Big price drops on Apple products are rare, but Black Friday can be an exception. So to save you time and money we’ve rounded up the very best Apple AirPods deals so you can snap up a bargain.
We know not everyone’s an Apple fan, though, and some of the extra features Apple AirPods offer aren’t supported if you have an Android phone, so we’ve also scoured online retailers for offers on truly wireless alternatives that are well worth considering, including earbuds for less than £100.
Each set of headphones listed here has been rated pretty well by our professional listening panel – we recommend you check our full reviews to find out if they hit the Best Buy mark, and whether they’ll be right for you, though.
And we only highlight deals that we genuinely believe to be good value compared to the usual price for the headphones, based on our expert pricing knowledge, so you can be sure that you’re getting a good deal.
Looking for more that just headphones this Black Friday? Whether you’re looking for a mattress or a mobile phone, find even more great offers by heading to our best Black Friday deals.
Apple AirPods deals: highlights
- Even pre-Black Friday we’ve been seeing the Apple AirPods on sale for around £125 from some retailers, including Amazon.co.uk – well below their £159 RRP.
- As of the beginning of November, the Apple AirPods Pro are available for £219 from JohnLewis.com, and £209 from Amazon.co.uk – compared to an RRP of £249.
Apple AirPods (RRP £159): key features and where to buy
- Type: Truly wireless earbud headphones
- Claimed earpiece battery life: 5 hours
- Total claimed battery life with case charges: 24 hours
Apple’s AirPods come with a small case to stow the earbuds when not in use. Like all truly wireless headphones, the AirPods’ tiny batteries only last for a few hours between charges, and the chargeable case doubles as a power bank too, recharging the earpieces between uses.
The standard version of the case needs plugging in (to a USB port) to charge. You can also opt for a (more expensive) wireless charging case.
Apple’s opted for a hard, plastic, one-size-fits-all design for its standard AirPods, rather than the flexible, changeable eartips of many in-ear headphones.
The design makes them as simple to use as possible, though some may not like how this gives them looser fit. The design of hard-tipped earbuds also means there isn’t a tight seal around your ear canal, which makes sound more likely to ‘leak’ out so those around you can hear it.
Do the AirPods deliver outstanding performance in an increasingly crowded market? Find out in our definitive Apple AirPods review.
Best Black Friday deals on Apple AirPods
Buy direct from Apple and you’ll pay £159 for these iconic headphones, but prices at other retailers have been coming down over the last year, and even pre-Black Friday we’ve been seeing them on sale for around £125 from some retailers, including Amazon.co.uk.
Will retailers look to cut prices still further come Black Friday? Watch this space to find out.
Apple AirPods Pro (RRP £249): key features and where to buy
- Type: Truly wireless, noise-cancelling in-ear headphones
- Claimed earpiece battery life: 4.5 hours (with noise cancelling)
- Total claimed battery life with case charges: 24 hours
The Apple AirPods Pro have a few features which set them above the standard AirPods. The most important is their active noise cancelling, which lowers the volume of intrusive background noise such as traffic or fans.
To aid the sound-proofing, the Pros come with flexible eartips of different sizes – you can swap the default tips for ones that fit your ears better. This means the AirPods Pro form a full acoustic seal around your ear canal, helping them to block out more noise and make the active noise cancelling work effectively.
Apple says they sound even better than the standard AirPods. They also come with a wireless charging case as standard, and are water resistant (from splashes of water).
Are the Apple AirPods Pro really worth the high asking price, or could you make a big saving on a cheaper rival? Our experts give their professional verdict in our full Apple AirPods Pro review.
Best Black Friday deals on Apple AirPods Pro
As with the standard AirPods, some retailers had already cut the prices of the AirPod Pros well before Black Friday. As of the beginning of November, they’re available for £219 from JohnLewis.com, and £209 from Amazon.co.uk.
We’ll be watching out for even bigger price drops as we get closer to Black Friday, and letting you know about them as soon as we do.
Rival truly wireless headphones
Apple AirPods aren’t the only great truly wireless headphones. There are lots of superb alternatives from rival brands as well, provided you choose carefully.
We’ve picked out three popular alternatives that we think could see their prices drop come Black Friday.
Samsung Galaxy Buds+ (RRP £159)
- Type: Truly wireless in-ear headphones
- Claimed earpiece battery life: 11 hours
- Total claimed battery life with case charges: 22 hours
The standout feature of the Samsung Galaxy Buds+ is their exceptionally long 11-hours of claimed continuous listening between case charges. Principally aimed at Samsung Galaxy phone owners, Samsung’s Buds range also works with other Android and also iOS devices.
The earpieces are a bit larger and there’s no stalk as with the Apple AirPods. They come with three sizes of both eartips and earwings; the latter provides additional stability if you find they feel loose on the move.
Does the battery life live up to the claims in our independent tests? Find out in our comprehensive Samsung Galaxy Buds+ review
Sony WF-1000XM3 (RRP £220)
- Type: Truly wireless in-ear headphones
- Claimed earpiece battery life: 6 hours (with noise cancelling)
- Total claimed battery life with case charges: 24 hours
Like the AirPods Pro these have noise cancelling – but they’re now much cheaper than Apples top-end headphones, routinely selling well below their RRP pre-Black Friday at around £169, compared to £209 for the AirPods Pros.
