The best AirPods deals on October Prime Day: $79 AirPods are tough to beat

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Wallets at the ready, folks: October Prime Day has officially dropped.

The sale, also dubbed Prime Big Deal Days, is the unofficial start of the holiday shopping season — a chance to stock up on marked-down tech with deals on items such as AirPods.

The sale runs Oct. 6-7, and our team is tracking all the best AirPods deals. So far, we haven't seen any price drops on the newly announced AirPods 5 (more on that below), but we have seen some other competitive price drops — including an all-time low match on 1st-Gen Pros. As someone who tests and writes about headphones and earbuds year-round, I get why Apple users are willing to invest in AirPods. As a deals expert, I also much prefer to see folks grab AirPods on sale.

The key to shopping these sales smartly is grabbing deals at just the right time. That's why I've rounded up the best AirPods deals live so far, plus the three that you should keep an eye on. Check them out below, and be sure to follow more of Mashable's October Prime Day coverage.

Best AirPods deal

Why we picked this

The humble AirPods 4. What they lack in active noise cancellation, they make up for in a more appealing price point of $79, a total discount of over $50. With the release of the AirPods 5, these are the last AirPods available without ANC. Maybe that's ideal for you, or maybe you simply appreciate the lower price point. In either case, this is likely the last holiday shopping season you can grab these buds on sale. Just note that they are still $10 away from their record low price of $69, but their availability may be limited as we get further into the shopping season — they've already sold out on Amazon.

Mashable Deals

Best AirPods Pro deal

Why we picked this

For listeners who need ANC in their ears, the AirPods Pro 3 currently boast one of the best Amazon discounts on AirPods. Having just dropped to $179, they're now just $10 off their lowest-ever reduction of $169. Sure, they're not the latest and most advanced model anymore, but you get a bunch of great features, including adaptive noise cancellation, Live Translation, heart rate sensing, and three-dimensional spatial audio.

Best budget ANC deal

Why we picked this

Amazon just brought back the 1st-Gen AirPods Pro for $89.99, matching their all-time record low. Yes, they run on Apple's older H1 chip rather than current-gen silicon, but at under $90, you're getting active noise cancellation and silicone ear tips for just $10 more than the non-ANC AirPods 4. If you want proper noise cancellation without spending $179 on the Pro 3, this is easily the best value on the board — just keep in mind stock on discontinued generations usually disappears fast during Prime Day.

More AirPods deals

• Apple AirPods 4 with Active Noise Cancellation — $119 $179 (save $60)

• Apple AirPods Max 2 — $429 $549 (save $120)

AirPods deals to wait for

• The AirPods 5 have only received one small deal — a $4 price drop — so far since their release on Sept. 18. Granted, they're still very new to the market, so even that price dip is notable. We're hoping that as we get further into holiday deal season, a slightly more substantial deal comes along.

• The AirPods 5 with Wireless Charging Case haven't dropped in price just yet, so we're not holding our breath that they will, especially since they're still brand new. That said, October Prime Day is a very appropriate time for a surprise deal, so the chance that we see even a small dip isn't zero. At the very least, grabbing them at full price is still likely a better deal than grabbing the AirPods 4 with ANC on sale (more on that below).

• Amazon likes to drop the AirPods 4 with Active Noise Cancellation to $149 (down from $179), which might look like a good deal at first glance. But there's a catch. Their newer analog, the AirPods 5 with Wireless Charging Case, has a standard list price of $149 and comes with an improved feature set, including better active noise cancellation and sound quality, with the same battery life. In other words, paying $149 for the older model doesn't make sense — the AirPods 4 with ANC would have to be priced well below that (like the Best Buy deal we mentioned above) for it to be a deal worth picking up.

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