Deal: Samsung Galaxy S24 FE pre-orders start, but there are better offers to consider

Samsung unveiled the Galaxy S24 FE this week along with two premium tablets. But are any of them really worth it? Let’s first look at the phone.

The price of Samsung Galaxy S24 FE starts at $650 and you can get up to $400 trade-in credit. Additionally, you can pick up other FE gadgets, the Galaxy Watch FE and Galaxy Buds FE, at half price. We’ll take a look at accessories in a moment.

The FE will receive 7 OS updates and 7 years of security patches. Will a device with 8GB RAM and 128GB storage still be usable after 7 years? Who knows, Android isn’t as thin as it used to be and it’s not getting any thinner. Nor are all the apps.

The Samsung Galaxy S24+ also has a 6.7” display, but it’s an FHD+ non-LTPO display versus the QHD+ LTPO panel on the FE. And despite having a larger 200mAh battery, the Plus is actually slightly smaller and 17 grams lighter. The Plus also wins the charging race with 45W vs 25W over a wire. Instead of Exynos 2400e, you will get Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 and it comes with 12GB RAM.

With no trade-in, the Galaxy S24+ gets a $200 discount, so the base 12/256GB model drops to $800 — not far off the 8/256GB S24 FE at $710. However, the older S21+ will be discounted by $400 due to a promo campaign that boosts the trade-in value. It’s a worthwhile upgrade and a good price for a three-year-old phone.

Samsung also has a certified refurbished program for its older models, but it doesn’t mean much – pricing for the Galaxy S23+ starts at $770 for an 8/256GB unit. However, the trade-in offer here is even better. Even an old, cheap phone with a cracked screen is worth $300 – that’s the price you can get for a damaged Galaxy A13, for example. The S21+ is also priced at $300, so it’s best if you have a cheap old device to send.

Or you can pick up a refurbished Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra. Prices start at $920 and trade-in offers aren’t that good, but a damaged Galaxy A13 will still get a $150 credit, which is more than it’s worth. An S21+ in good condition can fetch $300.

We mentioned that if you buy FE gadgets with the S24 FE you can get them at a 50% discount. This includes the Samsung Galaxy Watch FE, which normally costs $200 for the Bluetooth model (it’s currently $20 off). However, Samsung is also launching an LTE version of this watch, which is priced at $250. Note that the Watch FE is only available in the 40mm size. This isn’t a big problem for the Galaxy Watch FE LTE’s main audience – students who aren’t allowed to bring smartphones to school.

You can also get the Galaxy Buds FE, which are stemless unlike the Galaxy Buds3 and Buds3 Pro. These are $100 (their MSRP) and we’ve certainly seen plenty of discounts for them, but $50 is a good price (when purchased with the S24 FE).

If you decide to go with the Galaxy S24 FE, here are some official cases to consider:

Samsung also introduced new flagship tablets, but this time only 12.4″ and 14.6″ models. Both use the Dimensity 9300+ chipset instead of Snapdragon and focus heavily on AI – the optional keyboard cover even has a dedicated button for the Galaxy AI Assistant.

Speaking of, here’s the Book Cover Keyboard Slim for the Galaxy Tab S10+ and Tab S10 Ultra.

We weren’t able to find a good deal on last year’s Galaxy Tab S9 Ultra, but we did find a much cheaper Galaxy Tab S9+. The upgrades for the 2024 generations are quite minor. Samsung says the Dimensity 9300+ has an 18% faster CPU, 28% faster GPU, and 14% faster NPU. Not bad, but the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 inside the Tab S9 series is no slouch either.