You could just get a refurbished Samsung phone on Amazon

You don’t have to spend thousands on a brand new phone during RAMageddon.

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I recently bought a used Galaxy phone, and now Samsung is leaning into that market on Amazon after raising prices on its newest phones. Its certified renewed phones are available on Amazon for the first time, with a new battery and a one-year warranty. They currently start at $489 for the Galaxy S24 FE with 128GB of storage, significantly less than its $649 launch price, or $699 for the current-gen S26 FE.

I got that exact same phone in August after cracking the screen on my Nothing CMF Phone 1. But my used 128GB Galaxy S24 FE cost $329 on Back Market, over $100 less than the certified renewed one Samsung is offering. I’ve gone with preowned phones a couple of times now since I don’t use my phone for anything that justifies paying hundreds more for a new one. I’d rather not go into debt for a new phone with a buy-now-pay-later program, either, or lease-to-own setups like Apple’s Upgrade program.

My used S24 FE looks new, still has five more years of OS updates, and has been working great so far. These aren’t the only ways to get a used phone without looking around on Facebook Marketplace or eBay either; Apple and Google offer used phones on their online stores at a discount, for example.

Samsung’s perks for its certified renewed phones are nice, especially the new battery, but you can find those elsewhere, too. My S24 FE came with Back Market’s one-year warranty. It didn’t come with a new battery, but I haven’t had trouble getting through a couple days on a single charge. Some third-party refurbished phones come with new batteries installed, but you can also do a DIY battery replacement. Even if I had paid to have my phone’s battery professionally replaced, it would still have cost less in total than Samsung’s $489 price for the same pre-owned phone.

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Source: The Verge