Black Friday vs Cyber Monday Apple Deals: Which Day Is Better?

Last year the 128GB iPad mini cost $399 at Best Buy on Black Friday. On Cyber Monday it was $349. Same tablet, same store, three days apart. If there's one Apple device on your list this year, the useful question is which day tends to favor that device, and whether you should wait for either one.

Neither day wins for every Apple product. Apple runs one gift-card event from Black Friday through Cyber Monday, so its own offer doesn't change between the two days. Retailers are where the days differ: last year Cyber Monday had the lower iPad mini price, Black Friday had the lower AirPods 4 price, and the M4 MacBook Air was a tie. The newest iPhone rarely gets a straight price cut on either day.

The Short Answer: It Depends on the Product

The better day for Apple deals depends on which device you want, and last year's prices are a fair guide. Thanksgiving falls on Thursday, Nov 26 this year, which puts Black Friday on Nov 27 and Cyber Monday on Monday, Nov 30.

Here is how the two days compared for each product line in 2025:

• iPad: Cyber Monday, going by the iPad mini's $50 drop between the two days.
• AirPods: Black Friday, where AirPods 4 sat about $10 lower than on Monday.
• MacBook: A tie. The M4 MacBook Air hit the same price on both days, and the retailer mattered more than the date.
• Apple Watch: A split. One model was cheaper on Friday, another on Monday.
• iPhone: Neither. The newest iPhone rarely gets a straight price cut, and Apple's gift cards on older iPhones run the same all four days.

These are last year's numbers, so treat them as a guide and not a promise. Prices moved during the week, sometimes more than once a day.

What Apple Itself Does on Each Day

Apple's own Black Friday offer is the same on Cyber Monday, because Apple runs one event across both days. In 2024, MacRumors reported (Nov 21, 2024) that Apple's event ran from Friday, Nov 29 through Monday, Dec 2, which Apple described as a "four-day Black Friday through Cyber Monday shopping event." Reports from last year put the 2025 event at Nov 28 through Dec 1.

Apple doesn't lower its prices for the event. It gives an Apple gift card with an eligible purchase, and the amount depends on the product. Here is how the 2024 US gift cards lined up, per MacRumors:

• $25: iPhone SE, AirPods 4, Apple TV 4K and Apple Pencil Pro.
• $50: iPhone 14 and 14 Plus, iPad (10th generation), Apple Watch SE, AirPods Pro 2 and HomePod.
• $75: iPhone 15 and 15 Plus, iPad Air and AirPods Max.
• $100: iPad Pro.
• $150 to $200: MacBook Air, from $150 on the 13-inch M2 to $200 on the 15-inch M3 (the 13-inch M3 got $175).

Apple gave no gift card that year on the new MacBook Pro, Mac mini or iMac.

A gift card isn't a price cut. You pay Apple's full price and get credit toward a later Apple purchase. This means the offer is only worth its face value if you were going to spend that money at Apple anyway.

Think of Apple's event as a coupon that's good from Friday through Monday. The coupon doesn't care which of the four days you use it. Retailers work more like a market stall, where the price can change by the hour. Review Apple's own terms on the day for this year's amounts, and use 2024's list as the guide. Plug's guide to whether Apple does Black Friday deals goes further into how the gift cards work.

What Retailers Do: Black Friday vs. Cyber Monday

Retailers are where the two days actually differ, and Adobe's numbers give Cyber Monday a slight edge on electronics. Adobe reported (Dec 2025) that electronics discounts on Cyber Monday 2025 peaked at 31% off listed price, ahead of toys (28%), apparel (25%) and computers (23%).

If you're shopping for a MacBook, the computers figure is the closer guide. A 23% peak is well short of the electronics number, so a MacBook deal may look smaller than the headline figure suggests.

Adobe's release gives no matching Black Friday figure for electronics, so read 31% as Cyber Monday's high point and not as a head-to-head score.

The bigger shift is in when people shop. Adobe tracked Cyber Monday 2025 online spending at $14.25 billion (up 7.1% from the year before) and Black Friday at $11.8 billion (up 9.1%). It was the second holiday season in a row that Black Friday grew faster than Cyber Monday, as shoppers engaged with early deals. This means the two days are drifting closer together, and the sale week matters more than any single date.

