Amazon announces the return of Prime Big Deal Days on October 8 and 9

We knew Amazon would revive its Prime Big Deal Days sale event this fall, but we didn’t know the exact dates until today. The online retailer announced that the sale event will return this year on October 8 and 9, giving us all the more reason to call it October Prime Day as we have done in years past. This is the third iteration of the fall sale event that Amazon has used as its (un)official kickoff to the holiday shopping season, and there are already discounts to be had as we see early October Prime Day deals pop up.

Prime Day in July remains Amazon’s marquee sale event for Prime members, but ever since its debut in 2022, October Prime Day provides subscribers with thousands of exclusive deals to shop during the two-day window. In turn, it also provides Amazon a way to boost sales during the same time period and, arguably more importantly, increase the number of overall Prime subscribers. While we expect most of the deals during Prime Big Deal Days to be exclusively for Prime members, there are always a few thrown in that are available to all Amazon shoppers.

As for the deals we expect, 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 usually see tech like wireless earbuds, speakers, robot vacuums and SSDs go on sale during events like this as well. While it might feel too early to even think about holiday shopping, it’s a good idea to entertain. If history is any indication, the sale prices we see during October Prime Day will be similar (and in some cases, the same) as those we see 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” happen during October Prime Day. Thankfully, these are usually clearly labeled with the amount of time remaining to grab 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 that’s been on your wishlist drop in price for only a few hours, it’s in your best interest to grab it immediately.

To give you an idea of what we could expect to see during October Prime Day this year, these are a few of the standout deals we saw during the 2023 event:

• Apple AirPods Pro for $189 ($60 off): $169 is the new record low for the AirPods Pro, and they are 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 considering we did not get a new SE from Apple earlier this month, this remains the budget-friendly Apple Watch to get.

• Anker Soundcore Space A40 wireless earbuds for $54 ($26 off): We’ve seen our favorite budget wireless earbuds drop to as low as $49 multiple times in the past year.

• Amazon Echo Show 5 for $40 ($50 off): This remains the all-time-low price on the tiny smart display; it was $10 more during July Prime Day.

• Amazon Kindle Paperwhite for $95 ($45 off): The latest Kindle Paperwhite’s record low price is $100. Considering how lackluster the 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): This has dropped to a record low of $299 since this time last year, and we’d ultimately recommend the Pixel 8a instead now for most people.

• Samsung 55-inch The Frame smart TV for $998 ($648 off): This model has dropped a couple more dollars since last year, but $998 remains a decent sale price.

Engadget will be covering October Prime Day in full, so if you have a lot of tech on your to-buy list, be sure to check back here on Prime Day for the best tech sales we can find. We’ll be sure to include gadgets from across the board – from headphones to robot vacuums to gaming gear. The volume of deals will be daunting, but we sift through them all and pick out the best ones to make Prime Day a bit easier for you.

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