Amazon has slashed prices on almost every one of its Echo smart speakers and Echo Show smart displays for Black Friday Echo deals, and we have all the details.
Once you’ve grown accustomed to controlling your lights with voice commands, you’ll quickly find you want to control everything else in your home with a smart speaker. And that will inevitably lead to a desire to install smart speakers—and smart displays—in every room. And Amazon’s Alexa is the most widely supported digital assistant on the market, despite the increasingly strong efforts from Apple (Siri) and Google (Google Assistant).
Whether you’re shopping for your first Amazon Echo device or you’re bringing Alexa to yet another room in your home (hey, there’s always the bathroom, the garage, the enclosed patio…), Black Friday is the perfect time to scoop up a great deal. And don’t overlook Amazon’s bundle offers that combine its Echo speakers with another product. Some of those are even better deals than buying an Echo device by itself. Here’s an example: You can buy an Echo Dot with Clock (5th Gen) for $40, or you can buy the very same device at the same price and get a 2-pack of Philips Hue white A19 smart bulbs bundled for free!
If Alexa isn’t your game, be sure to check out TechHive’s complete Black Friday coverage for more smart home and home entertainment deals.
Best Black Friday deals on Amazon Echo smart speakers
Best Black Friday Deals on Amazon Echo Show smart displays
Best Black Friday bundle deals on Amazon Echo smart speakers
Best Black Friday Deals on third-party Alexa-compatible smart speakers
Black Friday Amazon Echo deals: FAQ
Are Black Friday Echo and Alexa deals really worth it?
Yes, while Amazon frequently puts its Echo smart speakers and smart displays on sale—during Prime Day, for instance—we’ve found legitimate good deals on almost every model this week.
Are Black Friday Echo and Alexa deals limited to lower-quality models?
No. While we like some models better than others, all of Amazon’s Echo devices are very high quality. The later generations of speakers produce better sound than the older ones, but if you’re primarily using a smart speaker to control your lights or ask for information, versus playing music, sound quality isn’t all that important anyway. Amazon’s Echo Show smart displays are differentiated primarily by screen size, so the bigger the display, the higher the price tag—with one exception: The sale price of the Echo Show 10 (10-inch display) is the same as the Echo Show 15 (15-inch display). The difference between those two models is that the Echo Show 10 is equipped with a motor that spins its display so that it’s always facing you. The Echo Show 15, meanwhile, is designed for wall mounting, unless you buy an accessory.
What’s the difference between a smart speaker and a smart display?
Amazon’s first Echo product was a speaker with a microphone array that you could use to summon Alexa, a cloud-based digital assistant. As time went on, Amazon built better and higher-quality speakers, but soon also expanded into smart displays. The latter offer all the same features as a speaker, but integrate a touchscreen display of varying sizes. You can use these displays to watch videos, follow recipes, and perform lots of other tasks. You can also use them to watch a live feed from compatible security cameras and video doorbells.
The Echo Dot with Clock is an in-between device: It has an LCD clock face to show the time–the most common task Echo users ask Alexa to perform–but that’s the extent of its display capabilities.
Which generation of each Echo model is the latest?
To our knowledge, none of the previous generations of any Echo speaker is entirely obsolete, they just don’t have all the features–or the audio performance–of the latest models. So, buying a previous-generation device is a great way to save a lot of money. That said, the Echo Dot, Echo Dot with Clock, and Echo Dot Kids Edition (5th Gen) are the latest versions of Amazon’s smallest Echo speakers; the Echo (4th Gen) is the latest version of its larger sibling; the Echo Show and Echo Show Kids Edition (2nd Gen) are the latest versions of Amazon’s 5-inch smart display; and the Echo Show 10 (3rd Gen) is the latest–and so far only–model to have a motorized touchscreen. These Echo models are all first-generation products and have not been superseded: The Echo Show 15, Echo Studio, and Echo Sub.
Can you point me to an article that compares the Echo family with other brands of smart speakers?
Why is it called ‘Black Friday?’
Conventional wisdom is that retailers operate “in the red” (i.e., they’re not profitable) until the day after Thanksgiving, when huge sales enable them to finally turn a profit (i.e., they’re “in the black”). This year, Black Friday falls on November 25.
All these deals are at Amazon. Do you need to be an Amazon Prime member to get Amazon’s best Black Friday deals?
Unlike Amazon’s increasingly frequent Prime Day sales, you don’t need to subscribe to Amazon Prime to score any of these deals. But a Prime membership does come with other benefits, including free shipping. You also get subscriptions to Amazon Prime Video, Amazon Music, and Prime Gaming.
Amazon Prime costs $14.99 a month, or $139 per year, and you can sign up for a free 30-day Prime trial.