Samsung released the Galaxy S21, Galaxy S21 Plus, and Galaxy S21 Ultra last year, which continued to be the company's flagship devices until the Galaxy S22 series arrived in February. Now that the company has been selling the S21 series for over a year, and likely has many of them on-hand from S22 trade-ins, Samsung has started selling refurbished versions at lower prices.
Samsung's 'Re-Newed' store has been around for years at this point, but starting on Friday, the company opened pre-orders for Galaxy S21 models – yes, pre-orders for phones that are a year old. The base Galaxy S21 with 128GB storage is available for $675 ($124 below the new MSRP), the Galaxy S21 Plus with 128GB storage is $850 ($149 below MSRP), and the Galaxy S21 Ultra 128GB is $1,000 ($200 below MSRP). Notably, the Galaxy S21 FE ('Fan Edition') is not yet available.
The 'Re-Newed' program is a bit closer to the new smartphone experience than most refurbished phones. Devices get a brand new battery and IMEI number, the latest software updates pre-installed, and a "132-point quality inspection by engineers in a Samsung facility." Re-Newed devices are also covered by the same 1-year warranty as new devices.
Refurbished devices are usually a great way to save money on smartphone purchases, but perhaps due to the thorough repair and check process, the Re-Newed Galaxy S21 series is pretty close to what you would pay for a brand new Galaxy S22 phone. For example, the entry-level Galaxy S22 is $700 right now, only $25 more than a refurbished Galaxy S21.
Samsung is sweetening the deal for a few days, though – if you buy one anytime between now and April 21, you'll get $100 of Samsung store credit. There are a few cases and accessories for the Galaxy S21 series still in stock at Samsung's site you could use that credit on, or it could go towards Galaxy Buds or another device.