM, which is almost at the point of a notebook or 2-in-1, so it should be more than enough for almost every use case.

Besides that, it does have a slightly smaller battery at 4,000mAh, although its overall battery life is still pretty good. As for internal storage, it has 128GBs, which is hopefully enough since it doesn’t have a microSD slot, meaning there’s no way to upgrade the internal storage beyond the original 128GBs. It also doesn’t have a headphone jack, although that shouldn’t be a surprise given that most phones at the higher end lack one. Also, a nice little addition is that while the phone comes with Android 12, the latest available version, Samsung has promised four years of patches, which should see it carry through to Android 15.

You can, of course, look at the direct comparison of the Samsung S21 vs the Samsung S21 FE, but ultimately the S21 FE provides a very similar experience to the flagship.

Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 3 5G — $850, was $1,000

Why Buy

• Great internal display with 120hz refresh rate
• Better outer screen display
• IPX8 water resistance
• Really cool foldable design and over aesthetic

Foldable phones have been making waves in the market, and one of the early entrants was the original Galaxy Z Flip smartphone. Of course, we’re three iterations into the design, and Samsung has done a surprisingly great job of making the Galaxy Z Flip 3 an attractive phone that many people might want to grab.

While many people will tend to focus on the internal 6.7-inch Infinity Flex display, it’s interesting to note that the Flip 3 has a much nicer external 1.9-inch AMOLED display, which has been constantly asked for on both of Samsung’s foldable phones. As such, using the external display for quick tasks or bits of info is a better overall experience and won’t likely prompt you to open the phone as regularly as you would previous iterations, although it still has some teething problems. Regardless, the internal screen is still excellent; with a 2640 x 1080 pixel resolution and 120hz refresh rate, it’s hard to beat when it comes to foldable phones, even if the crease is somewhat noticeable after extended use.

In terms of performance, it uses the top-tier Qualcomm Snapdragon 888, the same as the Samsung S21 and S21 FE, meaning you get great performance all around, and the included 8GBs of RAM means you aren’t likely to see the phone slow down often, if at all. As for storage, this deal is for a 128GB version, and unfortunately there’s no microSD slot for you to upgrade with, although there is a 256GB Galaxy Z Flip 3 if you really need that extra space, and it’s only an extra $50 with their current deal, so it’s well worth the extra cost.

Ultimately, the Flip 3 brings foldable technology within an affordable price range that makes it more accessible and is a great alternative to the Fold 3 if you want a foldable phone but don’t want to shell out nearly twice the money.

Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 3 5G — $1,500, was $1,800

Why Buy

• Great for multiple tasks
• Supports S Pen
• Better app optimization
• Gorgeous internal and external displays

The real big name in the foldable space is the Samsung Galaxy Fold 3, and for good reason. Being one of the first truly foldable phones that were commercially available, the Galaxy Fold essentially created the foldables market and remains at the front of the pack in pretty much all aspects, as the Fold 3 is a well thought out and excellent upgrade to the Fold 2.

One of the biggest complaints with the Fold 2 was that the app compatibility with the internal screen was terrible, which ended up giving cumbersome app experiences to many users. Luckily, Samsung has ironed out a lot of the issues with the Fold 3 when it comes to apps and app integration, making the experience more akin to what you’d expect from a top-tier phone. Another issue was the external screen, which was rather small and annoying to use, and while the new screen still has its downsides, it’s a much bigger 6.2-inch 2268 x 832 resolution screen and more enjoyable to use, although we’d like to see something better on the Fold 4.

As for performance, it’s a powerhouse, especially given the top-shelf Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 and whopping 12GBs of RAM, which means you’re going to have one of the smoothest experiences that can be found on a phone. As for internal storage, you get 256GBs on this model, and it doesn’t have a microSD slot, so the storage you get is what you’ll always have. Of course, if you want more, there’s also a 512GB Galaxy Fold 3that’s also on sale and is only an extra $100, although whether it’s worth that extra money is wholly up to you.

If you’re looking for both a top-shelf mobile phone experience and the best foldable on the market, the Fold 3 is one of the best, if not the best.

When are the best Samsung phone deals?

Usually, when it comes to deals, the best time tends to be around either Prime Day, Black Friday, or Cyber Monday.

When it comes to Prime Day, this year, it’s going to be held on July 18th and July 19th, and you’re likely to see some great deals there, although those will only be on Amazon. If you want to look for wider sales, Black Friday will take place on November 25th this year, and you’ll likely see deals across most online retailers, which means you’ll get a much better selection of deals than you would if you go with Prime Day. If you’re willing to wait a couple of days, then Cyber Monday is going to be held on November 28th, and you’re likely going to see a lot of excellent deals on electronics at that point.

Of course, the main issue with Cyber Monday and Black Friday is that they tend to have limited stock, so you will have to be on top of things. There’s a possibility that retailers will release some information on deals during that period so you can pick and match, but either way, it’s going to be somewhat of a gamble.

That being said, if you can’t wait, it’s always better to buy now, especially since you don’t know what sort of discounts you’re going to see during any of those periods. There’s also the fact that none of these sales are still coming for a few months, and Cyber Monday and Black Friday aren’t even happening until nearly the end of the year, so it’s going to be a very long wait. Ultimately, it’s not necessarily something to be stressing out over, and waiting several months to save an extra 5% on a product may not be worth the enjoyment you’ll have of using it for all these months. Plus, with how the world is now with chip shortages, you don’t know what stock will look like several months down the line.

The only caveat here is that we’re possibly going to see the Fold 4 and Flip 4 released in Q3, in which case, prices on the Fold 3 and Flip 3 may go down, although we wouldn’t bet on it, or wait just for the possibility of a price decrease that may or may not happen until next year.

Editors’ Recommendations