Ahead of the holiday season, Black Friday could be the time for you to nab a tech bargain, because it seems like everyone is getting in on it.
You don’t have to do much searching to find that gadgets are going on sale, and there’s a pretty clear reason why: “Black Friday”.
An event of sales following the American holiday of Thanksgiving, Australians are used to the Black Friday part, but not so much the Thanksgiving feast. We don’t do that, but we will take part in sales, and ahead of the mad holiday shopping rush in December, Black Friday can be the ideal time for buyers to get bargain shopping in before Boxing Day rolls around.
This year, it seems like everyone is getting into the spirit, with 11 billion dollars expected to be spent on the holiday period by the Australian Retail Association.
So this year, we thought we’d spend some time in between all those Black Friday emails we’ve received, as well as the online shops looking for some great bargains across tech in the home.
What looks good for Black Friday tech sales in Australia this year? You’ll find it below.
Phones
Officially, Apple doesn’t have new phones on sale for Black Friday, but look around and you might see some recent ones going for BF pricing. At JB HiFi, for instance, we spied the iPhone 13 128GB variants for $747 down from $877, while the iPhone 14 Plus 512GB fell $150 to $1647.
Google will have its Pixel 9 Pro XL on sale, dropping $400 for Black Friday 2024 to $1449, while the mid-range Pixel 8a falls $200 to $649 for the sale event. Pixel Watch models will also be slightly less expensive, including last year’s Pixel Watch to from $279.
Motorola also has sales, with as much as $650 off recent phones. That includes the Motorola Edge 50 dropping from $799 to $599, while the recently reviewed Razr 50 is effectively half priced when bought at Optus. There are better Razr models out there, but if you wanted to save money, this would definitely be an option.
Samsung will have phone sales, too, kicking it off with foldable price falls: the Galaxy Z Fold 6 and Flip 6 both see 30 percent off, dropping from $2749 to $1924 and from $1999 to $1399 respectively. Even the Galaxy S24 Ultra gets a drop, falling from above $2K to below $1800.
Sound
Keen to make some noise, or at least let something else make some noise for your ears?
There are Black Friday sales in the audio category this year, helping you save some money on new audio gear.
Headphones
Beats will see the Studio Pro headphones fall in price, dropping from $529 to $327 if you look, while Sony’s WH-CH720 mid-range cans see a drop from $259 to $145.
Anker’s Soundcore brand also sees price drops for Black Friday in Australia, many of which drop by $50. That includes the Sleep A20 sleeping buds seeing a $50 drop, as well as the Space One noise cancelling headphone.
And Sennheiser’s Accentum truly wireless earphones are half-priced for Black Friday, falling from $349 to $174. Sennheiser also sees price drops of nearly half for some of its other headphones, including the Momentum Wireless 4, which falls from $639 to $345.
Gaming headphones will also see price drops of between $60 and $256 for the SteelSeries Nova range of headphones.
Speakers
First up, there’s BlueAnt and it will have its recently launched X5i karaoke-styled speaker for $289 down from its launch price of $479. Interestingly, BlueAnt notes the price will stay that way even after Black Friday, holding until December 30.
If you’re after one of the big ticket Sonos items, pretty much the entire range of Sonos devices are seeing price drops for Black Friday, except for the recent Arc Ultra.
However, the Move 2 drops from $799 to $639, the Era 300 goes from $749 to $599, the Sub Gen 3 falls from $1299 to $949, and the original Arc hits an excellent value price tag of $999 down from $1499. If you don’t need the smashingly good Arc and can deal with a two channel basic soundbar with multiroom, the Sonos Ray falls from $499 to $249, which is an even better deal.
TVs and projectors
Beyond sound, there’s visual, and there are some screens falling for the season of Black Friday.
That includes the 55 inch S90C 4K OLED TV from Samsung, falling from $2999 to $1799, a 40 percent drop, while the 65 inch DU8000 4K TV drops from $1499 to $1049, a 30 percent drop.
If you fancy something actually fancy, the 43 inch “The Serif” lifestyle Samsung QLED TV drops 45 percent from $1299 to $714. A shame it’s not The Frame, otherwise we’d be tempted, too.
Properly big TVs are having a moment, though, particularly if you look around. Samsung’s 75 inch Q70D drops from $3000 to just under $2K, the 85 inch equivalent falls from $4300 to $2790 in stores across Australia.
LG will see price drops on OLED TVs, as the 65 inch C4 OLED falls from $4300 to $2890, and the massive 77 inch equivalent drops from $6K to just under $4K.
Projector price drops can be found from LG, too, with the CineBeam compact falling from $2500 to just under $1250, while the Xgimi Halo+ we’ve reviewed in the past becomes a $1K projector down from its $1400 price tag.
Computers
If you’ve been waiting the year to buy a laptop until the prices really came down, there are sales about the place for computers, too.
