The Galaxy S20 is coming, but here are the best deals

[MUSIC] Samsung galaxy S20 is out on Friday, but super premium phone may be out of reach for some. Don't worry, we've got some answers. This is the daily charge. It's Wednesday, March 4. I'm Roger Chang. And with me a special guest Rick bright up at the Samsung Galaxy S20 launches in just two days but even at its lowest price It's 999. For some folks, that's just not an option. So that's we've got Rick on to talk about what else folks can consider, with the S20 coming on the market. Rick, what do you got for us? [LAUGH] Yeah, don't pay full-price for a new phone, not now, not ever. I feel like I have T-shirts made up. By the way, I'm one of those idiots I pay full price I for a while in terms of Samsung and Apple I did pay full price for the latest and greatest part of it is, this job but also I'm an idiot too. [LAUGH] Yeah, well, I mean, the key thing to remember is that you know, the phone prices are gone nuts. You know, we're looking at $1,000 and up for all of the new flagships from Samsung from Apple. And if you're willing to just wait, wait for six months, wait for a year, you can almost cut that phone price in half. So it's just, Rodger be patient man, you can do it. Well here's the thing, right? A lot of folks do time their purchase decision based on when these phone launches right like one of these phones launch. So even if you're even if you don't want to pay, you know, full price for $1,000 as 20 or the latest iPhone, I mean, what are your apps but you're due for an upgrade or you want to upgrade your phone because it's just. It's dying, falling apart. What are your options that if you don't want to pay full price, but you do want to buy a phone, a new phone now, what are your options? Right so what I really recommend is looking to last year's model. I mean Let's remember the days before the s was announced the Galaxy S10 was the flagship phone. Right? Right. And when Samsung announced the S20, they immediately announced price cuts on the OS10 as well they kept those models in the lineup for 150 to $200 less than they were before. So right out of the gate By choosing last year's model you're saving a couple hundred dollars. And part and parcel with that is you can then start to find in third party channels even bigger discounts on last year's model. Recently ran a cheap skate deal where you could get a new unlocked Galaxy S10. For I think it was for 89. Wow. which is again about half of what the price was just a year ago at launch. I mean, that's a great point. What if you do have your heart set on an S20 in terms of like waiting. What sort of the catalyst there, for how long you want to wait versus the discount you're going to get if I wait three months, is it going to drop 20%, 30%? What if you really want to get the latest and greatest, what is the acceptable wait time to get A phone at a decent price. Right. So, basically the longer you wait, the better the discount is probably going to be, but looking back again about a year ago, I remember, I think it was when the new Galaxy notes came out. It was maybe three months later, where I started to see deals of you know, a couple hundred dollars off. So you didn't even have to wait all that long. But I think, especially with the galaxy models, right around the six month mark is where we typically start to see some pretty reliable and decent discounts. And then here we are again a year later, we're now looking at discounts as high as 50%. And that's for a new model or at least new open box model. Versus one that's used or refurbished.>> And you know, you talked a little bit about find deals on specific sites that are there. I mean, do you go to Samsung to go to retailers like where are your preferred places to actually get the best deals for the phones? It really depends on whether you want to get the phone new or you're willing to get it used, certified slash refurbished or whatever. Because that's where the biggest savings are gonna be. Yeah. But there are a few pros and cons, a few compromises to going that route. So, again, if you're looking to buy new you can go through one of the carriers. You can go to Samsung proper. But now we need to start looking at some of the third party options for getting something that's not new. Yeah, let's let's talk about that because I've never purchased a refurbished phone, at least a refurbished smartphone. And I know it's a market that's growing considerably. There's, you know, huge demand for like trade in phones. So. Kind of break it down for you like what were some of the things you have to consider when looking for a refurbished phone like are there? I imagine there pathol just like buying anything used or Pre Owned as the automakers like to say. But what are some of the things to think about when you want to consider a refurbished. Sorry, refurbished phone. Right so there's a couple of key things. Starting with warranty, of course warranty is going to be a huge consideration. You know, it used to be that when you would buy a user refurbished phone, the best warranty you could hope for was 90 days. And you know that's actually not bad because when you think about a phone, what is there really to break?. I mean you can have a screen failure or something like that or a sticky button, but generally these are things that are going to present themselves. Right away so you'll know if there's a problem. But what we're starting to see now in a lot of channels is a full 12 month warranty on used phones. There's a site called back market that I've been tracking pretty closely lately that buys and sells used phones. They back most of the ones that they sell with a 12 month warranty, which is again about what you get from buying a new phone. So the warranty aspect there is about equal. Now you'll want to look closely at the terms of that warranty and find out what's covered. Find out if there's an adoptable, anything like that. But