Best early Labor Day sales and tech deals: Amazon, Walmart, and more - The Verge

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The fast-approaching Labor Day holiday promises to bring plenty of great tech deals on notable favorites, including smart speakers, headphones, TVs, and tablets. While we regret to inform you that it is, sadly, not yet the weekend, there is a wide selection deals already available at retailers such as Amazon, Walmart, and B&H Photo, many of which are likely to run through the rest of the week and into the long weekend.

Right now, there are savings to be had on devices like the Bose Noise Cancelling 700 and second-gen Apple Pencil, and we’ll be sure to bring you more as the week unfolds, both on-site and in your inbox via our Verge Deals newsletter. In the meantime, check out these early Labor Day deals on a wide swath of tech goodies.

Headphone deals

Sony’s WH-1000XM3 are $180 at Best Buy, the best price we’ve seen on the noise-canceling headphones. The premium pair of last-gen on-ears offer some of the best noise cancellation around, not to mention USB-C charging and supreme comfort. Read our review.
The second-gen Amazon Echo Buds are $80 at Amazon, and offer effective noise cancellation, an excellent passthrough mode, and solid sound for the price. The current sale price is the best we’ve seen outside of Amazon Prime Day. Read our review.
Apple’s Beats Studio Buds feature USB-C, deliver satisfying sound, and support a range of Android features, which can’t be said of most Apple products. Right now, they’re $130 at Amazon, the cheapest we’ve seen the true wireless earbuds in recent weeks. Read our review.
The Bose Noise Cancelling 700, like most of Bose’s high-end headphones, offer superb noise cancellation and great sound, as well as multi-device pairing. Normally $379, you can pick a refurbished pair with a two-year warranty at eBay for $100 off. Read our review.
Anker’s Soundcore Q30 offer a set of features that are typically reserved for higher-end headphones, including swiveling earcups, marathon battery life, and a mobile app that lets you quickly adjust the soundscape and three levels of ANC.

Apple deals

Apple’s iPad Mini (64GB, Wi-Fi) is reportedly on track to receive an update in the fall, but the 2019 model still offers solid performance, a headphone jack, and twice the storage as the entry-level iPad. It’s available in silver at Walmart for just $299, its lowest price to date. Read our review.
The red Apple Watch Series 6 (44mm, GPS) is $319 at Amazon, a 20 percent discount on what we consider to be the best smartwatch available. Apple’s latest wearables features a fantastic display in addition to built-in sleeping tracking, though, it remains exclusive to iOS. Read our review.
The second-gen Apple Pencil — on sale for an all-time low of $99 at Amazon — improves on its predecessor in a number of ways, and now charges when attached magnetically to the iPad Pro and latest iPad Air.
Apple’s official Smart Battery Case for the Phone 11 Pro is just $52 at Amazon, matching the lowest price we’ve seen on the pricey charging case.

Laptop deals

The Razer Blade 15 gaming laptop is big, built nicer than most Windows laptops in its class, and offers solid performance even if you opt for the base model. Right now, Amazon has the Intel i7 six-core machine for $1,165, saving you nearly $335 on the 2020 model. Read our 2021 Razer Blade 15 base review.
Microsoft is offering up to $300 off a number of Surface Pro 7 tablets. The base model with an Intel Core i3 processor, 4GB of RAM, and 128GB of storage is $100 off for a starting price of $650, though there are numerous configurations on tap to satisfy whatever needs you may have from Microsoft’s versatile tablet. Read our review.

TV and Monitor deals

Samsung’s 55-inch The Frame QLED is on sale at Amazon for $1,298, the second-best price we’ve seen on the art-inspired, 4K TV, which displays a range of artwork when not in use.
The LG 32GN650-B QHD gaming monitor may look like a jumble of letters and numbers but it also looks like a great value, one that comes with a 2560 x 1440 display, a 165Hz refresh rate, and 1ms response time. Couple that with HDR10 support, FreeSync to prevent screen tearing, and a $297 price tag at Amazon, and you’ve got yourself a sweet 32-inch monitor.

