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I’ve become a huge fan of the Google Pixel line of phones over the past several years. The cameras are excellent — I no longer carry a DSLR unless I anticipate an important need to be able to zoom in on subjects that are far away. There are other reasons I like our Pixel phones, but this post is to alert other Pixel fans to a couple of potentially great deals on the Pixel 6a. I’m personally trading in my Pixel 4a 5G for a 6a with one of these deals because of the excellent trade-in values being offered by Google right now — not necessarily because I want the 6a as much as in order to (hopefully) protect my ability to get excellent trade-in value for what I really want (the next generation of Pixel phone or the Pixel Fold if Google ever comes out with it). Between the great trade-in value and free Pixel Buds Series A for pre-ordering, you can score a pretty good deal — and you might even be able to get 10% back in store credit.
The base level deal
There are several layers to this deal that make it interesting. The base level isn’t interesting by itself, but you need it for context on the other layers.
At a base level, Google is offering pre-orders of the Pixel 6a for $449.99 and they are including a free pair of Pixel Buds Series A if you pre-order the phone (normally $99). Find this deal here. Note that Amazon is offering the same deal (our affiliate link), but there are a few reasons to prefer Google in this case. Note that pre-orders end at 11:59pm PT on 7/27. The phone officially launches tomorrow (7/28). I wouldn’t be surprised if we still see deals after launch.
Stacking deals
Additionally, Google is offering two different stacking deals that may be of interest to those with older phones like the Pixel 3a or Samsung Galaxy S10:
- Get up to $300 in trade-in credit for your old phone. The reason this is interesting is because they are offering $300 for phones like the Pixel 3a and Galaxy S10. Those are phones that launched more than 3 years ago and go for far less on the resale market. What’s more, even the cracked screen offers are great in some cases. For instance, a Pixel 3a without any cracks in the screen trades in for $300. One with a cracked screen trades in for $295 – just five bucks less! My Pixel 4a 5G has a crack in the screen and the cracked screen offer for that phone is only $260. That’s a little disappointing, but at $40 less than it would fetch with an uncracked screen, that’s still a great deal — the difference is less than the deductible I’d pay to get it fixed even with credit card cell phone insurance. Trade-in credit obviously gets less appealing the newer your phone is, but I thought that $300 for the Pixel 3a or 4a were outstanding values considering how past many opportunities there were to get those phones for much less than $300.
- Note that Google One members on the 2TB plan ($9.99/mo) or higher get 10% back in Google Store credit. If you are not currently a Google One subscriber, you should be able to sign up here for the 2TB plan for $9.99 per month and get the 10% back on your subsequent Pixel 6a purchase. The nice thing is that Google handles the trade-ins like this: they first charge you the full $449 price plus tax and then later refund you for the trade-in value — yet they give 10% based on the original purchase price (I’ve done this before). So you’ll get $44.90 in Google Store credit to use towards a case or charger or other accessories (or another phone) down the line. Note that if you are a current Google One subscriber and you upgrade to the 2TB plan, I don’t think the 10% back benefit kicks in until your next billing cycle.
Google Fi deal
- Google Fi is offering the Pixel 6a for $10/mo for 24 months ($240) when you sign up for Google Fi service for 24 months (for a minimum of $20 per month). If you were planning to maintain Fi service anyway, this could be a pretty good deal. Find more detail here. Note that this is a subscription service. The landing page advertises the cost as $15 per month, but that includes $5 per month for device protection – you can remove that protection and pay $10 per month (and you probably should if you’re using a credit card with cell phone insurance anyway).
Note that I don’t think this deal includes the Pixel Buds, but neither does it require a trade-in. Troy in the comments indicates that this done indeed include the Pixel Buds Series A for free.
Amex Offer doesn’t appear to stack
- The Amex Offer for Google Photos doesn’t appear to stack. There is currently an Amex Offer for 20% back (up to $40 back) when you order prints from Google Photos (enrollment required). One shouldn’t expect that this offer would stack since it clearly says it is for purchasing photos rather than phones. However, in the past, we saw an Amex Offer for Google Ads that was triggered by Google Store phone purchases, so I thought that perhaps Google Photos also runs on the same merchant code. Unfortunately, I tried with a card loaded with the Google Photos offer and I did not receive any email notification that I triggered the credit
More thoughts
Personally, I’m trading in my Pixel 4a 5G and buying through the Google Store for the free Pixel Buds Series A and 10% back in Google Store credit. I essentially got the phone at no cost thanks to a number of other deals, so getting $300 (or in my case $260 with my cracked screen) toward the Pixel 6a means that I’ll pay a net around $200 for the phone, the Pixel Buds (which I should be able to sell for at least $50), and $44.90 in Google Store credit.
