Amazon Prime Day 2023: everything you need to know about the next sale

Amazon Prime Day 2023 is drawing ever closer. The retailer's annual two-day mega sale usually takes place in July, so it's just a matter of months until it'll be here again. The start date for this year's event hasn't been announced yet, but until then we're here to bring you all the latest news, rumours and our expectations for this year's Prime Day deals.

So, what is there to say about Amazon Prime Day 2023 so far? Well, even though it's just months away, there still isn't a lot of concrete information we can provide on next year's sale. The retailer usually waits until about a couple of weeks before the start date before making any announcements. 

Nevertheless, we've gathered together all the knowledge we've gained from covering the event for almost a decade and shared it right here. Use it so you can be prepared for the next event and ensure you pick out only the very best bargains.

The retailer's last event featured thousands of products reduced to some of the lowest prices we've seen all year. There was even a small repeat of the most popular Prime Day deals for a second time during the Prime Early Access Sale in October that served as a preview of the retailer's end-of-year sale.

Keep checking in regularly as we share everything related to Prime Day 2023, including the sale's expected start date, our predicted deals and any official information announced by Amazon. You can also find our top tips and advice on how to make the most of the sale and how to find the best Prime Day deals so you're ready for the retailer's next bargain bonanza.

Amazon Prime Day 2023: all you need to know

When was the last Amazon Prime Day?

Last year's Amazon Prime Day took place from Tuesday, July 12 - Wednesday, July 13 and featured a vast number of daily deals (opens in new tab). The retailer first confirmed the dates in a press release at 1am ET on Thursday, June 16.

We believed that the previous Prime Day would return to July - and we even predicted it would take place from Monday, July 11 - Tuesday, July 12 (so we were one day off). It was a return to the usual time period after it was held earlier in June and pushed back to October over the previous two years due to disruption caused by the pandemic.

Prior to this, Prime Day was always held in July and the retailer returned to that month again for the previous event. It started as a 24-hour shopping event back in 2015, before growing to 30 hours in July 2017 and later expanding to a full two days.

This year, the official summer Prime Day event was followed by a second 'Prime Early Access' sale, which is essentially both a re-run of the previous event and a Black Friday deals preview from the retailer.

If you can't get the trial, a Prime membership is currently $14.99 per month or $139 per year. It used to be $12.99 per month or $119 per year but there was a price hike last year.

Do read our Amazon Prime review for full coverage of what you get as part of a membership, including free shipping, access to Prime Video and so much more. That can help you decide if you want to cancel Amazon Prime if you don't intend to remain signed up after the sale.

The history of Amazon Prime Day

Prime Day originally started in 2015 as a celebration of Amazon's 20th anniversary. Designed to encourage people to spend outside of the October-December holiday season, the online retailer says its only goal was to "offer a volume of deals greater than Black Friday".

Since then, it's ballooned into one of the biggest sales in the global retail calendar, with many other large retailers launching promotions of their own to take advantage of the huge online audiences around Prime Day. 

We've seen spending figures of around $11 billion during previous years, which is more than what was spent online during the last two Cyber Monday sales (that's $10.7 billion and $10.9 billion, specifically). Of course, it's important to point out that Prime Day does last 48 hours rather than just a single day, but the numbers are still astounding for what is effectively a single retailer event.

What were this year's best Prime Day deals?

Every year, without question, the best Prime Day deals are on Amazon's own-brand devices. This year there were savings of up to 55% on the Kindle Paperwhite, Echo Show 5, Fire 7 Tablet, and Echo Dot – to name just a few. The retailer has also had a huge selection of budget-friendly Fire TVs, with prices starting at just $89.

One of the most popular Prime Day deals was on the Echo Dot (4th Gen). The budget smart speaker dropped to just $19.99 this year. Not only does that beat the previous record by a whole $5, but we know it was bound to be popular with our readers. Our data from last year showed this handy gadget was a real crowd favorite across TechRadar, Tom's Guide, T3, and other Future websites.

The Fire TV Stick 4K was another favorite from last year and - as if on cue - it returned to its lowest price ever during this year's Prime Day and was one of the most purchased items over the 48-hour sale.

Away from Amazon's own products, deals on major brands such as Samsung, Apple Sony, Bose and SharkNinja were also featured once again. Amazon promised up to 50% off as well as some products from these manufacturers down to their lowest prices ever. While there was some exaggeration, there were big savings to be found on TVs, laptops, headphones and vacuum cleaners from these big brands.

And then, outside of the bigger brands, Amazon continued to make an effort to boost its marketplace sellers in this year's sale. The result was over $3 billion spent on more than 100 million small and medium-sized business products across both days - another new record.

We also saw an early start to this year's back to school sales, as lots of most-wanted tech and essentials for the year ahead were reduced during Prime Day. It was a good time to buy a new laptop or Chromebook, with many devices down to their lowest prices of the year. We also saw big savings on other items such as headphones, portable speakers, clothing and more.

What was the Prime Early Access Sale?

The Prime Early Access sale was an unofficial 'Amazon Prime Day 2.0'. It was a two-day mega-sale that ran between October 11 - 12 and offered early access to thousands of the retailer's Black Friday deals. Amazon devices were featured strongly, as well as many other top tech products such as TVs, laptops, air fryers, headphones and more.

Like the main Amazon Prime Day (which happened in mid-July), the Prime Early Access sale was a Prime members-only event, meaning you had to be signed up to the retailer's premium membership service to take part. It's unclear yet whether a similar sale will take place in 2023, but we'll share any information as soon as we have it.

Amazon Prime Day 2023: our predictions

We're a bit too far away from next year's Prime Day to offer any concrete predictions just yet. However, following the Prime Early Access sale in October, we've put a few thoughts together on how the sale may look in 2023.

