Photo by Allison Johnson / The Verge
Sony’s Xperia 1 III has a few things that other flagship phones don’t, including a near-4K, 120Hz OLED display, along with plenty of high-quality manual photo and video controls, dual front-facing speakers, and a headphone jack. And yet, The Verge’s Allison Johnson couldn’t recommend it — mostly due to its high $1,300 cost. Though, today’s deal on the phone makes the price just a little more digestible. For only the second time since it launched during the summer, Sony’s unlocked Xperia 1 III smartphone has returned to its all-time low price of $1,198 at Amazon and Adorama.
For context, that’s around the same price as the iPhone 12 Pro Max and even cheaper than the Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra with equivalent storage capacity. Best Buy also has the smartphone on sale for $1,199.99, yet the retailer is also throwing in a free Microsoft 365 trial and a 50 percent discount on an Ultra Mobile SIM kit, if those things matter to you. For those impressed enough by the promise of the phone’s screen and its excellent photo and video-shooting capabilities, this could be a great chance to snag the device before the price goes up.
Lenovo’s excellent Legion 5 Pro gaming laptop is selling at a great price over at Antonline. While it costs around $1,850 at Walmart (it’s rarely in stock for its $1,530 MSRP, unfortunately), it’s down to $1,489.99 at Antonline, and the value is tough to beat for this price. This model has a 16-inch 16:10 aspect ratio display at QHD Plus resolution, AMD’s Ryzen 7 5800H processor, Nvidia’s RTX 3070 graphics chip (with a total graphics power of 130W), 16GB of RAM, and a 512GB SSD. Basically, it’s a stacked machine.
The Verge’s Cameron Faulkner reviewed this laptop in 2021, praising its performance and specs for the price. He even went as far as to refer to it as “Lenovo’s best gaming laptop yet.” The Legion 5 Pro also impressed with its typing experience and the amount of ports available. It’s tough to find a laptop that’s this powerful for under $1,800. For context, it’s about as capable as Asus’ ROG Zephyrus G15. Read our review.
Looking to warm up your home while saving a bit of money on heating costs? Right now, Amazon is selling the Ecobee SmartThermostat for $199 ($50 off), matching its Black Friday price. The smart thermostat features a touchscreen display that we found was more responsive and easier to navigate than the one on its predecessor. It also supports voice controls and flexible scheduling, and it includes an external temperature sensor that will help maintain comfort in remote rooms. This smart thermostat offers support for HomeKit and Siri and is also compatible with Alexa, Google Assistant, IFTTT, and SmartThings.
One of our picks for the best SSDs compatible with the PlayStation 5 recently dropped to its lowest price to date. Normally $229.99, B&H Photo is selling the 1TB version of Samsung’s lightning-quick 980 Pro PCIe 4.0 M.2 SSD for $149.99 (discount applies at checkout). That’s $80 off one of the few drives out there that meets Sony’s performance requirements for its latest console, assuming you have a heatsink like EKWB’s EK-M2 NVMe to pair with it. This M.2 SSD also works with PC, but you need to have a compatible motherboard to enjoy its advertised PCIe 4.0 speeds. Otherwise, it’ll still work but at slower speeds.
If you prefer earbuds to headphones, you still have four days left to snag a set of Samsung’s Galaxy Buds 2 for their lowest price to date. Regularly $149.99, Woot is selling the true wireless earbuds — which come with support for active noise cancellation — for $99.99 through January 3rd. Note, however, that these don’t come with Samsung’s one-year warranty but rather a 90-day warranty through Woot. Think twice about this. We’ve seen the price at other retailers dipping down to around $110, but Woot’s deal might be the one you want.
After reviewing them, my colleague Chris Welch was impressed by their audio quality as well as their small, discreet design. In fact, these wireless earbuds are easily some of Samsung’s smallest and lightest yet. Read our review.
Some other good deals happening now:
If you need a new power adapter, you can buy Apple’s official 20W USB-C adapter for $15.69 instead of $19 at Amazon, its lowest price to date.
A few of Oculus’ must-have accessories for the Quest 2 headset are still discounted, including the Elite Strap at $39 (usually $49) and the hard zip-up case for $39 (also normally $49).
You can reserve a pair of the AirPods Max at Micro Center for $429.99, though they’re currently only available for in-store pickup in select regions.
Amazon is discounting the Eve Energy Strip, selling it for an all-time low of $79.96 when you clip the on-page coupon. The Eve Energy Strip makes it easy to independently control three power outlets via Siri, an app, or using a handful of other devices while at home or away.
Amazon and Best Buy are both selling Razer’s Basilisk v2 wired gaming mouse for $34.99 instead of $79.99. The latter is also offering a $10 discount on Microsoft’s PC Game Pass with your purchase.