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Best iPhone Deals 2022: Cheapest Ways to Get an iPhone

Find the best iPhone deals available right now. Save on your new iPhone with trade-in promotions, gift cards, and other deals.

‘Tis the season for deals, so if you’ve been looking to get your hands on one of Apple’s sleek and ultrapopular devices at a bargain, now’s the time to buy. There are tons of offers out there that make the iPhone more affordable, including some serious discounts with a trade-in or activation on a new line of service.

Our team has scoured the web to bring you the very best iPhone deals available right now. Below, you’ll find the best offers out there on the new iPhone 14 and the 2022 iPhone SE, as well as some older models like the iPhone 12 and 13. We’ll continue to update this page as offers come and go, so be sure to check back often for the best prices available.

Best iPhone deals available now

Find the best deals for models across iPhone 14, iPhone 13, iPhone 12, iPhone SE 2022 and older iPhone models below grouped by generation.


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iPhone 14 deals

The iPhone 14 series is Apple’s current flagship line of phones and includes the iPhone 14, iPhone 14 Plus, iPhone 14 Pro and top-spec iPhone 14 Pro Max. Being Apple’s latest and greatest, these phones don’t come cheap, though there are plenty of iPhone deals out there to cut their sticker prices down to size.

iPhone 13 deals

The iPhone 13 may not be Apple’s flagship series anymore, but these are still some super powerful phones worth considering. With the iPhone 14 taking top spot, there are some great iPhone 13 deals to be found right now.

iPhone 12 deals

Though it’s no longer the latest model, Apple still sells the iPhone 12 and reduced its price when the iPhone 13 launched in 2021 making for some stellar iPhone deals. It’s a solid upgrade for anyone still using an older iPhone who doesn’t want to spend top dollar.

iPhone SE (2022) deals

The budget option in Apple’s lineup, the iPhone SE was updated for 2022 but is still targeted squarely at people who want a no-frills iPhone experience. From $429, it’s the affordable device for anyone who wants to stick with a familiar experience.

Older iPhone deals

In recent years, Apple has formed a habit of keeping some older iPhone models in the lineup at reduced prices for those that don’t want to pay more for newer devices. Because of this, it’s possible to find some really competitive iPhone deals on previous-gen models.

Which iPhone deal is the best?

While it appears a simple question at first, the best iPhone deal for you might be different from the best iPhone deal for someone else. Apple currently sells eight different iPhone models, so choosing the right one for you means assessing your needs and preferences when it comes to things like design, features, cameras and price.

The current iPhone 14 is going to be the best iPhone for most people as it balances top-tier features with a relatively affordable price (especially with the above deals). It has a bright and clear OLED display, 5G support and cameras that are more than good enough for day-to-day use, and the A15 Bionic chip powering it is a portable powerhouse.

Take the step up to the iPhone 14 Pro line and you’ll get an additional camera lens for macro photography, a more powerful A16 Bionic chip, a brighter display with the new Dynamic Island feature plus a heftier feeling stainless steel construction. It’s the best iPhone for those that want the latest and greatest technology from Apple.

The outgoing iPhone 13 models are still stellar phones, though, and you can pick up the iPhone 13 and iPhone 13 Mini from Apple for a while longer. If value is your main decision driver, the iPhone 12 is also still available from Apple and from carriers with some significant markdowns. Just because these are previous-gen devices, that doesn’t mean they might not be the best iPhone for you with their great displays, cameras and speedy performance making them great value for money. Plus, Apple is great at supporting its older devices with software updates for many years after they are released.

If you want the most affordable iPhone, you’re going to be looking at the iPhone SE (at least when it comes to brand new phones, that is). Updated for 2022, the third-generation iPhone SE maintains the overall design of the iPhone 8 which will be familiar to a lot of iPhone buyers. Don’t be fooled by its classic appearance, though, as inside it is powered by the beefy A15 Bionic chip found in the current flagship iPhone models. It also offers 5G connectivity and a 12-megapixel camera. For $429, it’s a lot of iPhone for not a lot of money.

What is the cheapest iPhone deal?

To buy outright in new condition, the iPhone SE is going to offer the cheapest iPhone deal. It starts at $429 contract-free and you can find carriers offering iPhone SE deals from as little as $11 per month making it a super affordable choice.

