While Amazon Prime Day may not officially kick off until tomorrow, June 21, we’re already seeing significant savings on Apple’s AirPods line in the lead-up to the two-day sale. Amazon and Walmart are still generally considered to be the best places to find price cuts on Apple AirPods. As of today, June 20, the best deals we are seeing include AirPods Pro for $190 and standard AirPods for $119. Neither is the best price we’ve ever seen, but both are far better than what you’d pay if you walked into an Apple Store right now.
Note that all of these headphones are compatible with Apple’s new spatial audio features, but none of them will deliver the maximum quality of Apple’s upcoming lossless audio format, which is too rich for the current Bluetooth wireless standard to handle.
AirPods pricing 2021
| Model | Apple Store price | Best price right now | Best all-time price |
|---|---|---|---|
| AirPods Pro | $249 | $190 | $169 |
| AirPods | $159 | $119 | $99 |
| AirPods with wireless charging case | $199 | $150 | $130 |
| AirPods Max | $549 | $530 | $499 |
Sarah Tew/CNET
Apple’s AirPods Pro were briefly as low as $169 at Walmart and $170 at Amazon for Black Friday. More recently, the wireless headphones have been ping-ponging between $190 and $200. That’s still $49 to $59 below the regular Apple Store price, which is a pretty decent AirPods deal.
Walmart came in strong to the early Black Friday sale game by marking down the AirPods to $99 — the lowest price ever. That deal is long gone, but Walmart, Target and Amazon are now all offering them for between $120 and $130 on most days. That’s still about $30 to $40 cheaper than the price at the Apple Store.
Sarah Tew/CNET
The AirPods with the wireless charging case was briefly down to $130, which was very close to what you’d typically pay for the standard AirPods with a wired charging case. Now that their price is back up to $150, you’re looking at a $30 bump from the AirPods with the wired case. It’s debatable whether it’s worth spending the extra dough, but that price still represents a $49 discount from the Apple Store price.
David Carnoy/CNET
The latest and greatest Apple headphones were announced in December. These are full-size models, chock-full of high-end features like noise cancellation, spatial audio and easy integration with Apple devices. Yes, paying more for headphones than you would for a PS5 may sound crazy, but here’s the crazier thing: They’re actually kinda worth it, so long as you don’t feel burned by their lack of support for full lossless audio. After months of being backordered, these headphones have seen their first markdowns in recent days: Some colors are $20 off at Amazon and other vendors.
This article is updated frequently to reflect current pricing.
