Timing your electronics purchases correctly is one of the highest-leverage moves in personal finance. A $1,200 laptop bought in October might cost $899 in November. A TV you want in March could be 30% cheaper if you waited two weeks for Super Bowl season to kick in. This guide tells you exactly when to buy every major electronics category — and why the timing works.
The Core Principle: Electronics Pricing Runs on Cycles
Electronics pricing isn’t random. It follows three predictable forces:
- Model year cycles — Manufacturers release new versions on relatively consistent schedules. Old models drop in price when new ones launch.
- Retail sale events — Black Friday, Prime Day, back-to-school, and a handful of other calendar events create genuine, deep discounts — not manufactured urgency.
- Inventory pressure — Retailers discount to clear stock before new models arrive or before a quarter ends.
Once you understand these forces, you stop asking “is this a good deal?” and start asking “is this the right time to buy?”
Month-by-Month Electronics Buying Calendar
January — Post-Holiday Clearance + CES Hype
Best for: TVs, last-gen laptops, smart home devices
January is underrated. Retailers are moving holiday overstock, which means last year’s models get clearance pricing in the 20–40% off range. At the same time, CES (Consumer Electronics Show) happens in the first or second week of January. New products are announced, and manufacturers want to clear inventory of whatever is being replaced.
What to buy: Any TV model from the previous year that just got a “new 2026 model” announced at CES. Retailers need shelf space. You get a perfectly good 2025 TV at clearance prices.
What to skip: Brand-new CES announcements. They won’t ship for months and will be overpriced at launch. Wait.
February — Super Bowl TV Season
Best for: Large-screen TVs (65”+ especially)
This is the single best month of the year to buy a large TV if you missed Black Friday. Retailers run aggressive promotions on big-screen TVs in the 2–3 weeks leading up to the Super Bowl. The deals aren’t quite Black Friday level, but they’re close — often 15–25% off — and inventory is fresh (not picked-over like late November).
Specific timing: Watch for deals starting about three weeks before the Super Bowl, typically the last week of January through the first week of February.
Pro tip: Major retailers like Best Buy, Walmart, and Costco all compete for this traffic. If you see a price at one, use it to price-match the other before pulling the trigger.
March — Dry Season (Skip)
Best for: Nothing in particular
March is a pricing dead zone for electronics. There are no major sale events, no model-year transitions happening, and no retailer urgency. If you can wait, wait.
Exception: If a specific item drops to a price you’ve been tracking, buy it. But don’t expect March to bring anything special.
April — Spring Sales + Tax Refund Season
Best for: Refurbished electronics, mid-tier laptops
Retailers know tax refund checks are landing in April, so some run modest spring sales. Nothing dramatic, but it’s a reasonable time to buy if you need something. Refurbished certified devices from Apple, Dell, Lenovo, and Best Buy’s open-box section see decent availability.
Amazon’s angle: Amazon sometimes runs a “Spring Sale” event in late March or April — watch for it. It’s not Prime Day, but it can surface solid deals on smart home devices, tablets, and audio gear.
May — Memorial Day Sales
Best for: Appliances, laptops, smart home
Memorial Day weekend (late May) is a legitimate sale event for electronics, though not as deep as Black Friday. Laptops and appliances get the most attention. Expect 10–20% off on select models at Best Buy, Costco, and Amazon.
Gaming note: Not a strong month for gaming hardware. Skip if that’s your focus.
June / July — Amazon Prime Day
Best for: Amazon devices, smart home, headphones, tablets, budget laptops
Prime Day (usually mid-July, sometimes late June) has become a genuine major sale event. Amazon’s own devices — Echo, Fire tablets, Kindle, Ring — hit their lowest prices of the year. Third-party sellers also discount heavily to capture Prime Day traffic.
Realistic expectations: Prime Day deals on Apple, Sony, and premium brands are real but typically modest (10–15% off). Amazon’s own-brand devices often hit 30–50% off. Headphones (Bose, Sony, JBL) and smart home gear (Wyze, Philips Hue, Echo) are reliable Prime Day wins.
Prime Day 2 / Fall Prime Event: Amazon now runs a second Prime-adjacent event in October. Keep this on your radar — it’s become a legitimate pre-holiday discount event.
Strategy: Build a wishlist beforehand. The good deals go fast and the site gets chaotic. Know your target price before the event starts.
