Tech
Need a New Phone? We’ve Found Excellent Black Friday Deals on Our Favorites
It’s the best time of year to buy a new smartphone. I review dozens and dozens of handsets every year, and I exclusively recommend you buy them unlocked—don’t be beholden to a carrier! But the sticker shock of a new phone can be scary; these Black Friday phone deals can help ease the burden on your wallet. Whether you want a folding flip phone, a super-slim Galaxy Z Fold, or the latest magnetic Google Pixel 10, you’ll find your next smartphone upgrade in this list.
Hunting for more discounts? Read our Absolute Best Black Friday Deals roundup for more.
Samsung’s flagship Galaxy S25 (7/10, WIRED Recommends) is seeing healthy discounts this Black Friday, probably because its successors are right around the corner—the Galaxy S26 series is expected to be announced in January. But if you don’t really need the latest and greatest, you have three excellent smartphones to choose from. The S25 is the smallest, the S25+ gets a few extra perks plus a bigger screen and better battery life, but it’s the Galaxy S25 Ultra that really steps things up, with a dual telephoto camera system, integrated S Pen stylus, and a beefy battery.
Read our Best Samsung Phones guide for more details about each of these devices.
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Photograph: Julian Chokkattu
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Photograph: Julian Chokkattu
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Photograph: Julian Chokkattu
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Pixel 10, Pixel 10 Pro, and Pixel 10 Pro XL
One of my favorite parts of Google’s new Pixel 10 series (8/10, WIRED Recommends) is that they’re the first flagship Android phones with Qi2 magnetic wireless charging. That means, just like MagSafe iPhones, you can attach magnetic accessories and enjoy faster wireless charging. It’s great! The phones also have excellent cameras, good performance, and tons of helpful and smart software features. Better yet, these are the first Android phones to support AirDrop with iPhones, Macs, and iPads.
Read our Best Pixel Phones guide for more info.
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Photograph: Julian Chokkattu
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Photograph: Julian Chokkattu
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Photograph: Julian Chokkattu
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Photograph: Julian Chokkattu
This is the smartphone most people looking for a new handset should buy. If you’re not married to a particular camp or brand, the Google Pixel 9a (9/10, WIRED Recommends) strikes the best balance between features and price, and this sale makes that even better. You’ll be hard-pressed to find a better camera system at this price, and if you hate ginormous camera bumps, you’ll love the flat-back design here. Performance is flagship-grade—it has the same Tensor chip that powers the Pixel 9 Pro—and you can access many of the great Pixel software perks, like Call Screen to cut spam calls from your life.
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Photograph: Julian Chokkattu
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Photograph: Julian Chokkattu
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Photograph: Julian Chokkattu
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Samsung
Galaxy Z Fold7 and Galaxy Z Flip7
Folding phones are not as fragile as they used to be. No, seriously. Companies have been improving durability year over year, while also slimming them down. The Galaxy Z Fold7 (7/10, WIRED Recommends) is my favorite booklike folding phone this year—it’s so amazingly slim that what used to be a chunky device now feels kind of like a candy bar phone. Use the front screen like normal, and when you need extra real estate, open the device up. You can view apps on a much larger scale or easily split-screen two apps. Don’t want a big folding phone? The Galaxy Z Flip7 is a pretty solid update this year, with a more usable front screen. These devices are still annoyingly expensive, but this Black Friday sale makes the prices a little more palatable.
Read our Best Folding Phones guide for more options.
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Photograph: Julian Chokkattu
Motorola
Razr Ultra and Razr (2025)
If you’re really interested in the idea of a folding flip phone, then might I suggest Motorola’s Razr Ultra (8/10, WIRED Recommends)? Take your current phone today and fold it in half—OK, don’t actually do that, but that’s kind of what it’s like to use this style of smartphone. Right now, the Razr Ultra is the best in this category, with a fresh design, good performance, surprisingly great cameras, and a functional external display. If you hate big phones, you’ll love being able to stuff the Ultra in any pocket or purse. There’s also the cheaper Razr 2025, which doesn’t have as good performance or a camera system, but is still an incredible value, especially on sale.
Read our Best Motorola Phones guide for more.
Photograph: Julian Chokkattu
Motorola
Moto G Stylus 2025
Do you want a headphone jack? Do you want a microSD card slot? Are you a very cool and smart person? Yes. Then this is the smartphone for you. This is an incredible deal on a phone that delivers surprisingly smooth performance, not to mention a bright and sharp screen, and an integrated stylus. It looks smart with a textured back, and while it may not get many software updates, it’s just hard to beat at this price. And you get 256 GB of storage to boot.
Read our Best Cheap Phones guide for more options.
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Photograph: Julian Chokkattu
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Photograph: Julian Chokkattu
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It’s not flashy, but the Samsung Galaxy S25 FE is a perfectly serviceable Android phone that should only be purchased at this $175 discount. Seriously, it’s not worth the MSRP because you can usually find a Galaxy S25 on sale for close to that price. But under $500? You’re getting a solid triple-camera system with a 3X optical zoom sensor, smooth performance, and day-long battery life, plus all the usual flagship extras like Qi2 Ready wireless charging and IP68 water resistance. It’ll still get seven years of software updates, too.
