Early Black Friday Tech Deals Are Out on Brand Names

Early Black Friday tech deals have been live for a while now on all the biggest online retailers, and the first wave is unusually strong. Big brands such as Apple, Asus, Samsung, Sony, Google and LG have already fired off some headline discounts to take the lead over the pack before November 29th kicks off tomorrow’s price architecture bidding war — enhanced by increasingly common price-match guarantees and extended return windows. Recent reporting from Adobe Digital Insights and Salesforce Shopping Index both note that electronics usually bring some of the most aggressive holiday discounts, and early this year’s deals are already dipping close to traditional peak-season lows on specific models.

Apple and accessory standouts in early Black Friday deals

If you’ve got an Apple-shaped void in your life, the opening gambits are seductive. AirPods Pro tend to drop around 30% on early promos, and standard AirPods are usually used as doorbusters. iPad deals are forming in the entry and mid tiers, where Wi‑Fi models are falling far below street prices and education bundles are sweetening the pot. MacBook deals are still more limited right now but $150–$400 reductions on M‑series systems are popping up on some popular configs, especially models with 16GB RAM and 512GB+ storage. And smart shoppers should also be on the lookout for retailer gift card bundles or trade‑in bonuses that effectively magnify the discount without altering the ticketed price.

With wearables, Apple Watch deals usually level out around 15–25%, with older‑gen models scoring the most substantial discounts. Fitness equipment buyers should compare GPS versus cellular models and make sure they check included band sizes, as switching them out later can wipe away the savings. As always, make sure you check for the latest revision of any product name — minor SKU changes (like USB‑C charging in earbuds) can be important when it comes to long‑term use and resale value.

Gaming laptops and PCs from Asus and rival brands

Asus has been leading the charge here, with aggressive pricing on its ROG and TUF lines to start, and identical reductions are already cropping up at Lenovo Legion, Acer Predator, MSI, and Dell’s gaming ranges.

The current sweet spot for value: laptops with Nvidia GeForce RTX 4060 or 4070 graphics, 16GB of RAM and a 1TB SSD. Expect 10–25% off a well‑reviewed 15–16‑inch machine with 2.5K 120–240Hz panels, which is all the horsepower you’d need to do high‑refresh 1080p and competent play at low settings at 1440p in modern titles. If you spy a deal on the 240Hz panel, make sure that it comes paired with a GPU that can actually push games like competitive shooters at that kind of frame rate.

Desktop customers will want to keep an eye out for packages with an 80+ Gold PSU, a minimum of a 1TB NVMe SSD and onboard Wi‑Fi 6/6E. Circana’s most recent channel data suggests a continued inventory normalization in GPUs and explains the increased promo depth on midrange products. Translation: you are less likely to overpay for last year’s silicon if you verify the model number exactly before you click buy.

TVs and home entertainment deals worth considering now

You’ll find preliminary classic early sales on TVs, and in some cases 55‑ to 65‑inch varieties will deliver the best price‑per‑inch value. Mini‑LED sets from TCL and Hisense are punching well above their weight, while LG and Samsung are discounting OLEDs a bit more aggressively than the average pre‑event week. Adobe’s historical data tells us TV discounts typically peak later, though a share of high‑visibility models do indeed reach near‑bottom pricing early in low supply. Assuming you’re shopping premium, compare the different panel technologies (OLED vs. QLED vs. Mini‑LED), ensure HDMI 2.1 appears on more than one port and make sure variable refresh rate and eARC are included as well.

Soundbars from Sonos, Samsung and Sony are also trending down, with basic Atmos systems now sometimes dropping below the $300 mark. A good bundle — soundbar plus subwoofer and/or rear surrounds — might outperform a deal‑priced solo bar for the same money, particularly in larger spaces.

Smart home and audio deals from major brands

Sony and Bose noise‑cancelling headphones are among the early standouts, offering 20–35% off flagship models, plus deeper discounts on earlier generations that still offer elite active noise cancellation (ANC).

True wireless earbuds from Apple, Google, Samsung, and Nothing are acting just as disruptively, especially if they’re launching with a new charging case or refreshed colorway on existing SKUs. If you stream, 4K sticks and tiny boxes fall below $30 on the regular, while Wi‑Fi mesh gear from eero, TP‑Link and Netgear is also regularly discounted on multi‑node packs.

Robot vacuums in general continue to be a deal‑hunter’s bonanza, with self‑emptying models often 40–50% off, though you’ll want to scrutinize things like mapping features and brush design (does fur tangles make a difference? — it does for pet owners), as well as considerations such as ongoing bin bag or filter costs.

Keep in mind optional cloud storage charges for cameras and doorbells; the hardware cost is just part of the long‑term bill.

How to verify a real deal before you click buy

Use popular price trackers and even retailer shopping apps to look at historical pricing, so you can tell if the “sale” is a reposted list price.

Match model numbers character for character — minuscule suffixes can mean fewer ports, slower storage or dimmer screens. Prefer goods with at least a one‑year manufacturer warranty and if your credit card gives you longer coverage, save the receipt and product registration email together. Weekend warriors can make hay testing up‑and‑coming shops in their market without any pesky per‑store restrictions (many stores will do price adjustments within a reasonable window; if a listing drops after you cop, ask for that difference).

Lastly, focus on relevant specs and not flashy numbers. In laptops, you’re much better off with a well‑balanced GPU/CPU configuration and 16GB RAM and a 1TB SSD today that will age more gracefully than an ultra‑high‑refresh display co‑joined with entry graphics. For TVs, panel quality, HDR peak brightness and HDMI 2.1 inputs trump “8K” badges. These are the levers that turn an early Black Friday discount into a purchase you’ll remain satisfied with long after the boxes have been recycled.

Quick picks worth watching during early Black Friday

• AirPods Pro frequently under $180
• Sony and Bose ANC headphones reaching near all‑time lows
• Asus ROG and Lenovo Legion 16‑inch gaming laptops with RTX 4060/4070 snipped 10–25%
• 55–65‑inch Mini‑LED and OLED TVs with substantive cuts
• 4K streamers below $30
• Self‑empty robot vacs right around half off
• Smartwatch promos that hover in the 15–25% vicinity

If any of these square with your list, the early wave is already worth catching.