August — Back-to-School Sales
Best for: Laptops, tablets, monitors, headphones, printers
Back-to-school season (roughly July 15 through September) is the best time of year to buy laptops outside of Black Friday. Retailers aggressively discount education-oriented electronics to capture the college and K-12 market.
Best Buy, Apple, Dell, Lenovo, and Microsoft all run back-to-school promotions. Apple’s education store adds free AirPods with Mac purchases. Dell bundles monitors and accessories. Microsoft discounts Surface devices.
What to target: Chromebooks hit their lowest annual prices. Windows laptops in the $400–$900 range see some of the best deals of the year. Student discounts stack with sale pricing at Apple and Dell — you don’t have to be a student to use the Apple Education Store (just have a .edu email address, which many people still have).
September — Quiet Month / Apple iPhone Launch
Best for: Previous-gen iPhones, Android flagships (briefly)
September means new iPhone. The moment Apple announces the new iPhone lineup (typically the second Tuesday of September), the previous model drops in price — officially at Apple, and even more aggressively at carriers who need to move old inventory.
The play: If you want an iPhone but don’t need the latest model, buy the outgoing version immediately after the new one is announced. You’ll get a current-generation iPhone at a significant discount. Carriers often pile trade-in deals on top.
Android timing: Samsung Galaxy S-series launches in late January/February. Google Pixel launches in October. When a new Pixel or Galaxy drops, the prior model becomes a deal.
October — Amazon Fall Sale + Pre-Black Friday Positioning
Best for: Smart home, headphones, tablets, gaming
Amazon runs its “Prime Big Deal Days” or fall Prime event in October, making it the second-best Amazon sale event of the year. Beyond Amazon, retailers begin jockeying for holiday positioning with early Black Friday deals.
Gaming: October is when new game titles typically launch, but hardware deals don’t usually arrive until November. However, if a console bundle drops in October, that can signal pre-holiday inventory moves worth watching.
Price tracking note: This is the month to install CamelCamelCamel or Honey and set your target prices. Black Friday deals are 3–6 weeks away and you want to know if a “Black Friday price” is actually a genuine low.
November — Black Friday (The Real Thing)
Best for: Everything, but especially TVs, laptops, gaming consoles, headphones
Black Friday is the undisputed king of electronics sales. For most categories, it’s the single best pricing of the year. The caveat: you need to know what you’re looking at.
What’s real: Major retailers (Best Buy, Walmart, Amazon, Costco, Target) use loss-leader pricing on specific SKUs to drive traffic. These are genuine, historic-low deals — but they’re on specific models, not entire categories. A $299 65” TV at Walmart is a real deal. Everything else at 10% off is not.
What’s manufactured: “Doorbuster” pricing on obscure brands or older models that never sold at their “original” price. Use CamelCamelCamel to check Amazon price history. If a product has been $199 for 6 months and is now on “sale” for $179, that’s not a deal.
Cyber Monday: Historically, Cyber Monday focused on laptops and computers. That distinction has blurred, but it’s still a strong day for PC hardware, tablets, and software deals. Amazon typically runs its best Cyber Monday deals on smart home and devices.
The full window: Black Friday deals now start in late October and run through Cyber Monday (the Monday after Thanksgiving). You don’t need to wake up at 3am. The best deals are available online.
December — Cyber Week Tail + Gift Card Sales
Best for: Gift cards, specific clearance items
After Cyber Week, pricing generally rises as retailers know they have captive holiday shoppers. The exception: gift card deals. Costco, Sam’s Club, and various grocery stores sell retailer gift cards at discounts (e.g., $100 Best Buy gift card for $90). Buy discounted gift cards, then redeem them during January clearance for a compounding discount.
Avoid: Buying full-priced electronics in December with the plan to “return and rebuy during sales.” Most retailers will process a price adjustment within a specific window (typically 14–30 days), but sales after Christmas complicate this. Read the price adjustment policy before you buy.
Category-Specific Timing Guide
TVs — Best Months: January, February, November
TVs follow the most predictable pricing cycle of any electronics category.
- Super Bowl season (January–February): 15–25% off large-screen TVs. Best selection of the year after Black Friday.
- Black Friday (November): Lowest prices of the year. 40–60” TVs often hit sub-$200. 65–75” TVs can drop 30–40%.
