You don’t have to spend thousands on a brand new phone during RAMageddon.
You don’t have to spend thousands on a brand new phone during RAMageddon.
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I recently bought a used Galaxy phone, and now Samsung is leaning into that market on Amazon after raising prices on its newest phones . Its certified renewed phones are available on Amazon for the first time, with a new battery and a one-year warranty. They currently start at $489 for the Galaxy S24 FE with 128GB of storage, significantly less than its $649 launch price, or $699 for the current-gen S26 FE.
I got that exact same phone in August after cracking the screen on my Nothing CMF Phone 1. But my used 128GB Galaxy S24 FE cost $329 on Back Market, over $100 less than the certified renewed one Samsung is offering. I’ve gone with preowned phones a couple of times now since I don’t use my phone for anything that justifies paying hundreds more for a new one . I’d rather not go into debt for a new phone with a buy-now-pay-later program, either, or lease-to-own setups like Apple’s Upgrade program .
My used S24 FE looks new, still has five more years of OS updates, and has been working great so far. These aren’t the only ways to get a used phone without looking around on Facebook Marketplace or eBay either; Apple and Google offer used phones on their online stores at a discount, for example.
Samsung’s perks for its certified renewed phones are nice, especially the new battery, but you can find those elsewhere, too. My S24 FE came with Back Market’s one-year warranty . It didn’t come with a new battery, but I haven’t had trouble getting through a couple days on a single charge. Some third-party refurbished phones come with new batteries installed, but you can also do a DIY battery replacement . Even if I had paid to have my phone’s battery professionally replaced, it would still have cost less in total than Samsung’s $489 price for the same pre-owned phone.
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