We’re still a ways out from Amazon’s upcoming Prime Day sale and most Memorial Day promotions have ended, but this week, we still found a decent amount of discounts on gadgets we’ve reviewed and recommend. Searches turned up a surprising number of deals on Apple stuff. Does that have anything to do with the company’s Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) next week? I have no idea. What matters is you can now get a new iPad Air, the latest Apple Watch, the second-gen Apple Pencil and a pair of AirPod Max headphones for less than you’d pay otherwise. If you could care less about Apple, there are plenty of other deals to check out, including discounts on Samsung Bluetooth trackers, the Google Pixel 8 Pro and some great earbuds for running. Here are the best tech deals from this week that you can still get today.
Photo by Billy Steele / Engadget
The Sony WH-CH720N ANC headphones are on sale for $98 at Amazon. That’s a discount of 35 percent and matches previous lows. You can get them for $2 more direct from Sony. The WH-CH720N headphones offer great sound quality, capable ANC, decent battery life and a comfortable fit. Engadget’s Billy Steele gave them a 79 in his review. They’re a great deal at this price, but Billy did note that the plastic exterior felt a little cheap, there’s no automatic pausing and the noise cancellation struggles to fully block human voices — though the transparency mode sounds very natural.
I should also point out that our recommendation for a budget pair of headphones is Audio-Technica’s ATH-M20xBT which are also $79, though not on sale.
Amazon
The Google Pixel Buds A-Series are on sale for $79 after a $20 price cut on Amazon. That’s not a record low, but represents the lowest price we’ve seen this year. We gave the Pixel Buds A-Series a score of 84 in our review after being surprised that Google retained most of the features of the original Pixel Buds, for a far cheaper starting price.
The comfortable buds deliver solid sound quality though the lack of onboard volume controls is odd. You’re supposed to use the Google Assistant for that and, in general the assistant is deeply ingrained.
The Pixel Buds Pro are also on sale and down to $140, which is $60 off the list price. Those earned a score of 87 in our review.
Photo by Amy Skorheim / Engadget
Our top pick for Samsung phone users in our guide to Bluetooth trackers is the Samsung Galaxy SmartTag2 and right now Amazon is selling a four-pack for $70, which amounts to a $30 discount. That’s the lowest we’ve seen for the set. But if you don’t need quite so many, a single tag is down from $30 to $21, also 30 percent off.
The SmartTag2 relies on any nearby Samsung phones (who haven’t opted out) to locate tagged items that you’ve misplaced while you’re out and about. Admittedly that’s a smaller finding network than Apple’s iPhone-dependent one, and these tags don’t tap into Google’s just-launched Find My Device network either. But the SmartTags do have a pleasing design, a loud ring and reliably tells you when you’re leaving something important behind.
Photo by James Trew / Engadget
The GoPro HERO12 Black action camera is on sale for $100 off at Amazon and directly from GoPro. That brings it to $300, which is the lowest price we’ve seen for the camera by itself (and not in a bundle). We tested out the Hero 12 and found it to be a noticeable improvement over the Hero 11 in a number of ways, including length of recording time, uniformity of images without blowouts, and much improved selfies.
Anker
The Anker 3-in-1 Cube MagSafe charging stand is on sale at Amazon for $113 after a 25 percent discount. The deal matches the record low price for the stand. This version of the stand includes a power cable and a 30W wall adapter. The MagSafe-compatible panel pops up to charge your, leaving a space for your AirPods to charge beneath it. Then from the side, a little drawer slides out to accommodate your apple Watch. Then when you’re not charging, it folds up into a cube so it could make a good travel companion this summer.
Photo by Sam Rutherford / Engadget
An unlocked base-model of the Google Pixel 8 Pro is back on sale for $749 at Amazon, Best Buy and Google’s online store. That’s $150 of the $999 list price and matches the largest discount we’ve seen. You might find a better deal going through your chosen carrier, particularly with a trade in, and Google is currently offering higher trade in values on older devices through June 22. But if you don’t have anything to trade in, is a good price for a handset that’s not tied to any one provider.