Amazon, Best Buy, Walmart and Target each set their own timing and their own prices. A deal at one store on Friday can show up at another on Monday, or not at all.

Product by Product: Which Day Wins

The best Apple deals last year landed on different days for different products. Here is how last year's Apple prices played out across the two days, using deal-editor reports from The Verge, Macworld, ZDNET and other outlets. Each price is a US price at one retailer around that day, and prices moved during the week:

Device	Black Friday 2025	Cyber Monday 2025	Where	Better day
AirPods 4	About $69	About $79	Amazon, Walmart and Target on Black Friday	Black Friday
iPad mini, A17 Pro, 128GB Wi-Fi	$399	$349	Best Buy both days; Amazon on Cyber Monday	Cyber Monday

1. iPhone: The Model Matters More Than the Day

For iPhone, the day matters less than which model you want. The latest iPhone usually isn't cut directly by retailers on either day. The big offers you'll see tend to come from carriers and are tied to a plan, so the full cost is harder to read than a sticker price.

Apple's gift cards went to older iPhones, not the newest lineup, and they ran the same on Cyber Monday as on Black Friday. If you're set on an iPhone, Plug's guides on whether iPhones get cheaper on Cyber Monday and on carrier iPhone deals vs unlocked phones walk through the numbers model by model.

2. iPad: Cyber Monday Had the Edge

Cyber Monday was the better day for iPad last year, based on the best-documented example. The 128GB Wi-Fi iPad mini (A17 Pro) was $399 at Best Buy on Black Friday, then fell to $349 on Cyber Monday, Dec 1, 2025, at Best Buy and Amazon. Waiting the three days would have let you save $50. Several outlets, including Macworld and ZDNET, reported $349 as its lowest price to that point.

For an iPad Air or iPad Pro, Apple's gift card was the same all weekend in 2024 ($75 and $100). That leaves the retailer price as the number to watch. If you're buying for school, Plug's guide to the best iPad Black Friday deal for students covers which model fits, and the Cyber Monday vs Black Friday iPad breakdown goes deeper on the timing.

3. MacBook: A Tie, So Watch the Retailer

The M4 MacBook Air came out even last year. Deal reports had the 13-inch model at about the same price on Black Friday and Cyber Monday, but the price depended on the retailer, so the store you checked mattered more than the date.

Third-party price data points the same way: Apple laptop prices were lowest in October and November, with November running about 5.5% below the prior year's median. That's one tracker, so take it as a lean and not a rule.

If you're weighing a MacBook Pro against an Air, Plug's guide to the best MacBook to buy on Black Friday compares them.

4. Apple Watch: A Split Decision

Apple Watch prices split between the two days last year, going by deal reports. The Apple Watch Ultra 3 looked a little cheaper around Cyber Monday, while the Apple Watch Series 11 had its deal price on Black Friday.

So neither day was a clear winner for Apple Watch. If you'd be happy at the Black Friday price, waiting three days for a possibly small extra saving is a coin toss. Plug's guide to Apple Watch SE vs Series vs Ultra covers the Apple Watch SE and older Watch Series models too.

5. AirPods: Black Friday Came Out Ahead

Apple AirPods were cheaper on Black Friday last year. AirPods 4 were about $69 at Amazon, Walmart and Target on Black Friday, Nov 28, 2025, and about $79 around Cyber Monday. The Verge noted that AirPods tend to get their biggest discounts across the Black Friday to Cyber Monday stretch.

If noise cancellation is why you're looking at AirPods Pro 2 or AirPods Max, Apple's 2024 gift cards on those ($50 and $75) were the same all weekend, so the retailer price decides it here as well.

Why the Best Price May Come Before Either Day

For a lot of Apple gear last year, the lowest price showed up before Thanksgiving. Best Buy started its early sale on Halloween (Oct 31, 2025) and its wider Black Friday sale on Nov 20. Amazon's strongest Apple prices, on AirPods and the M4 MacBook Air, were showing by about Nov 20 to 22. Walmart and Target started their events around Nov 24.