- CES clearance (January): New models announced = old models discounted. Great time to buy a 2025 TV at a steep discount.
Model year tip: TV manufacturers (LG, Samsung, Sony, TCL, Hisense) release new lineups in spring. Prices on outgoing models start falling in March–April as new inventory arrives. By Black Friday, those “year-old” models are at their floor.
OLED vs. LED timing: OLED TVs drop more dramatically during sale events because their higher base price means more dollar-value cuts. If you’re targeting an OLED, Black Friday is essential.
Laptops — Best Months: August, November
Laptops have two distinct sale windows:
- Back-to-school (July–September): Best for Windows laptops under $1,000 and Chromebooks. Education discounts stack with sale pricing. MacBook Air and MacBook Pro see their best non-holiday deals here.
- Black Friday (November): Best absolute pricing across all laptop categories. Dell, HP, Lenovo, and Asus run aggressive deals on their flagship lines.
What to avoid: Buying a laptop in March–May or September–October outside of a sale event. You’ll pay near-MSRP for nothing.
MacBook timing: Apple rarely discounts Macs significantly. The reliable exceptions are back-to-school (free AirPods + education pricing), Black Friday ($50–200 gift card with purchase), and refurbished from Apple’s certified store. The refurbished store runs inventory year-round and often has like-new units at 15–20% off.
Processor cycle note: Intel and AMD release new processor generations roughly annually. If a laptop’s CPU is about to be superseded, that model will drop. Check tech news sites in January (after CES) and September (Intel/AMD typically announce new chips at these times) to know what’s coming.
Smartphones — Best Months: September–October (iPhones), March (Samsung)
iPhones: The single best time to buy is immediately after a new model announcement in September. The previous model officially drops $100–$200 at Apple. Carriers discount even more aggressively through trade-in deals. If you want a current-gen iPhone at launch, Black Friday is when carriers compete hardest on trade-in values and plan bundles.
Samsung Galaxy S-series: Launches February/March. Best deals on prior-gen Galaxy phones appear in March when new models ship. Samsung’s Galaxy S-series also gets meaningful Prime Day and Black Friday discounts.
Google Pixel: Launches in October. Prior-gen Pixels drop immediately. Pixel deals are also strong during Prime Day (Google is a major Amazon advertiser).
Refurbished phones: Amazon Renewed, Swappa, and Back Market offer certified refurbished phones at 20–40% below new pricing year-round. This is often a better deal than waiting for a sale on a new phone. Back Market’s “Excellent” condition grade is generally reliable.
Gaming Consoles — Best Months: November–December, with exceptions
Gaming hardware (PlayStation, Xbox, Nintendo Switch) almost never goes on sale in the traditional sense. Nintendo especially holds MSRP aggressively. Here’s when you’ll actually find deals:
Black Friday: The most reliable time for console bundles. Retailers pack a console with 1–3 games and accessories at a price that saves $40–$80 over buying separately. Pure console price cuts are rare; bundle value is where the savings live.
New console launches: When a new console generation launches, prior-gen hardware sees meaningful price cuts. PS4 and Xbox One dropped substantially when PS5 and Xbox Series X launched.
Refurbished consoles: GameStop Certified Pre-Owned, Amazon Renewed, and Best Buy Open-Box are legitimate sources. A Certified Pre-Owned PS5 from GameStop typically runs $60–$80 less than new and includes a warranty.
Games (not hardware): This is where the real savings are. Games drop 40–60% within 6 months of launch. PlayStation’s PS Plus Essential includes monthly free games. Xbox Game Pass offers current-gen titles day one for a subscription fee. Factor this into total cost of ownership.
Tablets — Best Months: July (Prime Day), November
iPads: Apple’s iPad pricing is similar to MacBooks — stubborn. The reliable deals are Prime Day, Black Friday, and back-to-school. Expect $30–$80 off base iPad models during these events. iPad Pro discounts are smaller in dollar terms relative to MSRP.
Android tablets: Samsung Galaxy Tab, Amazon Fire, and Lenovo tablets discount aggressively during all major sale events. Amazon Fire tablets hit their lowest prices on Prime Day — often 30–40% off. Galaxy Tab S-series follows Samsung’s main phone discount schedule.
