Samsung’s Best Budget Smartphone Is Just $300 on Prime Day

Prime Day 2025 runs from Tuesday, July 8 through Friday, July 11, and Lifehacker is sharing the best sales based on product reviews, comparisons, and price tracking tools.
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New to Prime Day? We’ve got the lowdown on everything you need to know . Sales are accurate at the time of publication, but prices and inventory are always subject to change.
The Galaxy A36 was already a surprisingly good deal at $400, but as part of Prime Day, Samsung is offering $100 off the 5G smartphone, which offers flagship specs at a budget price. At $299.99 for the 128GB model, the Galaxy A36 is the best value for a budget smartphone right now. The Galaxy A36 could easily compete with the Pixel 9a and iPhone SE , which cost much more.
A worthy choice for all occasions
The Galaxy A36 features a huge 6.7-inch Full HD display, a 50-megapixel main camera, and a Qualcomm Snapdragon 6 Gen 3 processor. The screen supports a refresh rate of 120 Hz. The Super AMOLED display is incredibly bright, reaching 1900 nits outdoors. The Snapdragon 6 processor handles all day-to-day tasks well, and 6 GB of RAM ensures its fast performance. The smartphone is equipped with a powerful 5,000 mAh battery with 45 W charging (although wireless charging is not supported). The 50-megapixel camera provides bright photos in Samsung style.
The phone runs Android 15 with Samsung’s One UI skin on top, which offers a number of AI photo-editing features, as well as Google’s Circle search feature. But the best part is the promised six years of OS and security updates. All that in a $300 phone is hard to beat. (PCMag’s expert review gave it an “ Excellent ” rating.)
If you’re looking for a true flagship smartphone, check out the Samsung S25 series – Samsung is offering discounts of $200 to $350 on its entire 2025 smartphone lineup .
Looking for something different? Retailers like Walmart, Best Buy, and Home Depot are running Prime Day sales that are especially helpful if you don’t have an Amazon Prime subscription.
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Walmart’s Prime Day sale starts at midnight on July 8 and includes discounts of up to 50% . It’s an especially great deal for those with a Walmart+ subscription.
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Best Buy’s Prime Day sale , Black Friday in July, runs through Sunday, July 13, and is one of the best tech deals online . It’s an especially good deal for My Best Buy Plus or Total members.
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Home Depot has extended its July 4 sale through at least July 9, competing with some of its own great deals . It’s a particularly good option if you’re looking for power tools, appliances, or outdoor gear.