The best Verizon deals of July 2026 — so many free phones

The summer sale season is upon us, and the Verizon deals are really heating up. Whether you're in the market for a flagship phone, innovative foldable, or budget device, I've collected the best Verizon deals of July 2026 into this guide.

Verizon has been a major player in the wireless scene for over 20 years, offering users a variety of plan options for every type of user (and budget) imaginable. The Big Three carrier also offers a ton of awesome deals on Android phones, with extra rewards for those who trade in or add a line with an eligible data plan.

Keep reading for all of my favorite Verizon deals of July 2026, and don't forget to check back later to see what's new: I add new offers to this list on a regular basis.

• See the full list of deals at Verizon today

Verizon deals

Motorola Razr (2026) 128GB: $799.99 FREE with eligible unlimited plan at Verizon

The Motorola Razr 2026 has only been out since May 21st, but you can already get the innovative flip phone for FREE when you add a line with the Unlimited Welcome, Unlimited Plus, or Unlimited Ultimate plan at Verizon.View Deal

Samsung Galaxy S26 256GB: $899.99 FREE with eligible unlimited plan at Verizon

The Galaxy S26 has only been out for a few months, but you can already get the new flagship for FREE by adding a line with the Unlimited Welcome, Unlimited Plus, or Unlimited Ultimate plan at Verizon. View Deal

Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra 256GB: $1,299.99 $5.55 per month with Unlimited Ultimate plan at Verizon

It's not hyperbolic to call the Galaxy S26 Ultra the most powerful Android phone of 2026, but this performance comes with a steep price tag to match. Fortunately, if you order the phone and add a line with the Unlimited Ultimate plan, Verizon will give you an S26 Ultra for only $5.55/month for 36 months.View Deal

Samsung Galaxy S26 Plus 256GB: $1,099.99 FREE with eligible unlimited plan at Verizon

Similar to the S26 deals that I described above, if you're interested in the super-balanced Galaxy 26 Plus, you can get the phone FREE by adding a line with the Unlimited Plus or Unlimited Ultimate plan at Verizon.View Deal

Google Pixel 10 Pro 128GB: $999.99 FREE with eligible unlimited plan at Verizon

Add a line with Verizon's Unlimited Welcome, Unlimited Plus, or Unlimited Ultimate plan and the carrier will give you the powerful Google Pixel 10 Pro for FREE! View Deal

Google Pixel 10a 128GB: $499.99 FREE with unlimited plan at Verizon

The long-awaited Google Pixel 10a finally hit store shelves on March 5th with a bunch of great deals in tow. Buy the midrange masterpiece from Verizon with a new line on the Unlimited Welcome, Unlimited Plus, or Unlimited Ultimate plan and you'll get enough promo credits to make the phone totally free. View Deal

Google Pixel 10 Pro XL 256GB: $1,199.99 $8.33 per month with eligible unlimited plan at Verizon

Add a line with the Unlimited Ultimate plan and Verizon will give you the super-powered Pixel 10 Pro XL for only $8.33 per month for 36 months, no trade-in required. View Deal

Motorola Edge (2026) 128GB: $529.99 FREE with eligible data plan at Verizon

The Motorola Edge (2026) is a versatile midrange phone with great battery life, IP69 durability, and solid performance from a MediaTek chip. Add a line with the Unlimited Welcome, Unlimited Plus, or Unlimited Ultimate plan and Verizon will give you the device for 100% free. There's also some trade-in credit up for grabs if you're looking to ditch an old phone. View Deal

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Reach the Summit: Qualcomm's Snapdragon event is set for September

What you need to know

• Qualcomm reveals that its Snapdragon Summit is set for September 22-24 in Maui, Hawaii.
• The company's teaser was light, only stating "the future starts here," but we are expecting the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 to debut here.
• Recent rumors claim that this chip might not be the only we're expecting, as an "8 Elite Gen 6 Pro" could join the fray.

We were all expecting it. Though it's happened a little later this year, Qualcomm is finally setting the date for when its next flagship chip will launch.

This week, Qualcomm started teasing its next annual event for the next generation of Snapdragon. The company claims "the future starts here" ahead of its Snapdragon Summit in Maui, Hawaii. Qualcomm says the event will take place from September 22-24, a three-day set that we've become accustomed to.

The teaser is minimal (per usual), but what it does is set us up for what's coming from Qualcomm. The company's next-gen flagship SoC will most likely advance the same power, power efficiency, and AI solutions it introduced with the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5. This chip is currently powering a multitude of flagship phones today, and its early benchmark tests highlighted Qualcomm's continued dominance.

Qualcomm put a bright spotlight on its chip's 20% increase in CPU performance, as well as a 35% increase in efficiency. A few multi-core tests from Geekbench scored the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 ~15% higher than other chips on the market. There's no hiding that Qualcomm's looking to continue this trend, but how it'll do it (and what chips we'll see) is another talking point.

Plant the flag

(Image credit: Qualcomm / X)

While we're expecting a Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6, rumors claim Qualcomm wants to add a "Pro" to the mix. Considering what we know about the 8 Elite Gen 5's performance, an alleged "8 Elite Gen Pro" could get aggressive with its performance. Qualcomm might boost totals even higher than what we're used to; however, only phones labeled as "Ultra" would see it.

This is a claim tipsters laid down early, and it gets us thinking about the Galaxy S27 Ultra and so on. It's also been suspected that Qualcomm will build this next on TSMC's 2nm process. Another round of Pro rumors talked about its potential core architecture. The 8 Elite Gen 6 Pro might deploy a 2+3+3 CPU structure. What's more, the Adreno 850 GPU was thrown into the discussion, with claims that the "normal" 8 Elite Gen 6 could reach for the Adreno 845.

Mint Mobile is calling this new deal its 'best offer ever' — so what's the catch?

In my line of work, there is a lot of hyperbole. But sometimes when a retailer or wireless carrier claims that a new offer is its "best deal ever", it's worth taking a closer look. Case in point: Mint Mobile just launched a promotion that drops ALL of its wireless plans down to $15 per month, whether you're signing up for three months or a full year. It's that simple: switch to Mint and the savings are yours. 

Switch to Mint Mobile and get 3, 6, or 12 months of wireless for only $15 per month

Join Mint Mobile with ANY 3, 6, or 12-month data plan and you'll only pay $15 per month. Wireless must be purchased in bulk, but considering that the minimum is $45 for three months, it's still cheaper than much of the competition.

Mint's Unlimited plan is easily the best value here, offering unlimited talk, text, and data, plus a free mobile hotspot and calls to Mexico, Canada, and the UK.View Deal

Mint Mobile has discounted its wireless before, but usually it requires the purchase of a smartphone to enjoy the savings. This is the first time that the T-Mobile-owned carrier has dropped all of its offerings to the same price, regardless of plan or commitment.

The only catch is that you'll need to pay for a minimum of three months of service to receive the savings, but that means it'll only cost you $45 out the door. Three full months of Unlimited wireless powered by T-Mobile for less than 50 bucks? Look at your last phone bill and tell me that doesn't sound good.

Need a new phone too?

Samsung Galaxy S26 256GB: $900 $400, plus 50% off one year of Unlimited

Need a new phone to pair with your new wireless plan? Purchase the Samsung Galaxy S26 with one year of the Unlimited plan and Mint Mobile will give you $500 OFF the phone and 50% off the wireless. In other words, you're getting a top-rated 2026 phone AND a full 12 months of T-Mobile-powered wireless for only $580 (or $49/month using Affirm).View Deal

What is Mint Mobile?

Now owned and operated by T-Mobile, Mint Mobile is a prepaid mobile provider that specializes in selling its wireless in bulk. It's a perfect choice for users who want straightforward coverage for cheap, even if it means they lose the bells and whistles offered by more-expensive unlimited plans. 

You purchase your coverage in 3, 6, or 12-month increments of time, and then you get talk, text, and data on T-Mobile's vast 5G network with no caps or confusing contract to worry about. Once your time allotment is over, you're free to switch to another carrier or upgrade/downgrade to a different plan with no penalty whatsoever. 

Meta paywalls an offline smart glasses feature you’ve already paid for

What you need to know

• Meta is putting a paywall on Conversation Focus, limiting free users to just three hours per month unless they subscribe to Meta One Premium for $20/month.
• The feature runs entirely on the smart glasses, meaning it works offline and doesn't rely on Meta's cloud servers.
• Premium subscribers get up to 15 hours per month, but unused hours don't roll over.

Meta is officially ushering in the subscription era to the hardware sitting right on your face. The company is limiting its Conversation Focus feature on Meta smart glasses to three hours of use per month.

