Black Friday deals have been a tradition in the U.S. since the early 1960s, but Amazon’s nationwide release of the Amazon Echo smart speaker with the Alexa voice-controlled digital assistant took the smart home category to the top of the Black Friday shopping list for many American homes. Smart home Black Friday deals for the best Alexa-enabled devices and other smart home infrastructure tech assuredly played a role in introducing the smart home convenience, security, and entertainment to millions of U.S. homes and apartments. Because relatively inexpensive smart home basic devices, such as smart speakers, smart displays, and smart light, plugs, and switches, support sales of a rapidly expanding universe of more costly smart devices, including major smart appliances, smart security systems, and smart entertainment components, you can count on a wide selection of Black Friday smart home deals this year.
Retailers like Walmart, Amazon, and Best Buy have all rolled out early steals, all Black Friday-worthy and ready to shop, right now! There are a few different reasons for this, which we’ll cover in more detail below. The good news is that you can start shopping now to avoid shipping delays and low inventory issues that are sure to appear closer to the holidays.
Why you should shop Black Friday smart home deals today
Imagine buying a new item for your home — you’re excited to get it all setup and get your home all automated, only to find that it’s out of stock, or worse, shipping is delayed until at least 2022. That could be a reality this year as there are many things affecting the supply chain, retailers, inventory, and beyond. That’s why Best Buy, Amazon, and Walmart — among others — have all started holiday shopping events much earlier than ever. That’s right, you can get Black Friday-worthy deals right now and on a wide range of smart home devices, including doorbells, security cameras, locks, appliances, and much more.
Some of the best places to look for those deals are Amazon Black Friday deals, Walmart Black Friday deals, or even Best Buy Black Friday deals. Sure, there’s a lot to choose from, but if you start now, you’ll have everything you need in time for the holidays and with no hiccups.
Black Friday smart home deals you can shop today
Want to see what’s already available as part of these early Black Friday sales? We rounded up all of the best offers below. Don’t sleep on these!
What smart home tech should you buy during this early Black Friday event?
Many of the best Black Friday smart home deals are for smart home infrastructure devices. These are the devices that you use to talk and listen to the digital assistants’ responses. The two best-selling smart infrastructure categories are smart speakers and smart displays.
The best Amazon Echo deals and the best Google Home and Nest deals deliver bargain prices for tech to listen for your requests and answer questions, stream music, tell stories and jokes, and help you keep current on news, sports, weather, and pretty much anything you might otherwise find with a browser. Smart displays enable streaming video, two-way video conferencing, newscast video, and connection to your home security cameras to show live video and playback recorded security video clips. As in recent past years, you’ll find the lowest price of the year on smart home Black Friday deals for smart speakers and smart displays.
Additional Black Friday smart home deals to watch for include infrastructure tech, which includes smart plugs, smart switches, and smart lights. Bargains on smart lights can be tough to find most of the year, but the best Philips Hue deals have been at their lowest prices of the year during past Black Friday sales. The best Nest thermostat deals are another category to watch.
You’ll be wise to look for smart home Black Friday deals on home security devices. You can expect to find the best home security camera deals and best video doorbell deals, especially the best Ring doorbell deals. Other deeply discounted Black Friday smart home deals to look for are for the best smart locks and the best home security systems.
You’ll also find smart home Black Friday deals for voice-assistant-enabled smart appliances such as refrigerator deals, TV deals, and washer and dryer deals. In addition there will be fabulous savings on smart Instant Pot deals, air fryer deals, Ninja Foodi deals, Keurig deals, and coffee maker deals.
The Best Black Friday smart home deals we saw last year
As mentioned above, the very best Black Friday smart home deals, at least as measured by discount percentages, usually are for smart speakers, smart display, smart plugs, and other smart home infrastructure tech. Last year, even with the COVID-19 pandemic-related inventory, supply chain, and shipping issues, smart home Black Friday deals were outstanding.
We were surprised and pleased last year to see that many smart home-compatible devices and appliances came bundled with a free Amazon Echo Dot smart speaker or a free Amazon Echo Show smart display. The smart tech bundling added significant value to devices that could work with them. We’ll probably see even more smart speaker and smart display bundling with more expensive smart home Black Friday deals this year, but let’s take a look at some of the most popular Black Friday smart home deals we saw last year.
It was interesting to watch the price cuts during Black Friday 2020 for the Amazon Echo Dot 3rd Gen and the Amazon Echo Dot 4th Gen smart speakers. The Amazon Echo Dot 4th Gen was introduced in September 2020 with a $50 list price. The launch price didn’t budge until Black Friday when Amazon dropped the 4th Gen Dot to $28, a 44% discount. The previous version, the Amazon Echo Dot 3rd Gen, was introduced in mid-2019, again with a $50 list price. During Black Friday 2020, Amazon priced the 3rd Gen Dot at $19, a walloping 62% discount. This year the 3rd Gen Dot list price has been reset to $40, while the 4th Gen Dot maintains its $50 price tag. So both versions were excellent smart home Black Friday deals last year, and that doesn’t even count for the millions of 4rd Gen Dots that were bundled in hordes of other smart home products and tech.
The Amazon Echo Show 5 has been the best-selling smart display since its release in May 2019. The Show 5’s list price held at $90 from its introduction until this May, with the launch of the Amazon Echo Show 5 2nd Gen 2021. With the newer release, the original Show 5 list price dropped to $80, where it remains. During Black Friday 2020, the Show 5 sold for its lowest price ever, a 50% discount to $45. The Amazon Echo Show 5 2nd Gen 2021 started its product life with an $85 price tag. We don’t have 2020 prices for this newer product, but earlier this year Amazon sold it for as little as $55.
Amazon’s own brand Ring Video Doorbell 3 launched in March 2020. This popular mid-range Ring model dropped in price to $140 from its $200 list price during Black Friday 2020. In February 2021, Amazon lowered Ring’s Video Doorbell 3 list price to $180 prior to the launch of the next version, the Ring Video Doorbell 4, which has stayed at its $100 list price since its April 7, 2021, release.
The Google Nest Learning Thermostat was launched in September 2015 with a $250 list price. In the past six years, the Nest Learning Thermostat has had several model refreshes and the price has stuck, despite strong competition from Ecobee and others. Pandemic-related home improvement product sales demand in 2020 kept the Nest Learning Thermostat price high, although it dipped to $200 in Black Friday smart home deals.
Should you buy smart home tech on Cyber Monday?
Do.Not.Wait. As soon as you see attractive Black Friday smart home deals, take action immediately. Buy it at the moment. You can always return products from Amazon within 30 days of purchase if you see a better price later, but we think this year the fast-actors will get all the best deals.
Most retailers, including Amazon, will hold the same prices from Black Friday through Cyber Monday. You may find some flukes, but if you see an excellent deal on Black Friday for products you know you want, jump on the deals. There are plenty of ongoing lead-up sales, and this year we don’t think you should even wait for Black Friday if you see a price you like. Inventories are too light to wait, only to discover that stock is sold out or that you’ll need to wait weeks or even months for delivery — it has happened in the past with Black Friday smart home deals.
If you’re worried about getting the best of the best deals, some retailers — like Best Buy — are offering Price Match Guarantees. If you buy something and it goes on sale even lower, you can request a refund for the price difference.
