The feeling of excitement you get when buying a new phone is unmatched. However, the timing of buying a new phone can prove crucial in determining its cost-effectiveness. Buying a phone the day it goes on sale might feel good as you’re among the first to own it, but there might be some complications involved. It’s important to maximize your savings when buying a new headset. The money that’s saved can be utilized towards a better network, data plans or buying accessories. Here are some of the best times to buy a new phone.

During the pre-order period

If you’re hell-bent on buying a phone right after its launch, a much better idea would be to buy it in the pre-order phase. Here’s how pre-order works – right after the phone is released, companies like Samsung, OnePlus, Apple, Google also announce a launch date and a pre-order date. Pre-ordering means you can book the phone in advance and you will receive it the day it is launched. The benefits of pre-ordering depend on phone companies. You can expect two types of deals if you pre-order a phone. You can either get a flat discount or expect a bunch of free goodies or gift certificates. The free goodies can include wireless earphones/headphones, or smart speakers. This completely depends on the cellphone provider. It’s important to know that pre-order deals are generally reserved for popular and high-end devices.

A few examples of pre-order deals we’ve seen in the past are the Galaxy S10 phones, which came with a free pair of Galaxy Buds worth $130 and Note 10 which gave consumers who pre-ordered a $100 Samsung gift card. If they bought it from Amazon, they received a free Echo Plus smart speaker.

Up to a month or so before the new model comes out

For people who are happy buying a soon-to-be-last-gen model, the best time to buy a phone is a month or before the phone’s successor is about to release. To activate sales for old phones during new launches, companies often drop prices of the old models. While the models might not be up-to-date, they come at an affordable price, helping you save quite some money. To give you an instance, the Google Pixel 3, which was launched with an $800 price tag in 2018, was available for just $400 in October 2019. This was just a week before the Pixel 4 series was announced.

During Black Friday

Every fourth Thursday of November every year brings with it the amazing Black Friday sale. This sale offers great options for savings, especially when buying phones, electronics, and appliances. There are tons of deals available online as well, in order to avoid the crowd in showrooms.

A Black Friday sale can help you save enough money that can be spent on something else. For example, last year’s Black Friday had deals like below:

Pixel 4 – $600 ($200 off)

Moto G7 – $180 ($120 off)

Samsung Galaxy S10 Plus – $700 ($300 off)

Samsung Galaxy Note 10 Plus – $800 ($250 off)

During Amazon Prime Day

Prime Day is another time of the year when you can save money via discounts and offers. Amazon has been running the Prime Day feature since 2015. They offer big discounts on phones, electronics, and just about everything. This event takes place in the middle of July. A Prime membership also gives you early access to Prime Day.