All Apple AirPods are now on sale for Black Friday

All Apple AirPods are now on sale for Black Friday — but you should only buy these ones

I’d never buy a pair of AirPods (or any headphones, for that matter) outside of the Black Friday sales period. Of all the tech that gets discounted over Black Friday, you could bet your last dollar on AirPods making the list. And, just as expected, today you can find every current model of AirPods at a discounted price, a whole week out from Black Friday’s official kick-off date.

So whether you’re after the top-of-the-line AirPods Pro Max, in-ear marvels the AirPods Pro 2, or cheap-and-cheerful AirPods in their 2nd-generation guise, you can pick up literally every available model, reduced from their usual asking price.

Quick links: AirPods on sale right now

But which ones should you actually buy? There’s a big difference between the sound quality you get from each set of AirPods, and a gulf in pricing, but also lots to consider when it comes to the biggest discounts we’ve seen on each model. Knowing when to pull the trigger on a low-priced purchase is part of the battle here. For my money, these are what I’d be picking up.

The best of the best: AirPods Max

Apple’s luxury over-ear headphone model, of all the AirPods deals I’ve seen so far this year, I’d go for the AirPods Max. Comfortable, cool-looking and excellent for spatial audio listening sessions (especially when paired with an Apple TV 4K for a movie night), these are superb headphones. They’ll usually cost you $549, but every color option is down to $449.99 at Amazon — temptingly close to their all-time low. With no sign of the AirPods Max 2 on the horizon, these are easy to recommend.

The budget option: AirPods (2nd generation)

If you want the easy interoperability of AirPods between your iPhone, iPad and Mac devices, but without the premium price tag, the AirPods in their second generation guise are the way to go. It’s the cheapest way to get those ‘works well with Apple’ features by a long shot. And though they’re not of the highest audio quality, for the average listener they’ll do the job just fine. Any sub-$100 price tag for these is worth a shot (they’re currently at $99 on Amazon), so you can grab them with confidence — though they have been sporadically as cheap as $79. That’s a low rarely replicated though, so I wouldn’t feel cheated picking them up at $99.

The best of the rest: AirPods Pro 2 (2nd generation) and AirPods (3rd generation)

Don’t get me wrong — I’ve got nothing against the AirPods Pro 2. Their fantastic adaptive noise cancellation and top-notch audio makes them the true-wireless headphones I’d usually recommend to everyone — not just iPhone users, though they work best for those folks. And on sale here is the latest USB-C model, too. But with just an slight discount, bringing the price from $249 to $224 with B&H Photo, you’re only making a modest saving. Still a good deal, but these could hit the $200 mark eventually.

As for AirPods 3rd generation, they sit in an awkward position in the range when it comes to the deals period. Not as good as the AirPods Pro, and not as cheap as the AirPods 2nd generation, they don’t really fit any need. And right now they’re only modestly discounted too, down from $169 to $159.99, when we’ve seen them as low as $140. I’d hold fire on these.

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