By: Nick Gambino
Black Friday is synonymous with unruly mobs who will pull just about anything to save $10 bucks on a smart AI toaster that’ll probably turn on them the minute the machines start to take over. But for those smart enough to take advantage of that little-known secret known as the internet, we can avoid most of the headaches associated with the day after Thanksgiving.
I’m here to point you towards some good tech deals that, for the most part, you can purchase online. I’m going to break it down by a few categories to make it easier to navigate towards what you want. And remember “Black Friday” is a bit of a misnomer these days. The deals frequently last a month, a week or at least through the Thanksgiving weekend.
Smartphones
If you’re expecting to get a sweet deal on an iPhone, you can forget it. Apple has always been the Black Friday Grinch, rarely offering any deals of note. Thankfully, Samsung is a different story. They’re currently selling the Galaxy S9 for $520 which is a $200 savings. The S9+ is also sporting a fresh $200 shave.
Starting Nov. 22, Google is slashing prices on their flagship smartphones. The Pixel 3 will go for $649 rather than $799 and the 3 XL is going from $899 to $699. For those keeping track, that’s a $200 savings. They’re also offering a buy one, get one 50% off deal on their Pixel 3 and 3 XL.
Tablets
Remember way back when I called Apple a Black Friday Grinch? Well, that still stands, but Target, Walmart and Costco are selling this year’s 32 GB iPad for $250, which is $70 off. The 128 GB will see a $100 savings.
All Amazon Fire tablets are seeing some sort of deal through both Best Buy and Amazon themselves. The more expensive the tablet, the bigger deal you’ll see. The Amazon Fire HD 10, for example, is going from $149.99 to $99.99.
Sorry to disappoint, but that’s all I could find for deals for the tablets worth owning. Well, unless you consider the Google Pixelbook a tablet, instead of what it is, a laptop/tablet hybrid. Either way, that’s dropping $300 from $999 to $699.
Smart Speakers
Google is really embracing the spirit of the holidays with some good ‘ol competitive retail. The Google Home Mini is dropping from $49 to $25, while the standard Google Home will see a price reduction from $129 to $79. The big guy on the block, Google Home Hub, will see a drop from $149 to $99.
The Echo line from Amazon always sees deals this time of year and 2018 is no exception. You can pick up a two-pack of Echo Spots for only $160, rather than the normal $260 for two. The Echo Sub with two 2nd-gen Echo devices is a combo deal that adds up to $330, instead of the $430 you’d pay if you bought them separately.
Who would I be if I didn’t mention Sonos in a speaker category? They’ve got a few decent deals but when it comes to smart speakers, they’re dropping the price on the Sonos One from $199 to $175. I know it’s not a whopper, but hey, never look a gift horse in the mouth. Especially when that gift horse can belt out high-quality tunes in response to voice commands followed by Alexa.
