Apple is taking part in Black Friday this year, but it looks like it won’t be slashing any prices.
The company’s promotion has already gone live in Australia and New Zealand and it brings free gift cards with eligible purchases rather than tasty discounts. But don’t expect to get those gift cards with the latest Apple products.
Apple chose to ignore Black Friday last year, but when it last took part in 2014, it was a huge disappointment. Fans expected cheaper products, but instead we got free gift cards so long as we paid full price. Apple looks to be making the same move this year.
[contextly_auto_sidebar] Although its event could be different in the U.S. and other countries (but probably won’t be), those in Australia and New Zealand are being offered gift cards worth up to A$200 or NZ$215 with the purchase of certain products.
To add insult to injury, Apple decided to leave its latest products — like Apple Watch Series 2, iPhone 7, and the new MacBook Pro — out of the promotion.
Here’s a breakdown of the cards being offered, and what you’ll need to buy to get them:
- Apple TV — A$35 / NZ$35
- Apple Watch Series 1 — A$35 / NZ$35
- iPhone SE — A$35 / NZ$35
- iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus — A$70 / NZ$75
- iPad Air 2 and iPad mini 4 — A$70 / NZ$75
- iPad Pro — A$140 / NZ$145
- iMac, Mac Pro, MacBook, MacBook Pro (excluding late-2016 models), MacBook Air — A$200 / NZ$215
Apple’s Black Friday event will also go live in many other countries around the world when it reaches 00:01 in their respective time zones. We expect to see similar gift card giveaways everywhere else.
We don’t mean to sound ungrateful, but third-party retailers have always been able to offer decent discounts on Apple goods for Black Friday, so it makes us wonder why the company itself can’t do the same.
If you want some real deals, be sure to check out our Black Friday live blog.
Via: MacRumors
Killian Bell is a freelance writer based in the U.K. He has an interest in all things tech and also covers Android over at CultofAndroid.com. You can follow him on Twitter via @killianbell.
7 responses to “Prepare to be disappointed by Apple’s Black Friday event”
Prepare to be disappointed by Apple….
Sums up 2016 perfectly
Beat me to it.
I got an ATV4 from Target because Apple Black Friday sucks
“Prepare to be disappointed by Apple’s Black Friday event”
Nice. Way to go Cult of Mac. That’s what I call some supportive news about our favorite company. Apple has •never• been known for slashing prices on the so-called Black Friday. Frankly, I respect them for that. Anyway, shouldn’t this have been on Cult of Android?
Actually, Apple has cut prices on Black Friday plenty of times in the past. Also, we don’t have to support everything Apple does.
Didn’t say they never cut prices. As I •did• state, they’re not known for “slashing” prices. Also, as a long time CoM reader, I well know it/you don’t supoort everything Apple does, and wouldn’t expect you to. I just think the premise, and especially the title are unnecessarily… black. “Prepare to be disappointed” is a bit much. But hey, that’s just one man’s opinion.
1 yr have passed since I quit my last work and I never felt this good… I started doing work on-line, for this company I stumbled upon on-line, few hrs each day, and I earn much more than i did on my previous work… Paycheck i got for last month was for $9000… Great thing about this job is that i have more free time with my family… CHILP.IT/728813e
The reason 3rd party retailers offer better deals is because they are taking a slight loss for the sale in order to get you to come to their stores and buy merchandise that has a higher markup. That’s how they make money. Apple has no such products (in a manner of speaking). So you’d come to apple, buy the discounted item and leave, without buying items with a higher markup to offset the loss.