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The best smartphone deals ahead of Memorial Day mean big savings on feature-packed devices
Apple
Memorial Day is right around the corner, and with it the true beginning of summer. If you’re planning on being out and about enjoying the warm weather during the holiday, there’s no doubt you want a great smartphone to keep by your side while basking in the summer sun. Coincidentally, Memorial Day is one of the best times to look for deals on smartphones and other tech, too. But you don’t have to wait until then to snap up great prices. There are plenty of sales that you can shop right now.
The latest smartphones are great for staying connected with friends and family, shopping online, posting on social media, and more. You can also game, get work done, track your fitness goals, and much more. There are powerful pocket companions whether you’re an iOS or Android fan, and you can scoop up some of the best devices available right this minute.
Whether you’re looking to snag one of the latest Google Pixel 8 smartphones, an Android smartphone from a different company (like one of the Samsung Galaxy smartphones) or you want to get your hands on a new Apple iPhone 15 Pro Max, right now there are some great deals to be found. We tapped our in-house consumer technology shopping experts to curate some of the best deals you’ll find right now on the biggest devices on the market. But these deals won’t last long,
Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra: $1,100 ($200 off)
Samsung
Right now at Best Buy, you can find one of the best deals around on the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra, the highest tier of Galaxy S24 phones you can buy right now. You can get one unlocked for $1,100, which is $200 off its normal price, or you can save up to $1,000 off your purchase via Verizon with activation when you trade-in any phone and any model in any condition.
The Galaxy S24 Ultra is among the most feature-packed and powerful Android phones currently available. It runs using the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 for Galaxy processor and has a beautiful 6.8-inch Dynamic AMOLED 2x display (with a 2,600 nits maximum brightness and 120Hz refresh rate). The main rear-facing camera offers 200MP resolution.
However you decide to take advantage of Best Buy’s money-saving offers, you’ll be able to get some cash back and nab a great smartphone in the process.
Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5: $1,000 (or get up to $500 instant trade-in credit)
Samsung
The Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5 is one of the most popular Android phones on the market right now. People absolutely love it’s folding capabilities. It easily fits in a pocket and many features can be used via the outside display (without having to open the phone).
When unfolded, however, the Flip 5 provides access to a stunning 6.7-inch Dynamic AMOLED 2x Infinity Flex display with a 120Hz adaptive refresh rate and a maximum brightness of 1,600 nits. This Android phone is loaded with handy features and comes in eight color options.
Shop for the Galaxy Z Flip 5 from Samsung’s website and enjoy up to $500 in instant trade-in credit if you purchase the unlocked phone outright. The phone is also still available at Amazon unlocked for $1,000.
Motorola Moto G 5G (2023): $50 ($100 off)
Amazon
No, you don’t need to spend thousands on a 2023 Android phone. In fact, you can get an entry-level phone from Motorola for just $50 when you shop at Best Buy.
Right now, you can get $100 off this phone’s Ink Blue colorway, which includes 4GB RAM, 128GB of internal storage and a 48MP main rear-facing camera. Keep in mind, this phone only supports 5G connectivity in the USA on certain carriers, like T-Mobile or Verizon. With other U.S. carriers, only 4G LTE connectivity is available.
The Moto G phone offers a 6.5-inch LCD touchscreen display with a 120Hz refresh rate. Its built in speakers offer Dolby Atmos support and the 5,000mAh battery will last an entire day.
Lively Jitterbug Phone Smart 3: $67 ($83 off)
Amazon
If you only need basic smartphone functionality, the Lively Jitterbug Smart3 phone is now on sale for just $67. The catch: You have to activate the phone with the company’s own cellular service plan.
This phone uses older tech and supports 4G LTE, not 5G connectivity. But it’s designed to be easy to view and hear. It offers a 6.2-inch touchscreen. One of the phone’s key features is its 24/7 urgent-response button.
Other core features include a built-in camera for video calling, basic texting functions, and an integrated web browser. The phone can also be used for navigation, managing email and more. It’s meant for users who have difficulty using regular smartphones, but it could make a good choice for kids or anyone looking for something simple.
Motorola Edge (2023): $350 ($250 off)
Amazon
Ahead of Memorial Day, you can get this smartphone for $250 off, making it just $350. This is an Android phone that offers 5G connectivity. It comes with 8GB of RAM, 256GB of internal storage and a 6.6-inch touchscreen display. The refresh rate is a lightning-quick 144Hz. The phone is also waterproof (IP68 rated).
This 2023 Motorola Edge comes unlocked, so you can activate it with the provider of your choice. It’s decently powered, thanks to the MediaTek 7030 processor. The main, rear-facing camera offers 50MP resolution.
Perhaps the most intriguing feature of this phone is that a 10-minute quick charge will provide an entire day’s worth of power. Even at full price, this phone offers an incredible value, but at 42% off, the deal is too good to pass up.
OnePlus 12R: $380 ($120 off)
OnePlus
The OnePlus 12R phone, which is a scaled-down version of the company’s OnePlus 12 smartphone, is yours for a great discount. You’ll save $70 if you choose the 16GB of RAM and 256GB of storage model, and an additional $50 when you trade in any phone. That’s up to $120 of savings if you take advantage of both deals, making the phone just $380.
The OnePlus 12 and 12R are among the few smartphones that already support the new Wi-Fi 7 protocol. The phone is also equipped with a 50MP main, rear-facing camera. It runs using OxygenOS 14, which is almost fully compatible with Android 14.
You’ll enjoy the 6.78-inch AMOLED display with a 120Hz refresh rate. It’s powered using the latest Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 processor and Adreno 740 GPU. Hardly something to pass up if you need a new smartphone for an affordable price.
Apple iPhone 15 Pro Max (512GB): $1,100 ($100 off with AT&T activation)
Best Buy
For Apple fans ready to upgrade to the latest iPhone 15 Pro Max, we suggest visiting the Best Buy website, where you can snag the phone for $100 off when you activate a new line with AT&T. And with that optional AT&T or Verizon activation, you could be eligible for up to a $1,000 trade-in credit.
You’ll see a range of financing offers through Best Buy, AT&T and Verizon, so you could wind up paying as little as $33.34 per month for 36 months. But you can also buy the phone outright for just $1,100 right now as well.
At the moment, the iPhone 15 Pro Max represents Apple’s flagship phone. Among its numerous features: a 6.7-inch Super Retina XDR display and durable titanium housing. It runs using Apple’s A17 Pro processor and has an impressively powerful camera system. Battery life is up to 23 hours per charge.
Google Pixel 8 Pro (128GB): $549 (save $150)
Best Buy
For a limited time, Best Buy is offering Google’s top-of-the-line Pixel 8 Pro smartphone for $150 off (for the 128GB version), which brings the price down to just $549 when you purchase the unlocked phone outright.
The Pixel 8 Pro was our pick for best Android phone for power users in our coverage of the best smartphones of 2024 and our pick for best Google smartphone in our recently published roundup of the best Android smartphones for 2024.
Google has done an excellent job marrying its Android system with a powerful smartphone in ways competitors can’t match — especially when it comes to photos, videos and customizing the phone.
Google has also taken a bunch of steps to protect user privacy and enhance online security. The Google One VPN is integrated into the OS for added online security when using Wi-Fi hotspots, plus, you get features like malware blocking and phishing protection. Battery life of the Pixel 8 Pro is up to 24 hours, or 72 hours in “extreme battery saver” mode.
This Pixel 8 Pro phone has a 6.7-inch touchscreen display and is powered using Google’s own Tensor G3 processor and Titan M2 security chip.
Samsung Galaxy S24+ (512GB): $970 ($150 off)
Amazon
The Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra smartphone is the company’s highest-end and most powerful phone, but you can also buy a slightly scaled-down and less expensive version, called the Galaxy S24+.
For a limited time, Amazon has dropped the price of this popular Android phone by $150, so you can purchase it outright for just $970. This configuration includes 512GB of storage.