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Photograph: Julian Chokkattu
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Photograph: Julian Chokkattu
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Photograph: Julian Chokkattu
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Photograph: Julian Chokkattu
Prefer Pixel phones but want a folding phone? This Pixel 10 Pro Fold (7/10, WIRED Recommends) is pretty much your only option. The cameras aren’t as good as the Pixel 10 Pro series, but they’re still respectable. The phone isn’t as slim as the Galaxy Z Fold7, but it’s one of the only folding phones with an IP68 dust- and water-resistance rating. Considering it launched last month, this is a heck of a discount. I have to say, having Qi2 magnets in a folding phone is very nice.
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Photograph: Julian Chokkattu
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Photograph: Julian Chokkattu
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Photograph: Julian Chokkattu
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Photograph: Julian Chokkattu
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Nothing’s Phone (3) (7/10, WIRED Recommends) looks nothing (heh) like any other smartphone in this list. That’s the company’s calling card, but it extends to the phone’s Android interface, which is beautiful and unique. The fun Glyph Matrix display on the back offers up notifications and can even be used to play rock, paper, scissors. It’s a quirky device, but performance is slick, the cameras are solid, there’s 256 GB of storage, and good battery life. It’s not the best value from a price perspective, but that might not matter if you’re head over heels about how it looks.
Photograph: Julian Chokkattu
Despite launching in January of this year, the OnePlus 13 (8/10, WIRED Recommends) is no longer the latest flagship phone from the company. That’d be the OnePlus 15. But the latest and greatest isn’t on sale, and the OnePlus 13 is still a very good smartphone with good battery life, extremely fast charging, and a decent camera system tuned by Hasselblad (this partnership is effectively over in the OnePlus 15).
What About iPhone Deals?
Apple doesn’t have sales, and you won’t find discounted iPhones at third-party retailers. The only way to spend a little less is to look at the Black Friday carrier offers. We typically don’t recommend carrier devices because it means you’re getting a locked phone, but most people upgrade through their carrier. If you’re going to do it, here’s what the big three are offering right now.
- Verizon’s hot Black Friday promotion is an iPhone 17 Pro Max, Apple Watch, and iPad for free if you get a new line on select unlimited plans. You also have to get a cellular plan for the watch and iPad, though.
- T-Mobile has something similar. You can get an iPhone 17 Pro, iPad (A16), and Apple Watch SE3 for free if you trade in an eligible phone in any condition on an Experience Beyond plan. (Make sure to read the fine print for all the details.) Keep in mind that the “savings” are usually in the form of bill credits.
- AT&T is offering the iPhone Air for less than $3 per month if you get a new line. This offer is available online only and runs out on December 1. It requires a 36-month plan and “well-qualified customers.”
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There’s a reason we’re called WIRED. If there’s one thing most of today’s gadgets have in common, it’s that they typically need to be plugged in from time to time. But all those cables, cords, and wires can be tough to manage. They don’t have to end up in a tangled nest under your desk; you can bring order to the cable chaos.
As a gadget reviewer, I have more cords than most people, which is why I also have a regimented cable management strategy to keep everything orderly. Here are my tips and product recommendations for hiding those cords and power strips, and keeping your desktop tidy.
Jump To:
Planning and Prep
Start by surveying the scene, unplugging and untangling everything, and removing anything that doesn’t need to be there. You might be surprised to find a stray USB-B or Micro-USB you haven’t used in years in the mix. Before you get started on cable management, take a slightly damp microfiber cloth and wipe down all the surfaces and cables. Now, you can start planning routes and figuring out which cables it would make sense to bundle together.
Ideally, cables will be the exact required length, so if you have spares or you don’t mind snagging some new cables, it’s worth switching and getting as close as possible to exact lengths to reduce the excess cable you have to hide. If you have a standing desk, remember to take into account the cable length required for a standing position (trust me, dear reader, it’s no fun when you hit stand on the desk and it pulls your PC tower into the air by a DisplayPort cable that is now forever stuck in that port).
Cable Management
Tidying your tech often comes back to cable management, but there are several ways to keep those cords neatly out of sight. Many desks have channels, grommets, and power strip trays built-in, so have a quick look to make sure you’re using what’s available. Some monitor arms also have built-in cable management. You also likely have a bunch of cable ties in your junk drawer or toolbox, so gather them together.
Ikea
Trixig 150-Piece Cable Management Set
Deveillance also claims the Spectre can find nearby microphones by detecting radio frequencies (RF), but critics say finding a microphone via RF emissions is not effective unless the sensor is immediately beside it.
“If you could detect and recognize components via RF the way Spectre claims to, it would literally be transformative to technology,” Jordan wrote in a text to WIRED after he built a device to test detecting RF signatures in microphones. “You’d be able to do radio astronomy in Manhattan.”
