Apple deals: Early Black Friday deals and what to expect

It’s that time of year again—Black Friday is upon us and if you’re looking for Apple deals, it’s a great time to shop. From November 25-28, every product Apple sells will be on sale and we expect to see some all-time-low prices on MacBooks, AirPods, and iPads along with excellent deals on Apple Watches and iPhones. We’ll be tracking all of the sales as they arrive so be sure to check back on Macworld.com as the big day approaches.

Apple’s own Black Friday sale tends to be limited to vouchers that you are given when you buy a qualifying products, but luckily the various Apple resellers selling Apple products will undoubtedly be discounting Apple products, so you will be able to pick up a bargain.

Apple doesn’t hold a Black Friday sale. Instead, it offers a four-day shopping event with gift cards on many of the products it sells to be used on future purchases. We don’t know exactly what will be included in the sale until Apple announces it (usually the week before Black Friday), but based on previous years, we can assume that the newest products—iPhone 14, M2 iPad Pro, 10th-gen iPad, Apple TV 4K, and 2nd-gen AirPods—will be excluded.

Last year, Apple offered gift cards between $25/£20 and $200/£160, but with currency fluctuations, the amounts could vary significantly this year, especially outside the U.S.

Black Friday 2022: What to expect from Amazon and other retailers

While there are still some stock shortages, the situation isn’t nearly as bad as it was last year. So the products you want should ship on time. Hare the best prices we’ve found leading up to Black Friday:

U.S.

Macs

• Amazon, 16-inch MacBook Pro (512GB): $2,199 ($300 off)
• Costco, 14-inch M1 Pro MacBook Pro (8-core CPU, 14-core GPU, 16GB RAM, 512GB SSD): $1,600 ($399 off)
• Amazon, 14-inch M1 Pro MacBook Pro (10-core CPU, 16-core GPU, 16GB RAM, 1TB SSD): $2,200 ($299 off) 
• Amazon, 16-inch M1 Pro MacBook Pro (10‑core CPU, 16‑core GPU, 16GB RAM, 512GB SSD): $2,199 ($300 off)
• Costco, 16-inch M1 Pro MacBook Pro (10-core CPU, 16-core GPU, 16GB RAM, 512GB SSD): $2,100 ($349 off)

AirPods

iPads

Apple TV

U.K.

Macs

• Laptops Direct, MacBook Air M2 512GB: £1,387.97 (£161 off)
• Amazon, 13-inch MacBook Pro M2, 512GB: £1,385 (£164 off)
• AO.com, 14-inch MacBook Pro M1 Pro: £1,729 (£170 off)
• John Lewis, 14-inch MacBook Pro M1 Pro: £2,129 (£270 off)
• Very, iMac 8-core GPU and 512GB: £1,499 (£200 off)

AirPods

• John Lewis, AirPods Pro 1st-gen £199 (£50 off)

Additionally, you can expect to find great deals on the following Apple products:

Black Friday 2022: What to expect from iPhone deals

If you are in the U.S. you won’t find any iPhone 14 deals on Amazon and discounts on unlocked models will also be hard to find. But Verizon, AT&T, and T-Mobile, as well as Best Buy will have tons of discounts for new and existing subscribers who have old models to trade in or are looking to switch carriers or add a line.

For U.K. shoppers there are usually discounts to be found on unlocked iPhones bought off contract, but we wouldn’t expect to see the iPhone 14 series discounted yet. The best deals are likely to be found on older iPhone handsets. For example, during the October Amazon sale we saw the iPhone 13 Pro Max with £322 off, and the iPhone 13 mini with £208 off. Just be careful as some times the phones being discounted the most heavily are actually refurbished, and the resellers don’t always make this as clear as we think they should!

Apple will likely include the iPhone 13, 13 mini, and SE in its Black Friday shopping event, giving away $50/£50 gift cards with any purchase.

Black Friday 2022: What to expect from iPad deals

Amazon is the best place to go for iPad deals and we’ve already spotlighted a few above. The newest models—the M2 iPad Pros and 10th-generation iPad—have yet to see any discounts, so it’s possible they get their first major price cuts over Black Friday. Other models including the iPad Air and iPad mini are likely to see all-time-low discounts.

AirPods are always great fodder for Black Friday sales, and we don’t expect this year to be any different. While we don’t expect the new AirPods Pro to drop quite as low as they did last year, we wouldn’t be surprised to see $30 or $40 off the $250 MSRP. AirPods Max could drop to $399 for the first time after hovering at $449 and $479 for the past year. And keep an eye on the third-gen AirPods, which could see significant discounts.

The best discounts are likely to be on older AirPods models, so do be careful to check which generation you are buying.

Black Friday is traditionally the best time to find a deal on both new and old Apple Watch models. The best discounts are likely to be on the older models (that’s the Apple Watch Series 7 and 1st-generation SE), while the newer models are the Series 8, 2nd-gen SE, and Ultra are more likely to see small discounts. Over the most recent Prime Day sale, the Apple Watch Series 7 models were more than $100 off and the SE dipped to an all-time low of $199. U.K. discounts weren’t so good though with only £10 off.

We don’t think we’ll see deals as good as that—last year the Series 7 was about $20 off—and we would be surprised to see any significant discounts on the Ultra model.

Apple hasn’t released a new Mac in several months, so they are all ripe for major discounts. We’ve already seen ongoing discounts of up to $400 on the 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro, $150 off the 13-inch MacBook Pro, and $100 off the M2 MacBook Air, so keep an eye on those models to go even lower. And the Mac mini is coming up on its two-year anniversary, so we could definitely see all-time-low pricing on the M1 models.

Black Friday 2022: Retailers

In the U.S., here are the best stores to shop for Black Friday deals:

If you’re based in the U.K., you’ll find deals at the following retailers: