Black Friday 2026: how to tell a real tech deal from a dressed-up one

Black Friday lands on 27 November this year, and the “was” prices are already going up on the shelves. Here is the uncomfortable truth before the countdown timers start: for most tech, Black Friday is a perfectly ordinary time to buy. It is rarely the best one.

That isn’t a hunch. Which? has tracked Black Friday prices at the big UK retailers for several years running, and the pattern barely moves. The useful question isn’t “is this on offer?” but “has it been this price before, and will it be again?”

What the price tracking actually shows

Which?’s latest analysis followed 175 home, tech and health products that were on offer on Black Friday 2024 at eight retailers, including Amazon, AO, Argos, Currys, John Lewis and Richer Sounds. Every one of them was the same price or cheaper at some point in the six months either side. Not a single product hit its lowest price of the year on the day itself.

The examples are quietly instructive. A Sonos Move 2 was listed at £339 at Richer Sounds on Black Friday, having been £329 on 19 days in the previous six months. A 2024 Samsung QN90D TV at AO was £1,039 on the day and was cheaper on 134 days afterwards, falling as low as £759. If you bought a television on Black Friday, the January sales may have been the better bet.

The year before told the same story. Of 227 Black Friday deals Which? checked from the 2023 sale, 92% were the same price or cheaper at other times. More tellingly, for six in ten of those deals the higher “was” price had been charged less than half the time in the previous year, and for 14 of them the retailer had never charged it at all in the previous 12 months. A discount from a price nobody paid is not much of a discount.

Hasn’t the law caught up with this?

Partly. Since April 2025 the Competition and Markets Authority has been able to enforce consumer law directly under the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act, including fines of up to 10% of a business’s global turnover. Its first investigations under those powers, opened in November 2025, focused on hidden mandatory fees, drip pricing and pressure selling, according to the law firm CMS.

On “was” prices specifically, the picture is less tidy. In July 2026 the High Court found that Emma Sleep had committed several admitted infringements, but declined to back the CMA’s proposed fixed rule on how often a reference price must actually have been charged, as TLT’s summary of the judgment explains. The regulator has more teeth than it used to, but there is still no simple formula a retailer must meet before printing “save £100”. Your own scepticism remains the most reliable protection.

There is one bright spot. Which? found that Currys’ analysed products in 2024 really were at their cheapest on Black Friday compared with the six months before, in line with a pledge the retailer made. They were the same price or cheaper in the six months after, though, so patience still had its reward.

So when is it worth buying?

Black Friday is fine if three things are true: you were going to buy the thing anyway, the price is at or near the lowest it has been, and you’d be happy paying it again if you saw it next week. Which? puts it neatly: if you weren’t planning to buy it, it isn’t a deal but an impulse buy.

Tech launched in the last couple of months is a slightly different case. New flagships rarely see deep cuts this early, so a modest Black Friday saving on something brand new can be real. Older models being cleared to make way for successors are where the steepest genuine falls tend to appear, and they are worth a look if last year’s features suit you.

What to do this month

Make a short list now, before the adverts start. Two or three things you actually need, with the most you’d pay for each.
Check price history, not the “was” price. Which? recommends PriceSpy and PriceRunner, and camelcamelcamel for Amazon. If the deal price has appeared more than a few times this year, there’s no hurry.
Compare at least three UK retailers. The same product often sits at different prices in different shops on the same day.
Check who is selling it. On marketplaces, make sure the item is sold and shipped by the retailer or a seller you trust, and watch for unusually cheap branded accessories.
Ignore the countdown timer. If a price disappears at midnight, the January sales and spring clear-outs will bring it, or something like it, back.