You blinked and it’s inexplicably almost Black Friday again.
Do you have to buy a bunch of stuff just because it’s on sale? Probably not! Can you use it as an opportunity to save some money on things you already wanted? Absolute.
We do not strive to be exhaustive with our Black Friday technical summary. Instead, we’re trying to highlight some of the deals on the gadgets and gear we’d recommend even at full price.
Before we get into the deals, we always like to start with a few tips:
- If you buy on Amazon use a historical price tracker like camelcamelcamel to determine if the sale is really a sale, or if the price was temporarily increased yesterday to show a discount today.
- Make sure you really buy what you think you are buying. Retailers love sneaking last year’s model into the sales mix to clear inventory. Now last year’s model can be awesome! Just know what you’re getting.
- Likewise, for things like TVs, it’s not uncommon for older panels to be repackaged under new model numbers. If that TV model didn’t exist a few months ago and is somehow offered at a huge discount, be curious.
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Table of Contents
Apple
Image Credits: Emmanuel Dunand/AFP/Getty Images
If you want to buy directly from Apple, the company offers gift cards of different values with hardware purchases – up to $75 when you buy AirPods, $50 with an iPhone/iPad/Apple Watch, or $250 with a Mac. (Note that, unlike many retailers, Apple’s “Black Friday” deal doesn’t start before the actual Black Friday.)
Apple Watch: Amazon has the Apple Watch Series 8 (the latest model) to $349 (normally $399) and the new Apple Watch Ultra up to $739 (normally $799).
AirPods: Walmart has the latest AirPods to $150 (normally $170), and Amazon has the latest AirPods Pro up to $199 (normally $250).
iPad: Target has the 2021 10.2″ iPad 64GB up to $270 (normally $330), while Amazon has the latest iPad Pro up to $1000 (normally $1100).
Air Tags: Amazon has one 4 pack AirTags up to $80 (normally $99.)
Amazon
Image Credits: David Ryder/Getty Images
If you’re looking for an Amazon device like a Kindle or an Echo speaker, Black Friday is usually the best time to do it.
Kindle: They have the waterproof (and quite excellent) Kindle Oasis up to $255 (normally $350), or $185 (normally $280) for the version with ads on the home screen.
Amazon Echo: The last Echo point is down to $25 (normally $50) and comes with a free Philips Hue bulb OR six months of Amazon Music Unlimited. If you want one of the Echos with a built-in screen, they all are 50-60% discount.
Fire TV: The very solid Fire TV Stick 4K has dropped to $25, normally $50.
Image Credits: Google
Like Amazon, Google also tends to offer deep discounts on its own hardware for Black Friday.
Chromecast: The last Chromecast 4K with remote control has dropped to $40 (normally $50). If you don’t need 4K, the HD-only model is just $20 (normally $30).
Pixel phone: The Pixel 7 has dropped to $500 (normally $600), while the Pixel 7 Pro has dropped to $750 (normally $900).
Nest devices: The Nest Learning thermostat has dropped to $179 (normally $249.) However, if you don’t want all the automated “learning” features (which, frankly, are hit and miss), the more manual (but still Wi-Fi connected) Nest thermostat is thanks to a super cheap price of $90 (normally $130). All Nest speakers and smart displayshave now lost about half.
Roku
If the Google/Amazon/Apple streaming devices don’t do it for you, Roku’s gear is all discounted right now too:
Spine
Image Credits: Spine
The very solid Backbone One game controller for iPhone is down to $75 (normally $100.)
Sadly, the deal is for the iPhone model only and seemingly doesn’t include the just-released Android (USB-C) version.
Sonos
Sonos sometimes sits out Black Friday, but this year they’ve released some deals.
The Sonos One speaker is down to $175 (normally $220); they also offer a two-pack, but the price/saving per speaker remains the same.
If you’re looking for one of their soundbars, the smaller option, the Sonos Beamhas dropped to $360 (normally $450), while the large is more expensive Sonos arc has dropped to $719 (normally $900).
Nintendo switch
Image Credits: Nintendo
We haven’t seen any particularly mind-blowing deals for the Nintendo Switch this year yet. This is especially true if you’re looking for a deal on the recently released OLED model, which seems to be going for its regular price of $350 everywhere we look.
The best deal seems to be this year this bundle – it still costs the normal $300, but they include Mario Kart 8 Deluxe (usually $60) and 3 months of Switch online (usually $8).
Where you can however, finding some Switch deals is for really good games. Walmart has Mario Party Superstars, Breath of the Wildand Animal Crossing: New Horizons all under $30 (normally $60.)
SonyPlayStation
Image Credits: Devin Coldewey/businessroundups.org
Finding a Playstation 5 in stock is still a hit or miss, so there isn’t much in the way of deals on the console itself this Black Friday.
However, if you’re looking for a different controller, Gamestop has it PS5 controllers marked down to $50 (normally $70.)
Xbox
Image Credits: Microsoft
There are two versions of the latest generation Xbox console: the Xbox Series S and the Xbox Series X. You can read about the difference between the two herebut the bottom line is that the Series X has a disc drive and is more powerful across the board.
We’re only seeing deals on the Series S model (read: the less powerful) model this year, with Amazon bumping the price to $240 (normally $300.)
Game stop has Series X/S controllers up to $50 (normally $60), and Microsoft itself offers more than 30-50% off games like Deathloop, Gotham Knights, Red Dead Redemption 2 and NBA 2K23.
Apps and streaming services
We’re not seeing any deals from Spotify or Netflix this year, but the competition has some offerings:
