Best early Cyber Monday 2021 phone deals: Apple, Android, and more – The Verge

Need a new phone? Black Friday weekend and Cyber Monday are a great time to be shopping for a phone for yourself or as a gift to your nearest and dearest this holiday season. This is the time of year when retailers and carriers are dropping their best deals, whether it’s to make room for next year’s models or to sign up new cellular customers. Android users can cash in on a number of excellent deals from the likes of Samsung, Google, OnePlus, and Motorola; however, Apple is notoriously stingy when it comes to iPhone discounts. You might get a gift card or a pair of AirPods when buying an iPhone, or a carrier might offer a higher trade-in value for a “free” iPhone.

Here are all the best early Cyber Monday phone deals we’ve found so far. If possible, we recommend buying an unlocked phone, so there won’t be any strings attached to the purchase. If we include a carrier promotion, we’ll call out each requirement necessary to get the deal. Given all the supply issues many phone makers have been having all year, there might not be a lot of stock available out there. Good luck!

Apple iPhone Deals

From our experience, Apple doesn’t offer price cuts on any of its iPhone models. At most, you’ll get a pair of free AirPods and/or a gift card to use toward a future purchase.

iPhone SE

• The best deal so far is on a prepaid, 64GB iPhone SE (2020), which is now $199 at Walmart with Walmart Family Mobile — that’s a 50 percent discount on a phone with the same chipset as the iPhone 11 and will get four years of software support from Apple.
• You can get a free pair of Beats Studio Buds in black and a virtual gift card for up to $200 if you purchase an iPhone SE and activate it on Visible Wireless. You’ll need to transfer your number and make at least three months of payments before you’ll be able to redeem your gift, however. Read our full review.
• You can get 12 months of your Mint Mobile data plan for free if you port your number to Mint and purchase an iPhone SE (2020), which is available in several configurations starting at $579. Read our full review.

iPhone 13, 13 mini, 13 Pro, and 13 Max

• You can get $300 on a Walmart e-gift card with the purchase of an iPhone 13 or iPhone 13 Mini on either AT&T or Verizon. The exact amount depends on which iPhone you choose (see below), and you can also get an additional $250 Walmart e-gift card by trading in an eligible phone. The deal runs through December 3rd, but you need to activate the new phone no later than December 3rd at 11:59PM local time to take advantage of the deal. If you prefer to get this deal and trade-in squared away in person, you need to schedule an in-person appointment, starting as early as 5AM on November 26th. This in-store deal also ends on December 3rd.
• You can get a free pair of wireless earbuds and a virtual gift card for up to $200, depending on which iPhone your purchase and activate on Visible Wireless. You’ll need to transfer your number and make at least three months of payments before you’ll be able to redeem your gift, however. If you opt for an iPhone 13, iPhone 13 Pro, or iPhone 13 Pro Max, you’ll get a pair of AirPods Pro. If you buy an iPhone 13 mini, you’ll get a pair of Beats Studio Buds.
• You can get six months of your Mint Mobile data plan for free if you port your number to Mint and purchase an iPhone 13 Pro or iPhone 13 Pro Max, which start at $1,000 and $1,100, respectively.
• You can get up to $1,000 off an iPhone 13 Pro, and $130 off a second-gen pair of AirPods, when you sign up for the Magenta Max plan with eligible trade-ins. This deal is available to new and existing customers.

iPhone 12, 12 mini, 12 Pro, and 12 Pro Max

• At Walmart, you can get a Walmart e-gift card for $350 with the purchase of select iPhone 12 models on either AT&T or Verizon, though the exact amount depends on which iPhone you choose (see below). You can also get an additional $250 Walmart e-gift card by trading in an eligible phone. This deal runs through December 3rd, but you need to activate the new phone no later than December 3rd at 11:59PM local time to take advantage of the deal. If you prefer to get this deal and trade-in squared away in person, you need to schedule an in-person appointment, starting as early as 5AM local time on November 26th. The in-store deal also runs through December 3rd.

iPhone 12: $350 Walmart gift card

• You can get a free pair of Beats Studio Buds in black and a virtual gift card for up to $200 if you purchase an iPhone 12 mini, Pro, or Pro Max and activate it on Visible Wireless. You’ll need to transfer your number and make at least three months of payments before you’ll be able to redeem your gift, however.
• You can get six months of your Mint Mobile data plan for free if you port your number to Mint and purchase an iPhone 12, which starts at $729.

Samsung phone deals

This year’s Samsung phone deals aren’t much better than Apple’s: you get a free pair of Galaxy Buds 2, but there aren’t any deep price cuts unless you have some devices you can trade in.