Black Friday began in the United States as a purely American shopping tradition where folks who have holiday shopping money to spend flock to the stores to buy items at massive one-day-only discounts. Inevitably, Black Friday has grown so big in the U.S. that we should probably start calling it Black November. In fact, it has grown so big it's reaching out across the pond as well to the United Kingdom.
Black Friday first arrived on British shores five years ago, when Amazon thought it would try its luck at attracting new buyers by bringing huge discounts to many of its items to UK customers on the same day shoppers in the U.S. trampled into retailers in droves. The result was a success, and though Black Friday in the UK is not as humongous as the event in the U.S., the idea of scoring heavy discounts on a lot of items also has great appeal to the Brits.
This year, Walmart-owned ASDA has decided it will not participate in the event, saying its customers do not want to be "held hostage" by a one-day event, instead opting for more discounts spread out throughout the year. Nonetheless, only ASDA seems to have bowed out of the festivities as other retailers prepare for an even bigger event than last year.
Deals will be available for all sorts of items, including, of course, tech gadgets with price tags slashed down by up to half of their original price. Check out the hottest Black Friday UK tech deals we have gathered so far.
Smartphones
- Get £100 ($153) off the iPhone 6s 64 GB from Vodafone through this deal from Mobiles.co.uk, which offers the new iPhone for only £125 ($191) upfront (normally £225 or about $344), using the code BLACKFRI64. The deal includes unlimited calls, texts and 6 GB of 4G LTE data with £31 ($47) per month contract.
- EE is offering the iPhone 6 16 GB for free if you buy it with a £37.49 ($57) monthly payment using the code BLFREE6. The iPhone 5s is also available for free with a £24.99 ($38) contract using the code BLFREE5S, while the iPhone 5c, previously available for £49.99 ($76), is available free with a £24.99 ($38) monthly payment with the code IPHONE50.
- If you're more of an Android user, the Samsung Galaxy S6 with 64 GB storage is available at Carphone Warehouse free with a £31 ($47) 4G data plan from Vodafone, offering unlimited calls, texts and 6 GB data.
Laptops
- Currys is offering £50 ($76) off Apple's Macs, including iMacs, Mac Pros, MacBook Pros, MacBooks, MacBook Airs and iMacs. Use the code 50MAC to get the discount.
- John Lewis is also offering up to £100 ($153) off on select Macs and MacBooks, with a promise to match the lowest prices on certain models.
- Argos is offering an HP Intel Pentium laptop with a 15.6-inch display, 2 TB storage and 8 GB RAM for £379.99 ($580), down £100 ($153) from £479.99 ($733).
TVs
- Argos is taking off £250 ($382) from a 49-inch LG 4K TV, pushing the price down to only £599 ($916).
- If you want a curved TV, the Samsung UESSJ6300 55-inch curved LED TV is available for only £799 ($1,221) at Currys. The original price is £1,399 ($2,137).
Consoles
- GameStop is offering 1TB PlayStation 4 MegaPack bundled with Uncharted: The Nathan Drake Collection, The Last of Us Remastered and God of War III for only £287.97 ($440). Shipping starts Nov. 30, though.
- Amazon is also selling a 500 GB PlayStation 4 with Fallout 4 and Call of Duty: Black Ops 3 for only £279.99 ($428). The deal is currently out of stock, though, so look out for it in case Amazon puts it back.
- For Xbox gamers, a 1TB Xbox One console with Fallout 4 and Fallout 3 is available for £299 ($457), down £50 ($76) from its previous previous price of £349 ($533) on eBay.
Others
- Amazon is offering Prime membership for only £59 ($90), down from the original price of £79 ($121) a year. This includes free shipping on all orders and access to Amazon's repository of streaming video and music content.
