After some fairly disappointing offers from the big A over the Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales, you know as well as we do that to find the best prices on Apple hardware you need to look to other retailers.
Though current-generation Apple products rarely feature huge discounts, older Apple gadgets can come at seriously tempting prices - and these are the products that are going to make the best gifts for Christmas 2019. Apple Watch Series 3 is a case in point, and recently reduced to £185 over the Black Friday weekend it comes at an ideal price point for slinging under the Christmas tree and making someone very happy indeed.
But scratching around for Apple deals can be a fool's game, and a sure-fire way to lose time you probably can't afford to spare. The good news is we've taken that hit for you, and you can put your trust in our team of Apple experts to bring you only the Apple deals worth knowing about.
What's Apple doing for Christmas 2019?
As it happens Apple has not announced its plans for Christmas 2019, though we expect it will be more of the same we've seen before - which is to say, not a lot.
In 2018 it ran a four-day Christmas Sale event, which was actually held over the Black Friday weekend. This year we saw another four-day event, in which it offered gift cards that didn't get you money off what you wanted to buy, but money off an additional Apple product. Sucks if you want only one.
Apple's just not all that into Christmas it seems - even its 12 Days of Christmas promotion, which used to run from Boxing Day until early January offering a free app, game, song, TV show, book or movie each day, hasn't seen the light of day since 2013. So it looks like you're going to have to get your Apple Christmas kicks elsewhere.
Don't worry, help is here...
Top Apple Deals right now
1. Apple iPhone XS with 100GB data

From: Three
Now: £42 per month
View Deal
Click Three's logo to see this excellent deal - but you might want to check the deals offered by EE and Vodafone before you do, just to get a point of comparison. The monthly cost is far lower than the competition (it's dropped by another pound since 1 December), there's no upfront fee, and you get masses of data. Superb.
2. Apple HomePod

From: John Lewis
Was: £279
Now: £229 (£50 off)
View Deal
With £50 off the RRP, this the cheapest you can pick up a brand-new HomePod right now. It's even cheaper than a refurbished model from Apple!
3. Apple 13in MacBook Air, 1.6GHz dual-core, 256GB (2018)

From: Amazon
Was: £1,299
Now: £1,029.97 (£269.03 off new Apple price - 2018 model)
View Deal
Amazon is selling a 2018 MacBook Air at a discount right now, but its not as good a discount as it looks now that Apple has reduced the price of the new MacBook Air by £100 as of July 2019.
4. Apple iPad 10.2in (2019)

From: John Lewis
Was: £349
Now: £322 (£27 off)
View Deal
Multiple retailers have knocked dosh off the new iPad 10.2in for 2019. We're focusing on John Lewis because of its strong warranty but if stocks run low you'll get the same price at Currys, Amazon and AO.
5. Apple 21.5in iMac, 3.6GHz quad-core, 4K Retina Display, 1TB Hard Drive (2019)

From: John Lewis
Was: £1,249
Now: £1,100 (£149 off)
View Deal
John Lewis has money off the 2019 3.6GHz quad-core iMac (£1,249 at Apple). This model isn't the cheapest iMac - Apple still sells a 2017 model at the entry-level, but with this price cut this Mac is much better value than the entry-level model.
6. KRCS Mac sale

From: KRCS
Now: 10% off all Macs
View Deal
From now until Sunday 8 December, KRCS is slashing 10% from the price of every Mac. That includes brand-new models (such as the 16in MacBook Pro) and custom configurations. Read more here: 10% off any Mac at KRCS.
7. Apple Watch Series 4 (44mm)

From: Currys PC World
Was: £429
Now: £299 (£130 off)
View Deal
Certain models of last year's (now discontinued) Apple Watch Series 4 now has £130 off at Currys, making it one of the cheapest ways to get your hands on the larger variant of the fourth-gen Watch.
8. Apple 16in MacBook Pro, 2.6GHz, 6-core, 512GB (2019)

From: KRCS
Was: £2,399
Now: £2,159.10 (£239.90 off)
View Deal
KRCS is already selling the 2019 16in MacBook Pro and they are already offering an excellent discount on the new standard models and configure to order models such as this one.
9. Apple Mac mini, 3.0GHz 6-core, 128GB (2018) [KRCS]

From: KRCS
Was: £1,099.00
Now: £989.10 (£109.90 off)
View Deal
Apple Premium Reseller KRCS is offering discounts on all 2018 Mac mini models. This one isn't the base model, but it's one of the best all-rounders available with a 6-core processor and a storage bump (see our Mac mini review for more info). You can also spread the cost with 10 months interest free credit on Macs over £1,000. Until recently this was £1,033.06 off, so it's nice to see KRCS knocking the price down further.
10. Apple iPhone XR (SIM-free)

From: Argos
Was: £629
Now: £549 (£80 off)
View Deal
Argos knocked £80 off the iPhone XR for Black Friday. That's a decent enough offer, but add in the fact that the £629 RRP is itself a reduction from the £749 that Apple was charging as recently as September 2019, and you'll see that this is seriously good value. However, stock has run out in many areas so act fast to be in with a chance of getting this deal.
11. Apple Mac mini, 3.6GHz quad-core, 128GB (2018) [Amazon]

From: Amazon
Was: £799
Now: £713 (£86 off)
View Deal
This is a small but decent saving on the price of the 2018 quad-core 3.6GHz Mac mini. (FYI, we've seen this particular model discounted more on Amazon, so it might be worth waiting a week or two for bigger discounts - Amazon and Laptops Direct chase each other's prices on this one.)
12. Apple iPad Pro 10.5in (2017, renewed)

