Technology

Everything you need to know about Prime Day 2024: The best deals, the competition, and more

Man looking into a cardboard box

UPDATE: Jul. 16, 2024, 9:20 p.m. EDT This story has been updated with new board game deals during day one of Prime Day 2024.

Amazon Prime Day is turning 10 this year, and the members-only sale is already panning out to be a huge draw for sticker shock-weary shoppers on the hunt for summer deals. (Granted, not every deal is worth it.)

Here’s what you need to know about Prime Day 2024.

What is Prime Day?

Prime Day is an annual sitewide sale open to paid and trial members of Amazon’s Prime subscription service. First held in 2015 in honor of Amazon’s 20th anniversary (with mixed success), it was originally plugged as a “one-day-only event filled with more deals than Black Friday.” In the years since, it’s morphed into a 48-hour affair that’s preceded by weeks of preview offers. Prime Day is a misnomer at this point.

For the past two years, Amazon has hosted another major two-day sale for Prime members in October, teeing up its Black Friday festivities. (The 2022 version was called “Prime Early Access Sale,” and it was renamed to “Prime Big Deal Days” in 2023.) However, the summer iteration of Prime Day has remained Amazon’s flagship sale.

When is Prime Day 2024?

Prime Day is now live from Tuesday, July 16 through Wednesday, July 17 in 2024. This lines up with Amazon’s historical preference for early-week slots in mid-July. (For reference, Prime Day 2022 was live from Tuesday, July 12, through Wednesday, July 13, and Prime Day 2023 ran from Tuesday, June 11, through Wednesday, July 12.)

What are the best Prime Day deals?

In doling out many of its steepest price drops ahead of Prime Day, Amazon is keeping things in the family. A slew of Echo devices from Amazon’s in-house brand of smart home gadgets are sitting at all-time low prices for Team Prime, including the all-new Echo Spot (44% off), the Echo Show 8 (43% off), the Echo Buds with Active Noise Cancellation (71% off), and the Echo Frames (37% off, plus a free Echo Pop). Prime members can also snag five free months of Amazon Music Unlimited, three free months of Audible Premium Plus, and three free months of Kindle Unlimited if they haven’t subscribed before. Meanwhile, Prime Video rentals and purchases are up to 50% off.

The best early Prime Day deals at a glance:

Best laptop deal
Apple MacBook Air, 13-inch (M3)

$ 849 at Amazon (save $ 250 with on-page coupon)

the 13-inch m3 apple macbook air


Best earbuds deal

the amazon echo buds with active noise cancellation


Best smart speaker deal
Amazon Echo Spot

$ 44.99 at Amazon (save $ 35)

the amazon echo spot


Best smartwatch deal
Apple Watch Series 9 (GPS, 41mm)

$ 279 at Amazon (save $ 120)

the apple watch series 9


Best robot vacuum deal
Eufy X90 Pro

$ 449.99 at Amazon (save $ 450)

the Eufy X90 Pro next to a smartphone


Best kitchen deal
Chefman TurboFry Touch Air Fryer

$ 69.99 at Amazon (save $ 50)

the Chefman TurboFry Touch Air Fryer


Best unlocked phone deal
Motorola razr+ (256GB)

$ 599.99 at Amazon (save $ 400)

Two views of Motorola razr+, one flat and one folded


Best home deal
Shark Clean Sense Air Purifier

$ 119.99 at Amazon (save $ 120)

White Shark air purifier with digital screen

Outside of the Amazon ecosystem, we’re seeing some new all-time lows on big-ticket tech, including Apple devices. The 41mm Apple Watch Series 9 is marked down to $ 279 (30% off), the second-gen AirPods are now only $ 69 (47% off), the AirPods Max have dipped to $ 394.99 (28% off), and the 13-inch M3 MacBook Air is sitting at $ 849 (23% off). The latter is easily Amazon’s best Prime Day laptop deal.

Amazon is also granting access to a selection of invite-only deals during Prime Day. (Their exact timing is between Andy Jassy and God.) If you’re interested in a cheap pair of Sony headphones, a $ 150 SodaStream bundle, a $ 103 Foreo Luna mini 3 bundle, or an original Peloton Bike for just over a grand, hustle and request an invitation ahead of time — they were still up for grabs at the time of writing.

The Mashable shopping team is keeping a close watch on the sale, so if you don’t want to comb through every listing yourself, bookmark our guide to the very best Prime Day deals.

More great Prime Day deals

Note: All newly added deals are marked with a , while deals with a 🔥 have dropped to an all-time low price.

Laptops

Robot vacuums

Earbuds

Smart speakers

Smartwatches

Tablets

Unlocked phones

Kitchen

Home

Household essentials

Board games

Can you shop on Prime Day without being a Prime member?

You have to be a Prime member in order to shop Amazon’s Prime Day deals. But if you don’t want to commit to a monthly or annual paid subscription, you can still participate by scheduling a free 30-day trial of Prime around the sale. Just remember to cancel it as soon as Prime Day is over to avoid getting charged.

Who’s competing with Prime Day?

Other retailers traditionally hold competing sales during Prime Day, but this year, only Best Buy is going head-to-head with Amazon.

The electronics store’s Black Friday in July sale runs from Monday, July 15 to Wednesday, July 17 (or a full 24 hours longer than Prime Day). It’s not a subscribers-only affair, but paid (Plus and Total) members of the My Best Buy program get exclusive access to certain offers and receive a $ 50 bonus reward when they spend $ 500 or more during the event.

Target and Walmart both ran their (unofficial) Prime Day counter-programming last week. However, it’s still worth cross-checking Amazon’s sale prices with their listings, just in case they randomly decide to match or one-up their prices.

Mashable