I thought I’d document the efforts I’ll go to, to get something at the cheapest price possible. It was a few days before the release of Google’s latest phone, the Pixel 7 / Pixel 7 Pro and I wanted to upgrade from my still decent Samsung S21+…

The Google Pixel 7 Pro RRP for Australia is $1299 for the 128GB version, and this is the price you’ll see it at most places. Some will have small discounts or bonuses as part of their promotions; Google themselves sent me a 10% off coupon if I pre-ordered.

However, the best deal was JB Hi-Fi, but it had to be timed right. OzBargain.com.au is a great source of information to find bargains, and a lot of what I found was through there. The JB Hi-Fi pre-order deal was a free Chromecast with Google TV + Google Nest Hub, and a $100 JB Hi-Fi gift card.

The Pixel 7 Pro was due to be released on October 13th – but as you’ll see from the screenshot above, the offer of this deal actually ends on October 16th; in theory meaning you wouldn’t have to pre-order to get this, but could wait until release. This is very important, because there was a second deal that if you traded in an old phone, you received a $300 off voucher for the Pixel 7 or Pixel 7 pro – but this couldn’t be on pre-orders. This gave a 3 day window between release and the first bonus deal expiring.

I had an old iPhone 8 lying around, so traded that in for $100 credit, plus the $300 voucher. I already had another $150 voucher from an old phone that had been smashed and wasn’t worth being repaired. This left a gap of $749…

Again, Ozbargain helps with that by showing where you can get discounted gift cards and at what rate. I’m a Budget Direct member, so I can get 5% off cards there. It saves $37.45, so I’m really paying $711.55 out of pocket.

I’ll also be claiming a portion of the phone cost on tax as it’s partly used for work purposes. I’ll hand the receipts to my accountant and let them work that part out though.

I’m still left with a Samsung S21+ though, which when I bought it, I took out Samsung Care+. This means I can swap it out for a brand new replacement for $129. These are going for around $700 on eBay brand new.

I’ve still then got the $100 JB Hi-Fi gift card + Chromecast ($99)+ Google Nest Hub ($124) to come – which I could sell off the hardware or keep; undecided at this stage.

Considering all the above, upgrading my phone should cost me almost nothing. I’ll probably spend more on a screen protector and case than what I’ll be out of pocket for the upgrade itself.

Yes there’s a lot more effort involved than adding the phone to my cart and putting in a credit card number, but in scenarios like this, the effort is worth the payoff.