It's official: Best Buy's Black Friday in July sale is during Prime Day

UPDATE: Jul. 12, 2024, 2:00 p.m. EDT This post has been updated with official dates for Best Buy’s Black Friday in July sale, which will start the day before Prime Day.

In the same way that Black Friday has become more of a season than a singular day, the entire month of July could aptly be called Prime Day season at this point. Past the sheer deal count at the behemoth that started it all, it’s become tradition for other huge retailers like Best Buy to respond to Amazon with a major sale event of their own — lining up on or near Prime Day, of course.

Hot on the heels of Best Buy’s 4th of July sale, the retailer has officially released dates for its Black Friday in July sale: July 15 through 17. (Did anyone put money on that?) That not only sucks up some attention from actual Prime Day on July 16 and 17, but also offers one official extra day — though a huge chunk of Prime Day deals will likely be live “early” on July 15 as well.

While the landing page for Best Buy’s sale is pretty barren past that, a ton of Prime Day-esque deals are already live as regular summer deals. Best Buy should drop more details about specific Black Friday in July star items at the beginning of the week, but we can use context clues to predict the categories where Best Buy will outshine Amazon.

Where Best Buy beats Amazon

It’s true that there are a ton of overlapping deals at both Best Buy and Amazon during these events. But both stores also have their own unique strong points, and there are also plenty of opportunities to shop strategically within certain product categories.

While Amazon’s discounts typically extend to a wider variety of product categories from a huge crop of stores and sellers, Best Buy has a history of beating Amazon’s deals in several major tech categories. Best Buy tends to have a much more reliable slew of TVs and laptops on sale, compared to Amazon’s shorter lists composed of a smaller variety of brands (and which are also more likely to be bogged down by iffy third-party sellers). Meanwhile, Amazon typically wins when it comes to home stuff, like robot vacuum deals and kitchen deals.

Best Buy doesn’t gatekeep its deals quite like Amazon does, generally leaving most discounts available to the public and reserving a handful of exclusive discounts on premium brands like Samsung or Dyson for paid My Best Buy Plus or My Best Buy Total members. Amazon does, however, surprise some shoppers with access to invite-only deals, which features some pretty jaw-dropping price cuts on items like headphones or Fire TVs that you definitely won’t find anywhere else.

Throughout the entire year, Best Buy also does this thing called Best Buy Drops: a feature found only on the Best Buy mobile app that gives shoppers a heads-up about upcoming “drops” of high-profile items and deals in categories like gaming, cheap TVs, fan-favorite pop culture merch, high-profile hair tools, kitchen gadgets, and more. As long as you have the Best Buy mobile app, you can preview what’s coming on what day that week so that you’re ready to click “add to cart” when the item or deal goes live.

Similar to many Prime deals, only a certain number of Drop items can be claimed while the offer is live, and then they sell out. Unlike Prime deals, Best Buy does drops about three times a week throughout the entire year.

For a more granular assessment of the best deals between the two, check out our favorite Best Buy deals below and our running list of the best Prime Day deals in every category.

Best TV deal at Best Buy

Why we like it

If you’re eyeing a Fire TV this Prime Day season, don’t automatically opt for the Omni on name recognition alone. While Amazon’s own in-house Fire TVs are on sale, you definitely won’t be seeing one of those 75-inch bad boys go on sale for less than $500. Toshiba’s well-reviewed C35- Fire TV, however, is a different story. The C350 admittedly is a basic 4K TV that’s definitely decent enough for casual living room watching or light gaming, especially if you care more about getting the biggest screen for your buck over specs.

More TVs on sale at Best Buy

• Insignia 50-inch F30 4K Fire TV — $189.99 $299.99 (save $110)

• TCL 55-inch Q5 QLED 4K TV — $299.99 $449.99 (save $150)

• LG 55-inch 85 Series QNED 4K TV — $699.99 $1,099.99 (save $400)

• Pioneer 65-inch 4K TV — $329.99 $499.99 (save $170)

• Sony 65-inch Bravia 8 OLED 4K TV — $2,299.99 $2,799.99 (save $500)

• Insignia 70-inch F30 4K Fire TV — $399.99 $499.99 (save $100)

• Samsung 77-inch S90D OLED 4K TV — $3,299.99 $3,699.99 (save $400)

Best Apple deal

Why we like it

The iPad Air from 2022 was the first Air to wield the snappy M1 chip that powers several MacBooks and iPad Pros. With it, the 5th generation Air performs about 60 percent faster than the older Airs, making undertakings like 4K video editing, 3D designing, or graphics-heavy gaming a breeze on the most portable iPad. The 5th gen Air also sees upgrades like an Ultra Wide 12MP front camera and faster wireless connectivity.

More Apple deals at Best Buy

• Apple iPad Air, 10.9-inch (M1, 256GB, WiFi) — $649.99 $749.99 (save $100)

• Apple iPad Pro, 11-inch (M2, 128GB, WiFi + Cellular) — $799 $999 (save $200)

• Apple iPad Pro, 12.9-inch (M2, 256GB, WiFi) — $999.99 $1,199 (save $200)

• Apple MacBook Air, 15-inch (M2, 16GB RAM, 1TB SSD) — $1,599 $1,899 (save $300)

• Apple MacBook Pro, 14-inch (M3, 8GB RAM, 512GB SSD) — $1,449 $1,599 (save $150)

Best laptop deal at Best Buy

Why we like it

For $150 less than the 14-inch MacBook Pro, you can bump up to a 16-inch display with OLED backlighting by snagging the Asus Vivobook Pro during Best Buy’s 4th of July sale. That beast of a display comes with a NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 graphics card and runs a 120Hz refresh rate, making it one of your best bets for securing a high-powered work laptop that’s just as upstanding for gaming.

More laptops on sale at Best Buy

• Lenovo Yoga 7 2-in-1, 14-inch (AMD Ryzen 5, 8GB RAM, 512GB SSD) — $499.99 $749.99 (save $250)

• Samsung Galaxy Book4 (Intel Core 7, 16GB RAM, 512GB SSD) — $649.99 $899.99 (save $250)

• Microsoft Surface Laptop Go 3 (Intel Core i5, 8GB RAM, 256GB SSD) — $649.99 $799.99 (save $150)

• Samsung Galaxy Book4 Edge Copilot+ PC (Snapdragon X Elite,16GB RAM, 512GB SSD) — $1,099.99 $1,449.99 (save $350)

• Alienware m18 FHD+ Gaming Laptop (AMD Ryzen 9, 32GB RAM, 1TB SSD) — $1,749.99 $2,549.99 (save $800)

Best headphones deal at Best Buy

Why we like it

Despite every pair of AirPods dropping to record-low pricing the week before Prime Day, your itch for a pair of budget ANC earbuds may still not be scratched by the price tags that still exceed $100. You can find a solid alternative in the JBL Tune Buds True — at $59.95, they’re just $10 away from the lowest they’ve ever dropped, which was only seen during the 2023 Black Friday season. The Tune Buds True can last for up to 32 hours on a single charge, unassumingly booming bass, and honestly, look a lot like the AirPods Pro.

More headphones on sale at Best Buy

• JVC Wireless Deep Bass Headphones — $39.99 $49.99 (save $100)

• Sennheiser Momentum 3 True Wireless Earbuds —  $179.99 $279.99 (save $100)

• Beats Studio Pro — $299.99 $349.99 (save $50)