Amazon’s Prime Big Deal Days are coming back on October 7 and it will be a two-day event. We are still a couple of weeks out from that, but the retailer is building up hype with some early deals – even better, these don’t require a Prime subscription.
The Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge may have launched first, but is it better than the iPhone Air? You can check out our comparison for a more detailed breakdown. It’s important to note that the iPhone starts at $1,000 for the 256GB model, which is currently $300 more than its Galaxy opponent. And we won’t be seeing discount prices on the 2025 iPhones anytime soon.
Meanwhile, the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra will be up against the iPhone 17 Pro Max. The Pros got a new telephoto camera this year – a 4x 48MP unit replaced the 5x 12MP unit. The S25 Ultra, of course, has two telephoto modules – 3x 10MP and 5x 50MP. Apple still has no answer for Samsung’s 200MP cameras that are in the Galaxy S25 Ultra and S25 Edge.
The Samsung Galaxy S25 will compete against the iPhone 17 Pro – or perhaps against the vanilla iPhone 17. With a small discount, the S25 costs $800 for a 256GB phone – exactly the MSRP of the iPhone 17, which now has 256GB base storage. Sure, the Galaxy has a 3x 10MP telephoto camera, while the iPhone relies on zoom from the main. However, the vanilla iPhone quickly caught up in other ways, e.g. with a 120Hz LTPO display – with an anti-reflective coating to boot!
For a cheaper, bigger option, the Samsung Galaxy S25 FE is still available with a free storage upgrade (128GB to 256GB) and a $100 gift card from Amazon. This phone has a 6.7” 120Hz LTPO display and last year’s flagship Exynos 2400 chipset. The 50+8+12MP camera setup includes a 3x 8MP telephoto module. Also, this year’s FE supports 45W wired charging – beating the vanilla S25’s 25W.
OnePlus phones are pretty light on discounts recently, but they have an inherent price advantage to begin with. The OnePlus 13 has a roomy 6.82” 120Hz LTPO display and triple 50MP camera, including a 3x/75mm periscope. The 6,000mAh battery supports fast wired (80W) and wireless (50W charging). The phone is powered by the Snapdragon 8 Elite.
If you are looking at the FE, consider the OnePlus 13R. It also uses last year’s flagship chipset, but it’s the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3. It has a 6.78” 120Hz LTPO display and a 6,000mAh battery with 80W wired-only charging. The 50+50+8MP camera isn’t as capable as the flagship model, but it does have a 50MP 2x/47mm telephoto module. The price is the same as the S25 FE, if you factor in that $100 gift card.
Yet another year goes by without an Apple foldable, which leaves Android as the only option. The flagship Z Flip isn’t on sale right now, but the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip7 FE is down to $700 – that’s with only 128GB storage, though. We’d recommend spending the extra $60 to get 256GB.
The other form factor is the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold7, which measures just 8.9mm thick when closed and weighs 215g. For comparison, the iPhone 17 Pro Max is 8.8mm thick and is heavier at 233g. However, the Z Fold7 offers a 6.5” cover display and a large 8.0” display inside – the iPhone only has the 6.9″ display on its front.
Motorola is the other maker of foldables – only clamshell style for now. The Motorola Razr 2025 is cheaper than the Z Flip7 FE, but the Dimensity 7400X is in a lower class compared to the Exynos 2400. However, the Razr matches the Galaxy with an IP48 dust and water resistance rating.
The more capable Motorola Razr+ 2025 features the Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 and a larger 4.0” cover display (vs. 3.6” on the regular Razr). All three models have 6.9” 1080p+ LTPO displays – the Motorolas have a higher refresh rate, though (165Hz vs. 120Hz).
Advertised as early Prime Day deals, but not requiring a Prime subscription, are the Samsung Galaxy Tab S10 FE and Tab S10 FE+. These have 10.9” and 13.1” 90Hz IPS LCDs and use the same Exynos 1580 chipset.
The Samsung Galaxy Tab S10 FE is another 10.9″ 90Hz LCD tablet from Samsung and it’s cheaper than the Tab S10 FE. However, it has a lower quality panel and uses an older chipset (Exynos 1380). Still, if you don’t need performance, you can save some cash and get a free Book Cover while you’re at it.
You can go the other way too and pay more for a more powerful tablet – the new Samsung Galaxy Tab S11. This one has a premium 11″ 120Hz OLED display and a flagship Dimensity 9400+ chipset, plus full DeX support. Right now the offer is for a free storage upgrade, i.e. getting a 256GB slate for the price of a 128GB one.
You know that Amazon will also push its own products during the Prime sale. No e-readers yet (we’ll check again next week), but Amazon’s Fire tablets do get solid discounts.
There are 8”, 10” and 11” models. Note that all of them are supported with ads on the lockscreen (you can pay a bit extra to remove them). The only exception is the 128GB Fire Max 11, which makes it a worthwhile upgrade over the 64GB model. All three Fire tablets have microSD slots, so you can add a lot of storage for not much money.
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