But I’m not doing it because I’m dying to have the Pixel 6a. In fact, I’m kind of annoyed that I’ll finally be losing a headphone jack. The reason I’m trading in is that I’m hoping to ensure better trade-in value for future deals.
For instance, when the Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro launched last year, T-Mobile offered up to $900 in trade-in bill credits for a Pixel 4a 5G (enough to cover the cost of the Pixel 6 Pro) for customers on Magenta Max (they offered similar credits that would cover the full cost of the Galaxy S21). That’s far more than the original cost of the Pixel 4a 5G, but trade-in values on later model “a” series phones often seem to exceed the original retail value of those phones for a while. However, as time passes, phones move down in trade-in value. The Pixel 4a 5G has now moved down a band in trade-in credit with T-Mobile — the best I’d do is $400 in trade-in credit towards a Pixel 6 today.
However, I’m banking on the fact that either T-Mobile or Google will again offer increased trade-in value for the 6a when they launch a newer line of Pixel devices since the 6a will be the latest previous Pixel model. I figured that by trading in now, I give myself a shot at getting great value toward the phone I really want when new phones launch in October (either the Pixel 7 Pro or the Pixel Fold if that actually launches). It’s a little bit of a gamble, but since I should be able to sell the Pixel Buds for at least $50, I’ll end up less than $200 into this Pixel 6a and hopefully be able to leverage that for a “free” flagship phone down the line.
If you happen to have a Pixel 3a — and particularly if you have one with a cracked screen — it’s hard to go wrong with $300 trade-in credit (or $295 with a cracked screen?!?). One thing that’s nice about getting it directly from the Google Store is that you can buy it unlocked and not be committed to a service deal with a specific carrier. Personally, I don’t mind the carrier-specific deals since I can’t envision leaving T-Mobile based on the deal I’m currently getting there, but others prefer carrier freedom and I can understand that. Note that there are other good trade-in deals also — some of the Galaxy S10 variants get $300 trade-in value as well. Higher / later model phones are also eligible for up to $300 trade-in credit, but that obviously won’t be a deal if you have a phone that is otherwise worth more than $300. The deal here is that they are offering $300 for a lot of phones that are worth significantly less.
Overall, these are solid potential deals for those who either like the Pixel line and/or want to have Google Fi service anyway. We’ve certainly seen crazier Pixel deals before, but this will do for now.
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The problem with Pixel devices is the build quality is poor. The support from Google for actual hardware issues is also very poor. I love the Pixel 3 XL that I have but the charging port went and instead of fixing the device because there were un-backed-up pics in the device, they sent me a re-manufactured device. Plus also charged me a lot of money to do that! The Pixel 6 devices have had endless issues since being introduced. I will probably not purchase another Pixel because neither Samsung or Apple abandon users like Google does with Pixel.
How are you planning to sell the buds? eBay?
Probably Facebook Marketplace.
The Pixel 3XL is older but arguably better spec’d than the Pixel 3A. But the trade in on the 3XL sucks.
i agree and it still takes great photos too. Unlimited high quality storage of photos too…
At all seems good but I looked at a 6A compared to my 4a 5g at a Tmobile store and it is basically the same size. The specs are somewhat the same and it seems like the camera specs on the 4a are better than the 6a (16mp vs 12mp and 240fps vs 60fps). I’m tempted but not so sure the camera is any better.
I like the magic eraser, and you need the Tensor chip for that apparently. I really wanted the 6 Pro and dragged my feet on the trade in deal for me, so my play here is mostly in hopes of trading in for a 7 Pro in October.
I really like my Pixel 3, but I need to replace it soon with a Pixel 6a. Unfortunately the trade-in is only $85. Any thoughts on whether this deal makes sense, or if a better deal may become available after the launch of the 6a? Thanks.
