Michael Crider
Samsung’s newest flagship phones are up for pre-order today. The bottom-rung Galaxy S20 starts at “only” $1000, the whiz-bang Galaxy Z Flip is $1380, and the maxed-out, top-of-the-line Galaxy S20 Ultra is $1600. You can do a lot with sixteen hundred American dollarydoos, in a lot of different ways. Let’s check out a few of your options, shall we?
A Galaxy S20, a Galaxy Watch Active2, Galaxy Buds+, and a 512GB MicroSD Card
The cheapest Galaxy S20 is still a pretty great phone, and it’s still pretty expensive. But there’s such a large gap between the bottom and the top of the S20 line that you can fill in the difference with Samsung’s $250 Galaxy Watch Active2 (which Cameron calls “the best smartwatch for Android users”), Samsung’s fancy new true wireless earbuds for $150, and still have two hundred bucks left over. That’s enough to get a huge freakin’ MicroSD card (though not quite enough for the maximum 1TB size) with $90 left for accessories like a wireless charger, a better watch band, and a spiffy case.
An iPhone 11 Pro, Apple Watch 4, and AirPods
If you’re done with Samsung and you’d like to see if the grass is greener, Apple has some (comparatively) affordable options on the other side of the fence. The cheapest iPhone 11 is $700, but for the sake of round numbers we’ll upgrade to the $1000 iPhone 11 Pro. Which gives you plenty of space left over in your budget for an Apple Watch 4 ($400) and AirPods with a wireless charging case ($200).
A Pixel 3a XL, a FitBit Versa 2, a Pixelbook Go, an MX Master 3 mouse, and a Peak Design Bag
If you want to stay in the Android/Google ecosystem and maximize your value, you can get a ton of stuff. The $480 Pixel 3a XL uses the same size screen as the Galaxy S20 (though it’s nowhere near as large as the S20 Ultra). With the savings on this mid-range phone, you can get Google’s spiffy Pixelbook Go Chrome-powered laptop, a kick-ass MX Master 3 mouse, a Fitbit Versa 2 (probably the best Android-compatible wearable that doesn’t come from Samsung), and a slightly older Peak Design Everyday Messenger bag to hold all that savvy shopping loot.
An LG OLED TV and a Sound Bar
Maybe your current phone is fine, and you’re just itching to get something shiny and new. It doesn’t come much shinier than LG’s OLED TVs, which can’t be beaten in terms of picture quality. This 55-inch model from 2019 is $1300, leaving you enough money left over for a mid-range sound bar (since TV makers have pretty much given up on the idea of packing decent speakers into ultra-thin screens).
A PS4 Pro, an Xbox One X, a Nintendo Switch, and More Games Than You’ll Ever Play
Granted, it wouldn’t be exceptionally wise to buy three top-of-the-line game consoles in a year when two of them are scheduled to be obsolete by Christmas. But if you want to, you can: the PS4 Pro, Xbox One X, and Nintendo Switch will run you about $950 altogether, assuming you didn’t go for any bundles. That gives you enough money left over to buy ten new retail games or many, many smaller digital titles, or mix and match with a bunch of controllers. The PC gamer in me must also point out that, for approximately $1000, you could have a great gaming desktop with more than enough left over for a good monitor, speakers, keyboard, and mouse. Either way, you’ll make every ten-year-old on the block crazy jealous.
3,200 Marshmallow Peeps
At $5 for a ten-count package of Marshmallow Peeps, you can buy 320 packages from Amazon for $1600. That’s if you want to make every five-year-old on the block jealous.
