Amazon Prime Day is one of the biggest shopping events in the retail calendar. The global retailer’s annual two-day deal extravaganza is now in its eighth year and we expect thousands of discounts on everything from electronics and home items to fashion, food, furniture and more in 2022 – with many of the cheapest prices of the year.
We’re sure Amazon Prime Day 2022 will be another mega-sale. Total online retail sales in the US exceeded $11 billion during Prime Day last summer, according to data collected by Adobe Analytics.
To put that in perspective, that’s more than was spent online during the previous Cyber Monday sale ($10.9 billion) – which was the biggest shopping day of 2020. And it’s more than the most recent Cyber Monday too ($10.7 billion). Of course, it’s important to point out that Prime Day does last 48 hours rather than just a single day.
But when will this all take place? Well, the Amazon Prime Day 2022 date is still tightly under wraps. Amazon doesn’t normally release this information until a week or two before the event – but we’ve covered it so many times in the past that we are able to make some strong predictions.
That’s what we get into below with our guide to everything else you need to know about the next Prime Day. Read on for info on the date we expect it to launch, to our predictions for the best Amazon deals during the annual shopping event.
Oh, and be sure to sign up for a year-long Prime membership now if you’re currently paying monthly. The price is about to go up by $20 from $119 to $139, so lock that in ahead of time to get the best deal for the next 12 months.
Amazon Prime Day 2022: everything you need to know
When is Amazon Prime Day 2022?
We predict Amazon Prime Day 2022 will be on Monday, July 18 – Tuesday, July 19. Amazon is unlikely to officially announce the date of its annual sales event until much closer to the time, but we think the retailer will once again run a 48-hour mega-sale with thousands of daily deals, and it’ll bring the event back to mid-July, rather than holding it in June, as it did last summer.
Prime Day date history
Eighth: July 18-19, 2022 (predicted)
Seventh: June, 21-22, 2021
Sixth: Oct 13-14, 2020
Fifth: July 15-16, 2019
Fourth: July 16-17, 2018
Third: July 11-12, 2017
Second: July 12, 2016
First: July 15, 2015
Last year, Prime Day was moved to June 21-22 for the first time. The event came just eight months after Amazon was forced to postpone Prime Day until mid-October, following stock shortages and delivery delays caused by the coronavirus pandemic in 2020.
Prior to this, Prime Day was always held in July. It started as a 24-hour shopping event back in 2015, before growing to 30 hours in July 2017 and later expanding to a full two days.
What is Amazon Prime Day?
Prime Day is Amazon’s biggest sale of the year. Usually held during the summer months, the annual two-day deals event is for Prime members only – while there are non-Prime offers on the site throughout the sale, all the best discounts are Prime Day deals.
To be eligible for the deals, you’ll either need to sign up for Prime membership. It’s currently $12.99 per month, or $119 per year, but that’s set to go up to $14.99 and $139 from February 25. If you pay for a year now, though, you’ll get the cheaper price locked in for the next 12 months.
You can also start a free 30-day Prime trial closer to the date once it’s been announced, as long as you haven’t been a member in the past. If you’re not intending to keep Prime after the sale, just make sure you cancel it within the one-month trial period. ( You can read our Amazon Prime review if you’re not sure.)
Prime Day originally started in 2015 as a celebration of Amazon’s 20th anniversary. Designed to encourage people to spend outside of the October-December holiday season, the online retailer says its only goal was to “offer a volume of deals greater than Black Friday”.
Since then, it’s ballooned into one of the biggest sales in the global retail calendar, with many other large retailers launching promotions of their own to take advantage of the huge online audiences around Prime Day.
We’ll be rounding up the best Prime Day deals at Amazon here once they start – and we’ll bring you the biggest offers from the likes of Walmart, Best Buy, Target, Home Depot and others too.
What are the best Prime Day deals?
Every year, without fail, the best Prime Day deals are on Amazon devices. The retailer always drops the prices of its popular smart speakers, e-readers, security cameras and other devices to the lowest of the year – although we do sometimes see these prices return on Black Friday and Cyber Monday.
4 key stats from Amazon Prime Day last year
Total items bought worldwide:
More than 250 million globally
Most popular item: Fire TV Stick 4K with Alexa Voice Remote
Best-selling categories worldwide: included tools, beauty, nutrition, baby care, electronics, apparel, and household products
Back to school stats: one million laptops, one million headphones, 600,000 backpacks and 240,000 notebooks sold
Data source: Amazon
The Fire TV Stick 4K with Alexa Voice Remote was the most popular item purchased last Prime Day, according to Amazon. On sale at half price ($24.99, down from $49.99), the streaming media player was bought by more people on Prime Day last year than any previous Prime Day.