That means if you need more time to listen to the person sitting across from you, you’ll have to cough up $20 a month for a Meta One Premium plan, according to Meta’s updated help page (via The Verge). Conversation Focus, which launched in December 2025, allows you to reduce background noise while making the voice of the person you’re talking to sound a bit more vibrant. It's useful in crowded environments, whether you're in a busier cafe or waiting at a loud airport gate. All you need to do is tell Meta AI to turn it on, and the glasses do the rest.

Here’s the catch, and the reason this change feels so aggressive. Conversation Focus is not a cloud-based, computationally heavy AI tool. It runs entirely on-device. It doesn’t ping Meta’s servers and doesn’t even need an active internet connection. When you purchase the frames outright, you’ve already paid for the chipset that processes the audio.

Meta says the core AI smart glasses experience is free, but once you hit the three-hour limit, the only option is the $20-a-month tier, which bumps your allowance up to 15 hours. Unused hours will not carry over to the next billing period.

When asked about the change, Meta said that three hours is more than enough for the average person and that the subscription is an add-on for “power users,” who also want premium device support. But making it through 180 minutes is surprisingly simple. A few noisy dinner dates, some hours in transit, and a long work meeting will eat up your monthly allowance fast.

Charging users to offset the expensive server costs of cloud AI is one thing, but paywalling local, offline hardware capabilities crosses a new line in the wearables space. That’s a frustrating precedent to set for the tech industry at large.

Android Central's Take

The reason Meta’s Conversation Focus is one of the smartest features the company has put into its glasses; it solves a real-world problem. Which is why putting a timer on a feature that runs locally on hardware you already own feels like an unnecessary cash grab. If that’s the direction Meta is going, I’d much rather see subscriptions limited to cloud-powered AI features that actually cost money to operate — not for things your own smart glasses can already do for themselves.

PSA: Samsung Messages app on your Galaxy phone will stop working this month

What you need to know

• Samsung Messages is shutting down this month, though the company hasn't confirmed an exact date yet.
• Users on Android 11 and earlier are unaffected, and emergency calls still work after the shutdown.
• Google Messages is the official replacement, and Samsung has made the transition fairly easy to do.

It's July, which means the month has finally arrived for the Samsung Messages app on Galaxy phones to shut down.

Back in April 2026, Samsung announced it would be shutting down its Messages app later this year. The company published an official notice on its U.S. website confirming the change and specifying July 2026 as the cutoff. That month is now here, which means the app could stop working at any point.

Samsung still hasn't confirmed the exact date, but the shutdown is expected to happen fairly soon. The company has already stopped preloading the Messages app on flagship Galaxy devices since 2024, and while users could still install it from the Galaxy Store, even that option was pulled with the Galaxy S26 Ultra earlier this year. A full shutdown now looks imminent.

It's over for Samsung Messages on Galaxy phones

(Image credit: Sanuj Bhatia / Android Central)

Users on Android 11 and earlier won't be affected and will still be able to use Samsung Messages on their devices. It's also worth noting that even after the shutdown, you'll still be able to use Samsung Messages on a Galaxy device to contact emergency services. However, you won't be able to send or receive messages from regular contacts.

Samsung has already confirmed it's transitioning Galaxy phones to Google Messages, and the company has made the switch fairly straightforward. We've written a detailed guide on how to move your messages from Samsung Messages to Google Messages that you can follow to transfer all your messages from the old app to the new one.

If you'd rather not use Google Messages, there are a few Samsung Messages alternatives worth exploring. That said, none of them are a true one-to-one replacement, so there's a good chance you'll end up going with Google Messages anyway.

Android Central's Take

I get why some people are upset about this. Nobody likes being forced off an app they've used for years. That said, Google Messages is in a much better place than it used to be, so the switch isn't as painful as it sounds.

Best Buy launches huge 4th of July sale event — see the 25+ deals that Android users should actually care about

The 4th of July is swiftly approaching, and Best Buy is marking the occasion by dropping hundreds of outstanding deals across its site. Whether you want a kitchen appliance, smart TV, or top-rated smartphone, there is no shortage of discounts to check out this week.

That said, if you don't feel like scrolling through page after page of products to find the right deal for you, you're in luck: I've picked out all of the best discounts for Android users and dropped them below.

These offers range from deals like 52% off the Samsung S90F OLED TV, no strings attached, to this Prime Day-level $600 discount on the Motorola Razr Ultra (2025). Needless to say, there are plenty more offers where those came from, so keep reading for all of my favorites.