Nevertheless, they boldly claim to out-do the Apple AirPods Pro with ‘industry-leading noise cancelling’ and also come with a very well-featured app which includes a wide array of settings to adjust the sound and noise cancelling to your personal preferences.
Are these the most effective active noise cancelling earbuds on the market? Our professionals have the definitive answer in our Sony WF-1000XM3 review.
Bose SoundSport Free (RRP £179)
- Type: Truly wireless in-ear headphones
- Claimed earpiece battery life: 5 hours
- Total claimed battery life with case charges: 15 hours
Wired in-ear headphones are traditionally the headphones of choice for runners and other sports and exercise enthusiasts, but daily untangling of wires is a chore. Step in the Bose SoundSport Free headphones, which aim to give active types freedom from wires.
They’re specifically designed for sports, with a water- and sweat-resistant design (IPX4, not fully waterproof) and StayHear+ sport eartips. These aim to give a more secure fit than typical truly wireless headphones.
Bose have recently released the Bose Sport Earbuds, which are expected to succeed this pair, so we anticipate some great deals on the Bose SoundSport Frees around Black Friday.
Looking for headphones for running and other sports? See whether these are of the best headphones to go for in our full Bose SoundSport Free review.
Best Black Friday deals on AirPod alternatives
Our experts will be scouring the virtual high street for the top Black Friday deals on Samsung, Sony and Bose’s offerings, plus any other top deals we spot. Check back regularly for the best offers.
- It’s not strictly a Black Friday deal, but the Bose SoundSport Free are currently on sale in blue or orange for £134 at John Lewis, a £45 saving on the RRP. Buy now at John Lewis.
Prefer over-ear headphones? Don’t click that buy button without checking our guide to the best over-ear headphones.
Latest truly wireless headphones on test
We’ve just tested two sets that represent the two ends of the price spectrum for truly wireless headphones. They’re so fresh onto the market that we don’t expect to see any big price cuts on them come Black Friday – our tests reveal whether they’re good enough to justify paying full price for.
Mpow M30 Wireless Earbuds, £33: a bargain at any time?
- Type: Truly wireless in-ear headphones
- Claimed earpiece battery life: 5 hours
- Total claimed battery life with case charges: 25 hours
At just £33, you may not feel you need to wait until Black Friday to snap up the Mpow M30 Wireless Earbuds and feel like you’ve got a great deal. They even claim to be able to survive full immersion in water, with an IPX8 waterproof rating.
The Mpow M30 Wireless Earbuds are one of countless pairs of little-known brands sold on Amazon at a budget price. They have more than 14 thousand five-star ratings and a four-and-a-half star average rating from buyers.
Looking at the specs alone, Mpow seems to be offering the same specs as the standard Apple AirPods, at a tiny fraction of the price. But Which? investigations repeatedly show that product reviews on online marketplaces such as Amazon can’t always be trusted, and such a sea of positive reviews for a cut-price product is enough to raise a skeptical eyebrow.
Is there a catch, or are Amazon buyers really onto a winner here, saving a small fortune over the Apple AirPods? Our independent ratings can’t be manipulated – we reveal all in our Mpow M30 Wireless Earbuds review.
Bose QuietComfort Earbuds, £250
- Type: Truly wireless noise-cancelling in-ear headphones
- Claimed earpiece battery life: 6 hours (with noise cancelling)
- Total claimed battery life with case charges: 18 hours
The highly-anticipated Bose QuietComfort Earbuds are finally here. They’re audio heavyweight Bose’s direct rival to the Apple AirPods Pro, featuring active noise cancelling so you’re not disturbed by background sounds. The Apple AirPods Pro are now more than a year old, and Bose boldly promises its QuietComfort Earbuds are ‘the world’s most effective noise cancelling earbuds’.
Bose also promises six hours of continuous music listening with active noise cancelling, well ahead of Apple’s 4.5-hour claims for the Apple AirPods Pro, and like the Pros the Earbuds come as standard with a wireless charging case.
Apple vs Bose: who really comes top for active noise cancelling headphones? Our professionals expose which is truly the top pair to buy in our Bose QuietComfort Earbuds review.
Truly wireless headphones to avoid
Truly wireless technology has only been around for a few years, and many manufacturers still haven’t cracked it. We’ve tested a disproportionately large number of poor pairs compared to other types of headphones.
In fact, 15 pairs we’ve tested currently available to buy are so bad we’ve made them Don’t Buys, including models from big brands and others popular on websites like Amazon.
Whether it’s poor sound quality or woeful battery life – barely an hour in some cases – it’s not just dirt cheap models that have tortured our ears with weak, tinny base or terrible noise cancelling. Some shockingly poor pairs would set you back more than £200.
So, before you click that buy button on a seeming bargain, head over to our reviews to check your chosen pair doesn’t make it onto our Don’t Buy headphones list.
More on Black Friday
This story was originally published on 11 November 2020. We’ll keep updating it whenever we spot new Apple AirPods and other truly wireless headphones deals that our experts believe are worth buying.