Smart Home deals

The endearing, sphere-shaped Amazon Echo (fourth-gen) is $20 off at Amazon. This $80 price tag has only been beaten during Amazon Prime Day, when Amazon devices are at their cheapest, but it’s still a great value for an affordable Alexa-equipped smart speaker that offers impressive sound quality and tunes itself based on the room. Read our review.
The Google Nest Audio also offers room-filling sound and stereo pairing at an affordable price, and the smart speaker’s current $20 discount at B&H Photo keeps it on equal footing with Amazon’s aforementioned Echo. Read our review.
The second-gen Google Nest Hub is selling for its best price ever at Walmart right now. The capable smart display — which is a bit sluggish, in our testing — can track your sleep if you choose it to be your bedside assistant, and it can display images directly from your Google Photos account. Walmart’s current discount brings the price down to $70, regardless of which color you choose.
The 10-inch Facebook Portal is best put to use as a video calling device, especially with tech-averse family members who already use Facebook. Best Buy’s latest discount brings the Portal down to $100, matching its lowest price to date. Read our review.
Amazon’s second-gen Echo Show 5 is small enough to live by your bedside and loud enough to wake you up in the morning. Even with its small stature, it can do just about anything other Echo speakers can do, even if it is limited when it comes to video calling and video streaming. Today, you can buy it for just $55 ($30 off) at Amazon. Read our review.
Philips is running a promotion on its Hue White and Color E26 smart bulbs. If you buy a three-pack of the colorful bulbs, you pay the same price as you would for two of them, effectively a discount of $35 that brings the price of three bulbs down to $100. Philips doesn’t often discount its app-enabled bulbs, and this is a great way to get started with smart lighting or stock up.

Peripherals

Razer’s Kiyo webcam pulls double-duty as both a webcam and lighting fixture, directing a compact 1080p camera and a ring light where you need it most. You don’t have to be a streamer to appreciate the better video quality and a bit of fill-in light even on a casual Zoom call, either, and you can get the Kiyo at Amazon for just $64.
The Logitech G Pro gaming mouse is about as sleek, minimalist, and lightweight as it gets when it comes to wireless, high-performance mice. It was developed with consultation from pro gamers, but it has an ambidextrous design that doesn’t scream “gamer” from a half-mile away. It’s now on sale for $85, its lowest price to date, at Amazon.
The Steel Series Aerox 3 Super Light gaming mouse weighs only 57 grams and is only $40 at Amazon right now. The speedy, affordable peripheral even comes with RGB lighting.
Netgear’s Nighthawk Pro XR500 gaming router, featuring dual-band 2.6Gbps Wi-Fi and four gigabit ethernet ports, has fallen to its lowest price yet at Amazon. Today only, the router is available for $160, a $140 discount.

Miscellaneous staff picks

DJI’s OM4 gimbal is perfect for anyone looking to get into video recording on a budget. It works with the smartphone you already own, and helps improve your framing capabilities while on the move. The OM4 is $20 off at both Amazon and B&H.
The Fujifilm Instax Mini 11 Instant Camera is one of Fuji’s numerous instant offerings, most of which use the credit card-sized Instax Mini format. The Mini 11 is one of the more affordable models in the current lineup, and it is discounted to just $60 at Amazon.
Blue’s Yeti Microphone is one of the most popular podcast and streaming mics around, and the Pro model even got a nod in our list of the best starter mics for podcasting. The beloved Yeti condenser mic is currently on sale for $100 at Amazon.
The Black Diamond Moji Lantern is a super-compact camping light that can fit about anywhere, making it ideal for anyone who wants to save space and weight in their pack. It’s currently just $15 ($5 off) at REI.
The GoPro Hero 9 Black is currently selling for $350, an all-time low, at Amazon and B&H Photo. There are rumors of a new model on the horizon, but the Hero 9 Black is a formidable action cam for 5K video with the convenience of a front-facing screen. Read our review.
The 8GB, ad-supported Kindle Paperwhite is down to a new historical low of $71 at Best Buy for a limited time. Best Buy’s deal is even better than what Amazon is currently offering on the waterproof e-reader, which also touts an excellent display and marathon battery life. Read our review.