The Best Black Friday Deals of 2020: Apple, Dyson, Patagonia & More

Want only the best deals of Black Friday and Cyber Monday? Here they are, compiled for easy shopping and updated daily.

It's that time of year again. Black Friday, Cyber Monday — a.k.a. the biggest shopping holiday of the year. This is your ultimate survival guide.

We'll be updating this page daily with essential info and, of course, the best deals, independently chosen by our team of gear heads and product experts.
 

Today's Best Deals, to receive our deal announcements and product picks directly in your inbox and check out our Black Friday tag page.

When Is Black Friday?

Technically, Black Friday falls on the day after Thanksgiving, which is 11/27 this year. Cyber Monday, historically a day of rapid online sales, is the following Monday, so 11/30. But over the past few years, both brands and retailers have approached Black Friday as an extended retail period that starts in early November and bleeds into December.

We expect most deals to start in earnest the Monday before Thanksgiving, 11/23. However, due to complications of COVID-19 and the continued rise of online shopping, we've seen an unprecedented number of early sales on notable products, from TVs to camping gear to cookware.

The short answer: Black Friday has already started.

What's Different This Year?

Consumers aren't the only ones navigating Black Friday during a pandemic. COVID-19 has thrown a massive wrench into retailers' operating plans this year. Many stores are operating at limited capacity for in-person shopping, and retail trends suggest people are more willing to shop online than ever before.

The likely result: bottlenecks at stores, warehouses that handle merchandise and among carries like FedEx and UPS, which already struggle to keep up with increased demand around the holidays.

For consumers, this translates to delayed shipping times, or what some experts are dubbing a possible "shippageddon." Don't wait until the last minute to do all of your shopping; there are plenty of great deals to take advantage of now (see below).

Where Can I Find the Best Black Friday and Cyber Monday Deals?

Right here. We've got an entire team dedicated to scouring the web for the absolute best deals, and we'll be updating this page daily with new sales, promotions and discounts on notable products from brands like Apple, Dyson and Patagonia, as well as key retailers — Walmart, Amazon, Best Buy and more.

We expect many sales to continue into December, so be sure to bookmark this page and check back throughout the season. Good luck, and now, onto the deals.

Apple Acquires Voysis To Improve Capabilities Of Siri

APPLE ACQUIRES VOYSIS – As time progressed, so did technology and the rise of virtual assistants.

With just a simple voice command, you could make calls, search for items, or buy products from the internet. This is where Amazon’s Alexa and the Google Assistant thrived. However, Apple seemed to have lagged behind its competitors in terms of Siri’s natural language comprehension. But, with the new acquisition of Voysis, Apple might make up some ground. Voysis is an artificial intelligence (AI) startup which focuses on creating a platform to provide business with improved AI services. As such, the startup stated they didn’t want to compete with the likes of Google and Amazon, rather, provide services to other businesses.Based on an article from 9to5Mac, Voysis taps into Wavenets. This is an AI-based method for producing human-like computer speech. Furthermore, the technology was first introduced by Google’s DeepMind in 2016.

The astonishing part of Voysis’ history is that they managed to fit the entirety of the system into 25 megabytes after the AI was trained. This made the software much easier to run on mobile devices even without an internet connection. Meanwhile, with the release of Apple’s new iPhone 9 this April, along with their plans to get into the car service industry, an upgrade to Siri would be a welcome sight.

Apple's iPhone 12 might be 'months' late

Apple is preparing for the possibility of launching its next iPhone, likely dubbed the iPhone 12, much later than anticipated.

According to a report by Nikkei, citing sources familiar with the matter, the company has internally discussed delaying the launch by "months."

The ongoing coronavirus outbreak has strained Apple's supply chain, but Apple is considering the delay for other reasons, too. One of Nikkei's sources said that Apple's not keen to risk a potential "tame reception" of what would be the company's first 5G iPhone.

Many Apple employees currently work from home due to shelter-in-place orders, which also may affect Apple's plans. Nikkei's sources say Apple might reconsider the iPhone 12 launch timing once those orders are lifted, with the final decision coming around May.

The discussions are in an early stage, sources say, and it's still possible that the phone launches in the fall. But it's also possible that the launch is delayed into next year.

Apple typically launches new iPhones in September, which boosts sales in the holiday quarter, and the company surely won't change the iPhone's launch date lightly. As Nikkei notes, this would hurt not only Apple's revenue, but also millions of jobs in Apple's supply chain. But the worsening coronavirus outbreak is an unprecedented situation, and suddenly the impossible seems possible. Apple declined Nikkei's request to comment. It's worth noting that Apple just recently launched a slew of new products, including the new iPad Pro and MacBook Air, without an event of any kind (Apple does a few of these event-less product launches every year). On the other hand, the company was widely rumored to be launching an affordable iPhone towards the end of March, and that event is now almost certainly off the table. Finally, the company's WWDC conference has been turned into a digital-only event.

COVID-19 – the disease caused by coronavirus – has so far killed more than 18,500 and infected more than 416,000 people. The outbreak has been worsening in the U.S. in recent weeks, with more than 65,200 confirmed cases and 928 deaths.

Apple buys Dark Sky, leaving Android users out in the rain

The forecast is dreary for Dark Sky on Android. The popular weather app announced Tuesday that it had been acquired by Apple, making it the latest company to come under the umbrella of the tech giant.

"Our goal has always been to provide the world with the best weather information possible, to help as many people as we can stay dry and safe, and to do so in a way that respects your privacy," Dark Sky's blog post reads. "There is no better place to accomplish these goals than at Apple. We’re thrilled to have the opportunity to reach far more people, with far more impact, than we ever could alone."

While this is just another sunny day in the world of Silicon Valley mergers and acquisitions, it's sad news for Dark Sky Android users. The blog post informs iOS users that there "will be no changes to Dark Sky for iOS at this time." But for Dark Sky on Android, the sun has set.

"The app will no longer be available for download," the post reads. "Service to existing users and subscribers will continue until July 1, 2020, at which point the app will be shut down. Subscribers who are still active at that time will receive a refund."

Dark Sky is a beloved weather app because of its clean interface and detailed weather information (especially in comparison to Apple's Weather app). Moving to Apple's walled garden has prompted a downpour of sadness on social media.

Dark Sky will also be transitioning to shutting off its API by 2021, meaning the services and websites that pull in Dark Sky data may face a torrent of technical issues.

Apple's Weather app could get a lot smarter. But for Android users, it's dark skies ahead.

Apple's iPhone SE successor will, apparently, be called iPhone SE

Apple's affordable new iPhone and the spiritual successor to the original iPhone SE from 2016, long-rumored to be called iPhone SE 2 or iPhone 9, will likely just be called "iPhone SE."

This is according to an updated listing for a Belkin screen protector, still live on Apple's website at writing time, which mentions the name "iPhone SE." This isn't particularly odd for Apple; in fact, the company often keeps the same name for lower-cost, non-flagship devices in its lineup, as it did with its most affordable iPad.

The listing on Apple's site, together with a recent report that a Best Buy tipster has seen a case for a new, 4.7-inch iPhone, indicate that the new iPhone SE will launch very soon, possibly today.

On Thursday, 9to5Mac revealed some of the specs for the new device, citing a knowledgeable, anonymous tipster. According to the outlet it will be available with three memory storage options: 64, 128 or 256GB. It will come in three colors – white, black and red – and five different cases will be available at launch.

Previous reports indicated that the device will look very similar to the iPhone 8 (which is now further confirmed by the Belkin listing, which lists the same protector for iPhone 7/8/SE), with a price that starts at US$399. The processor is also likely to be updated to Apple's A13 chip.