Other big sellers included Amazon’s Echo-branded smart speakers. Our data showed the Echo Dot (fourth-gen) to be a Prime Day favorite, once again, for readers of TechRadar, Tom’s Guide, T3 and other Future PLC websites. It hit record lows in June, dropping to $24.99 from $49.99.
However, one trend we’ve noticed over the last two years is Amazon making more of an effort to boost its marketplace sellers.
Last year, Prime Day was the biggest two-day period ever for Amazon’s third party sellers, according to the retailer, resulting in a huge boost in Prime Day deals across home, fashion, beauty and electronics – more than 250 million items were bought worldwide.
In the US, the top-selling Prime Day deals excluding Amazon devices, included:
- Waterpik Electric Water Flosser ($40, was $70 at Amazon)
- Organic Organic Plant Based Protein Powder ($15, was $27 at Amazon)
- 23andMe Health DNA Test ($99, was $199 at Amazon)
- iRobot Roomba 692 Robot Vacuum ($199.99, was $299.99 at Amazon)
- Instant Pot Duo Plus 6 Quart Pressure Cooker ($54, was $119.95 at Amazon)
Amazon Prime Day 2022: our predictions
There are more Amazon deals every year – but not all products receive good discounts on Prime Day. Amazon’s own range of smart home devices and tablets are the easiest to predict. Every year we see new record-low prices on the vast majority of Amazon devices, and we expect to see that trend continue in 2022.
Last year, Amazon’s Echo smart speakers dropped to new record-low prices, with the latest fourth-gen Echo Dot half price, at $24.99, and the more powerful Echo down from $99.99 to $59.99. In 2022, we expect prices to fall a little further, with the Echo Dot potentially matching the current $20 tag of the previous generation. Plus, we expect more savings on Fire tablets, Kindles e-readers and brands like Blink, Ring and Eufy as well.
If you’re looking to buy a decent 4k TV though, think again. Amazon rarely offers big discounts on mid-range and high-end TVs over Prime Day – although there are usually plenty of excellent deals on cheaper Fire-enabled TVs. Still, we’re always hopeful. We’ll be tracking the best Prime Day TV deals on the day, so stay tuned…
Amazon rarely offers big discounts on mid-range and high-end TVs over Prime Day – although there are usually plenty of excellent deals on cheaper Fire-enabled TVs.
What about this year’s Prime Day laptop deals? Well, Prime Day isn’t usually the best time to buy a laptop, but last year saw an improvement in deal quality over the year before, and we hope to see this trend continue. Amazon typically lacks variety in the lower mid-range ($300 – $500) on Prime Day. However, last year the retailer provided a slightly better range of laptop deals, with some decent offers in this price category. They were largely limited to cheap Chromebooks or premium ultrabooks and gaming laptops though.
It doesn’t look like the global chip shortage is going to end any time soon, as we reported previously. However, we are seeing some of the pressures caused by the pandemic continue to ease, and we’re hopeful that laptops will become more of a focus for Prime Day 2022.
If you’ve got a new Apple device in mind, though, timing is going to be critical. The quality of Prime Day 2022’s offers is going to depend on Apple’s own release schedule, as while these devices do see some excellent prices when a new generation launches, stock on older models runs out incredibly quickly.
With new M1 Macbooks on the way and considering the M1 iPad Pros will have had plenty of time to mature on the shelves (and perhaps a new generation will be already out in the wild) by next year, we may see even better prices on Apple devices over Prime Day 2022. However, if new models come too early or too late in the year we may also be caught between launches.
These products do see big discounts when a new model lands, but they tend to fly off the shelves and stay off them. Amazon wasn’t selling any 2020 iPad Pros or older 2020 MacBooks over Prime Day this year, so if we’re too far away from a new generation stock may impede these discounts.
How to prepare for Prime Day 2022: pro tips
Whether you’re hopeful for a new kitchen device or a laptop, it’s worth making sure you know exactly what you want to get from this year’s Prime Day deals.
That means going beyond the brand or model you are looking for, and taking note of the specs and features that are important to you. In the heat of the moment there’s going to be a lot of prices and specs flying around, and to get the best Prime Day deals possible you’ll need to know exactly what you’re looking for.
Plus, your first choice model may not even be discounted which means you’ll also want to find out which features you’re willing to sacrifice for a lower price and what you would be willing to spend above your budget if there was bags of extra value in a slightly higher cost.
