Best Note 20 deals of August 2021: $250 off Note 20 Ultra, trade-in deals, and more

Samsung Galaxy Note 20 Ultra
Samsung Galaxy Note 20 Ultra (Image credit: Andrew Martonik / Android Central)

The Galaxy Note 20 series are two of the best Android phones right now. If you're already a fan of the Note lineup, then you'll have a lot to be excited about with the new generation. If you aren't a fan, you should be. The phones have all the latest from Samsung, including a powerful Qualcomm Snapdragon 865+ processor, a triple camera setup, 5G connectivity, and a new and improved S Pen stylus.

Being brand new, these phones are going to set you back a penny or two, but we're on top of that. We've got every place you can find the Note 20 (or the Note 20 Ultra) and every deal available right now.

The Note 20 starts at $1,000 and the Note 20 Ultra starts at $1,300. The more you add, like extra storage, the more you're going to pay. Obviously investing in a new phone, especially one as advanced as the Note 20, is not a super cheap proposition. Given all the features on these phones, though, it's tough to imagine there's anything but that high price holding you back.

You can cut into both of those prices by finding the right carrier, making a switch to save some money, or even trading in your older phone for a few bucks off your new one. One thing to look out for is bundled deals. Samsung released a lot of other new products, like the Galaxy Buds Live true wireless earbuds, alongside the Note 20. It would not be surprising to see the smartphone bundled with the earbuds at a discount eventually.

Best Note 20 Unlocked Deals

Between unlocked and carrier deals, the former tend to have a lot more options just because carriers have lots of ways to save between sending you gift cards, offering trade-in programs, and doing "buy one, get one"-type discounts. Carrier deals often mean long-term commitments and monthly bills, though, too. If you'd rather avoid that and just pay for everything upfront, these are the best unlocked deals available right now.

Best Note 20 Carrier Deals

Carrier deals generally require a commitment between 18 and 36 months (most often just 24). The "savings" also usually come in the form of a promo credit applied to your monthly bill over the course of that commitment. So these deals tend to be a bit more long-term than other deals, but you also have the potential to save a whole lot more over that time period. If you're a long-term thinker, you should feel good about the opportunities for saving here.

Note 20 Price Tracking

The first deals we'll see on the Note 20 are incentive deals. The "We know you're going to buy it, so buy it here" sort of deals that probably won't save you a whole lot but will be designed to make you pick Place A over Place B. You also can expect to see major carriers offering deals that don't really save you money on the phone but could save you money in other ways, like if you buy one Note 20 you can buy another Galaxy phone and get that one discounted (sometimes up to $1,000 off). The trick to tracking prices is really how do you compare all the different little incentives these companies have? What's better, $1,000 as a promo credit over the course of 24 months or $700 off right now with a trade-in? Are you even eligible for the trade-in? Do you want it unlocked instead, and are you willing to pay a lot more upfront for that? What sort of deals can you expect in that case?

All of these deals are good in one way or the other, and there will be some that speak more to your situation than others. We keep an eye on the deals as they arise and drop them all in here for you to decide. The great thing about the Galaxy Note 20 being so popular is that deals will not be rare. Pick your favorite carrier, make a switch to a new one, or abandon the multi-month commitment altogether with an Unlocked phone. The choice is yours.

Note 20 vs. Note 20 Ultra: Which one should you buy?

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Despite being a part of the same lineup, these two phones actually have a lot of differences. Despite having the same Qualcomm Snapdragon 865+ processor, AMOLED displays, a few extras like 5G connectivity, and similarities in the design and aesthetics, the Note 20 Ultra brings a lot more to the table. In particular, the Ultra has a resolution of 3088 x 1440 with a 120Hz refresh rate compared to the Note 20's 2400 x 1080 pixel resolution and 60Hz refresh rate. The Ultra has a much more advanced triple camera system and a larger battery. Of course, as should be expected, it also costs more. The deals will probably favor the Note 20 more overall, too.

John Levite
J.D. Levite has been in the deals game since 2012. He has posted daily deals at Gizmodo, The Wirecutter, The Sweethome, and now for Thrifter. He was there for the first Prime Day and has braved the full force of Black Friday. If you cut him, he bleeds savings. But don't try it for real. That's a metaphor.