Best deals from Apple's Black Friday sale 2025: AirPods, MacBooks, Gift Cards

Table of Contents

Cyber Week is one of the rare times of year when the Apple Store hosts a sale — sort of. Instead of offering cash discounts on its devices, the tech retailer simply doles out free gifts cards with eligible purchases.

Apple's 2025 Black Friday and Cyber Monday Shopping Event will run from Friday, Nov. 28 through Monday Dec. 1, and it's a little bit more tempting than usual. Shoppers can earn up to $250 worth of free gift cards when they buy one of its gadgets direct, up from $200 in 2024 and 2023. Free money is always nice, of course, but third party retailers' Black Friday price cuts on AirPods, MacBooks, iPads, and Apple Watches are far more competitive. Plus, many newer devices are excluded from the Apple Store's promotion.

Right now, there are only five Apple devices and accessories that I would recommend buying on sale from Apple itself.

The Apple Store's 2025 Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals

Apple's free gift card offers for Black Friday and Cyber Monday range from $25 to $250, depending on the product. They can only be redeemed on future purchases from the Apple Store in person or online:

• AirPods 4 and AirPods 4 with ANC — $25 Apple gift card

• AirPods Pro 3 — $50 Apple gift card

• AirPods Max — $75 Apple gift card

• Apple Watch SE 3 and Apple Watch Series 11 — $50 Apple gift card

• iPad Air (11- and 13-inch M3) — $100 Apple gift card

• iPad (A16) and iPad mini — $50 Apple gift card

• iPhone 16 and 16 Plus — $75 Apple gift card

• iPhone 16e — $50 Apple gift card

• MacBook Air (13-inch M4) — $175 Apple gift card

• MacBook Air (15-inch M4) — $200 Apple gift card

• MacBook Pro (14- and 16-inch M4 Pro and M4 Max) — $250 Apple gift card

• Mac mini — $100 Apple gift card

• iMac — $150 Apple gift card

• Apple TV 4K — $25 Apple gift card

• HomePod — $50 Apple gift card

• Beats Studio Pro, Solo 4, Studio Buds +, and Powerbeats Pro 2 — $50 Apple gift card

• Beats Pill — $25 Apple gift card

• Magic Keyboard Folio for iPad (A16) — $25 Apple gift card

• Magic Keyboard for iPad Air (11- and 13-inch) — $25 Apple gift card

• Apple Pencil Pro — $25 Apple gift card

Other retailers' Apple deals are way better, for the most part

Most of the Apple Store's offers pale in comparison to other retailers' cash discounts on its devices (with five notable exceptions — more on them shortly). For instance, Amazon and Walmart have the AirPods 4 marked down to $69 during their Black Friday sales, which is a $60 saving on list price. If you buy them directly from Apple instead, you're only getting $25 back.

Here's another example: Amazon and Best Buy are both selling the M4 MacBook Airs for $250 off — the 13-inch model is $749 (normally $999), while the 15-incher is $949 (normally $1,199). It's silly to buy either size directly from the Apple Store if you're only saving $175 or $200 apiece, respectively.

Even the high-end MacBook Pros that come with Apple's highest free gift card offer have steeper discounts elsewhere. The M4 Pro and M4 Max models are anywhere from $250 to $500 off across Amazon and Best Buy.

It's also crucial to know that Apple Store's Cyber Week savings event doesn't include some of newest products, including the M5 MacBook Pro, M5 iPad Pro, Apple Watch Ultra 3, and Beats PowerBeats Fit earbuds. The AirTag, HomePod mini, Mac Studio, and Studio Display are also omitted. Third-party retailers are the only places to get any sorts of deals on most of them. (The PowerBeats Fit are the sole product I couldn't find on sale anywhere.)

5 Black Friday Apple Store deals worth buying

I've cross-checked all of the products featured in Apple's Cyber Week Savings Event and found five instances where its gift card offer was better than a retailer's cash discount. (The rest are all matched or beaten.) There is a chance they'll get cheaper at third-party retailers on Black Friday proper, so consider waiting to buy them just in case.

The AirPods Pro 3 are currently $219.99 (or $30 off) at Amazon, Best Buy, Walmart, and Target. They come with a free $50 gift card at the Apple Store.

The $149 Apple TV 4K (3rd Gen, WiFi + Ethernet) was on sale for $99.99 at Costco, but it's now sold out there. (The deal was limited to Costco members, anyway.) It's full price everywhere else along with the WiFi-only model. The Apple Store will give you a free $25 gift card for buying either one direct.

The HomePod (2nd Gen) is marked down to $269.99 at Best Buy, which is a $29.01 discount. Meanwhile, it nets you a free $50 gift card via the Apple Store.

The Beats Studio Buds + are $149.95 at Amazon and $149.99 at Best Buy, a $20-ish savings. At the Apple Store, they come with a free $50 gift card.

Finally, Amazon has the M3 iPad Air's Magic Keyboard on sale for $247.50 in the 11-inch size and $299.99 in the 13-inch size, saving shoppers just $21.50 and $19.01, respectively. The Apple Store throws in a $25 gift card if you buy either one there instead.