Prime Day May Be Over, But These AirPods Deals Aren’t
Toggle Dark Mode
Amazon’s Prime Day 2024 sales event ended on Wednesday, with great deals on all sorts of Apple products. However, if you missed it, the good news is that there’s still time to score some incredible deals on Apple’s latest AirPods.
In fact, some of the deals have gotten slightly better. For example, last week, we saw Apple’s AirPods Max on sale for the lowest price ever, $399, but now it seems Amazon has undercut that by another $5.
That means you can grab a pair of Apple’s most premium AirPods for only $395 — over $150 off the regular price. They’re available in nearly every color option right now, although green is sold out, so you may want to act fast.
Although we’re expecting Apple to release a second-generation set of AirPods Max later this year, reliable sources have suggested they won’t be a huge upgrade over the 2020 over-ear headphones, as they don’t sell well enough for Apple to invest time and resources into improving them significantly. Expect a USB-C connector that will probably support wired digital audio and maybe an upgrade to Apple’s H2 chips and some new colors. However, it’s also a safe bet that they’ll launch at the same $549 price as the current AirPods Max, so today’s sale is still a good deal.
Nevertheless, we think the best deal right now is on Apple’s latest AirPods Pro, which are still on sale for $169. That’s the price that Apple’s standard third-generation AirPods typically sell for. What’s great about these is that they’re Apple’s most current model, refreshed only last fall to add a USB-C charging case, IP54 dust and water resistance, and lossless audio for Vision Pro. More importantly, the H2 chips inside each earbud mean they already support all the latest features in iOS 17, including Adaptive Audio, Conversation Awareness, and more. Plus, they’ll get new stuff in iOS 18, like the ability to answer or decline calls by nodding or shaking your head, and powerful voice isolation that will let folks hear you with crystal clarity even when you’re walking down a busy street.
Amazon also still has the third-generation AirPods on sale for $140, which isn’t quite as good a deal as the $129 we saw them at last week, but it’s still not bad if you’re trying to save a few bucks or if you simply prefer their design. Still, with “AirPods 4” on the horizon and the latest AirPods Pro going for only $29 more, these ones are best avoided unless you’re absolutely sure they’re what you want.
The second-generation AirPods are now going for $80. That’s a nice reduction from their typical $129 selling price, although it’s also eleven bucks more than last week’s $69 sale. They’re still the best choice for folks on a budget, offering good sound quality and support for hands-free “Hey Siri” and wireless charging without extra bells and whistles like Spatial Audio or adaptive EQ.
Just keep in mind that those will also likely be superseded later this year by a more affordable “Lite” version of the fourth-generation AirPods. However, while it’s hard to say how Apple will price those, they’re unlikely to be as cheap as the AirPods 2 are today.