The 4th of July sales and Amazon Prime Day are both great opportunities to grab a mid-summer bargain. Generally speaking, both events offer great deals and we always cover them at TechRadar. However, you might be wondering what the differences are and what you should buy at each event.
Luckily I can help. I've been covering these events as Deals Editor at TechRadar for four years, so I have plenty of tips, advice, and experiences to share with our readers. If you have your Fourth of July shopping list ready but are wondering if you should just wait until Prime Day (or even Black Friday), I'll tell you exactly what to expect from each sale.
While you're here, I recommend you bookmark our 4th of July and Amazon Prime Day deals pages, which we'll be using to round up the best deals from each event. If you're looking for expertly curated deals, these pages should be your first stop for the next month.
The key differences, explained
4th of July sales are a 'traditional' sales event
The 4th of July sales are what I would call a “traditional” sales event, one where deals are shared between online retailers and brick-and-mortar stores. Overall, it's a pretty similar setup to other federal holiday sales like Memorial Day and Labor Day, which are other seasonal sales that tend to feature similar types of deals.
Amazon Prime Day, on the other hand, is an exclusive online mega sale at the world's largest retailer. It's a two-day event that's specifically all about Amazon and you'll need to be an active Amazon Prime member to gain access to the exclusive deals on offer.
It's worth noting that other retailers have started trying to get in on the action in recent years by offering their own “anti-Prime Day” sales during the Amazon Prime Day period. Overall, Prime Day has become a sort of mini Black Friday event in July, though perhaps not quite as broad in scope yet.
What to buy at each event
- 4th of July sales on appliances, furniture, grills, mattresses.
- Amazon Prime Day for TVs, laptops and electronics
I would mostly recommend the 4th of July sales on appliances, furniture, grills, mattresses, etc., you know, the kind of stuff you'd buy at an outlet store. There are plenty of other deals (more on that later), but generally speaking, these top categories are the best buys for the 4th of July and other seasonal sales.
Amazon Prime Day, on the other hand, is what I’d recommend for electronics. TVs, laptops, headphones and the like. While the retailer’s huge inventory covers a wide range of everyday essentials, it’s typically the deals on electronics that we recommend people check out here at TechRadar – especially on own-brand devices like Echo Dots, Kindles or Fire TV Sticks. We typically find Black Friday-level deals on models we’ve personally tested and reviewed on the site, so it’s easy to recommend waiting until Prime Day to buy electronics.
It's not that simple, however.
Yes, unfortunately not. While Amazon Prime Day remains the premier mid-summer sales event, the Fourth of July sales can sometimes have some great hidden gems. It's not unusual to see decent price cuts on TVs, laptops, or other electronics early in the month at retailers like Dell, HP, Best Buy, and others.
Right now, for example, HP's official store is running its own 4th of July sale, offering up to 55% off its range of Pavilion, Envy and Specter laptops – one of the best events we've seen for part of the retailer in recent months. Dell is also running a “summer sale” right now with major price drops, although we may see an even better “Black Friday in July” sale at some point based on recent years.
That's why it's definitely worth checking out the 4th of July deals, even if you're shopping for electronics. Overall, we expect Amazon Prime Day to have better deals, but there might be a few hidden gems here and there, which we'll of course include in our 4th of July deals roundup.
