Amazon October Prime Day 2022: best tablet and phone deals

You don’t want to sleep on Amazon’s Prime Early Access Sale if you’re looking for deals on tech products, particularly phones or tablets. Now through tomorrow, October 12th, you’ll be able to save a good amount of cash on some unlocked Pixel phones, a few of Apple’s latest iPads, and a bevy of Amazon-branded Fire tablets. It’s not a total who’s who of a deal event like Black Friday and Cyber Monday — there aren’t really any iPhone deals — but there are more than enough deals to make it worth putting together this post.

If you’re looking for our main post on Prime Early Access Sale deals, we’ve got you covered here. And if you want to see all of our coverage, including posts on individual products we think are worth your money, check out The Verge’s guide to Amazon’s Prime Early Access Sale.

The best phone deals

• If you’re after an Android phone that won’t cost you much, works with lots of carriers, and just keeps going with incredible battery life, check out the Moto G Power from 2021. It has 64GB of storage, 4GB of RAM, and a big screen with a hole-punch selfie cam. It costs $149.99, down $100 from its original price. Read our review.
• Google’s Pixel 6A is on sale at Amazon for $329 in all three colors, which is $20 less than its recent sale price and $120 less than the retail cost. Considering that this phone has the same Tensor processor found in the Pixel 6, $329 is a heck of a good deal. Read our review.

• The Pixel 6A is tempting at $329, but depending on what you want in a phone, you might be better off paying $50 more for the Pixel 6 with 128GB of storage. It’s currently $379 for Prime members. Unlike the Pixel 6A, this one has a 90Hz refresh rate display and better rear-facing cameras. Read our Pixel 6 review.
• Samsung’s S22 lineup of phones is discounted at Amazon, with the S22 Plus with 128GB of storage going for $739.99 (originally $999.99) and the high-end Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra with 128GB of storage going for $889.99 (originally $1,199.99). Sadly, the base S22 isn’t seeing any kind of major discount right now.
• If you want a foldable phone at a discount, you’re in luck (but it still won’t be affordable). The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4 with 256GB of storage is currently discounted to $1,389.99. That sounds like a lot, but it’s actually a $410 discount on its original price. Read our review.

• The smaller, more affordable Galaxy Z Flip 4, which flips up like a flip phone, is on sale for $859.99 at Amazon, a $200 discount. This version has 256GB of storage and comes in a variety of colors. Read our review.

The best tablet deals

• The ninth-generation iPadwith 64GB of storage and Wi-Fi capabilities is $269 (originally $329) at Amazon and Best Buy. Keep in mind that this model may soon become outdated if Apple announces newer versions sometime in October, as is expected.

• The 2022 iPad Air with Apple’s M1 processor, 64GB of storage, and Wi-Fi connectivity is $519 ($80 off) at Best Buy and Amazon. If you want more storage, the 256GB model is also on sale for $669 ($80 off). Read our review.
• Apple’s latest iPad Mini with USB-C charging and 64GB of storage is down to $399.99 at Best Buy. While we’ve seen this $100-off deal before, it’s always nice to see it come back.

• Amazon’s latest, ad-supported Kindle Paperwhite with 8GB of storage is on sale for $99.99 instead of $139.99at Amazon, Best Buy, and Target, which is just $5 shy of the discount we saw during Prime Day (you know, the one in July). Read our review.

• Of all the budget-friendly tablets in Amazon’s current Fire lineup, the Fire HD 10 is the one we typically recommend, thanks to its sharp 1080p display and relatively good performance. You can currentlybuy it with ads and 32GB of storage for $74.99 at Amazon, Best Buy, and Target, a 50 percent discount. Read our review.
• You can also buy the ad-supported, 32GB Fire HD 10 Plus — which features support for wireless charging and more RAM than the base model — for $104.99 ($75 off) at Amazon, Best Buy, and Target.