I don’t know. That’s about the resale price of that phone right now I think, so it’s not very good but neither is it very bad. I guess I’d probably wait because we have seen the Google store offer good trade in values screen on very old Pixel phones a couple of times before.
Here is some interesting piece of info and follow-up question –
I live in Canada primarily and on the Canadian google store, I see Pixel 6A for C$599 with free buds (so, at current exchange rate, Canadian price is better). Google runs the trade-in program in Canada as well, but it seems to offer very low value. For example, for pixel 3a in good condition, google offers C$58 (yes, that’s not a typo) while for an Apple 8 (which i was hoping to trade) it offers C$75. Google US offers US$280 for the same iPhone 8. So as you can see, the trade-in options in Canada are really really bad.
Now here is the question – Can I trade-in my Canadian purchased iPhone 8 in US or are there restrictions on the “origin” or the device being traded? my brother lives in the US and as luck would have it, he’s visiting next week and I will visit him in Sept. I can send my iPhone 8 with him, have him manage the logistics of the trade in US, get new Pixel 6A delivered to his address, and then pick it up when I next see him in few weeks. Does this sound like something that can go smoothly or is there anything obvious that I am missing?
That’s a good question. I don’t know the answer for sure, but they don’t ask for an IMEI in advance, so I would be tempted to think that would work. Make sure it has the same bands you would need for your service in Canada.
Thanks Nick for such a quick reply. While I don’t know for sure, I am fairly certain that the bands are same in Canada as in US, given how seamless and similar everything else is re: the telecom services.
I also don’t think IMEI number can tell where the phone was purchased (it can tell where it was manufactured which, in Apple’s case, is neither US nor Canada!), so i think it shouldn’t be an issue. I will update this section if I give my method a try.
Thanks for posting this deal, I had no idea! I have a Pixel 3A XL (which I love) that I paid less than $300 for a couple of years ago. I pulled the trigger on this. Please be sure to let us know if the trade in deals on the newest pixel come to fruition as you predict
Will do!
Nick, the $10/mo DOES include the Pixel Buds A Series, making it a no-brainer for a secondary user on my account. It’s very clearly listed on every step of checkout now. Thanks so much for pointing out this deal, which I had completely missed!
Awesome! I’ll add that to the post.
Word of warning: The Google Fi subscription deal also requires a hard pull on Experian.
This is true, even after many years of Fi with no missed payments they still did a pull for a phone that retails for $450…seems a bit petty.
Is there a link to the trade-in offer? When I’m logged in, I see “get up to $500 credit” and my 4a (not 5g) is only valued at $95 even in perfect condition.
The trade-in deal is at the Google Store. If you’re seeing up to $500 credit, you’re looking at something else. Here is the link (I included it in the post as well): https://store.google.com/us/config/pixel_6a?hl=en-US
It doesn’t appear they’re giving the better trade-in deal with the Google Fi Store, annoying, I know. For example, if I trade in a 4XL at the Google Store it’s $300 if I do it in the Google Fi Store it’s $145. Super annoying for existing Fi customers.
Why not buy it from the Google store? You can still use the phone on Fi.
Absolutely. Problem is that I prefer the Google Fi Store’s support to the Google Store’s support when it comes to Preferred Care or Device Protection and all that stuff. They’re more accommodating for device replacements and a handful of other things.
Nick, let’s add a TRAVEL reason to get the Pixel 6 and follow-on models.
From travel, we have travel photos. How many times have we lined up the ideal shot . . . but there’s all these people or road signs or other visual garbage?
The Pixel 6 and follow-on models have Magic Eraser imaging editing software (that only works with its Tensor AI chip). All of the above-mentioned travel photo spoilers are easily removed . . . as if you’re in St. Peter’s Square alone.
I’ve seen it in action. Google had a demo pop-up store in London to show off the Magic Eraser. It is supremely cool.
Yup, my wife’s Pixel 6 Pro has this feature. It works amazingly well.
If you have Xfinity for Internet, Xfinity mobile is a much better deal than Google fi. And today is last day for free iphone SE. You can even get it by porting in new line on existing account.
https://www.xfinity.com/mobile/learn/deals
Thanks Nick! Had no idea that I’d get $300 for my Pixel 3a!