Deveillance is also looking at ways to integrate nonlinear junction detection (NLJD), a very high-frequency radio signal used by security professionals to find hidden mics and bugs. NLJD detectors are expensive and used primarily in professional contexts like military operations.
Even if a device could detect a microphone’s exact location, objects around a room can change how the frequencies spread and interact. The emitted frequencies could also be a problem. There haven’t been adequate studies to show what effects ultrasonic frequencies have on the human ear, but some people and many pets can hear them and find them obnoxious or even painful. Baradari acknowledges that her team needs to do more testing to see how pets are affected.
“They simply cannot do this,” engineer and YouTuber Dave Jones (who runs the channel EEVblog) wrote in an email to WIRED. “They are using the classic trick of using wording to imply that it will detect every type of microphone, when all they are probably doing is scanning for Bluetooth audio devices. It’s totally lame.” Baradari reiterates that the Spectre uses a combination of RF and Bluetooth low energy to detect microphones.
WIRED asked Baradari to share any evidence of the Spectre’s effectiveness at identifying and blocking microphones in a person’s vicinity. Baradari shared a few short videoclips of people putting their phones to their ears listening to audioclips—which were presumably jammed by the Spectre—but these videos do little to prove that the device works.
Future Imperfect
Baradari has taken the critiques in stride, acknowledging that the tech is still in development. “I actually appreciate those comments, because they’re making me think and see more things as well,” Baradari says. “I do believe that with the ideas that we’re having and integrating into one device, these concerns can be addressed.”
People were quick to poke fun at the Spectre I online, calling the technology the cone of silence from Dune. Now, the Deveillance website reads, “Our goal is to make the cone of silence become reality.”
John Scott-Railton, a cybersecurity researcher at Citizen Lab, who is critical of the Spectre I, lauded the device’s virality as an indication of the real hunger for these kinds of gadgets to win back our privacy.
“The silver lining of this blowing up is that it is a Ring-like moment that highlights how quickly and intensely consumer attitudes have shifted around pervasive recording devices,” says Scott-Railton. “We need to be building products that do all the cool things that people want but that don’t have the massive privacy- and consent-violation undertow. You need device-level controls, and you need regulations of the companies that are doing this.”
Cooper Quintin, a senior staff technologist at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, echoed those sentiments, even if critics believe Deveillance’s efforts to be flawed.
“If this technology works, it could be a boon for many,” Quintin wrote in an email to WIRED. “It is nice to see a company creating something to protect privacy instead of working on new and creative ways to extract data from us.”
Portrait Light: You can change up the lighting in your portrait selfies after you take them by opening them up in Google Photos, tapping the Edit button, and heading to Actions > Portrait Light. This adds an artificial light you can place anywhere in the photo to brighten up your face and erase that 5 o’clock shadow. Use the slider at the bottom to tweak the strength of the light. It also works on older Portrait mode photos you may have captured. It works only on faces.
Health and Accessibility Features
Cough & Snore Detection (Tensor G2 and newer): On the Pixel 7 and newer, you can have your Pixel detect if you cough and snore when sleeping, provided you place your Pixel near your bed before you nod off. This will work only if you use Google’s Bedtime mode function, which you can turn on by heading to Settings > Digital Wellbeing & Parental Controls > Bedtime Mode.
Guided Frame (Tensor G2 and newer): For blind or low-vision people, the camera app can now help take a selfie with audio cues (it works with the front and rear cameras). You’ll need to enable TalkBack for this to work (Settings > Accessibility > TalkBack). Then open the camera app. It will automatically help you frame the shot.
Simple View: This mode makes the font size bigger, along with other elements on the screen, like widgets and quick-settings tiles. It also increases touch sensitivity, all of which hopefully makes it easier to see and use the screen. You can enable it by heading to Settings > Accessibility > Simple View.
Safety and Security Features
Theft Protection: This is a broader Android 15 feature, but essentially, Google’s algorithms can figure out if someone snatches your Pixel out of your hands. If they’re trying to get away, the device automatically locks. Additionally, with another device, you can use Remote Lock to lock your stolen Pixel with your phone number and a security answer. To toggle these features on, go to Settings > Security & privacy > Device unlock > Theft protection.
Identity Check: If your Pixel detects you’re in a new location, Identity Check will require your fingerprint or face authentication before you can make any changes to sensitive settings, offering extra peace of mind in case you lose your phone or if it’s stolen. You can enable this in Settings > Security & privacy > Device unlock > Theft protection > Identity Check.
Courtesy of Google
Private Space: Another Android 15 addition, Pixel phones finally have a feature that lets you hide and lock select apps. You can use a separate Google account, set a lock, and install any app to hide away. To set it all up, head to Settings > Security & privacy > Private space.
Satellite eSOS (Pixel 9 and Pixel 10 series, excluding Pixel 9a): Like Apple’s SOS feature on iPhones, you can now reach emergency contacts or emergency services even when you don’t have cell service or Wi-Fi connectivity. It’s not just available in the continental US, but also in Hawaii, Alaska, Canada, and even Europe.
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