Refurbished iPads: Apple’s certified refurbished store is the best source for refurbished iPads. “Like new” condition, full warranty, significant savings on previous-gen models.
Headphones & Audio — Best Months: July, November
Headphones and Bluetooth speakers are reliable deals at both Prime Day and Black Friday. Sony WH-1000XM-series, Bose QuietComfort, and Apple AirPods all see their lowest annual prices during these events.
AirPods specifically: AirPods Pro and AirPods 4 hit their lowest prices on Black Friday and Prime Day — typically $40–$70 off. Amazon and Best Buy compete hard on AirPods pricing during these events.
Sony and Bose: Both brands discount flagship noise-canceling headphones 20–30% during Prime Day and Black Friday consistently. If you’ve been watching a pair, these are the moments to buy.
Smart Home Devices — Best Months: October (Prime Day 2), November
Amazon Echo, Ring, Blink, Philips Hue, and Google Nest devices all see deep discounts during Prime Day and Black Friday. Amazon’s fall Prime event often features Echo and Ring at or near their Black Friday pricing, which makes October a legitimate buying window.
Google Nest: Best deals come during Google’s own sales (often coinciding with Prime Day or Black Friday) and on Best Buy during sale events.
How to Layer Savings on Top of Good Timing
Good timing gets you to the best base price. Layering savings tools on top can push discounts further.
Cashback Portals
Before buying online, check a cashback portal like Rakuten, TopCashback, or Capital One Shopping. These sites pay you a percentage of your purchase price for clicking through to a retailer.
- During sale events, cashback rates often increase because retailers want to capture more traffic.
- Stack cashback portal earnings on top of already-discounted Black Friday or Prime Day prices.
- Example: 5% cashback from Rakuten on a $800 laptop = $40 back, applied as a check or PayPal credit.
Credit Card Rewards and Offers
- Chase Sapphire / Freedom: Purchase protection, extended warranty on electronics.
- Citi Double Cash / Costco Visa: Flat 2% or category-specific cashback.
- American Express Offers: Amex regularly posts retailer-specific offers (e.g., “Spend $300 at Best Buy, get $50 back”) that stack with sale pricing. Check your Amex account before buying.
- Capital One Shopping: Works as a browser extension that automatically applies coupons and compares prices.
Price Tracking Tools
- CamelCamelCamel (Amazon only): Shows the full price history of any Amazon product. Set a target price and get an email when it’s hit. Essential for verifying that a “deal” is actually a deal.
- Honey (now part of PayPal): Browser extension that automatically tests coupon codes at checkout. Also has a price history feature.
- Google Shopping: Often surfaces lower prices from smaller retailers. Check it before buying from a big-box store.
Price Adjustment Policies
Most major retailers offer 14–30 day price adjustment windows. If you buy something and the price drops within that window, you can get the difference refunded.
- Best Buy: 15-day price match guarantee (30 days for My Best Buy Elite members).
- Amazon: Doesn’t typically do retroactive price adjustments, but allows returns within 30 days.
- Costco: Notoriously generous with price adjustments. Buy something, watch the price, get the difference credited.
- Apple: 14-day price adjustment window.
Strategy: Buy during a sale event with a retailer that has a generous adjustment window. If the price drops further during Cyber Week, get the adjustment.
The Short Version: When to Buy What
| Category | Best Month | Second Best | Avoid |
|---|---|---|---|
| TVs | November | January–February | March–October |
| Laptops | November | August | March–May |
| iPhones | September–October | November | January–August |
| Android phones | March, July | November | April–June |
| Gaming consoles | November | New gen launch | Most of the year |
| iPads / tablets | November | July | March–May |
| Headphones | November | July | Most other months |
| Smart home | October–November | July | January–September |
| Laptops (Mac) | August | November | Any other time |
Final Thought: The Patience Premium
The single most powerful electronics savings strategy is patience. Not extreme patience — you don’t need to wait years. But 6–12 weeks of waiting between “I want this” and “I’m buying this” can save you 20–40% on most major purchases. Use that window to:
- Confirm the price with CamelCamelCamel
- Check if a sale event is approaching on the calendar
- Set a price alert and forget about it until you get the email
The retailers are counting on impulse. Your advantage is being willing to wait for the right moment. This guide gives you the calendar — the rest is discipline.