Welcome to the weekend, friends! While the rest of our team was checking out
Samsung’s forthcoming Galaxy S26 lineup
and prepping for
Apple’s “special experience”
next week, we’ve been sifting through
Woot’s “Video Games for All” sale
and a truly weird slate of deals that, frankly, don’t have a throughline. (Some of us have also spent the last week unpacking
what Huel is
, but that’s neither here nor there.)
Here’s what we can tell you. If you’re thinking of picking up the
Galaxy S26 Ultra
at launch, putting in your preorder now isn’t a bad idea. It’s also a great time to pick up the midrange
QuietComfort Headphones
and what many of us at
The Verge
consider to be
the
game of 2024:
Astro Bot
. And who doesn’t want to save on
a slick handheld vac
?
Now let’s get to it.
If you’re craving a little peace and quiet,
Bose’s QuietComfort Headphones
are currently on sale at
Amazon
in multiple colors for $199 ($150 off), which is the best price we’ve seen this year.
The standard QC Headphones are essentially a refresh of the
last-gen QC45s
with some new software tricks, including the ability to adjust noise cancellation levels and set custom listening modes. That being the case, you still get up to 24 hours of battery life, excellent comfort, and multipoint support, making it easy to switch between Bluetooth devices on the fly. They lack Bose’s immersive audio mode and the higher-quality Bluetooth found
in the newer QC Ultras
, though, as well as support for lossless audio over USB-C. Then again, that probably shouldn’t come as a surprise given they’re retailing for $250 less.
Bose QuietComfort Headphones
Where to Buy:
$359
$199 at
Amazon
$359
$229 at
Best Buy
$359
$229 at
Walmart
As we alluded to earlier,
Samsung announced its Galaxy S26 lineup
this week. There are
already
plenty of preorder deals
to consider, but one of the best comes courtesy of
Amazon
, which is throwing in a $200 gift card alongside a free storage upgrade when you preorder
the
512GB Galaxy S26 Ultra
starting at $1,299.99. Other retailers are also running promos ahead of the phone’s March 11th release date, mind you, though they’re not as impressive;
Best Buy
is only providing a free storage upgrade, while
Samsung
is offering a mere $150 in credit.
While the
Galaxy S26 and S26 Plus
both feel like underwhelming, iterative updates, the 6.9-inch Galaxy S26 Ultra actually
impressed our resident phone reviewer
, Allison Johnson. That’s largely because of the new Privacy Display, which can help shield your screen from people sitting near you (if desired), and a more powerful camera array that should improve low-light performance. Plus, like the rest of the S26 lineup, the Ultra is powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5, which supports more advanced generative AI tools and
a souped-up version of Gemini
that can carry out certain tasks in third-party apps on your behalf. No one likes calling an Uber themselves, anyway.
Read our S26 Ultra hands-on impressions
.
Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra
Where to Buy:
$1299.99 at
Samsung (256GB, with $150 credit)
$1499.99
$1299.99 at
Amazon (512GB, with $200 gift card)
$1499.99
$1299.99 at
Best Buy (512GB)
You can still grab a physical copy of
Astro Bot
at
Walmart
for $32.99 ($27 off), an all-time low. The fantastic PlayStation 5 exclusive — which
won Game of the Year
at the 2024 Game Awards — has players take on the role of Astro, a lovable robot who sets off on a space adventure after his crew is lost in a sudden attack. Despite the prior game being a pack-in title for the PS5, Team Asobi’s full-sized sequel brims with inventive platforming, whimsical power-ups, and a kind of lighthearted fun that recalls the best of
Crash Bandicoot
and
Spyro the Dragon
. Thankfully, it never feels outdated, even if ‘90s vibes are totally there.
Read our Astro Bot review
.
Astro Bot
Where to Buy:
$59.99
$32.99 at
Walmart
If you’re looking for a relatively compact handheld vacuum that can reach into car crevices and suck up crumbs on your desk,
Fanttik’s foldable Fold V10 Apex
is still on sale at
Amazon
for $85.49 (about $65 off), matching its best price to date.
Fanttik’s 17,000Pa vac features an extendable nozzle that pivots up to 210 degrees, along with a built-in LED light to help illuminate the dark corners of your vehicle. An onboard display, meanwhile, indicates the remaining battery life and suction mode, as well as the status of the washable filter. It also comes with a range of useful add-ons, including an upholstery tool, two brush heads, and an extendable hose with a crevice tool for hard-to-reach areas. It even charges via USB-C, making it easy to juice after the battery runs out in about 30 minutes or so.
Read our recent profile on Fanttik
.
Fanttik Fold V10 Apex Foldable Car Vacuum
Where to Buy:
$149.99
$85.49 at
Amazon
$149.99
$94.99 at
Fanttik (with code V10APEX)
More ways to save this weekend
You can pick up five
second-gen AirTags
for $99.99 ($24 off) at
Costco
, though non-members will have to pay a $5 surcharge. That’s the first discount we’ve seen on Apple’s latest location tracker, which builds upon its predecessor with an upgraded ultra-wideband chip and extended range, allowing for more precise tracking from up to 50 percent farther away. It’s also better at locating items in multi-story homes, and the built-in speaker is up to 50 percent louder, making it easier to hear.
Read our review
.
AOC’s 27-inch QD-OLED gaming monitor (Q27G41ZDF)
is on sale for $379.99 ($170 off) at
Best Buy
, which is its lowest price to date. The 1440p display is a great entry-level OLED, with a sharp 16:9 panel and a speedy 240Hz refresh rate. As a QD-OLED monitor, it delivers the deep blacks and vibrant colors the technology is known for, along with G-Sync compatibility to help reduce screen tearing. It also includes a three-year warranty for added peace of mind.
You can snag the
Sharge Pixel 100
from
Amazon
(with Prime) and
Sharge
for $69.90 ($30 off) right now, which is its lowest price to date. The small, retro-inspired GaN charger delivers up to 140W of power, which is enough to charge a 16-inch MacBook Pro to 50 percent in about 25 minutes. It also features three USB-C ports for powering multiple devices, along with a customizable dot-matrix display that shows the real-time wattage for each port.
— Source: The Verge (https://www.theverge.com/gadgets/886520/bose-quietcomfort-headphones-samsung-galaxy-s26-ultra-deal-sale)