Black Friday started off as a way to score some great deals on gifts, but let’s be honest: it’s also a chance to pick up some nice, deeply discounted goodies for yourself. This is especially true in the world of tech, where high prices and personal taste mean it’s often just safest to buy what works for you rather than guessing on a gift. Don’t worry, we won’t judge.
But when you’re inundated with Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals, it’s easy to get spun around by specs: is that really enough storage? Is the screen big enough? Will I regret not getting the newer version? That’s when you turn to the experts.
I’ve been a professional tech reviewer since 2013 and I have reviewed all manner of gadgets, from phone to keyboards and even augmented reality glasses. If they ever put Wi-Fi in a hamburger, I’ll tell you what’s great about it, and what still needs work.
How I selected these Black Friday and Cyber Monday tech deals
For this list of deals, I studied deal sites, forums and databases of deals to find deep discounts on products that I know and love. I’ve personally used many of the items in this roundup, held them up in my hand, used them daily in my life, and in many cases, written reviews of them. And in the cases where I haven’t, I know the companies and product space enough to feel confident making recommendations. While plenty of these gadgets would make great gifts, you’ll also find plenty of opportunities to upgrade your own home, if you’re so inclined.
Here are some of the best deals I’ve been able to find so far. This list will be constantly updated through November, so make sure to check back.
The very best Black Friday and Cyber Monday tech deals
Amazon Fire HD 10 tablet
Whether I’m reading or watching a movie, the Amazon Fire HD 10 tablet has a beautiful screen and just the right amount of power to stream content: you don’t need much computing muscle to turn pages of a book or play back a video. It’s also very durable, so it’s great for coffee table reading. While a Fire tablet isn’t as useful as a full Android tablet, at this price it’s still a great deal, even if it only ends up as your Netflix screen to go.
JBL Live Pro 2
JBL is an iconic name in sound, and the JBL Live Pro 2 are some of my favorite earbuds. They have excellent Active Noise Cancellation (ANC), which makes it easier to listen to your music at a lower volume to avoid hearing damage. You also get excellent battery life, at up to 10 hours on a single charge, so these can be a great musical companion for the vibe-coders in your life to blot out the world for hours while they crack on the next big thing. I’d heartily recommend them at full price, so at half-off they’re a no brainer.
Blink Outdoor 4 Wireless smart security camera
Smart cameras typically come with a big trade-off: you need to either run an ugly wire to them or change the battery every couple months. But the Blink Outdoor 4 Wireless camera sidesteps both with a battery that can last up to two years. I’ve had one for about a year so far, and the battery shows no signs of stopping. You can put this camera anywhere it has access to wifi and basically forget it exists, except when you want to see what’s going on in your yard. At 60% off, it’s worth grabbing a few for different parts of the house and yard.
Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K Plus
The Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K plus remains the single easiest way to turn a regular TV into a smart TV. Just plug it into your TV and a power source, and just like that you have access to streaming services such as Netflix and Hulu, Amazon and Blink camera feeds, and of course Alexa. The ultra-simple remote makes for easy navigation, and has a built-in mic for voice commands (“Hey Alexa, play The Office.”) At 50% off, you can grab one for every TV in the house, or even one to travel with – it’s tiny.
Mobile
Amazon Fire HD 8 Tablet Plus Standing Cover Bundle
The Amazon Fire HD 8 is a slightly smaller version of the aforementioned Amazon Fire Tablet that’s better suited to travel. This particular bundle also includes a case with an origami-style leg to prop up the tablet up for watching shows on the go. Like the larger model, it’s mainly a media machine, so imagine it more like a portable TV than a full-fledged tablet. At this price, it’s still well worth it.
Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra
I review phones year-round, and this is the one I go back to when I’m not reviewing anything else. It’s simply one of the best Android smartphones. It has an amazing camera setup great for ultrawide snaps and zooming in to a crazy degree, onboard AI including Gemini Live, epic battery life (easily a day and a half), and a built-in stylus for those times you want precision in your tapping and swiping. This price tag may not seem like much of a discount since the S25 Ultra usually starts at about $1,200, but this is the upgraded model with 512GB storage, which you’re going to want.
