Is your old smartphone slowing down? It might be time for an upgrade, and Black Friday is an incredible time to score major savings on a new phone. We’ve seen discounts on a wide range of devices today, but one of the best markdowns is on Samsung’s latest budget smartphone. Right now, you can save 27% on the Samsung Galaxy S25 FE, bringing the price for the 128GB model down to $475.

That’s a considerable discount for a phone released just a few months ago. But the deal won’t be around for long because we’re in the final hours of Black Friday, so you’ll want to wrap up your shopping soon.

The Samsung Galaxy S25 FE is designed as a more affordable entry into the Samsung Galaxy S25 lineup. Its list price is $150 lower than the standard Galaxy S25 smartphone, though its size is more comparable to the S25 Plus with a 6.7-inch wide display. It offers a lightweight design with a slim profile, and is made with a sturdy aluminum frame and Gorilla Glass Victus glass.

CNET’s Mike Sorrentino tested the Galaxy S25 FE and found the software features such as the AI-powered text calling to be standouts. Text Call lets you to text your response on a voice call and have Samsung’s robotic voice will read it out loud. Sorrentino found it to be a helpful feature when trying to get through voice-activated menus. He also noted that the phone has a «solid-performing processor» that launches apps quickly and could handle games like Fortnite well even on high graphics settings.
The Samsung Galaxy S25 FE packs solid functionality into a budget smartphone, but if you want to explore more options before deciding on your next upgrade, check out our full list of the best Black Friday phone deals.

Why this deal matters

The Samsung Galaxy S25 FE is a 2025 release, so this is a great chance to score a brand new smartphone at a deep discount. This is a deeper discount than we saw during October Amazon Prime Day this year, and the device is already selling out in select colors and storage options on Amazon.

Maybe it’s because of the holiday weekend.

OpenAI’s video generator Sora and Google’s image generator nano banana pro are placing new limits on how many videos (in the case of Sora) and AI images (in the case of nano banana pro) you can make per day.

With more people using their Thanksgiving weekend idle time to, say, make AI videos of cats as angry service industry cashiers, it’s likely these services are hitting their limits.

Bill Peebles, OpenAI’s head of Sora, posted on X, «our gpus are melting, and we want to let as many people access sora as possible!» GPUs are the graphics processing units used by AI services for the complex computations they need to perform.

Peebles wrote that Sora will limit free video generation to six videos per day. ChatGPT Plus and Pro accounts won’t see any changes.

«And everybody can purchase additional gens as needed,» he wrote.

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Gemini limits

As for Google’s image generator, a Gemini support page says that those without a Google AI plan are now limited to two images generated and edited per day with nano banana pro. The previous limit was three, according to 9to5Google, which also spotted new usage limits on Gemini 3 Pro that are variable. The same support page says free access to Gemini 3 Pro Thinking includes «Basic access — daily limits may change frequently.»

The limit for nano banana (the previous 2.5 non-pro version) is 100 free images per day. 

A representative for Google did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

(Disclosure: Ziff Davis, CNET’s parent company, in April filed a lawsuit against OpenAI, alleging it infringed Ziff Davis copyrights in training and operating its AI systems.)

Black Friday deal alert: If you’re looking for a new pair of noise-canceling earbuds, there are some good deals on Apple AirPods right now, but you might be able to spend half as much to get similar performance. I’ve found that the Air Pro 4 earbuds from Earfun are legitimate contenders to the AirPods, at a much lower price. Right now at Amazon for Black Friday, you can get the Air Pro 4s for a steal — they’re 34% off, which drops their price down to $53.

In short, they’re great, and the black ones are currently available on Amazon for $53, near the lowest price we’ve ever seen them sell for. The other colors are also on sale; the glossy white and royal blue are both $68.

Hey, did you know? CNET Deals texts are free, easy and save you money.

How these earbuds silence the noise around you

I prefer in-ear headphones because they offer active, electronic and passive noise cancellation. Passive noise cancellation basically consists of plugging your ears with the rubbery tips included with the earbuds.

The Earfuns fit well for me when I use the second-largest of the five swappable ear tip sizes, and they stay sealed and comfortable for hours. Sometimes I have to reseal one after I yawn or something, but that’s the case with other in-ear headphones, too.

For reading, I prefer Earfun’s «Strong ANC» noise-canceling mode, which makes a big difference when blocking out the noise around you, but there are a bunch of other noise-cancellation options. The Ambient Sound function is good for when I want to pay attention to my surroundings.

Overall, I found the app easier to use than Sony’s and just as capable. The main difference is that Sony’s app has a variable slider for ambient sound.

The Earfun app also includes a white noise section in the app. Normally, I prefer Spotify for white noise (and I download my favorite playlists for offline listening) but this feature is useful for people who don’t have another music service. It includes birdsong, waves and rainfall, all of which are short clips that repeat automatically.

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Why I chose these earbuds over AirPods

These headphones have every other feature I’d expect, including the ability to connect to two devices simultaneously and programmable touch-sensitive controls on the buds. Plus, battery life has been more than ample for me, even after a marathon reading session. 

There’s also a finder function if you misplace either earbud (unlike Apple FindMy, however, they have to be connected and in Bluetooth range). For actual music and voice calling quality, they sound fine, albeit not as good as my big Sonys.

I have an iPhone and briefly thought about buying Apple AirPods, but I didn’t want to spend the money. The AirPods 4 with noise cancellation cost $115 more than these Earfuns and have an open-ear design, so they rely entirely on the electronic (not passive) method. The AirPods Pro 2 are in-ear and superb, but I didn’t want to spend $250 on a pair of secondary headphones. 

Yes, I could probably save some money on an even less expensive pair of in-ear noise-cancelling headphones, but I’m not sure I’d be as happy with their fit, long-term comfort, battery life and noise-cancellation performance. The Earfun Pro 4 buds help me relax and concentrate on my book, and for me that’s priceless.

For more headphone savings, check out our roundup of all the best deals on headphones, or find bargains of all kinds in our roundup of the best Amazon Prime Day deals going on now.