Tips for finding Apple deals on Cyber Monday and Black Friday

Does Apple have discounts on Black Friday?

As Black Friday approaches, it’s only logical to assume that the steep discounts will extend to Apple products, giving you a chance to stock up on the newest gadgets. Unfortunately, Apple gear rarely experiences deep price drops, even during big deals holidays like Black Friday and Cyber Week.

Apple has been known to hold a four-day shopping event over the holiday weekend, though it doesn’t officially call it a Black Friday or Cyber Monday sale and Amazon and Walmart’s Black Friday sales are sure to have a few Apple goodies on sale, too.

Apple deals on Cyber Monday and Black Friday

Finding great deals on Apple devices can be tricky because discounts are generally restricted to older products. Although you won’t find many deals on the newer stuff, there will definitely be opportunities to score good deals on some Apple products. Though it’s unlikely we’ll see great deals on phones or laptops, there’s a possibility we’ll see a rare MacBook price drop or a gift card offer for iPhones that will be worth your time.

To help you navigate Black Friday’s deals and come out on top, we’ve put together a full guide of everything you need to know about scoring the best prices on Apple stuff this holiday season.

You shouldn’t expect great Black Friday deals on the newest Apple items, even from third-party retailers. It’s unlikely that a new iPhone 11 or Apple Watch Series 5 will see any discounts, but products that have been around for longer are fair game.

On the other hand we predict that this will be a good year to score a Black Friday discount on the Apple Watch Series 3 and Series 4, with select Series 3 models dropping as low as $150 (which would be easily the lowest price we’ve ever seen for a brand-new Apple watch) and the Series 4 selling for $300.

You’ll likely see something similar with iPads. Older generations like the 64 GB iPad Air may drop to $430 or less, and the 11-inch iPad Pro could hit $750. A welcome exception is the newest iPad, as ad leaks indicate that the 32GB model of 7th-generation iPad will see an $80 drop.

The 6th-generation iPad will definitely see discounts, perhaps even more substantial—and because there isn’t too much of a difference between the two generations, the iPad 6 is still a good choice if you’re looking for a newer tablet. According to editor Andrew Cunningham, if you can find the 128 GB iPad 6 for the same price or less than the 32 GB iPad 7, it’s a solid discount worth considering.

Popular store chains that are offering Black Friday deals both at brick and mortar locations or online are listed below, with each of the Apple-related deals organized by product type.

iPhone

We aren’t seeing deals on the unlocked iPhone 11, iPhone 11 Pro, or Pro Max. However, several retailers will be discounting them via activation with carriers. If you’re looking for a discount on an iPhone 11 Pro, you may be able to buy one for as little as $499 (roughly half off), but only if you activate a new line with an installment plan on Verizon, AT&T, or Sprint, and also trade in your old phone. How much you pay overall will depend on how much trade-in value your phone has. After activating it and trading in your old phone, the final cost for the iPhone 11 after your installment plan is paid off will be $199.

At Target you can get a $200 gift card when you activate either the iPhone 11, iPhone 11 Pro, or iPhone 11 Pro Max with Verizon or AT&T. Also at Target you can get an iPhone X and receive a $300 Target gift card with qualified activation. Also Walmart will be offering gift cards with iPhone purchases on Black Friday if you want to wait until then to actually score a deal.

MacBooks

When it comes to MacBooks, Amazon and Best Buy are the places to shop for good deals. Amazon is offering up to $200 off the new 13-inch MacBook Pro, up to $450 off the new 15-inch MacBook Pro, and $100 off the new 13-inch MacBook Air.

The 2017 MacBook Air maybe a few years old, but it’s still a solid machine with excellent battery life and an even better keyboard. Amazon has the Apple MacBook Air 2017 (13-inch, 8GB RAM, 128GB SSD Storage) on sale for $699.

Apple Watch

looking for the best deals on Apple Watch? Series 3 is seeing the best deals of all the Apple Watch models, which is not surprising considering there are two newer iterations of the smartwatch. Walmart has the best prices right now with the 38-millimeter GPS model at its lowest price ever at $169.99 and the 38-millimeter GPS and cellular model at $199, down from an original price of $379.

Best Buy is the place to go for deals on the Apple Watch Series 4. The 40-millimeter is $299 and the 44-millimeter is $329. The Series 4 GPS and cellular model is on sale at Best Buy with both sizes costing $399.

Series 5 models have very slight discounts at Walmart at the moment.

iPads & AirPods

Don’t expect anything big from iPads this Black Friday. AirPods, on the other hand, will likely see a nice price drop. The second-gen AirPods are actually at their lowest price right now at $139 across the board at Amazon, Walmart, and Best Buy. But heads up, Walmart’s Black Friday ad has the earbuds dropping down to $129 ($30 off MSRP), so we suggest waiting until then to snag them for a super low price.