Update 11/14/24: This marks the beginning of our coverage of AirPods for Black Friday. There are some good deals here, but also some quirks. For example, it is hard to find AirPods 3 at this time, but not AirPods 2. Likewise, we’re finding deals on the latest 4th gen AirPods but they’re pretty minimal. At the same time, we don’t expect either of those situations to change between now and Black Friday, especially since the AirPods 4 were just released recently.
As you may already know, Black Friday is coming up on November 29. Luckily, retailers and people alike are fed up with dealing with just a single day of shopping specials, so now the deals start earlier and end later. And that means early Black Friday deals are out and about right now, including on big products, such as things made by Apple. So, if you’re an iPhone user and want the best headphones for your iPhone, this is a great time to get AirPods, whether you’re going for a primary pair or a backup pair. The following deals represent the best of the best of what’s out there now, and all come from reliable sources.
Apple AirPods 2 — $89 $129 31% off
The AirPods 2nd generation buds aren’t the newest on the block, but they’re still quite popular and are a Walmart ‘Best seller’ to this very day. They have everything from tap controls to the “Hey Siri” functionality you know and love from AirPods, but can’t withstand wetness the same way later buds can. Get them now for $40 off.
Apple AirPods 4 — $119 $129 8% off
The latest and (nearly) the greatest — check out the ANC version, too! — of Apple’s AirPods. They’re sweat resistant, provide a personal spatial audio experience, give USB-C charging, and have incredible battery life. The discount, at just $10 isn’t huge, but these are really new and just a hair over $100 anyhow.
Apple AirPods 4 with ANC — $169 $179 6% off
Getting a sense of déjà vu? Design-wise, these are practically identical to the regular AirPods 4, but they bring with them intense active noise cancellation, allowing you to tune out the surrounding world for even better studying and winning imaginary arguments in your head.
Apple AirPods Pro 2 — $187 $250 25% off
This is Apple’s current pro-tier earbuds, and (for most people) the best earbuds you can buy for your iPhone. They’ve got an excellent listening experience, active noise cancelation, and the ability to boost ambient sounds to make them easier to hear. They’re quite nicely priced at under $190 right now.
Apple AirPods Max (Lightning) — $429 $549 22% off
The AirPods Max are the AirPods very fine standard over-the-head-with-a-band headphones. This deal, the best we could find still use the older lightning cable instead of USB-C and come in a bright pink. While that might not be your style, this man certainly pulls off the look and you probably can, too, especially when they’re about $20 or $40 cheaper than the blue or black variation, respectively.
How to choose AirPods on Black Friday
One of the first things you have to understand about AirPods (and, generally speaking, most Apple products) is that they are extremely popular. Now, you might already know this, sure, but why is that relevant to Black Friday deals?
It’s relevant because Apple has the upper hand. Apple (or any retailer that carries their products) doesn’t need to give discounts to make us interested in their wares, we already buy them anyhow. This is a we-take-what-we-can-get situation.
So, how should that affect your Black Friday choices? It shouldn’t. And that’s the whole point. During Black Friday, you should pick the AirPods you wanted to begin with and, if there is a good deal going on, you can be happy you got it. But, chances are, prices aren’t going to swing so much that it makes sense to switch up what you’re buying at this time.
How we selected these Black Friday AirPods deals
Remember how we just established that Apple AirPods deals are a we-take-what-we-can-get situation? It’s that way just as much for us as it is for you. There are some considerations that we take that are a bit different, though.
Here, we wanted to present deals that are good and from reliable sources, and we did search far and wide. From Walmart to the AT&T store, in fact. We also know to look at each color of a product, as that can affect price. During the first iteration of this article, for instance, the pink AirPods Max headphones had a better discount than the rest (and that may still be the case today) and that’s likely as a result of the feminine association with the color pink. Yet, upon closer look, despite sharing a name with a Victoria’s Secret underwear line, we think that the color can be very suitable for many readers of The Manual, and especially ones that take to value over outward appearances.
At the end of the day, we searched high and low to present to you good deals, including ones that you might’ve skipped over yourself.