The S24+ comes in your choice of eight colors and runs Android 14. It’s powered using the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 for Galaxy processor and has a really nice 6.7-inch Dynamic AMOLED 2x QHD+ display.
In addition to all-day battery life and a feature-packed camera system, the S24+ offers a handful of new Android features, like Circle to Search and real-time language translations during phone calls.
Lewes, England — In an urban nature reserve in a small town about two hours south of London, you’ll find the Lewes Railway Land urban nature reserve teaming with life — including a lot of humans and their companions.
“We get lots of people come onto the reserve — which we want — lots of dog walkers,” Dylan Walker, with the Railway Land Wildlife Trust that manages the green oasis, told CBS News. “Inevitably, that has an impact on the habitat.”
After years of heavy use, the reserve has suffered a little for its popularity, losing some native plant species. But Walker is hoping to bring that biodiversity back.
“We were kind of going, what could we do here?” Walker said. They found the answer in a backpack, designed specifically for dogs.
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“We’ve got our seed and sand mix here, of our native wildflowers and grasses, and we’re going to put them inside the pack,” Walker explained, noting the importance of ensuring that any seeds spread deliberately in a natural area must be native to the region.
Small holes allow the seeds inside to drop out as dogs move around.
Ruthie Martin tested it out on her daughter’s golden doodle when she came to the reserve for a walk.
“They don’t mind the packs on their backs,” Martin said of the canine seed sowers.
More than 300 years ago, wolves roamed the U.K., often covering up to 100 miles in a single night. Walker said they’d pick up seeds in their fur and drop them in new places.
“It’s really great to have this kind of project where we could use our beloved pets to imitate the behavior of these wild animals,” said Martin.
It’s an idea that initially came from two sisters in Chile, whose backpack-wearing dogs have been helping to regrow forests destroyed by wildfires.
Organizers in the U.K. say it could take a couple years to see the full impact of the pilot project on the reserve.
CBS News
Will 988 call the police? Data suggests 1% of mental health crisis calls get “involuntary” rescues
Many people in mental health crisis fear that if they dial 988, law enforcement might show up or they might be forced to go to the hospital.
But getting sent that kind of “involuntary emergency rescue” happens to around 1% of callers, suggests new data from Vibrant Emotional Health, the administrator of the 988 Lifeline for suicide and mental health crises.
“Involuntary intervention is the last resort. We want to make sure we’re collaborating and engaging with people in crisis and empowering them, so we don’t need to go in that direction,” said Christopher Drapeau, Vibrant’s director of research and evaluation.
A Pew Charitable Trusts survey last year cited by Vibrant’s white paper found that around 1 in 5 adults worry that law enforcement would be sent after them for using 988 or that they might be forced to go to the hospital.
According to 988’s policies, counselors are urged to use “the least invasive intervention” possible to respond to suicide attempts. But if other attempts to deescalate fail, then counselors can summon other emergency response services like an involuntary rescue.
Counselors for 988 do not have the ability to track the exact location of callers. But the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration or SAMHSA, which oversees Vibrant and the hotline, says in “rare situations” that counselors are able to ask a 911 dispatcher to use “geolocation services” to try and find where a call is coming from.
It is not clear from the data what percentage of the “involuntary” rescues relied on police responding to calls, as opposed to paramedics or another kind of emergency response.
“We haven’t been this transparent in the past. So we want to acknowledge that, and show people that this is what we have,” Drapeau told CBS News of the white paper he authored.
Drapeau said the white paper is his team’s first evaluating the performance of 988 and is the most comprehensive look at the topic to date. The idea for the report came from talks with SAMHSA officials.
Law enforcement have often been the go-to for 911 dispatchers responding to suicide attempts. Advocacy groups have called for more jurisdictions to fund “mobile crisis teams” that can respond to suicide attempts with medics and behavioral health professionals, instead of police.
“If somebody attempted suicide during the call and had a medical injury as a result, you need to respond to that. So I don’t know if we could completely abolish all involuntary interventions,” Drapeau said.
