Black Friday 2023 week is coming to a close, but the deals seem to be lingering as we approach Cyber Monday tomorrow. Black Friday officially took place on 24th November, with a stack of sales commencing the week prior, but many of the choice deals are still live and we expect new ones to drop in the next 24 hour hours, so it isn't too late to get your Christmas shopping in.
So what can you expect to find deals on? As far as consumer electronics go, there are some serious Black Friday bargains knocking around on everything from the best TVs and best wireless headphones to the best Bluetooth speakers and best hi-fi systems. There's plenty of What Hi-Fi? Awards 2023 winners in there too, as you'll see below...
We have trawled the many Black Friday sales – those from Amazon, The Good Guys, JB Hi-Fi, Appliance Central and other specialist stores – and concentrated on quality over quantity: only truly great products at truly great prices are listed below.
So, are you busting for a bargain? Looking to get your Christmas shopping in early? You have come to the right place. This regularly updated Black Friday tech sale round-up contains all the best Black Friday deals live this weekend...
BLACK FRIDAY QUICK LINK DEALS
- Best Amazon deals: save on Amazon devices, TVs, headphones & home audio
- Best JB HiFi deals: check out the tech retailer's hottest deals of the week
- Best The Good Guys deals: dive into TV, soundbar and home audio sales
- Best Bing Lee deals: save $$$ on TVs from Samsung, Hisense & TCL
- Best PS5 deals: the internet's lowest console and accessory prices
- The best TV deals: curated by yours truly
- Best Kogan deals: save on audio gear, new and refurbished
Editor's picks: the best Black Friday deals overall
Black Friday deals under AU$100
Black Friday headphone deals
Black Friday TV deals
Black Friday soundbar deals
Black Friday hi-fi & audio deals
Black Friday AV deals
What is Black Friday?
Black Friday began in the US but in recent years has very much become a worldwide shopping phenomenon. It's regarded (and backed up by stats) as the busiest shopping day of the year – both online and in-store – and officially kicks off the holiday season.
Why is it called Black Friday? The date was traditionally the start of the Christmas shopping season, when retailers hoped to move out of the "red" (loss) and into the "black" (profit), hence Black Friday.
When is Black Friday 2023?
The Black Friday 2023 date is Friday 24th November.
Black Friday always takes place on the Friday after Thanksgiving, which means this year it will fall on Friday 24th November. Most retailers will want to make the most of what will typically be the busiest 24 hours of the event, meaning we can expect deals going live at midnight and running until the end of the day.
Of course, you can rest assured that Black Friday will stretch out longer than just 24 hours – those days are long gone. Instead, expect at least a week of build-up, maybe longer, from many retailers. And of course, the Black Friday sales continue through to Cyber Monday, which is always the Monday after Black Friday.
When is Cyber Monday?
Cyber Monday 2023 will be Monday 27th November.
The term 'Cyber Monday', meanwhile, was coined by Scott Silverman and the National Retail Federation's Ellen Davis in a bid to encourage people to take their shopping online during the Black Friday event. That was back in 2005, when people needed such encouragement!
Cyber Monday is always the Monday after Black Friday, and while much of the Black Friday deals focus is now online as well as in stores, plenty of websites still throw up some fresh deals to mark the occasion.
- Black Friday vs Cyber Monday: what's the difference?
Where do you get the best Black Friday deals?
A good number of 4K TVs, smart and Bluetooth speakers and wireless headphones will almost certainly be on offer at pretty much every electronics retailer, while soundbars and hi-fi components are also likely to make an appearance in sales across the board (albeit perhaps in lesser quantities).
The likes of JB Hi-Fi and eBay will always go big on games console bundles ahead of the holiday season, and as OLED continues its dominance in the premium TV market, some cheap OLED TV deals are likely on the cards too.
Even though Amazon Australia has its fun with Prime Day and various other smaller events throughout the year, we don't see the online retail giant missing out on the Black Friday sales. In fact, to compete with all the other retailers, it is often a go-to destination for choice deals and lowest prices during Black Friday. Those looking to buy into or build upon an Amazon Alexa ecosystem will be able to save money on the Echo speaker range, as pretty much every Echo, Fire TV and Fire tablet device get generously discounted that weekend.
Retailers such as Sony and LG will also likely host Black Friday and Cyber Monday discounts on their own websites, too, so they could undercut third-party retailers prices for OLED TVs and soundbars.
How long will Black Friday last?
Well, Black Friday is 24 hours. And Cyber Monday is 24 hours. But like Amazon Prime Day and the January sales, these events always have preliminary and aftermath offers. Indeed, the Black Friday and Cyber Monday period pretty much nears a week (although for us it feels much longer!)
Deals will run during the weekend sandwiched in the middle of the two days. And in the days and weeks building up to them, there will be plenty of 'pre-Black Friday' savings serenading the sites. We usually do find the absolute best deals are saved for the actual days, though, with the most exceptional deals tending to sell out and therefore not spilling into the following days. That's when getting in there first can pay off, though on occasion the best deals can pop up later into the sales event. It is difficult to know for sure, which is naturally what makes it all so exciting... right?
What Black Friday deals can you expect?
LG OLED TVs, JBL Bluetooth speakers, Sony wireless earbuds and Bose headphones, Alexa and Echo devices, Apple AirPods... you get the picture. Some of the most popular products in the consumer electronics space are almost guaranteed to be on offer at pretty much every electronics retailer during the Black Friday sales, from Amazon to JB Hi-Fi to The Good Guys.
Previous big-sellers over Black Friday also include the Sonos One and Beam, Sony WH-1000XM4 and XM3, Amazon Echo and Fire products, Bose wireless earbuds and noise-cancelling headphones, UE speakers, Naim Mu-so products, Denon AV receivers, OLED TVs and plenty more.
This year we're hoping for great deals on the LG C3 OLED TV, Sony's excellent WF-1000XM5 wireless earbuds and maybe even the iPhone 15 range. And if we saw chunks lopped off the price of the Sennheiser Ambeo Soundbar Max and Sonos Beam (Gen 2), all the better.
There are often handfuls of decent gear from big brands available for under AU$100 too.
Are Black Friday deals any good?
After the initial few years of excitement around Black Friday, we naturally moved to the apathy stage, as people began to question whether the offers were genuinely good deals. And it remains up for debate.
For example, it isn't unusual to see products rise in price in the summer months ahead of a "price cut" come Black Friday, making it seem like the discount is bigger over the usual price than it really is. Naturally, this means you're essentially just getting the original discounted price from earlier in the year. That said, there are always genuine deals and often unprecedented "lowest ever" prices to be bagged – it's just finding them amongst the onslaught of offers.
That's where we come in; we will handpick all the best audio and AV deals across Australian retailers to identify genuine Black Friday 2022 deals. And don't forget: you can always refer to our in-depth reviews to check up on a specific product's performance, features and value for money. We test hundreds of products every year, so it's likely we will have put discounted products through their paces.
It is best to have a rough idea of what you want and what your budget is, mind, whether that be noise-cancelling wireless headphones, a 55-inch 4K OLED TV or a record player. But restricting yourself only to specific models will reduce your chance of being lucky in the Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales. Pick the features you fancy, then see what ticks your boxes and has the best Black Friday discount.
- See the best soundbars you can buy in Australia
- And the best TVs and best wireless earbuds too