The simple answer is to expect something very similar to what we saw last July. Of course, it's unlikely Amazon will simply copy every deal once again. However, if the event does take place then it would be wise to assume that a lot of the popular offers on Amazon devices such as the Fire TV Stick 4K, Echo Dot and Kindle will pop up again.

As for other products, this entirely depends on how it fits into each manufacturer's plans for Black Friday. We've already seen that the end-of-year sales event starts earlier all the time, so there's a reasonable chance that a few big brands get involved ahead of time with Amazon's exclusive Prime member event. Based on that, expect laptops, TVs, headphones and more popular electronics to feature.

If you've got a new Apple device in mind, though, it could be a good time to save big on last-generation hardware and some of the latest models released that year. We'll have a close eye on the new iPad 10.2 as well as the popular MacBook Air and the Apple Watch 8. This could be the time when the cheapest ever prices appear and previous record-lows are broken.

If we hear any more news over the coming months, we'll be sure to share it right here and update our predictions with the latest information.

How to prepare for Prime Day 2023: our pro tips

Want to know how to make the most out of next year's Prime Day sale? We've collected together some buyer's tips and advice just below based on our own experience having covered this event for 8 years now. Some of these tips may seem pretty basic and straightforward to some, but they're definitely not to be overlooked if you're getting a shopping list ready.

1. Find an Amazon Prime free trial...
Amazon Prime Day is reserved for Prime members only. However, if you've not subscribed in the past, Amazon offers a free trial that you can activate in the lead-up to the event. Just be careful that you time your membership to run over the period of Prime Day. Once Amazon confirms when that is, you can work back to decide when to start your free trial

2. ...but don't rely on it
Last year we saw more retailers participating in similar Prime Day sales in order to steal a little of Amazon's pie. We expect stores like Walmart and Best Buy will run their own discounts over the same period this year, which means you can shop around to find the best Prime Day deals possible. Ultimately, you could find a big saving on exactly what you want outside of Amazon where membership isn't required.

3. Know what you want to buy...
Going into big sales events such as Amazon Prime Day with an idea of what you want to buy is a great place to start. Sure, we all like to do a bit of digital window shopping, but knowing what you're after means you can filter out all that noise, dodge the lightning deals and get straight to the good stuff right away. Take the time now to research the price history of your chosen product, as well as the prices of its competitors over the last year - both cheaper and more expensive versions. With that in mind, you can go into Prime Day knowing for yourself what is a good deal.

4. ...but stay flexible
Even if you know everything about the one product you really want, it's unwise to assume that the particular TV, tablet or whatever it is you're after will be on sale. Your heart may be set on a product but the big day can roll around and no savings are found on it. Does that mean you should give up? No way. 

Take all that research you did in the days beforehand to look at similar products. Is there an equivalent cheaper item that's even less for Prime Day, or perhaps that slightly more expensive model is now reduced to a price more in line with your original item? Either way, you could get an even bigger saving or come away with a better product that you would have otherwise missed out on.

5. Get in there early...
When Prime Day begins, you want to be one of the first to check which offers have gone live at midnight - or at least first thing in the morning when you wake up. We don't think that anything is going to sell out in a matter of hours in this early window, but there's definitely a risk that the hottest deals will sell out as the first day goes on. If you see something you really want to buy, get it in your basket right away - you can always cancel the order if you change your mind.

6. ...but check back throughout the event
Just because you've managed to secure your dream deal straight out the gate doesn't mean Amazon is done. New Prime Day deals are released throughout the entire sales window and there are often limited-time lightning deals that may grab your attention. And sold-out products may come back at a later time if you missed out on something big.

How to find the best Prime Day deals

Amazon doesn't always do a great job of promoting the best Prime Day deals. Sure, it will shout about many of its own devices and other well-known products that are on sale, but it's often worth looking beyond these highlighted deals for some even better savings. We do a lot of that searching for you and share our favorite offers right here, but here's some more advice on how to find the best Prime Day deals.

Before the sale begins is a good place to start. In the run-up, Amazon usually has a few offers live that are a tease for the big event. These aren't usually some of the biggest products, but can still be tempting bargains. We sometimes see reductions on its own subscription services such as Audible, Music Unlimited and Kindle Unlimited during this window, making it a good time to sign up.

We also strongly encourage you to keep an eye on Amazon Warehouse (opens in new tab). We often see store-wide discounts of up to 20% across this selection of second-hand, used and open-box products. All items are checked, tested and Amazon-approved before they go back on sale, plus they are covered by the standard returns policy, so you don't have to worry if you run into any issues. Generally, it's an excellent option to bag an even bigger bargain.

Prime Day vs Black Friday - should you wait?

Both Amazon Prime Day and Black Friday generally offer discounts on the same kinds of devices, but there are a few differences between the sales events.

Prime Day deals are largely focused on Amazon itself, while other stores like Best Buy and Walmart compete against them with a few of their own discounts. Competition among shoppers is also significantly reduced on Prime Day, which means that deals are generally easier to find, easier to price check and won't run out of stock so quickly. 

Black Friday, on the other hand, is set across a much larger range of retailers, with prices that tend to be a little cheaper across a wider variety of brands. That does mean putting in a lot more work to make sure you get the best offer possible and keeping a close eye out for limited-time flash sales that make up for most of those lowest recorded prices. With more competition between retailers, though, we do tend to see slightly heavier discounts in November. 

Of course, you may also simply want your tech sooner. If so, we wouldn't recommend waiting five months for the chance of a better discount. There's no guarantee that prices will be any different come Black Friday, especially on Amazon products. You may find some older tech for even less, but then you also run the risk of missing out on the best deals due to the increase in competition.

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