The Google Pixel 8 Pro is currently our top pick for an Android smartphone and Engadget’s Sam Rutherford gave the Pixel 8 Pro a score of 93 in his review last year. It offers top-notch camera performance, a vibrant 6.7-inch OLED display and a relatively clean take on Android, with OS updates guaranteed through October 2030.
The 6.1-inch Pixel 8 offers most of the same features and is also on sale for $549.
Photo by Billy Steele / Engadget
Apple’s third-generation AirPods are $140 right now at Amazon. That’s a 17 percent discount off the $170 list price. The third-generation AirPods came out in 2021 and have a more compact and comfortable design, and much better sound quality than the previous generation.
The buds earned a score of 88 in our review. We liked features like always-on Siri and one-touch fast pairing. The batteries lasted about six hours on their own in our tests and up to 30 hours with the case.
For those who would rather have the added features of the AirPods Pro with a USB-C charging case, those are down to $190, a price they’ve hovered at for some now, and not an all-time low, but still $60 less than paying full price.
Photo by Cherlynn Low / Engadget
The newest Apple Watch is down to $299 and one of the best prices we’ve seen it go for yet. The GPS-only model of the Series 9 with the 41mm case is $100 off at Amazon, bringing the price down to $299. The larger 45mm case size is down to $360 from its list price of $430. Both deals originally applied to the Midnight and Starlight colorways with lesser deals on the other colors, but at last glance, it looks like the stock may have run out on the Midnight models.
We think the Series 9 Apple Watch is the best Apple Watch you can get today, and it’s our favorite smartwatch overall. The S9 system-in-package (SiP) processor enables the Double Tap gesture and on-device Siri plus there’s no better companion for your iPhone.
Photo by Devindra Hardawar / Engadget
Apple’s 2022 MacBook Air with the M2 chip is down to new all-time low of $829. That’s a 17 percent discount off the new $999 list price (which was lowered upon the debut of the M3 MacBook Air models). This deal is available on the 256GB model in every color.
Engadget’s Devindra Hardawar called it a “near-perfect Mac” in his review, giving it a score of 96. It has a great screen, a premium build and the M2 chip is plenty fast for a day of hardworking productivity.
Engadget
Apple’s AirPods Max are are currently on sale at Amazon and Best Buy with a $100 price drop bringing them to $449. That’s about $20 more than the lowest price we’ve seen for the cans to date. The offer applies to all colorways.
The high price was one of our major drawbacks when we reviewed the AirPods Max back in 2020, but they still earned a score of 84, thanks to the excellent audio quality, great looks and capable active noise cancellation (ANC). Plus we got 20 hours of use out of the headphones on a single charge, just as Apple pledged.
Amy Skorheim for Engadget
The Juice Pack from Mophie for the standard iPhone 15 is currently $20 off at Amazon. The version for the iPhone 15 Pro is also on sale, but sadly, the one for the iPhone 15 Pro Max is full price. I recommend this battery pack case in our guide to power banks because it’s an always-there way to give your phone a little extra charge when you need it. It provides protection too, but doesn’t add much extra bulk.
Nathan Ingraham / Engadget
Photo by Valentina Palladino / Engadget
The second-gen Apple Pencil is back on sale for $79, which is nearly 40 percent off the $130 full price. Just make sure this one works with the iPad you have, as Apple’s stylus lineup is confusing to say the least. For example, this one won’t work with the just-released tablets. But works with older iPad Pros and Airs.
The second-gen Apple Pencil features tilt and pressure sensitivity, magnetic charging, wireless pairing and a light form factor. It’s more expensive than third-party styluses, but thankfully it works better too.
Photo by Devindra Hardawar / Engadget
Apple’s Studio Display is on sale right now for $300 off, dropping the VESA mount and tilt-adjustable models down to $1,300 each. That’s a record low for both. Note this is the standard glass models only, not the one with nano-texture glass.
