Monday, December 23, 2024

Deals: iPhone 16 series goes on sale, prices of Android phones drop

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The iPhone 16 series went on sale this Friday with brand new Camera Control and Action Button, plus new ultra wide cameras – quadruple the resolution (48MP) for the Pros and autofocus for the vanilla models. And, of course, Apple Intelligence AI for all four, but that one isn’t ready yet – that will reach India next year(at least the version in English).

Here are the four new iPhone models. The vanilla duo still uses the 6.1” and 6.7” 60Hz displays like the 2023 models. The iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max got larger and their displays now measure 6.3” and 6.9”, respectively. The two Pros also have new 48MP ultra wide cameras. The small Pro also got the same 5x 12MP periscope as the Pro Max (the 15 Pro had a 3x tele lens).

As is tradition, Apple discontinued the old Pro models, but the iPhone 15 and 15 Plus are still available. Their chipsets are two generations behind and the RAM capacity is smaller, so these won’t be updated with Apple Intelligence. Other than that, the only other major difference is the new Camera Control and the Action Button that all 16-series models have.

We will briefly look at some Android offers too, but keep in mind that the Amazon Great Indian Festival starts next week (September 26) and it promises massive discounts.

Like several other phones below, the Samsung Galaxy M35 comes with a straight discount, plus an additional discount available for select credit and debit cards. In the case of the M35, any card will do for an extra ₹2,000 off. The M35 is similar to the Galaxy A35, except that it trades the IP67 dust and water resistance rating for a larger 6,000mAh battery.

Note that the Galaxy M35 will be part of the Great Indian Festival (GIF). Between new bank offers and coupons, its price could drop as low as ₹13,750, so you may want to hold off.

There are a few other differences between the M35 and A35, but the price gap is hard to ignore. And this is with some pretty solid discounts for the Galaxy A35, which gets a straight discount and ₹5,000 off on all bank cards.

The Samsung Galaxy A55 has a similar deal, except that it’s ₹6,000 off on all bank cards. Check out our Galaxy A55 vs. A35 article for more details on how these two compare.

The Tecno Pova 6 Neo 5G launched last week. It’s an affordable 5G handset that flaunts a 108MP camera, but naturally some cutbacks had to be made. The Dimensity 6300 chipset won’t impress with performance and the 6.67” 120Hz IPS LCD has only HD+ resolution. Oh, and that 108MP camera is basically alone on the back. The 5,000mAh battery is decently sized, but it charges at only 18W.

The Pova 6 Neo 5G will also be part of the GIF sales with an advertised price as low as ₹12,750. However, the current discount and bank offer get you there this week.

The Lava Blaze 3 5G is another newcomer, also an affordable 5G phone. It’s based on the same Dimensity 6300 chipset and has a 6.56” 90Hz IPS LCD with HD+ resolution. The 5,000mAh battery charges at 18W. The one major difference between these two is that the Blaze has a 50MP rear camera.

Are you interested in getting a flip foldable? The Motorola Razr 40 Ultra is in mid-range Android territory with a massive 63% price cut. It’s a year old, of course, so it uses the Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 chipset instead of the 8s Gen 3 like the 2024 model. And the cover display is smaller but hardly tiny (3.6” vs. 4.0”).

The Motorola Razr 50 Ultra costs more than double, but a free pair of Moto Buds+ help soften the blow. This one has a faster chipset and a larger cover display. Also, the new 50+50MP camera replaces the old 12+13MP pair and makes an interesting choice – instead of an ultra wide module, there is a 2x portrait cam. The battery is bigger at 4,000mAh (200mAh more than the Razr 40 Ultra) and charging is faster, especially the wireless option at 45/15W vs. 30/5W. And one final reason why you might want to pay double, the basic water resistance of the 2023 phone has been replaced by a proper IPX8 rating.

The OnePlus Nord CE4 Lite is currently ₹20,000 with a ₹2,000 discount on select credit cards. It’s a pretty good deal, however, the effective price will be even lower (₹17,000, Amazon says) during the Great Indian Festival, so you might want to wait until next week.

The GIF sales will have heavily discounted Galaxy S23 Ultra units, deals on the Galaxy Z Flip6 and Z Fold6, the OnePlus 11R and 12R, various Nords, iQOOs, Realmes, Redmis, Pocos and more. See you again this time next week for all the best deals.

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