Amazon Prime Day has begun, and it’s brought a number of good headphone deals along with it. If you’ve specifically had your eye on a new set of AirPods, good news: Several of Apple’s wireless headphones have dropped to their lowest prices to date. For your convenience, we’ve rounded up the best Prime Day deals on AirPods we could find below.
It’s worth noting that Apple may release updated models by the end of the year, so if you’re willing to wait, that might be beneficial. But if you really want to upgrade today, you can now save a little than usual on the AirPods Pro — which we highlight in our wireless earbuds buying guide — AirPods Max and third-gen AirPods. Unlike most Prime Day deals, none of the discounts below require you to be an Amazon Prime member, either.
Photo by Billy Steele / Engadget
The latest AirPods Pro are on sale for $169, which matches the lowest price we’ve seen. Apple sells the noise-canceling earphones for $249, though they’ve frequently been available for $190 on Amazon in recent months.
The AirPods Pro remain the “best for iPhones” pick in our guide to the best wireless earbuds. Like all AirPods, they work particularly well with other Apple devices, but they also include above-average active noise cancellation (ANC), a top-notch transparency mode (which blends your audio with outside noise) and a fuller, more pleasingly warm sound profile than Apple’s other earbuds. That said, they aren’t as customizable as many of their peers, and their five- to six-hour battery life is nothing to write home about. But if you’re a diehard Apple fan, they do more right than not. We gave them a review score of 88 back in 2022; just note that this model comes with a USB-C charging case.
Photo by Billy Steele / Engadget
The AirPods Max are down to a new low of $395, which is roughly $80 off their average street price on Amazon in recent months and $150 off Apple’s list price.
We gave this pair a review score of 84 when it was released way back in December 2020. Despite its age, the Max remains one of the more premium sets of wireless headphones you can buy. It sounds impressively detailed and balanced, its aluminum frame looks and feels high-end, and its ANC is still among the strongest on the market. Battery life is OK at roughly 20 hours per charge, and its Apple-Watch-style digital crown is more responsive than typical touch controls. Most (but not all) of the usual AirPods features are still here, too, from hands-free Siri to Find My tracking to faster pairing and device switching with other Apple hardware. The metal design is fairly hefty, however, and it weirdly lacks a power button, instead relying on a flimsy “case” to enter a low-power mode. You’ll still need to be an Apple loyalist to get the most out of it. But at this price, it’s much more competitive.
It’s worth noting that we may see a revised AirPods Max by the end of 2024, according to past reports from Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, possibly around the launch of the next iPhone. That said, the new model isn’t expected to be a massive overhaul: Gurman says the only major change will be a swap to USB-C for charging and wired playback. The current set uses Lightning. If you can live with that, it’s still worth considering at this price.
Photo by Billy Steele / Engadget
The third-gen Apple AirPods are also on sale for $120, another all-time low. This is $49 off Apple’s list price and $20 below the typical sale price we’ve seen at other retailers over the last few months.
This pair is harder to recommend than the AirPods Pro and AirPods Max, as its semi-open design lets in a good chunk of outside noise, limits bass response and won’t fit everyone’s ears well. What’s more, Bloomberg has reported that Apple will launch two new fourth-gen AirPods models later this year with revamped designs, improved sound quality and ANC in one variant. (New AirPods Pros aren’t expected until 2025.) If you can wait, you probably should. Still, if you really want to save cash and hate the feeling of earbuds that dig into your ear canal, the third-gen AirPods are some of the better-sounding open-back pairs available right now, and they’re still especially convenient to use with Apple devices. We gave the third-gen AirPods a review score of 88 back in October 2021.
Your Prime Day Shopping Guide: See all of our Prime Day coverage. Shop the best Prime Day deals on Yahoo Life. Follow Engadget for Prime Day tech deals. Hear from Autoblog’s experts on the best Amazon Prime Day deals for your car, garage, and home, and find Prime Day sales to shop on AOL, handpicked just for you.