That also means doing a little research on what prices you can expect to see. We cover laptop deals, TV deals, Dyson Airwrap deals and all manner of other products all year round – see all our deals listings. Keep an eye on these pages in the run-up to Prime Day to get an idea of what a good discount might look like for the product you want.
How to find the best Prime Day deals
The best Amazon Prime Day deals don’t always make themselves immediately apparent. However, they do sell out fast so you’ll need to go in with a game plan. Here’s our top tips for bagging the best Prime Day deals for you.
1. Find an Amazon Prime free trial…
Amazon Prime Day is technically reserved for Prime members only, however Amazon usually offers free trials in the lead up to the event to make sure it has as large a customer base as possible. If you’re not already subscribed, you’ll find free trials available up to three weeks in advance but be sure to time your membership to run over the Prime Day dates once we know them.
2. … but don’t rely on it
Last year we saw more retailers participating in Prime Day-esque sales in order to steal a little of Amazon’s pie. We expect stores like Walmart and Best Buy will be running their own discounts over the same period this year, which means you’ll want to be shopping around to find the best Prime Day deals possible – because some may not even be on Amazon at all.
3. Know what you want to buy…
If you’re coming into Amazon Prime Day with your eyes on a prize, you’re already in a fantastic position to scoop up a saving. Knowing what you want to buy means you can filter through to the exact product you’re after without having to wade through the lightning deals, wasting time while doing so. Check the specs, features, and any design considerations you’re after beforehand and, if possible, check out some options in-store so that you know exactly what you’re looking for on the big day.
4. … but stay flexible
That said, it’s unwise to rest on the assumption that the particular TV or tablet you’re after will be on sale. You can waste a lot of time trying to find any discounts on the particular model you’re after if there are just no savings to be found – and you may be missing out on more valuable Prime Day deals in the process. It’s great to go in with a brand and model in mind, but think about what you want to get out of it and be flexible with these specs and features for the best value possible.
Similarly, you’ll want to build some flexibility into your budget. While it’s never a good idea to get caught up in the moment and break the bank, it’s worth shopping around similarly specced models to see if you can’t pick up far better value just by springing an extra $10 or $20.
5. Get in there early…
When Prime Day itself rolls around, you’ll want to be one of the first through the doors to give yourself the most time to find the best offers for you. High profile discounts on the year’s hottest tech do run out quickly, so we wouldn’t wait around too long if you do stumble across the perfect price.
6. … but check back throughout the event
Just because you’ve managed to secure your dream deal straight out the gate doesn’t mean Amazon is done. New deals are released throughout the entire sales window, which means you may find a better option worth cancelling your original order for.
Amazon Prime Day vs Black Friday – should you wait?
Both Amazon Prime Day and Black Friday generally offer discounts on the same kinds of devices, but there are a few differences between the sales events that hold bearing over both the value on offer and the ease of actually getting the deals into your basket.
Amazon Prime Day deals are largely focused on Amazon itself, with others like Best Buy and Walmart competing against them. Competition among shoppers is also significantly reduced on Prime Day, which all together means that deals are generally easier to find, easier to price check, and won’t run out of stock so quickly.
However, Black Friday is set across a much larger range of retailers, often with prices that manage to come in just a little cheaper and a wider variety of brands on sale. That does mean a lot more work to make sure you’re getting the best offer possible, and keeping a close eye out for limited stock flash sales that make up for most of those lowest price records. However, with more competition between retailers we do tend to see slightly heavier discounts in November.
Of course, you may also simply want your tech sooner. If so, we wouldn’t recommend waiting too long for a discount. There’s no guarantee that prices will be any different come Black Friday, and with such an increase in competition you’re also less likely to come across the best deals before they’re gone as well.
Last year’s Prime Day deals
There was plenty to sink your teeth into over Amazon Prime Day this year, with discounts on everything from headphones to the Nintendo Switch. Some categories, however, did perform better than others.
Laptop deals, for example, were available with some slightly better discounts than we were anticipating, whereas 4K TVs didn’t seem to offer the variety and quality of discounts that we may have been used to before. We saw very few discounts on LG and Samsung’s 2021 models and returning sales on older 2020 devices. If you were after a 4K TV on Amazon Prime Day this year, options were somewhat limited to the retailer’s own Fire-enabled displays.
Of course, Amazon’s biggest sellers were its Echo and Echo Dot devices, both seeing brand new price lows at $59.99 and $24.99 respectively. However we also saw some excellent savings on previous generation Echo Show 5 and Echo Show 8 smart displays, meeting or just surpassing previous discount records.
Here are all the best Amazon Prime Day deals we saw last year…