Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Apple Announces 2024 Black Friday Event, Offering Up to $200 Gift Card

Would never buy these products from Apple as they stubbornly hold on to the price until the last day.
An MBA 13 M3 16/512 is already cheaper in other online shops here in Europe than at Apple with the gift card.
It will be the same with the other products, maybe there will be even lower prices on black friday.
The advantage of cut prices over gift cards is that I don't have to worry about using the gift card!
 
Does anybody have experience with asking for a gift card if they have made a recent purchase of said products?

I bought the AirPods Max from Apple Store just last Wednesday 13th

I have until 8th January to return them so I could easily do that and purchase again with the gift card promotion but it would be a lot easier and keep Mother Nature happier if I could just get the gift card...
 
  • Like
Reactions: xmach
So here's what I'm going to do: I have a $150 Apple Gift Card left over from buying a MBA last year...on this upcoming Black Friday event I will go to the Education site and buy the new Ipad Air 12" 512GB for $999 ($100 off which is same price other stores are offering)...use my $150 gift card to bring it down to $849...get my $75 Apple Gift Card due to the purchase on Black Friday...and likely use that $75 a few days later to buy the new Airpods 4 (not available on Education site) which then in turn gives me another $25 Apple Gift Card.

I'm not a fan of gift cards but given that I am purchasing very newly-released Apple products, I don't think I'm going to find a better deal anywhere else ($849 for the iPad Air 13" 512GB and $54 for the Airpods 4 and then have a $25 gift card I can give to kids for whatever). Or am I mistaken?
 
I am ready to buy an Apple Watch 10 (to replace my Series 4). My birthday was in early November, and I made the mistake of asking for Apple gift cards. Now I have $150 in gift cards, but the watch is cheaper on Amazon than from Apple. I was hoping Apple would offer at least a $50 gift card, but I wouldn't even get that. Now looking to offload my cards so I can buy it on Amazon.
 
SlickTheCat said:
I assume these can't be stacked with Military pricing?
Click to expand...
I wondered same thing, last line of wall of text T&C is this. No direct mention so we will have to wait until the 29th. Hope they stack..
4. Limited time offers; subject to change. May not be combinable with other offers, discounts, or credits. Purchase, financing, other limits, restrictions, terms, and exclusions apply. Activation or upgrade and other eligibility may be required.
 
  • Like
Reactions: xmach
This used to be a good sales event. But the last few years it’s been really bad. I got $275 or $300 in Apple Store gift cards in 2020 for a MacBook Pro. Last year, I bought a MacBook Air at Best Buy. They had good deals over the holidays.
 
Spock said:
The gift cards are perfect for them because they can give you the $100 card and you still have to spend it with Apple.
Click to expand...
Yes.........for them, but it's asinine for the customer to buy anything from them when you can save more money at another retailer and not be beholden to paying more money for something and being locked in to using the gift card at the same retailer. I'd prefer to save $200 on the price, up front, at Retailer X, than buy from Apple and get a gift card and pay full price.
 
FYI... MicroCenter has the new Mac mini M4 Pro model $200 off today ($1,199 instead of $1,399). I am going to get pick one up. Also you get an additional instant 5% off if using the Wells Fargo Micro Center credit card to make the purchase, making the M4 Pro Mac mini $1,139.99 before sales tax.

www.microcenter.com

Apple Mac mini MCX44LL/A (Late 2024) Desktop Computer; Apple M4 Pro 12-Core CPU; 24GB Unified Memory; 512GB Solid State - Micro Center

Get it now! Introducing the far mightier, way tinier, all-new Mac mini. Five by five inches of pure power and purpose. Redesigned around Apple silicon to unleash the full speed and capabilities of M4 Pro chips. With a wide array of ports, now on the front and back.
www.microcenter.com www.microcenter.com

Screenshot 2024-11-21 at 9.13.30 AM.png
 
  • Like
Reactions: Riot Nrrrd
dbc34 said:
Do you not understand how business works? (Sarcasm). They give gift cards so people are driven to buy more stuff from Apple. If this method didn’t work, they wouldn’t be doing it, yet here we are again complaining about the same black Friday sale.
Click to expand...

