The best October Prime Day deals: $200 off MacBook Airs and $79 AirPods are now live

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Prime Big Deal Days sale is here — and so are some excellent Apple deals. This 48-hour "October Prime Day" serves as Amazon's kickoff to the Black Friday/holiday shopping season, which is the best time to find discounts on popular Apple devices (among many other tech products we love). This year, it doubles as some year-end relief from RAMageddon price increases.

With the sale running Oct. 6-7, Amazon has rolled out some great deals on AirPods, Apple Watches, iPads, and MacBooks. Some of them are even better than we expected. If you don't want to wait around to see if they further improve before the sale closes — doubtful, for the most part — read on to see what's up for grabs. (Note: Any items that have been striked through below are either sold out or the deal has expired.)

How we picked the best October Prime Day Apple deals

Mashable tracks Apple prices year-round and has covered Prime Big Deal Days since it started in 2022 (back when it was still called the Prime Early Access Sale). We've reviewed every current Apple device except for the Apple Watch Series 12, which shares all of its new features with the Apple Watch Ultra 4; and the latest Mac desktops, which our sister site PCMag has already tested extensively.

To identify the very best October Prime Day Apple deals, we've compared Amazon's current prices with historical pricing data on camelcamelcamel, a popular price-tracking site, as well as our coverage of past Amazon Prime events. Many of the devices listed below are sitting at their lowest prices in three months. Those that have been cheaper recently have been marked as "deals to watch," while those marked with a 🔥 have fallen to all-time lows (as in, they've never been cheaper before).

I've cross-checked all of Amazon's live Apple deals with other major retailers to make sure no one else has even lower prices. Right now, the only devices I would buy elsewhere are the AirPods 4 with and without ANC: They're sold out on Amazon, but Best Buy and Walmart, respectively, still have them in stock at three-month lows. Stay tuned to see if Amazon brings them back at the same prices as Prime Big Deal Days continues — we'll monitor deals and update this story as the sale progresses.

Best AirPods deal

The entry-level AirPods 4 are now 39% cheaper than the AirPods 5 that Apple announced last month. (They're also only $10 away from their record-low price from last Black Friday.) They lack noise cancellation and don't sound quite as good as their successors, but this deal makes them a very smart pick for budget buyers. Mashable's Bethany Allard notes that "their availability may be limited as we get further into the shopping season," so best grab' em now while you still can.

Read Mashable's full review of the Apple AirPods 4.

More AirPods deals

• Apple AirPods 4 with ANC — $119.99 $169 (save $49.01)

• Apple AirPods Pro 3 — $179 $249 (save $70)

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

Best Apple Watch deal

Apple's latest flagship smartwatch got its first proper discount for Prime Big Deal Days: a welcome $50-ish off. (That applies to the base model and the upgraded version with cellular connectivity, by the way.) Compared to the last-gen Series 11, the Series 12 has a faster processor, better heart rate sensors, quicker charging, and more durable glass. It also adds support for features like Readiness and Audio Intelligence tools like Siri Recap. No other retailer was matching Amazon's prices at the time of writing, FYI.

More Apple Watch deals

• Apple Watch SE 3 (GPS, 40mm) — $199 $249 (save $50)

• Apple Watch SE 3 (GPS + cellular, 40mm) — $249 $299 (save $50)

• Apple Watch Ultra 4 (GPS + cellular, 49mm) — $699.99 $799 (save $99.01) 🔥

Best MacBook deal

Finally: The 13- and 15-inch M5 MacBook Air are both $200 off for Prime Big Deal Days, a discount that completely erases their price hikes from late June. Mashable tech editor Timothy Beck Werth called Apple's ultraportable "a damn near-perfect machine" in his review, pointing to its elite design, amazing speakers, and incredibly fast performance. It's a Mashable Choice Award winner, and we think it's the best MacBook for most people who just need a dependable daily driver. If either size sells out on Amazon, look for the same deals at Best Buy.

Read Mashable's full review of the M5 Apple MacBook Air.