Apple also still sells the iPhone 12 from $600 meaning you can get a more modern-looking device with an edge-to-edge display and dual camera system for not much more, though it’s powered by the slower and older A14 Bionic chip.

When is the best time to snag an iPhone deal?

There are a few points in the year that make the most sense to buy an iPhone. The first is when a new model launches, usually in September each year. If you’re an early adopter that wants the best device as soon as possible, that’s when you’ll get it. It’s also a great time of year to buy if you’re looking for an iPhone deal as prices on older models drop to make room for the new devices.

Other times of year that make the most sense are during major sale seasons, including annual events like Labor Day sales, Black Friday and Amazon Prime Day. Apple tends not to participate in these events, at least not directly, but you can bet third-party retailers and carriers will be offering some of their best iPhone deals of the year at these times.


Get your next phone for the best price.

Set price alerts on your favorite models with the CNET Shopping extension and get notified when prices drop.


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Tariffs Explained: Latest on Trump’s Shifting Import Tax Plan, and What It Means

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Apple, I’m (Sky) Blue About Your iPhone 17 Air Color

Commentary: The rumored new hue of the iPhone 17 Air is more sky blah than sky blue.

I can’t help but feel blue about the latest rumor that Apple’s forthcoming iPhone 17 Air will take flight in a subtle, light-hued color called sky blue.

Sky blue isn’t a new color for Apple. It’s the featured shade of the current M4 MacBook Air, a shimmer of cerulean so subtle as to almost be missed. It’s silver left too close to an aquarium; silver that secretly likes to think it’s blue but doesn’t want everyone else to notice.

Do Apple employees get to go outside and see a real blue sky? It’s actually vivid, you can check for yourself. Perhaps the muted sky blue color reflects a Bay Area late winter/early spring frequent layer of clouds like we typically see here in Seattle.

«Who cares?» you might find yourself saying. «Everyone gets a case anyway.» I hear you and everyone else who’s told me that. But design-focused Apple is as obsessive about colors as they are about making their devices thinner. And I wonder if their heads are in the clouds about which hues adorn their pro products.

Making the case for a caseless color iPhone

I’m more invested in this conversation than most — I’m one of those freaks who doesn’t wrap my phone in a case. I find cases bulky and superfluous, and I like to be able to see Apple’s design work. Also, true story, I’ve broken my iPhone screen only twice: First when it was in a «bumper» that Apple sent free in response to the iPhone 4 you’re-holding-it-wrong Antennagate fiasco, and second when trying to take long exposure starry night photos using what I didn’t realize was a broken tripod mount. My one-week-old iPhone 13 Pro slipped sideways and landed screen-first on a pointy rock. A case wouldn’t have saved it.

My current model is an iPhone 16 Pro in black titanium — which I know seems like avoiding color entirely — but previously I’ve gone for colors like blue titanium and deep purple. I wanted to like deep purple the most but it came across as, in the words of Patrick Holland in his iPhone 14 Pro review, «a drab shade of gray or like Grimace purple,» depending on the light.

Pros can be bold, too

Maybe the issue is too many soft blues. Since the iPhone Pro age began with the iPhone 11 Pro, we’ve seen variations like blue titanium (iPhone 15 Pro), sierra blue (iPhone 13 Pro) and pacific blue (iPhone 12 Pro).

Pacific blue is the boldest of the bunch, if by bold you mean dark enough to discern from silver, but it’s also close enough to that year’s graphite color that seeing blue depends on the surrounding lighting. By comparison, the blue (just «blue») color of the iPhone 12 was unmistakably bright blue.

In fact, the non-Pro lines have embraced vibrant colors. It’s as if Apple is equating «pro» with «sophisticated,» as in «A real pro would never brandish something this garish.» I see this in the camera world all the time: If it’s not all-black, it’s not a «serious» camera.

And yet I know lots of pros who are not sophisticated — proudly so. People choose colors to express themselves, so forcing that idea of professionalism through color feels needlessly restrictive. A bright pink iPhone 16 might make you smile every time you pick it up but then frown because it doesn’t have a telephoto camera.

