Welcome to Creative Bloq's live blog where we've been tracking the best deals on creative tech during this week-long Amazon Black Friday event. That's right, this year Amazon has decided to go against tradition and stake a claim to the whole week before Black Friday. And we're here to sift through and rate the deals that are on offer, discard the rubbish, and provide you with only the deals that we personally would buy.
This is not all just about Amazon, however. As we're seeking the best Black Friday deals for creatives, we're also broadening our scope to all major retailers this week. After all, it's not just Amazon that's started offering legit Black Friday deals. Below are our curated pick of the best, right now.
As we're a website dedicated to creatives, we'll have our eagle eyes on all the creative tech that our readers love – from MacBooks to drawing tablets; digital styluses to iPads. If you want to dial in to more specific deals, we also have a round up of the best MacBook Black Friday deals live right now and the best Apple Black Friday deals in general.
iPad (9th Gen, 64GB): $329 $229 at Amazon Save $100: I really like the 9th Gen iPad (even more than the more powerful, more expensive, more iPad Air-like 10th Gen). If you want a high quality tablet for browsing and streaming, you can't go wrong, and this saving matches the lowest price on record.
iPad (10th Gen, 64GB): $449 $349 at Amazon Save $100: The latest iPad is almost as powerful as the iPad Air and is a great choice for beginner artists who want to start working on a digital canvas, but don't need the power of the Pro or the Air. And there's $100 off right now! Amazon points out that this is its lowest price in 30 days.
Apple Watch Series 9: from $399 $349 at Amazon
Save $50: The newest Apple Watch was only released in September, but Amazon has cut $50 off the price already in this Black Friday deal. The saving applies to different sizes and configurations. This year's watch features a new improved screen and a clever new double-tap feature to easily perform a range of actions.
iPad Pro (12.9-inch, 2022): $1,099 $999 at Amazon
Save $100: The Pro is an excellent tablet for, well, pros! Massively powerful, with a beautiful screen, this deal betters the Amazon Prime deal earlier this year by $50 (but equals the lowest price we've seen).
MacBook Pro 16 (M3 Pro, 18GB RAM):$2,499 $2,299 at Amazon Save $200: The most surprising Amazon Black Friday deal so far is perhaps its discounts on the new M3 Pro MacBooks, which were only released on 7 November. This deal on the larger device ran out at B&H Photo earlier this week, but now Amazon has the same offer. And if you need even better performance, there's $200 off the 32GB configuration. There are discounts on the 14-inch model too.
Cricut Mug Press:$199 $149 at Amazon Save $50: We love the mug press extension for a Cricut machine. It's a neat way of making, you guessed it, personalised mugs. The price was lower earlier, $136 but $149 is still a decent discount. Bear in mind you need a different Cricut machine for it to work.
Cricut Joy: $149 $99 at Amazon Save $50: This joyful little machine is a superstar for making customised cards, labels and crafts – and it is beating its previous low price by quite some way (it was $125). We reccommend this machine and gave it a glowing 4 star review.
iPad (10th Gen): £499 £437 at Amazon Save £50: This is the latest generation of iPad, and to my mind it's more like an iPad Air than a classic iPad. So one for those who want more from their tablets - digital artists, and heavy streamers included.
Amazon Fire TV (4K, 55-inch):£549 £149 at Amazon Save £400: I'm having Prime Day déjà vu! If you're a Prime member you can now request access to limited Invite Only deals at Amazon. There's limited stock, and they're on sale for limited time... but there are some huge discoubnts.
Huion Kamvas Pro 16 (4K): £799 £599 at Huion Save £200: This isn't an Amazon Black Friday deal, but this is one our favourite mid-range drawing tablets, and with the 4K addition to this model, it's a stunning tablet at that. Right now you can get £200 on a range of Huion tablets.
Cricut maker 3 bundle: £534 £399 at Amazon Save £134: This is a fantastic machine, and one we think is the best Cricut machine for all materials and projects. And with this bundle you get materials into the bargain, so you can start making stright away.
XBox Series X: £479 £359 at Amazon Save £120: OK - is an Xbox Series X creative tech? Well ,I'd suggest that many of you creatives also like gaming... so yes! It is. And this is really a very good deal indeed – the lowest we've seen by a long way (at least £40).
Apple Pencil 2:£139 £89 at Amazon Save £6: We, and the rest of the creative world, think this is the best Apple Pencil you can get. £89 is a delightful record-low by a whole £10.
Apple AirPods Pro 2: £229 £199 at Amazon Save £30: I tracked the price history on these, fully expecting to find they've been lower than this. But surprisingly, this is actually the best price we've seen on the AirPods Pro 2 – this model has been woefully lacking in deals so far. So £30 off is a good thing. Sure, they might go lower during Black Friday Proper but nothing in life is certain.
Apple Magic Mouse: £99 £65 at Amazon Save 34%: Apple's magic mouse is a favourite among creatives (though we take issue with the charging port). The price often hovers around £79 so this is a great deal.