From: Amazon
Was: £529
Now: £384.99 (£144 off)
View Deal
This is a great price on the Wi-Fi 10.5in iPad Pro. Note that it's part of the generation before the current one, having launched in 2017 - the iPad Pro 10.5in is still a powerful device, though - and 'renewed' devices are Amazon's equivalent of Apple's refurbished line, which means it's second-hand but fixed up and backed by a new guarantee.
13. Apple Watch Series 3 (38mm)

From: Argos
Was: £199
Now: £189 (£10 off)
View Deal
With £10 off the relatively affordable RRP, this is a good saving on the smaller 38mm version of the Series 3. In fact, this is the cheapest you can buy it online right now.
14. Apple iPhone XS (SIM-free)

From: Amazon
Was: £999
Now: £699 (£300 off)
View Deal
A brilliant deal. The XS remains an excellent phone, despite having been effectively replaced by the iPhone 11 Pro. See our full coverage of this deal.
15. Apple iPhone XR with 30GB data

From: O2
Now: £90 upfront, £30 per month
View Deal
Vodafone's excellent-value XR deal (£29.99 upfront, £33 per month, 60GB of data) is no more, but this offer from O2 - if you can manage with a bit less data - will cost you less over the course of the contract. Scroll down to see the contracts.
16. Apple HomePod (Refurbished)

From: Apple Refurbished Store
Was: £279
Now: £239 (£40 off)
View Deal
It might not be a brand-new unit, but with a £40 discount, this is one of the better HomePod deals available at the moment. Don't worry about the second-hand nature of the speaker either; Apple makes sure that each and every unit is up to scratch before shipping.
17. Apple iPhone 7 (SIM-free, 128GB)

From: Amazon
Was: £549
Now: £429 (£120 off)
View Deal
This is a decent saving (although the price has gone up by a tenner since 14 November, and may drop again); read our iPhone 7 review for advice on whether this 2016 handset is right for you.
We recommend that you go for the 128GB model linked above, but if you think you can manage with 32GB that's available for £379.
18. Apple 13in MacBook Pro, 2.4GHz, quad-core, 256GB, Silver (2019)

From: Currys PC World
Was: £1,799
Now: £1,599 (£200 off)
View Deal
Here's a saving on the 2019 13in MacBook Pro with 2.4GHz Quad-core processor - it's the 256GB version. Apple's put the prices up in the UK by £50, so this saving is better than ever.
19. Apple 27in iMac, 3.7GHz six-core, 5K Retina Display, 2TB Fusion Drive (2019)

From: Currys PC World
Was: £2,249
Now: £2,049 (£200 off)
View Deal
Save money on the 2019 iMac with this deal from Currys PC World. It's better than the firm's advertised discount because this is the top-of-the-range £2,249 model.
20. Apple AirPods with Wireless Charging Case (early 2019)

From: Laptops Direct
Was: £199
Now: £159.97 (£39.03 off)
View Deal
Laptops Direct has the best AirPods deal at the moment and you can get the non-wireless charging case model for just £128. This is a solid deal (Apple is still asking the full £199 for this model, but be aware that AirPods Pro have since been launched.
That's just the top 20 - there's a load more of where that came from right here.
Once you know what you're looking for, check out our dedicated deals pages. We spend hours scouring the web for the best promotions every month so you have them at your fingertips:
- Best iMac deals
- Best Mac mini deals
- Best MacBook Pro deals
- Best MacBook Air deals
- Best iPad deals
- Best Apple Watch deals
- Best Apple Watch 5 deals
- Best HomePod deals
- Best Apple TV deals
- Best AirPods deals
- Best iPhone deals
- Best iPhone 11 deals
- Best iPhone 8 & iPhone 8 Plus
- Best iPhone XS deals
- Best iPhone XS Max deals
- Best iPhone XR deals
- Best iPhone X deals
If you want to compare the different Apple products and their prices, Apple conveniently charts configurations and starting prices on its products:
- MacBook and iMacs - see pricing differences across MacBook and iMac models based on screen size, processors, storage and more. You can choose up to two devices to compare side by side.
- iPads - compare capacities and prices across all iPads, including Wi-Fi and Wi-Fi and Cellular models
- iPhones - use the drop down on Apple's site to compare configurations on up to three different iPhone models. Clicking through to an individual model will take you to the RRP.
- Apple Watch - see prices across all Series, both GPS and Cellular models.
- Apple TV - compare capacity and price across Apple TV against Apple TV 4K.
Where to find the best Apple deals
Beyond Apple, you can expect to find great Christmas deals from authorised Apple resellers such as KRCS. KRCS covers the full range of Apple products, including AppleCare coverage and Beats headphones.
Of course, Amazon is the ultimate juggernaut to watch. We would recommend signing up for the 30-day free trial of Amazon Prime so you can take advantage of the Lightning Deals.
Lightning Deals slash prices off limited stock items, which is why the deals only last a few hours. The benefit of a Prime membership is that you would be able to access the Lightning Deals 30 minutes in advance of non-members.
It's a good idea to keep an eye on the competing retailers that offer Apple products, some of which include:
- AO.com
- Argos
- BT
- Currys PC World
- Carphone Warehouse
- eBay
- John Lewis
- Mobile Phones Direct
- NewEgg
- Very.co.uk
If you're in the US, see these major retailers: