Whatever you do, don’t buy these 5 Android phones on Black Friday

Ah, yes. It’s everyone’s favorite (or least favorite) time of year: Black Friday. What used to be a single day of sales has prolonged itself into a week of endless discounts, and 2025 has proven no different.

Among all the deals available, many include savings on Android phones. I recently highlighted a few of the best Android phone deals for Black Friday, and as you can see from that list, there are some pretty impressive discounts to be had.

But not every deal is created equal, as is evident by the phones below. Here are five Android phones you’re likely to come across during your Black Friday shopping that you absolutely should not buy.

The first of those is the Samsung Galaxy A36 5G. Samsung’s Galaxy A lineup is consistently among the most popular, and the A36 5G is one of the latest models released in the US. Unfortunately, even with a $100 Black Friday discount, the Galaxy A36 5G is still a difficult phone to recommend.

It’s not that the A36 is a complete failure of a phone. It has a good AMOLED display and a lightweight design, while Samsung’s seven-year update promise is excellent for a phone this cheap. Unfortunately, sluggish performance holds the A36 back from being a phone you’d want to use for seven years — let alone a few months. As my colleague Rushil mentioned in his Galaxy A36 5G review, the phone struggles with even basic tasks, such as launching the camera app and scrolling through home screens.

You might be inclined to forgive the A36’s performance woes when it’s on sale for $300 instead of $400, but I’d advise against that. If you’re looking for a phone in that $300 price range, I’d much sooner recommend the Moto G Stylus (2025), which is currently discounted to just $285 and is much more performant.

While the Moto G Stylus (2025) is an excellent Black Friday pickup, the same can’t be said about its Moto G (2025) sibling. This version of the Moto G looks almost identical to its Stylus counterpart, but it’s an inferior phone in virtually every way.

Like the Galaxy A36 5G, the Moto G (2025) is hampered by poor performance. While the phone benchmarks fairly well, it’s an absolute slog in the real world, with even the simplest of tasks slowing it down to a complete halt. And unlike the A36, the Moto G (2025) doesn’t benefit from long-term software updates; Motorola promises just two Android OS upgrades, which will only get the phone up to Android 17.

Combine that with frustrating secondary cameras and limited water resistance, and the Moto G (2025) is a bad purchase — even with a $50 Black Friday deal that brings it down from $200 to $150. If you’re looking for an ultra-cheap Android phone, you’re much better off with the Samsung Galaxy A16 5G. It’s not on sale for Black Friday, but its $200 retail price is a great value, and it’s money that’ll be much better spent.

The Moto G (2025) isn’t the only Motorola phone you should avoid during Black Friday. If you’re shopping for an Android handset online this week, there’s a very good chance you’ll come across the Moto G Play (2024). It’s currently the number two best-selling phone on Amazon, and it has a Black Friday deal that knocks its price down to just $95 from $150.

While I’ll be the first to admit that a $95 Android phone is really tempting, the fact of the matter is that the Moto G Play (2024) is not a good smartphone — even with its Black Friday sale. Why? For so many reasons. The Moto G Play has bloatware-ridden software, no 5G connectivity, no NFC chip for Google Pay, a low-quality display, slow charging, and a terrible update policy. The phone launched with Android 13, was updated to Android 14, and that’s the one and only Android update it’ll ever see.

Even if you aren’t going into the Moto G Play (2024) with high expectations, this is a phone that makes far too many compromises to be worth any price. Unless you absolutely can’t spend more than $100 on a new phone, it’s 100% worth spending a little bit more for a Moto G Stylus (2025) or Galaxy A16 5G.

Another Android phone you should stay away from is the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 7 FE. This is Samsung’s first budget-focused flip phone, and its Black Friday sale addresses one of our biggest complaints about it: the price. The Z Flip 7 FE is currently available for $706 instead of $900, and while that is a generous discount, it’s not enough to make the phone worth your money.

Besides its high retail price, there are other things the Flip 7 FE doesn’t get right. Its cover screen hardware is outdated, while its software is clunky and frustrating to use. Its battery life isn’t impressive, its charge speeds are slow, and its cameras aren’t particularly good, either.

You could argue that those are acceptable compromises for a flip phone you can buy for a little over $700, but I’d argue you’re much better off with the Motorola Razr Plus (2025) instead. Motorola’s flip phone has a significantly better cover screen, good battery life, very fast charging, and reliable cameras. Not to mention, it’s even cheaper than the Flip 7 FE for Black Friday, discounted to just $650, down from $1,000.

My last pick is the Google Pixel 10 Pro Fold. Google’s latest foldable is a frustrating product. I love its software, durable design, and built-in magnets, but so much of it feels outdated when put next to the competition — namely, its bulky form factor, lacking cameras, and its Tensor G5 performance limitations.

The Galaxy Z Fold 7 is the Pixel 10 Pro Fold’s main competitor in the US, and without any discounts, you could argue that the Pixel’s shortcomings are easier to contend with given its $1,800 price tag compared to the Z Fold 7’s $2,000 asking price. However, that argument is a lot weaker during Black Friday.

The Pixel 10 Pro Fold is discounted to $1,500 for Black Friday, but the Galaxy Z Fold 7 is also on sale for $1,600. With just $100 currently separating the two phones, I really struggle to see why anyone should buy Google’s folding phone over Samsung’s. The Z Fold 7 is significantly lighter and thinner, has a much faster chipset, more versatile cameras, and more robust foldable software. If you’re already planning to spend this amount of money on a phone during Black Friday, do yourself a favor and spend the extra $100 for the Fold 7.