Color is also important because it can sway a purchase decision. «I would buy a sky blue iPhone yesterday,» my colleague Gael Cooper texted after the first rumor popped online. When each new generation of iPhones arrive, less technically different than the one before, a color you fall in love with can push you into trading in your perfectly-capable model for a new one.

And lest you think Apple should just stick with black and white for its professional phones: Do you mean black, jet black, space black, midnight black, black titanium, graphite or space gray? At least the lighter end of the spectrum has stuck to just white, white titanium and silver over the years.

Apple never got ahead by being beige

I’m sure Apple has reams of studies and customer feedback that support which colors make it to production each year. Like I said, Apple’s designers are obsessive (in a good way). And I must remind myself that a sky blue iPhone 17 Air is a rumored color on a rumored product so all the usual caveats apply.

But we’re talking about Apple here. The scrappy startup that spent more than any other company on business cards at the time because each one included the old six-color Apple logo. The company that not only shaped the first iMac like a tipped-over gumdrop, that not only made the case partially see-through but then made that cover brilliant Bondi blue.

Embrace the iPhone colors, Apple.

If that makes you nervous, don’t worry: Most people will put a case on it anyway.

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Astronomers Say There’s an Increased Possibility of Life on This Distant Planet

Using the James Webb Space Telescope, astronomers are working to confirm potential evidence of life on a distant exoplanet dubbed K2-18b.

Astronomers are nearing a statistically significant finding that could confirm the potential signs of life detected on the distant exoplanet K2-18b are no accident.

The team of astronomers, led by the University of Cambridge, used data from the James Webb Space Telescope (which has only been in use since the end of 2021) to detect chemical traces of dimethyl sulfide (DMS) and/or dimethyl disulfide (DMDS), which they say can only be produced by life such as phytoplankton in the sea. 

According to the university, «the results are the strongest evidence yet that life may exist on a planet outside our solar system.»

The findings were published this week in the Astrophysical Journal Letters and point to the possibility of an ocean on this planet’s surface, which scientists have been hoping to discover for years. In the abstract for the paper, the team says, «The possibility of hycean worlds, with planet-wide oceans and H2-rich atmospheres, significantly expands and accelerates the search for habitable environments elsewhere.»

Not everyone agrees, however, that what the team found proves there’s life on the exoplanet.

Science writer and OpenMind Magazine founder Corey S. Powell posted about the findings on Bluesky, writing, «The potential discovery of alien life is so enticing that it drags even reputable outlets into running naive or outright misleading stories.» He added, «Here we go again with planet K2-18b.Um….there’s strong evidence of non-biological sources of the molecule DMS.»

K2-18b is 124 light-years away and much larger than Earth (more than eight times our mass), but smaller than Neptune. The search for signs of even basic life on a planet like this increases the chances that there are more planets like Earth that may be inhabitable, with temperatures and atmospheres that could sustain human-like lifeforms. The team behind the paper hopes that more study with the James Webb Space Telescope will help confirm their initial findings.

More research to do on finding life on K2-18b

The exoplanet K2-18b is not the only place where scientists are exploring the possibility of life, and this research is still an early step in the process, said Christopher Glein, a geochemist, planetary researcher and lead scientist at San Antonio’s Southwest Research Institute. Excitement over the significance of the research, he said, should be tempered.

«We need to be careful here,» Glein said. «It appears that there is something in the data that can’t be explained, and DMS/DMDS can provide an explanation. But this detection is stretching the limits of JWST’s capabilities.»

Glein added, «Further work is needed to test whether these molecules are actually present. We also need complementary research assessing the abiotic background on K2-18b and similar planets. That is, the chemistry that can occur in the absence of life in this potentially exotic environment. We might be seeing evidence of some cool chemistry rather than life.»

The TRAPPIST-1 planets, he said, are being researched as potentially habitable, as is LHS 1140b, which he said «is another astrobiologically significant exoplanet, which might be a massive ocean world.»

As for K2-18b, Glein said many more tests need to be performed before there’s consensus on life existing on it.

«Finding evidence of life is like prosecuting a case in the courtroom,» Glein said. «Multiple independent lines of evidence are needed to convince the jury, in this case the worldwide scientific community.» He added, «If this finding holds up, then that’s Step 1.»

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