For someone who wants to spend the absolute least on a phone and not have to think about buying another one for a good long while, I’ll always recommend Google’s A-series Pixel phone. That’s doubly true now with the Pixel 8A on a $100 discount for the Black Friday-ish Cyber Shopping Holiday, or whatever it is we’re currently experiencing. The 8A is a solid value at its full $499 price, and cut down to $399, it’s a ridiculously good deal.

Here’s the kicker: Google is promising to update the Pixel 8A with OS version upgrades and security releases through May 2031. That means you can expect it to run Android 21. If you bought the 8A now for $400 and owned it for six years, that works out to $66 per year. You’d have to use a $1,000 flagship phone for 15 years to get the same ROI. See? You’re practically making money with the Pixel 8A.

More importantly, the 8A is the kind of phone I recommend to friends and family who don’t care about fancy features and don’t want to be bothered with buying a new one every few years. Seriously: my mom has a 7A and my dad has the 8A.

A $400 phone is also much more feasible to buy out of pocket than a flagship phone, Pixel or otherwise. If you don’t want to be beholden to the terms of a wireless carrier’s promotion in exchange for a “free” phone, the Pixel 8A is a good deal — no strings attached.