Mashable Deals

More MacBook deals

• Apple MacBook Neo (A18 Pro, 8GB RAM, 256GB SSD) — $689.99 $699 (save $9.01)

• Apple MacBook Neo (A18 Pro, 8GB RAM, 512GB SSD) — $789.99 $799 (save $9.01)

• Apple MacBook Pro, 14-inch (M5, 16GB RAM, 1TB SSD) — $1,839 $1,999 (save $160)

• Apple MacBook Pro, 14-inch (M5 Max, 36GB RAM, 2TB SSD) — $3,499 $4,099 (save $600)

Mac deals

• Apple Mac mini (M6, 16GB RAM, 256GB SSD) — $779.99 $899 (save $119.01) 🔥

• Apple Mac mini (M6, 16GB RAM, 512GB SSD) — $949.99 $1,099 (save $149.01) 🔥

• Apple Mac mini (M6, 24GB RAM, 512GB SSD) — $1,149.99 $1,299 (save $149.01) 🔥

• Apple Mac mini (M5 Pro, 24GB RAM, 512GB SSD) — $1,549.99 $1,699 (save $149.01) 🔥

• Apple Mac Studio (M5 Max, 36GB RAM, 512GB SSD) — $2,299 $2,499 (save $200) 🔥

MacBook deals to watch

• Apple MacBook Pro, 14-inch (M5 Pro, 16GB RAM, 1TB SSD) — $1,839 $1, 999 (save $160), was $1,499 in May

• Apple MacBook Pro, 14-inch (M5 Pro, 32GB RAM, 1TB SSD) — $2,259 $2,399 (save $140), was $1,799 in May

• Apple MacBook Pro, 14-inch (M5 Pro, 24GB RAM, 1TB SSD) — $2,345 $2,499 (save $154), was $2,149.99 in July

• Apple MacBook Pro, 16-inch (M5 Pro, 24GB RAM, 1TB SSD) — $2,749.99 $2,999 (save $249.01), was $2,649.99 in July

• Apple MacBook Pro, 16-inch (M5 Max, 36GB RAM, 2TB SSD) — $3,899 $4,399 (save $500), was $3,799 in early October

Best iPad deal

The iPad mini is our favorite Apple tablet for reading. Mashable's Samantha Mangino was "delighted by its light weight" when she swapped her regular 10.2-inch iPad for this more compact 8.3-inch model; it only weighs 0.65 pounds. "Plus," she added, "unlike the [current] iPad 11th generation, it has an anti-reflective coating to help you read in any lighting." The 128GB base model with cellular connectivity is marked down to just $649 on Amazon — a $100 savings that negates its own June price increase.

The non-cellular iPad mini is also $100 off, though it was $10 cheaper in July. I would wait see if Amazon revives that deal within the next 48 hours or so.

Read Mashable's full review of the Apple iPad mini.

More iPad deals

• Apple iPad Air, 11-inch (M4, WiFi + cellular, 128GB) — $799 $899 (save $100)

• Apple iPad Pro, 13-inch (M4, WiFi, 512GB) — $1,299 $1,499 (save $200)

• Apple iPad Pro, 11-inch (M4, WiFi, 2TB, nano-texture glass) — $1,899 $2,099 (save $200)

iPad deals to watch

• Apple iPad (A16, WiFi, 128GB) — $399 $449 (save $50), was $299 in July

• Apple iPad (A16, WiFi + cellular, 128GB) — $549 $599 (save $50), was $499.99 in July

• Apple iPad mini (A17 Pro, WiFi, 128GB) — $499 $599 (save $100), was $489 in July

• Apple iPad Air, 11-inch (M4, WiFi, 128GB) — $649 $749 (save $100), was $559 in July

• Apple iPad Air, 13-inch (M4, WiFi, 128GB) — $849 $949 (save $100), was $749 in July

• Apple iPad Air, 13-inch (M4, WiFi + cellular, 128GB) — $999 $1,099 (save $100), was $949 in July

• Apple iPad Pro, 11-inch (M5, WiFi, 256GB) — $1,099.99 $1,199 (save $99.01), was $949 in August

• Apple iPad Pro, 11-inch (M5, WiFi + cellular, 512GB) — $1,499 $1,599 (save $100), was $1,299 in July

• Apple iPad Pro, 13-inch (M5, WiFi, 256GB) — $1,427 $1,499 (save $72), was $1,249 in July

• Apple iPad Pro, 13-inch (M5, WiFi + cellular, 512GB) — $1,799 $1,899 (save $100), was $1,787.50 in August

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