The best AirPods Black Friday deals, chosen by an Apple expert

This is $5 cheaper than AirPods Pro 2 have ever been before – though they've been this price since earlier this week. They sound excellent, the noise cancellation is top tier, Dolby Atmos spatial audio is amazing for movies, and they even have an unloseable case, thanks to tech that literally points you to where it's hiding (and a speaker to help, too). They're also very small and light, so are great for comfort.

This is basically the cheapest AirPods Max have ever been (they may have been literally a couple of bucks cheaper, but not enough to make a real difference). This deal is on the older Lightning version rather than the newer USB-C one (though the charging port is the only change). You'll get their natural and highly detailed sound, excellent spatial audio, and smart Apple-friendly features for a very strong price.

The AirPods 4 feature a new design for all-day comfort, and pack Apple's H2 chip, which supports Personalized Spatial Audio and voice isolation. You're also getting a redesigned case with 30 hours of battery life and supports USB-C for wireless charging. These are the version without active noise cancellation (and some other extra features).

If you want Apple's open-ear fit (without the in-ear tip) but with active noise cancellation to make it easier to hear your music, these are the buds for you. They also have spatial audio, Find My in the case (including a speaker), and wireless charging. They sound very fun, too, with a full sound. This is the lowest price they've been to date. We'd suggest most people should pay less money for the AirPods Pro 2, but if you want the open-ear fit, then they work well.

This is a return to the lowest price we've ever seen AirPods Pro 2 for in the UK. These are the best-selling earbuds on the planet, thanks to their superb sound quality, top-tier noise cancellation, excellent spatial audio, auto-switching between different Apple devices, gesture control and more. This is available at lots of retailers, but John Lewis is throwing in 3 months of Apple Music for free, so I'd recommend getting that extra bonus.

Also at: Amazon for £179

These are very new, so any discount on them is good – and this is a 10% saving on buds that only arrived in September. The AirPods 4 feature a new design for all-day comfort, and pack Apple's H2 chip, which supports Personalized Spatial Audio and voice isolation. You're also getting a redesigned case with 30 hours of battery life and supports USB-C for wireless charging. This version doesn't include noise cancellation, wireless charging or the Find My speaker in the case.

If you want Apple's open-ear design that doesn't go right into your ear canals, but you still want active noise cancellation to make it easier to hear your music, these are the buds for you. They also have spatial audio, Find My in the case (including a speaker), and wireless charging. They sound very fun, too, with a full sound. At 10% off, it's a relatively small discount and you might want to pay slightly more for the Pro-suffixed set (and get better sound and features), but if you want this kind of ear fit, this is the best price we've seen across all retailers.

Save AU$110

This JB Hi-Fi deal brings Apple's newest AirPod Pros down to a very respectable AU$289 – that's about as low as they get when buying from a big retailer. (They've occasionally been a bit cheaper with eBay Plus coupon stacking, but nothing similar is on offer at present.) These second-generation AirPods Pro remain an excellent pair of noise-cancelling in-ears, especially for iPhone owners, capable of drowning out virtually all external sounds. This latest model comes with a charging case that uses USB-C cable.

There's a modest AU$21 discount on Apple's new AirPods 4 at Big W for Black Friday. Note that these are the cheaper version of the AirPods 4 and therefore don't include active noise cancelling, though they do still pack spatial audio and voice isolation thanks to Apple's new H2 chip. The redesigned charge case provides another 30 hours of battery and charges via USB-C.

Since the arrival of the 4th-generation AirPods earlier this year, stock of older 2nd- and 3rd-gen versions has quietly dried up – and moreover, what's left is often overpriced when compared to the AU$219 RRP of their newest sibling. However, if you're really looking to score the cheapest AirPods possible this Black Friday, Dick Smith and Kogan are offering the 2nd-gens for AU$163, which is the lowest we can find for a new pair of AirPods this sale season – a fee that recently dropped by $6. Note that these are imported stock, rather than being Australian.

Available in the grey [now sold out], green and pink colourways, DigiDirect currently has the best Black Friday price for Apple's over-ear AirPods, undercutting the next-best offer from Amazon (where they're AU$784.50) by a significant margin. We've occasionally seen these going for under AU$700, so while not an all-time low this is still a fair price if you've been holding out for a good deal.