Deal trackers expected the first real Apple price drops in the first two weeks of November, and many record lows on MacBook Airs and older Apple Watches have come before Thanksgiving week.

Waiting has a cost too. Early prices can still drop further on Black Friday, which cuts both ways: buy early and you might miss a lower price, wait and the early price might be gone.

A simple way to handle it:

• Decide your price first: Use last year's numbers above as the starting point for the exact model and storage you want.
• Buy when it shows up: If your price appears on Nov 12, that's the day. A few dollars lower on Nov 30 isn't guaranteed.
• Keep watching after you buy: If the store has a return window that runs through the holidays, a lower price later gives you an option. Plug's guide to Black Friday return policies for electronics covers what to check.

New vs. Plug Certified: What Changes on Each Day

Plug Certified prices aren't tied to Black Friday or Cyber Monday. Plug prices its devices from live market data, so the price on the collection is the price that day, and prices move. Savings run up to 70% off retail.

What doesn't move with the calendar is what comes with every device:

• 90+ Point Inspection: Every Plug Certified device goes through it before it ships.
• A battery checked to 80% health or higher: The health figure measures how much charge the battery holds against a new one. Higher battery health means longer battery life between charges.
• 12-Month Plug Warranty: The same cover whether you buy on Black Friday or any other day.
• 30-day returns: On every order.
• Free shipping: On US orders.

Plug's three grades, Good, Great and Excellent, are about how the device looks and nothing else. A Good-grade iPad goes through the same testing as an Excellent one and ships with the same warranty.

This is most useful where new Apple deals are weakest. If the latest iPhone won't drop and a model or two back would suit you, a Plug Certified iPhone takes the timing question off the table. The same goes for an Apple Watch or iPad you'd rather not chase across four stores and four days. Plug's Black Friday deals and Cyber Monday deals pages show what's live, and Plug's guide on whether refurbished Black Friday deals are worth it compares the two ways of buying.

If it's a gift, check Plug's own holiday order-by dates when they're posted.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does Black Friday have better deals than Cyber Monday?

Not reliably. Across the whole 2025 season, Adobe found electronics discounts peaked at 30.9% off listed price, up only slightly from 30.1% in 2024. Year to year the ceiling barely moves, so one product's price at one store tells you more than the name of the day.

Does Apple go on sale on Cyber Monday?

Yes, but as gift cards rather than price cuts. Cyber Monday sits inside Apple's Friday-to-Monday event, and the pattern has held for years: in 2023 the event ran Nov 24 to 27 with gift cards from $25 to $200. The card is credit for a later Apple purchase, not money off today.

Are iPad mini sales happening on Black Friday?

Yes, at retailers rather than from Apple. Best Buy's $399 price had been running since about Nov 11, 2025, so Black Friday itself brought no new drop on the mini. Apple's 2024 gift-card list didn't include the iPad mini at all, which leaves store prices as the only deal to compare.

When is the best time to buy Apple products?

For most Apple gear, it's the weeks around Black Friday, which Wirecutter also names as a strong stretch for Apple sales. Some products have other windows: older iPhones often drop right after Apple's September launch, and iPads often dip on Prime Day. Pick the model first, then the date.

Does Apple discount the newest iPhone on Black Friday?

No, not directly. Apple's 2024 gift-card list covered the iPhone 15, iPhone 14 and iPhone SE, but not the iPhone 16 lineup that had just launched. Carrier offers on new models usually arrive as monthly bill credits tied to a plan, so add up the full cost before you commit.

Which Day Should You Circle?

The day matters less than having four things settled before the sale week starts:

• The exact model and storage: A price only means something against one configuration, like the iPad mini at 128GB Wi-Fi or the MacBook Air at 16GB and 256GB.
• Your price: Last year's numbers in the table give you a starting point to beat.
• Whether Apple's gift card helps you: If you'll buy a case or an Apple Pencil Pro from Apple anyway, the card is worth more to you than to someone who won't.
• Who it's for and when they'll open it: A gift bought in mid-November gets opened weeks later, so check the store's holiday return terms before you pay.

With those set, you can buy on whichever day your price appears, whether that's a Tuesday in early November or Cyber Monday itself.