Lower-priced phones often get even cheaper during events like Amazon Prime Day, which is just weeks away. Sometimes sales line up perfectly with when you actually need to upgrade, making those phone deals genuinely worth grabbing. But like many shopping deals and doorbusters, I noticed that Prime Day phone deals sometimes include a few duds — and you might not realize it until you’ve already purchased and set up the new phone.

Most smartphones — even budget-friendly ones — handle the basics fine: calling, texting, using apps and multitasking while you play music. Ideally, you’ll also get a sprinkling of AI features, such as Google’s Circle to Search, and even more advanced tools, like agentic assistants to help store and organize your data.

So ahead of Prime Day, which runs June 23 to 26 this year, here are three major ways to tell whether a phone deal is worth it or if you need to immediately return it.

Make sure your phone gets software and security updates

I have no issue with buying an older phone in order to save money. What I do have problems with is buying a phone only for it to lose software and security updates within a year or soon after. This is particularly the case with phones that cost $400 or less, and which might drop to as much as half off their list price during a Black Friday sale.

Before buying a discounted phone released two or three years ago, check its reviews to make sure you’ll receive security updates for as long as you plan to keep the device. It may already have received its final batch of new security features and protective software.

Typically, when it comes to software and security update support, phones from Samsung’s Galaxy A series or Google’s Pixel A series will get decent discounts while still providing years of updates. That’s because Samsung provides its Galaxy A phones with a six-year update commitment, while Google promises seven. This means even if you’re buying a model that’s one or two years old, you’ll probably have at least three to four years before the phone gets active protection against security vulnerabilities. 

On the other hand, TCL and Motorola tend to have shorter software and security update commitments of about three years, so if you’re buying a model made in 2025, you’ll want to make sure that you’re OK with having closer to two years of remaining updates.

You can’t do much with a bad phone camera

Most discounted phones tend to skimp on the camera, resulting in lower photo and video quality. This makes sense — photo quality is often a big reason more expensive phones have advanced capabilities powered by processors, image pipelines and ISPs that can help clean up photos or intelligently boost in low-light situations using machine learning and AI.

You’ll often see Android phones referring to their main camera as having “50 megapixels” — which is all well and good, but not all megapixels are created equal. Higher-end phones have image sensors with larger pixels, which can gather more light and take better-looking photos. Cheaper phones often have much smaller pixels, and even if there are more, they still won’t capture as good a photo. You’ll really need to use the camera to determine if its photo quality meets the standard that you want. 

If you’re on a budget and absolutely must deal with a camera that’s not great in more advanced settings, there are tips and tricks you can use to get the most out of your photos. Often, it’s best to make sure there’s plenty of natural light and avoid shooting subjects with a lot of fast movement.

But if the camera doesn’t meet your needs after a few days of trying it out, that alone is a solid reason to return it and try something different.

The software has to be easy to use

If you end up buying a phone through a Black Friday or Prime Day deal only to find it too frustrating to use for simple tasks, return it. For example, if a phone can’t do basics well like play music, make calls or take photos, there’s no reason to continue using it.

What defines “frustrating” is subjective, but for me, one of the biggest red flags is when a cheaper phone is loaded with bloatware — branded apps and services that come preinstalled, have little or no connection to the phone-maker and function more like ads than useful tools. Another telltale sign your phone is full of bloatware is when those apps or features are nearly impossible to uninstall or hide.

I’ve seen these come in a variety of forms, such as a carrier-branded news feed that requires a deep dig into settings to delete, watermarks getting added to photos by default or strange web browsers that are loaded with advertising upon launch. 

If you see red flags like this, you can usually remove them. But ideally, your phone should be relatively easy to use right out of the box, and if it’s not, it’s a justifiable reason to return it and try something else.

So how do I spot a good phone deal?

The best way to find a good phone deal is to figure out which phones you would be happy to purchase right now, even if they aren’t guaranteed to drop in price. Then, if you aren’t in dire need of buying a new phone, keep checking retail websites to see if the price of the device you actually want drops.

This will give you time to make a well-researched choice — and even stop by a store to try a display model. Then, if the phone you want happens to go on sale, even just a little, you’ll be in a much better position: You got the phone you actually need and saved money, too.