We knew Amazon would be resuming its Prime Big Deal Days sale event this year, but until today we didn’t know the exact dates. The online retailer announced that the sale event will return on October 8 and 9 this year, giving us even more reason to call it October Prime Day, as we have done in years past.
This is the third edition of the fall sale event, which Amazon has used as the (un)official start of the holiday shopping season, and the discounts have already started to roll in before Prime Day deals arrive in early October.
Prime Day in July remains Amazon’s biggest sale event for Prime members, but since its introduction in 2022, October Prime Day offers subscribers thousands of exclusive deals to shop during the two-day window. In turn, this also provides Amazon with a way to increase sales during the same time period and, arguably more importantly, it increases the number of total Prime subscribers.
While we expect most of the deals during Prime Big Deal Days to be exclusive to Prime members, there are always some deals that are available to all Amazon shoppers.
As far as the deals we expect to see, it’s a safe bet that Amazon’s own devices will be on sale: things like Echo speakers, Kindle ereaders, Blink security cameras, and more. We also typically see tech like wireless earbuds, speakers, robot vacuums, and SSDs on sale during these kinds of events.
While it’s probably too early to think about holiday shopping, it’s a good idea to stay entertained. If history is any indication, the sale prices we’ll see during the October Prime Days will be similar (and in some cases, identical) to those we saw during Black Friday and Cyber Monday this year. If you can shop early and cross a few things off your list, we recommend doing so.
You can also expect to see some “lightning deals” during October Prime Day. Thankfully, these are usually clearly labeled with the time remaining to get the sale price noted on the product page. In our experience, only a handful of these flash deals are actually worth your money — but if you see something on your wishlist that’s only dropped in price for a few hours, it’s in your best interest to buy it right away.
To get an idea of what we can expect to see during October Prime Day this year, these are some of the best deals we saw during the 2023 event.
Apple AirPods Pro price $189 ($60 off): $169 is a new record low for the AirPods Pro, and they’re usually a contender for one of the best tech deals of the holiday season.
Apple Watch SE for $149 ($100 off): This was a record-low price, and given that we didn’t get a new SE from Apple earlier this month, this remains the budget-friendly Apple Watch to buy.
Anker Soundcore Space A40 Wireless Earbuds for $54 ($26 off): We’ve seen our favorite budget wireless earbuds drop to $49 several times in the past year.
Amazon Echo Show 5 for $40 ($50 off): This is the lowest price ever on the small smart display; it was $10 higher during July Prime Day.
Amazon Kindle Paperwhite for $95 ($45 off): The latest Kindle Paperwhite has a record-low price of $100. Given how lackluster Kindle deals were during July Prime Day, we’d be happy to see $100 or less on this model during October Prime Day.
Google Pixel 7a for $399 ($100 off): It’s down to a record low of $299 from this time last year, and we’d ultimately recommend the Pixel 8a now for most people.
Samsung 55-inch The Frame Smart TV for $998 ($648 off): This model’s price has dropped a few dollars since last year, but $998 is still a good sale price.
Engadget will be covering the October Prime Day in full, so if you have a lot of tech on your shopping list, be sure to check back here for the best tech sales on Prime Day. We’ll be sure to include all kinds of gadgets — from headphones to robot vacuums to gaming gear. The amount of deals will be daunting, but we sort through them all and pick out the best ones to make Prime Day a little easier for you.