Samsung Galaxy S25 FE
Samsung’s “fan edition” (FE) devices are designed for buyers who want a flagship phone experience at a lower price point. That means the S25 FE phone has most of the same chops as its larger siblings, including all the same AI tricks, and an impressive triple-camera setup that’s no joke. It’s a great value even at full price, and at 27% off one of the best phone deals out there for Black Friday.
Personal audio
Bose QuietComfort Bluetooth Headphones
Bose has been a leader in noise-cancelling headphones for decades, and the QuietComfort series of headphones carry on the legacy. These headphones are great for frequent travelers as they can cancel out the drone of planes, trains, or automobiles, while you enjoy the film Planes, Trains, and Automobiles. You don’t often see these headphones at this price, so these would be a great pickup.
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Bose QuietComfort Earbuds
If the traveler in your life doesn’t want to carry a bulky set of over-the-ear headphones (like me), earbuds like these are a great solution. Like their bigger brothers, these offer outstanding active noise cancellation to drown out airplane noise, but they’re also compact and still have good battery life. Since they’re earbuds, they form a great seal in your ear canal, which passively seals out noise even when ANC isn’t active. At this price, these earbuds are hard to resist, especially when compared to their peers at $130.
WF-1000XM5 Earbuds
Sony headphones are a cut above the rest in terms of sound quality: when I tested the WF-1000XM5, I heard tones in music that I had never heard before. I believe they’re the best-sounding earbuds you can buy, and the Guardian’s reviewer loved them too. Their popularity means Sony seldom needs to discount them, so 30% off is hard to ignore. If you know someone who loves music but still listens with cheap headphones, this will open a whole new world.
Smart home
Ring Battery Doorbell
Ring doorbells are a great way to protect your packages from porch pirates this holiday season. The Ring camera is always watching, and can send you a video feed whenever anyone approaches your front door. Battery power makes for a wire-free installation, and it typically lasts a couple months at a time, so you won’t be constantly recharging it. This price is unbeatable, but keep in mind that Ring products do require a $4.99 monthly subscription, and the company’s on-off relationship with law enforcement may not be everyone’s cup of tea.
Kasa Smart Light Bulbs
Lots of smart-home products are gimmicky, but we wholeheartedly recommend smart bulbs. You can have them turn on automatically at dusk, wake you up slowly in the morning as an alarm clock, or just answer to your voice commands. A multicolor bulb like this Kasa model also lets you set the mood with one of 16m colors. A two-pack for $15.99 is an instant upgrade to your home.
TP-Link Deco X15 Dual-Band AX1500 WiFi 6 Mesh Wi-Fi System
If you have wifi dead spots in your home, a mesh wifi network is an easy modern way to fix the issue. A mesh system uses multiple access points to blanket your home in signal, and automatically switches your devices to the closest one, so you’ll no longer drop Zoom calls when you walk into that one corner of your basement. This system comes with three points, which should be plenty for most homes, but you can easily add more.
Home entertainment
Sony BRAVIA Theater Bar 6
Few flat-screen TVs come with sufficient built-in sound, and even if yours seems OK, a soundbar takes things to another level. This BRAVIA Theater Bar 6 comes with a separate subwoofer and two rear-channel speakers to fill your room with sound, and the rear channels are wireless for easier installation. Once you hear it, you will never want to watch TV again without it.
Hisense 75” Class H5 Series QLED
We live in an amazing time when you can buy a 75in 4K TV for under $400. This model even uses QLED technology for better color accuracy, which used to be a premium feature just a few years ago. Since it’s a Roku TV, all of your streaming services are at your fingertips right out of the box. This is a one-off model that appears to be exclusive to Walmart, so you won’t find reviews on it, but Hisense is a reputable brand and TVs have matured so much that even budget models hold their own to most eyeballs.
Samsung OLED S90F 4K TV
For color fidelity and contrast, most home theater enthusiasts still turn to OLED screens, but they seldom come cheap. This is a great deal on a high-end example, just one rung below Samsung’s flagship S95F. Gamers will appreciate the 144Hz refresh rate for smoother action, and the AI processor for 4K upscaling means that even older shows and movies will make use of every pixel.
