The best way to get yourself into the new Galaxy Z Fold 3 is once again through Samsung’s trade-in program. As they have done for years now, Samsung will give you an instant discount if you trade in select phones towards the Fold 3, and the values are often bloated for the launch.
The thing is, depending on the phone you have, your instant discount could vary greatly. Samsung tends to offer the biggest discounts on their new phone for those who have the model from the previous year. So a Galaxy S20 would get you the best discount on the Galaxy S21, or in this case, the Galaxy Z Fold 2 will get you the biggest price reduction on the Galaxy Z Fold 3.
However, Samsung still offers big price drops from other phones, like the Galaxy Note 20 Ultra (probably because there is no new Note and the Fold 3 sort of replaces that line) or the Galaxy S21 Ultra. They’ll also give you decent discounts for iPhone trade-ins, but not much for phones from Google, LG, or Motorola. OnePlus is not an option.
Here’s the breakdown of the instant discounts you’ll see:
- $800 off: Galaxy Z Fold 2
- $750 off: Galaxy Note 20 Ultra
- $650 off: Galaxy S21 Ultra, iPhone 12 Pro Max, iPhone 11 Pro Max
- $625 off: Galaxy Note 20
- $600 off: Galaxy S21+, Galaxy Z Fold, Galaxy S20 Ultra, iPhone 12 Pro
- $550 off: Galaxy S21, iPhone 12
- $525 off: Galaxy Note 10+
- $500 off: Galaxy S20+, Galaxy S20, Galaxy Z Flip 5G, iPhone 11 Pro
- $475 off: Galaxy Note 10, iPhone 11
- $425 off: Galaxy S10+, Galaxy S10 5G
- $300 off: iPhone 12 Mini
- See the full list of values for all phones
If you own a Galaxy Z Fold 2, you’ll get an instant $800-off the Galaxy Z Fold 3, dropping its price from $1800 to $1000. That’s the best deal there is. Since not many of you are likely to own that phone, the Note 20 Ultra is the 2nd best value at $750-off. The overall best value might be the iPhone 11 Pro Max, though, with a $650 discount as an almost-2-year-old phone.
Not familiar with Samsung’s trade-in program? It’s pretty awesome. Those values above come off the purchase of the Z Fold 3 today. This isn’t a trade-in program where you trade your phone in and don’t receive that value for weeks later in the form of one of those awful gift cards. This discount comes off today and you then send in your phone after you receive your new one to confirm with Samsung you weren’t lying.
For bonuses in this pre-order period, Samsung is also throwing in up to a $200 credit to spend on accessories, like the Galaxy Watch 4 or Galaxy Buds 2. A 12-month subscription to Samsung Care+ is included as well.
The time to buy a Galaxy Z Fold 3 is now because you won’t see these trade-in values for long and those bonuses are surely going away on August 26.