Hello everyone I'm Beren, Creative Bloq's deals editor, and I'll be taking you through all the best Black Friday deals on creative tech, from now until Cyber Monday...
And here we go! Time was, Black Friday meant Black Friday, but now with the help of retail giant Amazon, it means a whole week! The US company has declared it to be Amazon Black Friday Week, we're here for it... if there are decent deals that we can bring to our audience of creative pros and hobbyists.
So how are we doing this? Well, up top of this page, we'll be highlighting the absolute best deals of Amazon BF Week – and that's not limited to just Amazon deals! We know how other retailers like to get in on the action, and we'll be covering the best deals for creatives, full stop.
And here, I'll be bringing you my thoughts on the event, as they tumble out of my deal-seeking brain... I may also highlight some other deals that I like the look of, and even link out to some interesting content... Right! Let's go!
OK. Time for some brutal honesty. I'm not yet convinced by this call of 'Black Friday Week' from Amazon. Don't get me wrong – if there are great deals on products that Creative Bloq have reviewed highly, we will be reporting enthusiastically on them.
I just want to be convinced that that is the case – that Amazon and all the other major retailers are actually offering Black Friday-level deals. The deals above are all good. But I've not seen great yet.
It's early hours though. And the US hasn't woken up yet. Let's see...
(Image credit: Amazon)
Have you heard of Amazon's Invite Only Prime deals? It's explained here in full, but basically if you're a Prime member, you can search for Invite Only deals on Amazon. Request an invite, check your email to see if you have been invited, and then buy...
The deals are on limited quantities of stock, and for limited time... but the discounts are larger than usual – 73% off a 55-inch 4K TV, for example! Worth looking into if you're already a Prime member (or just get the 30-day trial and cancel after you've got the deal you want).
Sorry, just stepped away from my desk for a bit as my replacement iPhone got delivered (mine was stolen-more-likely-dropped on a train the other week). Managed to get hold of an iPhone 15 Pro, and it had me caught in its spell... as you can see form our review of the handset, it's pretty special. I'll be sure to look for deals on it this week!
(Image credit: Amazon)
Amazon just dropped a tonne of great deals on the Cricut range of laser cutters in the UK. If you're into crafting, the Cricut machines are pretty much the best (and most affordable) options out there. Of the full range, we think the Cricut Maker 3 is the best overall (as mentioned in our dedicated Cricut guide).
This is interesting... Amazon has just announced that it's offering a price difference refund for products bought with a Black Friday deal badge, sold by Amazon from today to 27 November, if that price then lowers up until 4 December.
That calms my earlier nerves about this whole Amazon Black Friday Week event. My initial worries were that Amazon was just making headlines in the week prior to the actual serious deals (on 24-27), and offering lesser deals than on the official weekend. That's no good for anyone. But this makes me think that it's taking this whole week just as seriously. Well done Amazon!
Sometimes I think I love audio more than I understand it... or at least all the florid phrases that get used when describing great quality sound.
So I'll keep this super simple. When I listened to music on the Sony WH-1000XM4s headphones, it sounded amazing – detailed and rich. And the noise-cancelling was one of the best I've ever experienced (up there with the Apple AirPods Max).
That's definitely simple enough for me to understand.
(Image credit: Apple)
I have to say, although I'm seeing some great discounts on Cricut, TVs and drawing tablets, there's not an abundance of great Apple products with Black Friday-level discounts on them. Not on Amazon UK right now.
Now, that is still the record lowest price that it's been sold since it was released, so I'm happy highlighting it here. But I'm not convinced that that deal price won't get lowered even further over the official Black Friday weekend.
(Image credit: Future)
Hi there, it's Rosie Hilder here, taking over from Beren. I'll be tracking the best Amazon Black Friday deals for you for the next few hours. This is my fifth year of covering Black Friday deals, so I definitely know what I'm looking for, as well as which deals are best avoided. Stay tuned for updates...
(Image credit: Samsung / Creative Bloq)
We're not limiting our great deals content to this blog, although there's plenty here. We've just posted about an incredible early Black Friday deal elsewhere on the site, save $700 on a Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra, down to just $499 at Best Buy. Our ecom writer, Beth, is certainly tempted.
Cricut products make great presents, and they're often on sale over the Black Friday period.
This year, we're already seeing discounts on the Cricut Joy, which is down to $99 at Amazon.
The Mug Press is down to $149 at Amazon, although note that it was down to $136 previously, which was a record low. This is one to keep an eye on as the price may drop over the next week.
Bear in mind that to get the Mug Press to work you'll also need another Cricut machine, so it may not be as cheap as you think if you're not already kitted out with a Cricut.
I've just added a deal on the 10th gen iPad above, see it here, though here's the crux of it... There's $100 off the iPad 10th gen with 64GB memory and WiFi at Amazon right now. That takes the price down to $349. Amazon also has a new little badge showing that this is the 'lowest price in 30 days', which is handy.
It's Friday evening here in the UK and we're winding down for the day, but we'll be with you over the weekend to report on all the best deals, as and when they come in, so keep an eye on this blog.
