I did that once, when the Nexus phones weren’t available in Switzerland but they were in Germany. I ordered it to a location close to the border that specifically offers a postal address as a service and went to pick it up.

The correct thing to do would have been to go to the border agents, get a confirmation that I’m bringing the merchandise out of the country and pay the Swiss VAT. With the confirmation I could theoretically get the VAT back from the seller I paid it to. Except that was Google and they weren’t intending to sell it for export, so I doubt they would have helped with that.

What I did was unpack the phone, throw away the packaging, put my old phone in one jeans pocket and my new one in the other, and drive back over the boarder. Having two phones isn’t that weird, so I thought I could get away with claiming them as personal items if I was asked. But I wasn’t even stopped (they only do sampling at the crossing) so it was easy. But it was technically smuggling. Anything over 200 CHF needs to be declared and VAT paid.

My mom once went clothes shopping to Austria and didn’t declare them. The border guard asked what she bought. She claimed clothes, but not over the limit. He was like no way, I know that brand, they must be worth more, checked the stuff, and discovered it was worth too much. She had to pay VAT plus a pretty decent fine.

I only crossed the US Canadian border once in each direction, but to me it seemed like they were way more strict and thorough then here in Europe within Schengen. So I’d be scared I think. But overall I still think your plan could work if you’re careful with it. Maybe gaming laptop would be suspicious if you went for a one day trip, would be better if it was longer. But a phone not really.