Holiday Rush for Smartphone Deals Is On

Target is joining the holiday rush for smartphone deals. It's dealing on select Apple products on Black Friday weekend, giving away a $200 store gift card with the purchase and activation of iPhone 11 and X series phones on AT&T or Verizon beginning Friday at 7 a.m. Samsung mobile deals include a $400 Target gift card with the purchase of a Galaxy S10, S10 Plus or Note10 Plus with qualified activation from Thanksgiving through the following Sunday, said Target's advertisement. The Samsung Galaxy smartwatch is a Black Friday doorbuster at $80 off to $249. Google smartphones will be a Target deal from Thanksgiving when doors open at 5 p.m. through Sunday, netting customers who buy the Pixel 4 or 4 XL smartphones a $300 gift card with activation; they can get a $550 Target gift card buying the Pixel 3 or 3 XL. Carriers are getting into the mix. Sprint is leveraging its monthly phone plans to amortize the cost of an Apple Watch, taking the sting out of the $499 sticker price. The wireless carrier is rolling in the cost of a Series 5 Apple Watch for as little as $10.42 monthly on a 24-month contract, knocking half off the overall price. Samsung pitched customers by email Monday with the subject line: “Early holiday deals are almost here.” Customers were encouraged to “let us know what you're looking for this season” so they will be among the first to know when holiday deals drop. Within minutes of replying, we had an email from Samsung pitching free Galaxy Buds and a Galaxy Fit tracker with the purchase of a 512 GB Galaxy S10 smartphone. We could get $100 in Samsung credit, along with four months free of a YouTube Premium subscription by buying a Galaxy Tab S6 tablet. We were offered $600 on a Note10 or S10 with an eligible trade-in of an iPhone, Galaxy or Pixel smartphone. The iPhone XS Max and Galaxy S10 plus showed highest trade-in value, $600, for a limited time, at the Samsung website.