We gave the Apple Studio Monitor a score of 80 in our review in 2022 thanks to its quality build, good audio and bright and accurate screen. Unfortunately, it tops out at a 60Hz refresh rate and the webcam is only so-so.
Photo by Amy Skorheim / Engadget
A pair of Tile Pro trackers is on sale at Amazon for just $48. That’s 20 percent off and the lowest price we’ve seen all year for the Bluetooth trackers. The Tile Pro made our list of the best Bluetooth trackers has a good long connectivity range and the higher-than-average ring volume. It has decent lost-in-the-wild skills through it’s own finder network, though that’s nowhere near as vast as Apple’s Find My or Google’s new Find My Device networks. In my tests, it worked much with Android phones than iPhones. I wasn’t crazy that the left behind alert feature is paywalled, but the replaceable battery is nice.
Blink
Bundles of the Blink Outdoor 4 cameras are on sale, with the deepest discount going to a five-pack set. At full price, it costs $400. With the discount, it’s $200 instead. That matches a Prime member-only we saw earlier. Other Blink devices are on sale too as part of a larger sale.
The Outdoor 4 is the latest generation of the cameras and allow users to see, hear and talk with anyone who comes into view and send motion-detection alerts and live feeds to a connected smartphone. They can also send footage to an Echo Show smart display and receive commands from other Alexa-enabled devices like an Echo Dot or Fire TV. Just note that Blink equipment isn’t Google Assistant- or Siri-compatible, so these really only make sense for the Amazon-based smart home.
If you’d rather see what’s going on inside your home for whatever reason, you may be interested in 40 percent off a two pack of Blink Mini cameras. The set is down to $30 at Amazon.
Photo by Valentina Palladino / Engadget
The Jabra Elite 4 Active earbuds are on sale at Amazon for just under $79, which is a steep 35-percent discount off their list price. Engadget’s Valentina Palladino named them the best budget buds for running in our guide thanks to their water-resistant design, comfortable fit, excellent battery life and a good transparency mode (which is important on the streets). The water-resistance and the battery life are not as good as the Jabra Elite 8 Active earbuds and these have a less luxe finish, but the Elite 4 buds are currently $120 cheaper.
Photo by Daniel Cooper / Engadget
A three-pack of the TP-Link Deco AXE5400 W-Fi mesh router is on sale for $290 at Amazon. This set will cover up to 7,200 square feet. This is our current favorite mesh Wi-Fi system. It works minimal frustration, has easy setup and a useful app. Plus provides a strong wireless signal. The tri-band system can handle up to 200 devices at once and supports Wi-Fi 6.
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PlayStation
Sony kicked off its annual “Days of Play” sale last week but it runs through June 12. So you can still save $50 on the PlayStation 5. That brings the standard “slim” model down to $449 and the all-digital version (which lacks a disc drive) down to $399. While these aren’t huge discounts, price drops of any kind have been fairly uncommon since the console arrived in 2020. The offers are available at several retailers, though if you’re a PlayStation Plus subscriber and order a PS5 from Sony’s PlayStation Direct store, you can get a 12-month Netflix Premium subscription thrown in for no extra cost.
The PlayStation VR2 headset is also on sale for $449, which is $100 off and an all-time low. The Netflix offer applies there as well. That said, we’re hesitant to recommend the PSVR2 more broadly given its relative dearth of hit games. (A potential PC adapter could change that equation down the road, though.) As for the console, it’s worth noting that Sony is widely expected to launch an updated “PS5 Pro” later in 2024, but the existing machines should remain worthwhile if you want to upgrade today. — Jeff Dunn, Senior Reporter, Buying Advice
Square Enix
Naturally, the Days of Play sale also includes a number of discounts on PS4 and PS5 games. To be candid, most of them aren’t anything we haven’t seen several times before, but at least a few are worth highlighting. For one, the mammoth and highly-rated action-RPG Final Fantasy VII Rebirth is down to a new low of $52.49, or $55 if you’d prefer a physical copy. The hit open-world superhero game Spider-Man 2 is $20 off at $50, while the smaller-scale Spider-Man: Miles Morales is back down to $20. If you don’t mind buying last-gen copies, the zombie drama The Last of Us II and the, let’s say, eccentric delivery game Death Stranding are also well worth checking out at $10 apiece.
