Deals: Black Friday sales drop on the Galaxy S24 and Pixel 9 series flagships

Black Friday, the actual day, has finally arrived. At this point we assume you already know what type of phone you’re looking for, so we’ll get straight to it. Where possible we tried to group related phones. And before you ask, Apple is rolling it out, so it’s an Android bonus.

This means that the best camera phone you can get will be the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra or the top Pixel. Both cost about the same, both will last you about 7 years (with software support and repair parts available), both have larger screens and batteries. If you haven’t already, check out our Galaxy S24 Ultra vs Pixel 9 Pro XL article for a head-to-head comparison.

If they’re huge, the Samsung Galaxy S24 and Google Pixel 9 Pro are considerably smaller – take a look at the 3D size comparison and see how they stack up against each other. The Samsung has more processing power (Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 vs Tensor G4), but the Pixel has more RAM – double in the case of the S24 vs 9 Pro.

There’s also the Google Pixel 9 – it’s the same size as the 9 Pro, has a similar screen (lower resolution and it’s not an LTPO panel), the main and ultra-wide cameras are actually identical, but not the telephoto lens. It’s also the same G4 chipset, although it only has 12GB of RAM (the same as the S24 Ultra).

The Samsung Galaxy S24+ is a big phone – not as much as the Ultra, but still. Its cameras are the same as the smaller S24, so not as capable as the Ultra. Still, you get a faster, bigger screen and a bigger battery (with fast 45W charging to boot) than the smaller S24.

Alternatively, you can get a similarly sized display (lower resolution, FHD+ vs QHD+) at a lower price with the Samsung Galaxy S24 FE. Our comparison article has more details on what you’re giving up.

The Samsung Galaxy A35 is slated to get 4 OS updates and flaunts a 6.6” 120Hz FHD+ OLED display, 50+8MP camera, and a 5,000mAh battery. The Exynos 1380 is decent, but not great.

“Decent but not great” is more than can be said about the Tensor G3 inside the Google Pixel 8a. This phone is small with 6.1” display and will get 7 OS updates. The camera is 64+13MP and the battery is of 4,492mAh capacity.

If you’re looking to get into foldables or upgrade from an older model, there’s a solid $500 off on the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold6. It features Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 performance and mature multitasking features of One UI. The Google Pixel 9 Pro Fold is thinner (10.5mm off vs 12.1 for the Samsung) but heavier (257g vs 239g).

This is with a larger 8.0” internal display compared to 7.6”. Only the Galaxy foldables have dust resistance (IP48), the other foldables are only water resistant (IPX8). The Z Fold6 has a 50+10+12MP camera, while the Pixel has a 48+10.8+10.5MP camera with a longer telephoto lens (112mm vs 66mm).

The other type of foldable, the Flip type, is represented by the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 6 and the Motorola Razr 2024. Samsung has a much faster chipset (Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 vs Dimensity 7300X). Both have comparable cover displays (3.4″ vs 3.6″) and internal displays (6.7″ vs 6.9″), similar batteries (4,000mAh vs 4,200mAh) and cameras (50+12MP vs 50+13MP).

If you like Moto but want more performance, the Motorola Razr+ 2023 is largely identical to the Razr 2024 except with the Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 chipset.

The Red Magic 9S Pro is a gaming phone with a unique feature – an active cooling fan, so that its Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chipset maintains top performance even during long gaming sessions. The phone has a 6.8” display with an under display camera so it is a perfect rectangle. It has a large 6,500mAh battery with 80W fast charging (100% in 35 minutes).

Lastly, the HMD Barbie is a simple feature phone that can keep little ones away from social media and it’s pink in color.