“These numbers may not be perfect”
Vibrant’s white paper focuses on two snapshots of data that come largely from when the line was a 1-800 number, before the nationwide launch of the easier-to-remember 988 shortcut to reach a counselor during a mental health crisis.
The largest snapshot in the paper still only spans around 2 million calls made from 2019 through 2023, tallied from a fraction of the now more than 200 locally run crisis centers that underpin the network.
For context, more than 400,000 calls were routed by the 988 network in July alone.
“We acknowledge the limitations of these data. These numbers may not be perfect. They may differ if we had every single center reporting data, if we had a more precise definition, maybe it changes. But it appears today that the vast majority of 988 calls do not involve emergency services intervention,” said Drapeau.
Of those nearly 2 million calls, the white paper tallies around 2% resulting in emergency services – both “voluntary” and “involuntary” – being sent in response to calls.
Callers categorized by counselors as being at “imminent risk” of suicide, a much narrower group, had emergency services sent to them at a higher rate.
Among those, a quarter got “voluntary dispatches” — with the consent of the callers — while another quarter got “involuntary” rescues.
Better data is in the works. While current figures rely on a mix of requirements and voluntary reporting, a Vibrant spokesperson said it is working with SAMHSA to develop a national standard for what metrics all centers will be required to report in the future.
A plan drawn up by SAMHSA in April calls for states to submit data to the agency on the number of contacts that result in law enforcement being sent.
Another evaluation planned by Vibrant will try to refine the definition of when to deem a caller at “imminent risk” and how to handle those cases. Completing that evaluation will likely take a couple of years, Drapeau said, and will help them figure out how to move from involuntary to more collaborative interventions.
CBS News
Over 30 killed in Mexico cartel stronghold as violence rages after Sinaloa leaders detained in U.S.
Eleven more people have been killed in a wave of violence in a Mexican cartel heartland shaken by gang infighting, authorities said Sunday.
The latest fatalities included five men whose bodies were found on a highway south of the city of Culiacan, the Sinaloa state prosecutor’s office said in a daily update.
More than 30 people have been reported dead in a week of bloodshed in Sinaloa, although authorities did not specify how many were believed to be linked to the cartel infighting.
The clashes follow the dramatic arrest on U.S. soil on July 25 of Sinaloa Cartel co-founder Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada, who claimed he had been kidnapped in Mexico and delivered into US custody against his will. Zambada pleaded not guilty last week in New York in a drug trafficking case that accuses him of engaging in murder plots and ordering torture.
Zambada, 76, was detained along with Joaquin Guzman Lopez, a son of El Chapo, who is serving a life sentence in the United States.
The violence is believed to pit gang members loyal to El Chapo and his sons against others aligned with Zambada, who pleaded not guilty to a raft of charges in a New York court Friday.
Schools were closed Thursday and Friday due to the violence and the governor said Sunday’s Independence Day festivities had been canceled.
The United States on Thursday issued a security alert because of “reports of car thefts, gunfire, security forces operations, roadblocks, burning vehicles and closed roadways” in the vicinity of Culiacan.
IVAN MEDINA/AFP via Getty Images
In an unexpected twist, last month Mexican prosecutors said they were bringing charges against Guzmán for apparently kidnapping Zambada — but it also cited another charge under an article of Mexico’s criminal code that defines what he did as treason.
Nowhere in the statement does it mention that the younger Guzmán was a member of the Chapitos — “little Chapos” — faction of the Sinaloa cartel, made up of Chapo’s sons, that smuggles millions of doses of the deadly opioid fentanyl into the United States, causing about 70,000 overdose deaths each year. According to a 2023 indictment by the U.S. Justice Department, the Chapitos and their cartel associates used corkscrews, electrocution and hot chiles to torture their rivals while some of their victims were “fed dead or alive to tigers.”
El Chapo, the Sinaloa cartel’s founder, is serving a life sentence in a maximum security prison in Colorado after being convicted in 2019 on charges including drug trafficking, money laundering and weapons-related offenses.
Last year, El Chapo sent an “SOS” message to Mexico’s president, alleging that he has been subjected to “psychological torment” in prison.
