Amazon is running a 48-hour sale for Prime members on Oct. 6 and 7, and Mashable’s gadget team has already found the deals worth buying before the sale officially starts. The company is hosting the event, known as Prime Big Deal Days or October Prime Day, later this month. Mashable’s reporters and editors have spent hours sorting through the offers to pick the best ones. They use price-tracking tools like camelcamelcamel to check whether Amazon’s discounts beat previous lows, and they compare prices across Walmart and Target, which are both hosting their own October sales.
Here is what they found.
The $99 AirPods
Walmart is selling Apple’s fourth-generation earbuds for $99 right now. Amazon will likely match that price when its sale begins on Oct. 6, although the company might save some stock for Prime Big Deal Days. These AirPods 4 deliver five hours of battery life, a comfortable fit, and top-notch sound quality.
The newer AirPods 5 sound even better and add ANC. But the older pair is still a solid option for iOS users on a budget. Mashable reviewed the earbuds, and the team notes that the AirPods 4 dipped to $69 last Black Friday, but $99 is their lowest price so far in 2026. They probably won’t be in stock much longer now that their successors have launched.
The $600 MacBook Pro Discount
The M5 Max-powered MacBook Pro serves professional creatives, developers, and AI enthusiasts well, packing Apple’s most powerful laptop chip into a 14-inch frame. The base model, which comes with 36GB of RAM and 2TB of storage, received a $500 price increase in June, moving it from $3,599 to $4,099.
The price at Amazon has dropped to $3,499, which represents a $600 reduction. It sits below the lowest point we’ve seen on this model before. Previous Prime events have pushed Amazon’s MacBook Pro discounts up to about $400, so this offer goes further than those did. The deal is excellent, and it likely won’t stay around for long.
Cheaper Fire Tablets
Amazon’s own Fire tablets are already on sale at record-low prices. The compact Fire HD 8 with 64GB of storage is the team’s favorite Fire tablet overall. The bigger Fire HD 10 has a larger screen, nicer cameras, and a sharper display, with 32GB of storage. Both have 13-hour battery lives.
Prime members currently receive a discount of up to 53%, though the retailer increased prices on every Fire TV streaming stick it sells by at least $5 back in August. The 4K Plus model remains on sale for $37.99. The code STREAM4K has proven effective at times this week, so shoppers may want to give that a try as well.
Amazon’s most affordable media player comes with Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos built in. It also supports Nvidia Geforce Now and Alexa Home Theater, which includes a surround sound feature that pairs with Echo devices.
A New All-Time Low on a Smartwatch and a Huge Discount on a QLED TV
Garmin’s vívoactive 6 is a lightweight fitness smartwatch with an AMOLED display and an 11-day battery life. It supports constant heart rate readings, stress tracking, and sleep coaching. Lifehacker, one of Mashable’s sister sites, gave it a 4.5/5 review, calling it “a great watch for somebody who wants to track their steps and activity.”
The TCL QM8L is the best QLED TV for most people, according to Leah Stodart, who previously served as Mashable’s TV expert. She singled out the 65-inch model, saying it stands apart from other “superb peak brightness, detailed picture quality, and fantastic glare handling.” QLED TVs, which she said work especially well for daytime viewing, including watching sports.
The 85-inch QM8L is available for a discounted price right now. Mashable expects this TV to drop further when October Prime Day begins on Oct. 6, so buyers should wait if they can.
Affordable Fire TVs
Amazon’s own affordable 40-inch Ember Fire TV has a high-definition HDR10+ display and doubles as an Alexa smart speaker for your home. The 28% discount drops the price to a very affordable $179.99, its lowest-ever price. The 50-inch QLED Ember Fire TV is currently $100 off.
Preorder the Ocarina of Time Remake
Nintendo’s upcoming remake of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time for the Switch 2 will be one of the year’s biggest gaming releases. Preordering saves $10.
Mashable’s team has put together a list of early deals, selecting items from Apple, TCL, Garmin, Beats, and Sony that its own members would actually purchase. That personal standard is what gives the list its shape.
KEY FACTS BOX
– $99 AirPods at Walmart, available now
– MacBook Pro M5 Max: $3,499, down $600 from $4,099
– Fire tablets: up to 53% off for Prime members
– 4K Plus streaming stick: $37.99, plus STREAM4K coupon
– Ember Fire TV 40-inch: $179.99, lowest-ever price
– Ocarina of Time Switch 2 preorder: save $10
Price-tracking, cross-checking, and selecting only deals they would personally purchase themselves form the method used by the group to arrange the list. The entire sale starts Oct. 6 and 7, which means the early offers are worth watching for anyone hoping to get ahead of the crowd.
Source material: “21 early October Prime Day tech deals, hand-picked by our gadget-obsessed experts,” Mashable.
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