Electronics have their own buying calendar and it's worth knowing, because buying a laptop in the wrong month can cost you $100-200 more than buying it in the right one. Here's how I think about timing for the main categories.

Back to School Season for Laptops: July and August

If you need a laptop, July and August are when retailers compete hardest for back-to-school shoppers. Best Buy, Amazon, Costco, and direct brand sites all run laptop promotions during this window. You'll see bundled accessories, free software subscriptions, and straight price cuts. Microsoft, HP, Dell, and Lenovo push student deals hard during this stretch.

Apple doesn't discount MacBooks much directly, but they run a back-to-school promotion that bundles a gift card (usually $150-200) with a MacBook purchase, which is the closest thing to a discount you'll get outside of refurb. The timing on this is typically late June through September.

Black Friday and Cyber Monday for TVs and Headphones

TVs are the Black Friday category that actually delivers. The deals are real and they're consistently the lowest prices of the year. Budget 4K TVs in the 55-65" range routinely hit prices that are 40-55% off during Black Friday week. Premium sets from LG OLED and Samsung QLED drop more like 25-35%, which is still meaningful on a $1,500+ purchase.

Headphones are almost as good. Sony and Bose drop 30-50% on their flagship noise-canceling models around Black Friday, and those deals are worth waiting for. I've seen the Sony WH-1000XM5 hit $199 on Cyber Monday -- over $100 off regular price.

Prime Day for Amazon Devices

If you use Amazon's ecosystem -- Echo devices, Fire tablets, Fire TV, Kindle, Ring cameras -- Prime Day in July is genuinely the best time to buy. Amazon discounts their own hardware more aggressively at Prime Day than at any other time of year. Kindle Paperwhite for $80, Echo Show for half off, Ring systems bundled at prices that don't show up any other time. Set price alerts in advance so you know what "normal" looks like and can recognize a real deal.

Beyond Amazon's own products, Prime Day has grown into a general electronics sale. Competitors including Best Buy, Target, and Walmart run counter-promotions specifically to compete with Prime Day, so prices drop broadly during the event window.

Post-CES January: Old Models Drop

The Consumer Electronics Show runs every January in Las Vegas, and it's where the industry announces new products for the year ahead. When new TV models, laptop lines, and audio products get announced at CES, the previous generation immediately gets cheaper. Retailers need to move prior-year stock, and the price drops can be fast and significant.

If you don't need the absolute latest spec, the weeks following CES are a good buying window. A TV that was the flagship model in 2025 and just got replaced by a 2026 model is still an excellent television -- and it's now $200-400 cheaper.

Apple's Release Cycle

Apple is predictable. New iPhones come in September. New MacBooks tend to land throughout the year but with some clustering in spring and fall. The rule is simple: buy right after a new release drops, not before. When the iPhone 17 comes out, iPhone 16 prices drop -- Apple cuts the prices officially, and the secondary/refurb market floods with trade-ins, driving prices down further.

The month before a new Apple release is the worst time to buy the current model. You're paying full price for a device that's about to be one generation old. If you don't need it right now, wait two weeks for the announcement and then decide. The old model gets cheaper immediately, and the new model's actual features might not justify the premium.

The Trade-In Flood

After any major device release -- iPhone, Galaxy S series, PlayStation, Xbox -- the used and refurbished market floods with trade-ins. People swap their devices and the refurb volume spikes. This drives down prices on previous-gen devices and creates good buying opportunities 4-8 weeks after a major launch. If you're open to a refurbished phone or console that's one generation back, the post-launch window is when supply is highest and prices are lowest.