5 Apple Products NOT to Buy This Black Friday
If you’re like many Apple fans, you’ve likely been waiting for late November to see what kind of deals Black Friday will bring to your favorite Apple gear. While the good news is that there are plenty of the usual great deals, not every Apple product that’s marked down today is necessarily a good buy.
Of course, while that sometimes depends on how deep the discounts are, there are still a few products that we’d suggest thinking twice about buying at any of the prices we’ve seen. Some of these have been around for a while and are getting a bit long in the tooth and due for a replacement. That doesn’t mean they’re still not good products, but you may regret spending money on them when a newer version is either already available or just around the corner.
Read on for 5 Apple purchases you should consider avoiding this Black Friday.
AirPods Max
Don’t get me wrong, I’m a big fan of my AirPods Max, but I also bought them in early 2021 when they were Apple’s shiniest and newest product. Yes, they’ve been around for that long — they were released nearly three years ago. To put that in perspective, the only older AirPods that Apple still sells are the 2019 second-generation AirPods, and those are considered a “discount” brand for those who really don’t want to spend $50 more for the 2021 AirPods 3.
By comparison, the AirPods Max are still retailing for an eye-watering $549 at Apple, and you won’t find any Black Friday deals that take them down below the usual discounts we see at other times of the year; even Amazon has only chopped $100 off the regular price. Meanwhile, you can pick up the class-leading Sony WH-1000XM5 for $328 or Bose's brand-new QuietComfort Ultra Headphones for $379, both of which are 2023 releases.
That’s not to say the AirPods Max don’t work great, and if you’re lucky enough to find a deep discount or even get a pair as a holiday gift, go ahead and enjoy them, but all reports suggest that we’ll see a second-generation model by this time next year, complete with a USB-C port that might even finally handle lossless digital audio.
iPhone SE
While it’s only a little over a year old, Apple’s 2022 third-generation iPhone SE is already showing its age. After all, it still sports a design from a bygone era — that of the 2017 iPhone 8 — including a Touch ID home button on the front and a single-lens camera on the back.
In fact, the third-generation iPhone SE was really just an interim refresh of its 2020 predecessor, intended to bring 5G to Apple’s most affordable iPhone. While it got the newest A15 chip from the iPhone 13 that had been released a few months earlier, nothing else really changed.
The iPhone SE is tempting if you’re on a tight budget. However, we’d still recommend spending a bit extra for the iPhone 13, which will give you a more modern design, a gorgeous OLED display, a significantly better camera system, and Face ID. Or, you can wait a few months, by which time Apple will almost certainly have an iPhone SE 4 out, which is expected to look much more like the iPhone 14.
iPad mini
We’ve been hearing reports for the past few weeks that an iPad mini 7 is right around the corner. While it didn't make the cut for Apple’s fall lineup, there’s enough noise being made to suggest that it’s on the near horizon and could arrive as soon as next spring.
The current iPad mini 6 is the oldest iPad in Apple’s lineup, tying with the legacy ninth-generation iPad that Apple still sells as an alternative to its higher-priced 2022 model. In other words, the iPad mini 6 came out at the same time as Apple’s last home-button-equipped iPad.
Granted, the iPad mini 6 has a USB-C port, 5G capabilities (if you opt for the cellular model), and compatibility with the second-generation Apple Pencil. But it’s also only using the lower-end A15 chip from the base iPhone 13 models, not the M-series chip found in the similarly-priced iPad Air. It’s not a good buy right now unless you can pick one up at fire-sale prices.
M1 MacBook Air
The MacBook Air that ushered in the era of Apple silicon is still on the market as a low-cost option for those who want a basic Mac. Still, it’s now three years old and has since been superseded by the mid-2022 M2 MacBook Air — and there’s more to that newer model than just the faster chip.
Amazon and Best Buy have the lowest-specced M1 MacBook Air marked down to $750 for Black Friday, which works out to $250 off, while the M2 MacBook Air is only marked down by $150 at Best Buy, giving it a selling price of $949. That extra $100 spread between their normal prices may be tempting, but you should also consider what you’ll be giving up.
The M2 MacBook Air moved away from the older wedge-shaped design to something more modern, which also includes a 13.6-inch Liquid Retina display that’s brighter with more balanced colors, plus a 1080p FaceTime camera and four-speaker sound system with support for Spatial Audio. It’s a much better choice if you’re willing to spend that little extra.
Lightning Accessories
Lastly, we’d recommend avoiding anything with a Lightning port, especially Mac accessories, unless you’re really sure you need them.
Apple has already signaled the end of its property connector with the release of the iPhone 15 lineup, and it’s even pulled the MagSafe Duo and MagSafe Battery Pack off the market entirely rather than replacing them with USB-C versions.
However, Apple has seemingly inscrutably left its Magic Keyboard, Magic Mouse, and Magic Trackpad around with Lightning connectors, even after releasing a new M3 iMac. We assume this is simply because Apple and its manufacturing partners already have their hands full with other more pressing things like iPhones, Apple Watches, and Macs. Still, we wouldn’t be surprised if USB-C versions of these are right around the corner. Using Lightning for Mac accessories made little sense in the first place, but it’s absurd now that even the iPhone has abandoned the legacy port.