Glasgow, Scotland – Close-up of a new Google Pixel 8 Pro smartphone in porcelain white, in its … [+]
Google has once again slashed the prices of its Pixel 8 range in a new sale, with reductions that match its deepest discount yet.
The company has knocked $150 and $250 off the Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro respectively. This is a huge money-off deal that trumps other sales the company has run this year, most of which have hovered around discounting the phones by $150 and $200.
During a Google One promotion earlier this year, some subscribers to the service reported receiving $250 vouchers towards a Pixel 8, but this new price cut is available to all U.S. buyers.
Google says that the deal will run until June 22nd and there are several paths to knocking the phone’s price down further. For example, the company has also upped its trade-in prices, with last year’s Pixel 7 and 7 Pro landing valuations of $330 and $500 respectively. The Pixel 6 Pro nets a decent $400, while the base Pixel 6 is valued at $250.
Google’s valuations are good if you own an older Pixel phone. But they don’t match some of the prices offered elsewhere. Two weeks ago, Apple was handing over $650 for the iPhone 14 Pro Max compared to Google’s $550 valuation.
Where Pixel buyers can save more money is through a Google Fi 24-month contract, which will yield up to $500 in cash back through monthly credits. If you’re a Google One subscriber, you can also claim 10% back in-store credit.
High trade-in prices are a popular trend in 2024 for smartphone manufacturers. They go down well with shoppers and come with the added benefit of removing a customer from a rival’s ecosystem, which is why trade-in prices are often higher for tech from other companies. This is a tactic Samsung has long used when launching a new product. The Korean company will up its trade-in values for iPhones, the Galaxy phone’s chief rival, to entice buyers over to the Android dark side.
Google has recently been dabbling in this practice, too. Last month the company upped trade-in prices when buying the Pixel Tablet, which had just been discounted. Google was offering $399 for a sixth-generation iPad (released in 2018). Essentially making the Google tablet free.
The deal caught fire and caused a frenzy among Pixel Tablet buyers, who were turning their houses over looking for their long-forgotten Apple tablet. More enterprising deal-hunters were picking up the iPad on eBay for $99. That rapid popularity forced Google into cutting the deal and dropping the iPad trade-in price to $75 the next day. For those who were quick enough, Google confirmed to me that it would honor the original trade-in price.
If there’s a lesson for tech buyers in 2024 to learn, it’s to keep your old devices around because these trade-in deals will be frequent and plentiful. Even Apple, which rarely plays the discount game, launched a new trade-in promotion recently. Samsung is releasing new hardware next month and I suspect we will see some aggressive pricing from the company—from pre-order deals to enhanced trade-in prices. If you want the latest deal news, hit the follow button below.