Flipkart’s Big Billion Days Sale, Amazon’s Great Indian Festival Sale—Indians know exactly what these sales entail. Discounted iPhones, slashed prices on Android smartphones, deals on appliances, and more. This year, ahead of the sale season, I stumbled upon a deal for the Xiaomi 14 on Amazon; it was priced at ₹60,000, ₹10,000 less than the MRP. On top of that, there was a ₹7,000 off coupon, additional SBI cashback, and an exchange bonus for trading in an old smartphone. In the end, I managed to order the Xiaomi 14 for around ₹36,000. Honestly, this is exceptional value for money—you get the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3, 12GB RAM, 512GB storage, and most importantly, an impressive set of Leica-tuned cameras. However, as luck would have it, I swapped the sealed Xiaomi 14 for a brand-new Google Pixel 9 Pro XL. The cherry on top? I effectively paid only ₹71,000 for it. How did I pull that off? Call it opportunistic deal hunting or faith in offline stores—but this reaffirmed my belief that with a little curiosity, you can uncover fantastic deals, and it’s not even that difficult. Read on to discover how I snagged this deal.
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Online Deals Aren’t Dead: Xiaomi 14 for Around ₹36,000 Proves It
Remember the excitement surrounding the Big Billion Days sale a few years back? It was more intense than it is today, and understandably so—selling a two-year-old standard iPhone for less than half its MRP isn’t sustainable long-term. Nonetheless, the deals keep rolling in, and people continue buying new phones. It has almost become a tradition for many Indians to wait for the Big Billion Days sale to purchase a new phone. A lot of my friends do it, I do it, and I’ve seen the internet buzzing about it too.
Not sure which
mobile to buy?
That said, I found the Xiaomi 14 deal to be well worth the money, and I decided to place my order without waiting for the sales days. After all, Amazon offered me about ₹11,000 for my ageing Motorola G40 Fusion, and I was thrilled. Following a smooth exchange process the very next day after placing the order, I ended up with a sealed unit of the Xiaomi 14 in black. As much as I wanted to unbox and start using it, I’d already experienced the Xiaomi 14 before. Then, a thought struck me—what if I could exchange it for ₹50,000 at a local store for something like the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra? Being a phone enthusiast, I ventured into the smartphone jungle of Jaipur after my workday, eager to hunt for the deal of the year (for me).
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How I Ended Up with the Pixel 9 Pro XL
So yes, on the very same day the Xiaomi 14 was delivered, I arrived at my go-to smartphone store in Jaipur, searching for a good deal on the Galaxy S24 Ultra or the Xiaomi 14 Ultra. But as soon as I entered the store, one phone box immediately caught my eye—the Pixel 9 Pro XL.
Just for context: I’ve been using Pixel devices for ages (and Nexus before that). I purchased the original Google Pixel in 2016, and the cycle continued until the Pixel 3. Meanwhile, Google ceased selling flagship Pixels in India and skipped the Pixel 4, Pixel 5, and Pixel 6 series here. Nevertheless, I still managed to buy the Pixel 4XL (yes, I got it imported). However, the Pixel 5 wasn’t a true successor to the Pixel 4 (with its mid-range chipset), and the Pixel 6 switched to the Tensor chip, which didn’t inspire much confidence. So, I stopped buying Pixels and switched to iPhone full-time. But as luck would have it, the Pixel 9 Pro XL came into my life this year.
Now, back to how I ended up acquiring the Pixel 9 Pro XL for an incredible price. As soon as I saw the box, my curiosity piqued, and I asked how much they were selling it for. “ ₹81,000,” the salesman replied. “Canadian unit hai, bhaiya,” he added. ₹81,000 for an imported Google Pixel 9 Pro XL seemed too good to be true, especially since it was even cheaper than the US retail price. I knew I had to get it. After intense bargaining and trading in my sealed Xiaomi 14, I paid ₹35,000 for the Pixel 9 Pro XL—bringing my net effective price down to ₹71,000. You know what that means, right? I paid ₹54,000 less than the Indian MRP of ₹1,24,999. And this, ladies and gentlemen, is a fantastic deal—regardless of whether I get a warranty for it or not.
There I was, grinning from ear to ear, having secured a Pixel after ages, and the best part? It turned out to be a bargain. This experience reaffirmed my confidence in online smartphone deals; you can still find great prices, but you must keep your eyes peeled—or perhaps check social media to spot a deal. Another significant realisation was that offline stores can sometimes offer the best deals, so it’s worth exploring your local shops to see if you can land a deal like mine.
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