There are technically deals on PlayStation Plus subscriptions as well, though they’re not great. New users can take up to 30 percent off a membership, but if you’re already a member, you can only get a discount by upgrading to a higher tier of service. Specifically, you can take 25 percent off the cost of upgrading to the middle “Extra” tier, or 30 percent off a jump to the top-end “Premium” plan. If you only have a short time left on your current subscription, though, the net savings won’t be that large. — Jeff Dunn, Senior Reporter, Buying Advice
Peacock
New and returning subscribers can still get a year of Peacock Premium for $20. The discount should appear automatically at the link below, but if you don’t see it, use the code STREAMTHEDEAL at checkout. Normally, a year of service goes for $60. Note that, despite the “Premium” tag, this is Peacock’s ad-supported tier. For ad-free service, you want Peacock Premium Plus, which costs $120 per year but isn’t currently discounted. Peacock says this offer will run through June 30, but remember that your subscription will be set to auto-renew at the standard price by default.
Generally speaking, Peacock isn’t as rich with material as rivals like Netflix or Hulu, but if you’re looking to stream the upcoming Summer Olympics, WWE live events, next season’s Premier League matches or just old NBC shows like The Office, it might be worth adding to your rotation.
In other streaming deals, we’ll also note that Paramount+ is still offering a year of its “with Showtime” tier for $60, which is half off. That one is also for new or lapsed subscribers only. — Jeff Dunn, Senior Reporter, Buying Advice
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Photo by Nathan Ingraham / Engadget
Sonos rolled out another round of discounts last week for its various smart speakers and soundbars. The deals are still live and include new lows for the hefty Move 2 portable speaker, which is $113 off at $336, and Era 300 home speaker, which is $90 off and down to $359. Several other devices are at or near their best prices to date as well, including the compact Roam SL for $127, the Era 100 speaker for $199, the high-end Arc soundbar for $719, the smaller Beam (Gen 2) for $399 and the Sub (Gen 3) subwoofer for $639. All of those represent 20 percent discounts. The sale is available at third-party retailers like Amazon, Best Buy and B&H, and Sonos says it’ll run through June 16. It doesn’t include any deals on the company’s new Ace headphones, however.
We’ve given just about all of these devices favorable reviews before, and we highlight many of them in our guides to the best soundbars and best smart speakers. The sale is coming at something of a rough time for Sonos, however, as a recent overhaul of its mobile app gutted various features and majorly pissed off many of the company’s more ardent fans along the way. Sonos has pledged to address many of the concerns with future updates, but it’s not a great look. That said, the speakers themselves still pair easily with one another and generally sound great for their respective categories. They also support Apple’s AirPlay 2 protocol, so you can stream music directly from an iPhone, and most include some level of voice control. You just might want to avoid updating to the latest version of the app if you can. — Jeff Dunn, Senior Reporter, Buying Advice
Will Lipman Photography for Engadget
The Roku Streaming Stick 4K is down to $34 at Amazon and Walmart. That’s not an all-time low, but it matches the lowest price we’ve seen for the tiny HDMI stick in 2024. We typically see the device retail between $40 and $50. We highlight the Streaming Stick 4K in our guide to the best streaming devices, as it’s simple to navigate and supports just about all the major apps and HDR formats (Twitch aside). It also supports Apple’s AirPlay 2 tech, so you can beam videos to it directly from an iPhone. You’ll still have to put up with some ads, though, and it’s not as adept at proactively recommending shows you might like as Google’s Chromecast. — Jeff Dunn, Senior Reporter, Buying Advice
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