If you’re looking for a store on a MacBook, iPad, Apple Watch, or iPhone, you won’t find these bargains in the Apple Store or the Apple website. Nick Guy, a senior fellow at our Apple expert, said discounts from the company are rare. When Apple actually offers promotions, stores usually receive it in the form of gift cards (instead of lower prices) when they buy Apple equipment. “Even if Apple offers cash transactions, they often don’t mean significant discounts,” Nick says. If you’re looking for bigger discounts, it’s better to try other sites and stores like Amazon, Best Buy, Costco, Sam’s Club, Target, and Walmart.
You shouldn’t expect to find great Apple deals on the latest products, even from third-party vendors. It’s unlikely that the just-released iPhone or Apple Watch will get any discounts at all, but models that have been around a little longer are usually fair games. This is what we know about getting the best Apple deals from third-party vendors.
The best Walmart Apple deals
We are currently looking for the best deals on Wirecutter selections on Apple products and will add them here when we find them.
Throughout the year, Walmart regularly offers small discounts on Apple favorites such as the iPhone and iPad, as well as accessories such as the Apple Pencil and AirPods. In addition, there are occasional big discounts, especially on Apple watches and iPads, and these are especially likely on Black Friday. You can also expect Walmart to match Amazon’s pricing on Black Friday where possible (and vice versa). Walmart, like Apple itself, has historically offered gift cards during Black Friday in addition to new iPhone purchases (with activation). Walmart does not sell MacBooks directly, so we recommend that you do not purchase a product from a third party that may list MacBooks in the Walmart Marketplace.
Best target Apple deals
We are currently looking for the best deals on Wirecutter selections on Apple products and will add them here when we find them.
Target offers its own selling prices for aging but current iPads as well as current and last-generation Apple watches, sometimes during everyday sales, but especially on Black Friday. Target Apple’s selling prices are generally the same as other big store discounts, but if you’re a RedCard owner, you can save an additional 5% – not a huge discount, but enough to offset sales tax. Like Walmart, Target doesn’t sell MacBooks or iMacs, but you can usually find accessories other than iPad and iPad Pro tablets, HomePods, and Apple TVs, such as iPad keyboard cases, AirPods, and Apple Pencil. Target also offers Black Friday gift card promotions with activation on iPhone; this is a typical promotion available from many retailers, so choose a store where you get the best gift card value and are most likely to use it.
The best Apple deals from Best Buy
We are currently looking for the best deals on Wirecutter selections on Apple products and will add them here when we find them.
Outside of the Apple Store itself, you may find that Best Buy has the largest selection of Apple equipment available in the largest chain, as the electronics giant – unlike its competitors – sells Apple laptops and desktops. Best Buy offers the most regular and advertised Apple sales throughout the year, although only a few of them offer prices to suit your time. Pay attention to the offers on Black Friday iPads and Apple Watches – the promotions will be just as good as those of your competitors. There will also be a price for accessories; For example, Best Buy often assigns a HomePod. Where Best Buy sets itself apart from the competition, there are regular offers on MacBooks on both the MacBook Air and MacBook Pro line. Discounts aren’t usually huge, especially for newer models – the latest MacBook Air and MacBook Pro are usually available for $ 50 to $ 200 depending on the total price – but sometimes we see even greater discounts towards the end of a MacBook generation.
Black Friday offers on Apple gift cards
We are currently looking for the best deals on Wirecutter selections on Apple products and will add them here when we find them.
From time to time, you can see discounts on iTunes Store and App Store gift cards at any merchant that sells them – except Apple, of course. However, we’ve never seen discounts on gift cards in Apple’s retail stores.
But in-store gift cards appear as extras when you buy something else. Apple is famous for providing gift cards instead of knocking down the price of equipment for Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and school promotions (so we recommend looking elsewhere if you want Apple stuff at a cheap price). But Apple isn’t the only company to make deals like this: Target and Walmart, for example, offered similar gift card incentives during the holidays.
Most people save more money than a store gift card, but if you’re really interested in securing the latest iPhone (and if you happen to run into one of these stores), you can even get a gift card from it. Picking up the card doesn’t feel as good as wanting to get a low price on an iPhone, but both Target and Walmart offer a wide range of stocks – no problem spending money, even if it’s destined for a grocery store next month.
What about the refurbished Apple iPhone, iPad and MacBook books?
Buying a refurbished product – returned directly or otherwise repaired – is a great way to save money. “Apple’s refurbished products are certainly as reliable as new ones and are almost always cosmetically indistinguishable,” says our writer Nick Guy. They also have a full one-year Apple warranty and are eligible for the optional AppleCare extended warranty.
But if you see an overly good price on an iPhone, iPad, or MacBook on a third-party website, it’s probably a unit that has been refurbished by a company other than Apple. Such a deal can feel a bit sketchy, and is probably best managed, especially for pepper price tag purchases. “With the exception of refurbished products, which Apple itself sells, refurbishments usually have a shorter warranty than new models and do not guarantee quality,” warns Nick.