Acer is seeing price drops of between $200 and $600 depending on the laptop, with the Swift Go 14 dropping from a $1498 RRP to a Black Friday deal of $898, while the Aspire Nitro V15 sees a drop from $1698 to $988, among others.
Dell has a few laptops on sale, ranging from $300 to $600 off, though the favourite could be the Dell XPS 13 Intel edition falling from $2397 to $1797. We reviewed the Snapdragon equivalent and loved it, and this is the Intel option, making for a stellar deal.
Lenovo’s Black Friday 2024 price drops are pretty sizeable, dropping from as little as 34 percent to as high as 49, allowing PC buyers to save up in a big way. For example, the 14 inch Yoga 7i drops from $2099 to $1269, while the ThinkPad X13 Gen 4 takes a sizeable drop from $3359 to $1714. That’s a professional price drops on a professional laptop, for sure.
Microsoft has a few drops in price, as well, with this year’s Surface Laptop and Surface Pro dropping by as much as $658 depending on the model in question.
Accessories
A reasonable amount of accessories can be found about the place, as well. Anker has some serious sales, with a MagGo Wireless Charging Station dropping from $200 to $150, while its power banks are also seeing price drops, too.
Cameras
We’ve not seen a huge amount of Black Friday offers for cameras, but there are some gadgets out there, particularly in the field of action cameras.
Take the previous year’s Osmo Action 4 from DJI, which is 23 percent off for Black Friday and a little beyond, while its Osmo Mobile gimbal range including the Mobile 6 and Mobile SE sees price drops, as well.
GoPro is also getting in, with 15 percent off the Hero 12 Black camera from last year and the Hero 13 Black from this year, saving you a few bucks on each.
Home and appliances
Around the home, you might find a new vacuum appealing, and there are a few of those. Eufy’s Robovac L50 is 50 percent off, down from $800 and now $399.50, while the smaller 11S Robovac is down from $350 to $160.
Not to be outdone, Dreame robo vacs will also see price falls, some of them very significant. The Dreame L10s Ultra falls from $2588 to $949, while the D10s robo vacs modes from $499 to $299.
And Ecovacs is there, too, with price drops of up to 50 percent in the range, including the T30S combo coming with both a stick vac and a robo vac dropping from $2299 to $1599, while the T20e Omni falls from $1999 to $999. Cleaning with more manual gear, Tineco’s floor cleaning tech sees up to 41 percent in price drops, as well.
In the kitchen, Sunbeam is offering savings between 26 and 41 percent, including price drops on coffee machines, kettles, air fryers, toasters, and toastie makers. Vitamix also sees 20 percent off its blenders, though only if you buy it from the Vitamix site.
Samsung also has a 40L microwave with touch control falling from $219 to $199, as well as a 635 litre fridge with automatic ice maker for $1379 after a 40 percent drop.
Head to where you do some hobbies, and you’ll find price drops on Cricut cutting gadgets, seeing drops from between 28 and 56 percent off depending on the model, too.
And back in the laundry, you’ll find Samsung’s 9kg Heat Pump Smart Dryer falling by up to 35 percent off, dropping from $1699 to $1099.
Lock the house up with a smart lock and you might save some money, as the Aqara Smart Lock U300 sees a 40 percent fall for Black Friday 2024, dropping from $449 to $269.
Ever so slightly out of the home, the Dreame A1 Robotic Lawn Mower falls from $3999 to $2499 for the Black Friday event this year, while the Ecovacs equivalent in the Goat G1 drops from $2999 to $1999. Because who really wants to mow their backyard when a robot can do it for them.
Health
Oclean’s AI toothbrush is getting a sale price, even after only being made available recently, with a Black Friday price of $225, making it half the $450 price it normally sells at, alongside Oclean’s less complex pocket AirPump flosser, a burst of air for your teeth that lacks AI, appearing for a little less than half the price of its regular $230 cost.
Dreame’s robovacs aren’t the only thing the company is offering, either. In the home and health department, it will have hair dryers including a pocket model dropping from $399 to $149.
Withings also plans to offer some Black Friday goodness in the health department, with much of its range seeing between 20 to 35 percent off. That includes the Sleep Analyser for checking out if you have sleep apnoea, the ScanWatch 2 for all round health, the prettier ScanWatch Nova, and even the scales the company makes.
Toys and merch
Geeks and fans of shows and films also get shuffled into this category, and you’ll find a few sales going on around the place, as well.
Disney chimed in with news that its Australian shop will have 30 percent off, something the country has missed out on for years, previously forcing you to the US or UK versions. With the Aussie equivalent, you won’t need to convert your dollar over or worry about as exorbitant shipping prices, with the sales also seeing 20 percent off on selected mark downs, the company says.
Beware the scams
While there are a lot of good deals out there, it’s always important to be on the lookout for deals that are clearly too good to be true.
Hopefully you’ll feel a little pinch in your gut when you see one, but if you don’t, the advice is very much to be aware that scammers are out there, and to be on the look out for sale prices which are too good to be true.
