If you're starting to feel the bite, this year's Memorial Day sales could be a great time to pick up some well-considered bargains. It's not just one of the biggest sales events of the year, but one that's quickly expanded to cover a huge number of categories.
While the Memorial Day sales have traditionally been synonymous with blow-out summer starter deals on cheap grills and outdoor essentials, they cover much more than that. Arguably, it's the biggest sales event of the year outside of Black Friday and Amazon Prime Day and it's particularly good for cheap tech.
We've been covering it for many years here at TechRadar, so believe us when we say you might just be surprised at the breadth of the sale. It's a great time to pick up a bargain and that's doubly important this year as everybody, us included, is feeling the squeeze of increased living costs.
So, here's a quick rundown of a few areas that we think are particularly worth keeping an eye on in the Memorial Day sales this year - and some of them may be surprising.
1. Cheap TVs
TVs might not be the first thing you think of when the Memorial Day sales come to mind, but Walmart, Best Buy, and Amazon love a cheap 4K TV sale - especially during big retail events like Black Friday, Amazon Prime Day, and yes, even Memorial Day.
TV sales tend to be so good during these events that we strongly advocate holding off upgrading your old set until the next big retail event hits - and that's now Memorial Day. While you don't generally don't need to rigidly wait until the day itself to get the biggest bargain, the best TV deals do tend to coalesce around these events.
For example, we're already seeing some stellar early Memorial Day TV sales from Amazon this week, the best of which is a bonkers $500 price cut on this 65-inch set from Toshiba:
At half price, it's very hard to argue with the above deal if you're looking for a decently sized mid-range display. For the money, it's an extremely featured-packed display from a well-known brand, and we think one of the best TV deals in this price bracket since Black Friday.
Another fantastic choice is today's price on the LG C1 OLED at Amazon. If you're on a tight budget then you'll probably want to skip this one, but it's well worth considering if you've got a bit more cash to spend. Not only is it one of the best TVs you can buy currently, but it's a favorite here at TechRadar.
This price on the LG C1 at Amazon is the cheapest yet and represents a real bargain. The discount exceeds that which was offered by Amazon over Black Friday, making it easily one of the best high-end TV deals of the year so far.
2. Phones
Big sales events like Memorial Day are a great time to upgrade your phone. Not only do leading carriers like AT&T and Verizon tend to offer their best upgrade and trade-in deals during these events, but you'll often find unlocked devices at their lowest-ever prices too.
For example, if you head over to Amazon now, you'll find all the latest Samsung Galaxy S22 flagship for just $25 more than its cheapest ever price. It's not uncommon to find price cuts on Android flagships, but this is one of the better discounts we've seen on this model - and one of the first ever, actually.
Verizon is also offering some exciting deals ahead of Memorial Day. Alongside the usual trade-in rebates of up to $800 on the iPhone 13, you'll also find the new iPhone SE 2022 being given away for free with a new line on an unlimited data plan.
While a line on one of these plans is expensive ($80 per month-ish), not being tied to a trade-in makes this deal one of the most flexible offerings from big red. It's definitely worth checking out if you want to save some cash in the long run on your next mobile device.
3. Mattresses
Mattresses have been quietly undergoing a revolution over the past few years. Spearheaded by premium online brands like Nectar, Casper, and Saatva, they're now big business, and it isn't uncommon for people to shell out upwards of a grand to get themselves a mattress specifically engineered for a perfect night's sleep.
The Memorial Day sales are a very good time to pick up a deal on a mattress, though, with many of these brands offering excellent sales. Outside of Black Friday (aka the 'big one'), we often see some of the lowest mattress prices of the year over Memorial Day - they then rise again over the summer to their highest prices - so it's worth keeping an eye on the Memorial Day mattress sales if you think your bedroom setup could use an upgrade.
Alternatively, if you can't stretch to a new mattress at the moment, a good way to breathe new life into your bed is via a mattress topper. These are considerably cheaper, but will give you support and comfort without having to fork out for a whole new mattress - and there are lots of Memorial Day deals already. You'll find all today's lowest prices in our best mattress topper guide.