Right, but if nobody buys product X from them and instead goes to BB or AMZ and buys it there for $200 less, then it's pointless. Folks need to shop smarter and not patronize bad deals.
 
So now it's $400 to upgrade to the nano-texture MacBook Pro. That's really hard to justify. I dont know why Apple can't give a $200 gift card when everywhere else is selling them for $200-$300 off.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Kavik
jblank said:
Agreed. Do they not understand how Black Friday works? Cut prices!!!!!!! That's all they need to do, just lower the prices on things, screw gift cards. They're always pushing gift cards, drives me bonkers!
Click to expand...
Apple is always pricing in a manner consistent with a luxury brand. So they hawk gift cards so they don’t have to look like they are ever marking their items down. That’s a big no no for luxury brands.

If they allow a sales discount they do it via third party sellers so it isn’t attributable to them directly.
 
  • Like
Reactions: kltmom, OS X Dude, 5167767 and 1 other person
LogicalApex said:
Apple is always pricing in a manner consistent with a luxury brand. So they hawk gift cards so they don’t have to look like they are ever marking their items down. That’s a big no no for luxury brands.

If they allow a sales discount they do it via third party sellers so it isn’t attributable to them directly.
Click to expand...

Not saying you're wrong at all, but Mercedes-Benz is a luxury brand.......they have sales.
 
jblank said:
Not saying you're wrong at all, but Mercedes-Benz is a luxury brand.......they have sales.
Click to expand...
Mercedes and luxury car manufacturers are a bad example as in the US car manufacturers aren't selling directly to consumers. They are only selling to third party dealerships who are then selling to customers...
 
LogicalApex said:
Mercedes and luxury car manufacturers are a bad example as in the US car manufacturers aren't selling directly to consumers. They are only selling to third party dealerships who are then selling to customers...
Click to expand...
Yes, but the incentives are factory incentives. My point was that being a luxury widget doesn't mean you cannot lower prices to incentivize sales.
 
Orange Bat said:
I’ve basically begun buying Apple products from Amazon because they often have sales, especially on accessories. In fact Apple has become the last place I look for Apple products nowadays.
Click to expand...
OTOH, I almost always end up buying direct from AAPL because they are the only source for the configurations I want. I'm not interested in in base models with limited memory and limited storage and a lot of the CTO configurations simply are not available at Amazon or Best Buy.

The pain is reduced slightly by the fact that I get military discount. And by the ease of returning a device that I decide I don't want to keep (which, of course, happens almost never 🤪 ).
 
I used "way back when" to check the Swiss Apple Store's sale this time last year, and it was the same - gift cards up to the iPhone 14, and M1 and M2 laptops. So not the latest (in 2023: iPhone 15, M3).
 
I find it interesting that the Vision Pro has NEVER gotten any discount whatsoever (still not available at Military/Veteran Store and, I suspect, not at Education Store either) and is not included in this Black Friday sale either--despite the fact that that the AVP has been on sale for over 9 months now in the US.

I'm not sure what to make of the fact that AAPL is doing nothing to promote one of their most expensive products, one that is reportedly not exactly flying off the shelves. Are they trying to retain the luxury product cachet at all costs? Are they actually satisfied with current sales figures? You'd think that if the sales figures are disappointing, they would try some sort of promotion to enhance sales. Is there a production bottleneck that means they couldn't easily supply product if demand increased?

Color me a confused AVP owner. Anyone have thoughts about this?
 
utsava said:
$25 gift card for the AirPods 4 isn't that bad of a deal. I know it's not the same as a discount, but $25 "off" the AirPods 4 is the cheapest I've seen so far. Everywhere else it seems to be $10 off.
Click to expand...

B&H Photo is another good option for discounts plus no sales tax if you use their credit card. Not paying sales tax is itself a significant “discount.”
 
  • Like
Reactions: Riot Nrrrd
it seems the best way to take advantage of this deal is if you have an Apple Card and set up zero interest financing where they will take the total amount of the gift card off the purchase.

And nothing for the mini? lame
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back