• Best Buy's 4th of July sale is LIVE: see the full list of deals

Phones

Motorola

Razr Ultra (2025) 512GB

Samsung

Galaxy A57 5G 128GB

Samsung

Galaxy Z Flip 7 512GB

Motorola

Moto G Stylus 5G (2024) 256GB

Motorola

Razr (2025) 256GB

Motorola

Razr Plus (2025) 256GB

Samsung

Galaxy S25 Ultra 256GB

Motorola

Edge (2025) 256GB

Samsung

Galaxy A37 5G 128GB

Wearables

Samsung

Galaxy Watch 8

Samsung

Galaxy Watch 8 Classic

Samsung

Galaxy Watch Ultra

Oura

Ring 4

Amazfit

Balance 2XT

Garmin

Instinct 3

Tablets and Chromebooks

HP

14 2-in-1 Chromebook

Lenovo

Idea Tab w/ Pen, Folio Case

Acer

Chromebook 315

Headphones and earbuds

Bose

QuietComfort Headphones

Beats

Studio Pro

Sennheiser

Momentum 4

JBL

Tune 245NC

Sennheiser

Momentum 4 Earbuds

Samsung

Galaxy Buds 3 Pro

Smart TVs

Samsung

65" Class S90F Series OLED

Insignia

55" Class F50 Series Fire TV

Samsung

75" Class U7900 Series 4K TV

LG

65" Class C5 Series OLED TV

Toshiba

43" Class M450 QLED Series Fire TV

Insignia

55" Class F70 Series 4K Fire TV

When does Best Buy's 4th of July sale end?

Best Buy's 4th of July sale ends Sunday, July 5th, which gives you a little less than a week to explore the retailer's discounts.

Google thinks you’re too lazy to read your own notes, launches AI video summaries instead

What you need to know

• Google's NotebookLM now condenses massive documents and notes into 60-second, TikTok-style vertical videos.
• The feature is fueled by Gemini 3.1 Flash-Lite Image, Google’s fastest and most cost-efficient image generation model, boasting four-second render times.
• Google is also previewing a robust full-video generation model that supports natural language editing, multimodal inputs, and native audio syncing.

Nobody really enjoys reading through a massive stack of notes or a 50-page research document when they're cramped for time. Google knows this, and so it’s rolling out a huge upgrade to NotebookLM that takes your uploaded documents and turns them into bite-sized, 60-second AI-generated videos.

For the uninitiated, NotebookLM started out as a simple AI research assistant, but it’s now a powerful learning tool. The latest feature, Short Video Overviews, expands on the Cinematic Video Overviews we saw earlier. But the real star of the show is the engine that powers it: Google's new Nano Banana 2 Lite.

Officially dubbed Gemini 3.1 Flash-Lite Image, Nano Banana 2 Lite is Google’s fastest and most cost-efficient image generation model to date. You get a whopping four-second image generation time and a big jump in visual quality over the original Gemini 2.5 Flash Image (the first Nano Banana). This engine combines world knowledge with rock-solid consistency of character. It lets you quickly sketch accurate scenes, develop storyboarding tools and render legible typography for localized ads without compromising object fidelity.

Using Short Video Overviews in NotebookLM activates this model, which condenses your sources into a vertical video packed with narrative explanations and educational animations. It's purpose-built for people revising notes, presentations, or lengthy PDFs who just want the key takeaways. Before generating, you simply select "Short" from the output formats (alongside Explainer and Cinematic), pick your specific sources, and set the video's focus using a custom prompt or a suggested topic.

(Image credit: Google)

Alongside this, Google also pushed Gemini Omni Flash into public preview. This model is aimed at full video generation, with conversational editing (relighting scenes and swapping characters with natural language) and multimodal inputs. It has native audio pairing for each video output and syncs on-screen text with kinetic movements.

Short Video Overviews aren't available to everyone just yet. The feature begins rolling out over the coming weeks to English-speaking users aged 18 and older. When it goes live, you’ll be able to access it on the web, Android and iOS, whether you’re signed into a regular consumer account or Google Workspace.

Android Central's Take

If you’re a student cramming for finals or someone who hates reading dense reports, turning a 50-page PDF into a digestible, TikTok-style recap is a massive win. But are we really so allergic to actual reading that we need an AI to hallucinate a 60-second clip from our notes? Google wants to sell the service as the ultimate productivity hack, but it feels disturbingly like a crutch for our fast-shrinking attention spans.