you can feel a little bit more comfortable going that route knowing that there's a year of coverage behind you. And generally when you buy these phones are like are they a scarf? Do they do things to kind of like Polish it up so it doesn't look like a used phone or like what is sort of experience like for someone kind of battling these things? Yeah, that's another consideration as well as what is the physical condition of the phone, does the screen have any scratches are there any scuff marks, things like that? And most of the times these listings will tell you kinda what Okay>> Condition they're in. You might see like a letter grade, you know, this is a B grade phone or an A minus grade phone, or in the case of something like back market or decluttr, which is another by cell service. They have kind of their own grading system like bronze and silver and gold, things like that. And they'll basically tell you, it may show some small signs of a wear but, generally they're not trying to hide anything from you. They're gonna tell you kind of what the condition is. And the other thing I'll note about that is that most of us keep our phones in cases anyway. yeah So there's some scuff marks on the back of the thing or on a ding dark corner or something like that. Also what, you're putting it in a case, the only thing to worry about are there any noticeable scratches on the screen that might really kinda interfere with usage or or enjoyment of the phone. And, any other Pitfalls and you know there is red flags to look out for when going to market shopping for refurbished on either either sites that you'd want to avoid or just other other kind of legal fine print that you should be aware of. You know the big pitfall the big con to choosing one of these phones even if you're getting a 12 month warranty, the issue is you can't really know what the condition of the battery is. And you know, battery is the big driver for a lot of people who buy new phones because you know after a couple years. Your battery life is gonna start to really decrease and so people think now I need to get a new phone. So you might go and look and see hey, there's a there's an iPhone XR for 350 bucks us and it has a 12 month warranty great. But how much mileage is on that battery? There's really no way to know it might have been used for two months and it might have been used for 12 months. And so that's the big question mark, and that's the big, I think, risk associated with buying any used phones from any of these services because they just, they can't tell you what the condition of the battery is. Right. Unless they specifically say this phone has a new battery. Gotcha, gotcha, I mean is that something to look out for? Looking for a clear disclosure that there actually is a new battery that's been put in, or Are you just sort of, Really rare to, Yeah, it's really rare to find that unfortunately, the exception is if you buy from Apple proper. Apple has its own clearance section where you can find refurbished phones any other gear. And one of the things they expressly state is that this phone comes with a new outer case and a new battery. So it's effectively as good as new. But you really just not gonna get that kind of assurance buying else where. Got you. Now other refurbished stones agin that's, implies that you probably going to get an older flow, you talked [UNKNOWN] 10. If you really want this year's sparks, the news process or the The news, memory, you know just the newest bells and whistles. What are some of the alternatives, if you don't want S20 and you don't wanna pay for the Samsung name, what are some if the options for you if you want a high-end phone but you're not willing to fork over a thousand bucks? Right, one of the delas I actially shared a couple of days ago was the LG G8. Yeah. Remember LG? [LAUGH] And that model was down to 400 bucks, which again, I think is less than half of what it was selling for just within the last year. That's a huge drop. Yeah. Motorola is doing some great stuff with Some of the Moto models that are, have lots of higher end features, but their pricing is just amazing and you know two, three, four hundred dollars for a really well equipped phone. So, you know, believe it or not. There are other brands out there besides Apple and Samsung. What? Roger, you're a Samsung user yourself. Apple Samsung actually have a couple of one plus phones and I tend to recommend those for folks who have who want high end specs but not necessary the prices. The price for those phones have creeped up over the years but they're still they're still definitely not at the Samsung Apple level. yet. Yeah, I think the one plus seven just had a price drop as well. And I wanna say it's 100 or 150 bucks below where it was. And I think that's because again, we think there's a new one plus eight coming shortly. Usually launch one in the spring. So we're looking at sometime this month next month may around this time frame is when we'll get a new one. So I'm sure the prices will drop even further for the previous models. Exactly and that's the that's the strategy I always recommend to everyone. If you know that there's a new model coming from whatever kind of your favorite brand or manufacturer is, you can expect that they're going to be price cuts leading up to and immediately after launch of that new model and that's when you want to swoop in Think and Do your upgrade because you're going to do it for hundreds less than you would by getting the newest. All right. Thanks for joining us. If you have any questions during the offseason leave us a voicemail at 862-250-5173. We also accept feedback constructive criticism or haikus. All about the rest of the modern world you can just add us on Twitter. As always if you wanna learn more, there are links to all today's stories, as well as all the places you can subscribe in the description below. Good day at Charge I'm Roger Cheng, thanks for joining us. [MUSIC]