Best Buy Black Friday Predictions 2026

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Best Buy doesn’t wait for Thanksgiving anymore. Last year its Black Friday Sale started eight days before Black Friday, and the weekly doorbusters that fed it kicked off on Halloween. So if you’re hunting for a TV, a laptop or a pair of headphones this November, the better question isn’t whether Best Buy will have deals, it’s when to start watching. Here’s what we expect from Best Buy’s Black Friday 2026 calendar, what shoppers grabbed last year, and which deals we think are coming back.

Turn on Slickdeals deal alerts for the products you want and we’ll ping you the moment a price drops.

When Will Best Buy’s Black Friday Sale Start Online?

Our prediction: Thursday, Nov. 19, 2026. That’s eight days before Black Friday on Nov. 27, and it’s the same spot on the calendar Best Buy chose two years running. The Black Friday Sale began Thursday, Nov. 21 in 2024 (eight days before Black Friday) and Thursday, Nov. 20 in 2025 (also eight days before). In 2023 it started on the Friday a week ahead, Nov. 17.

Don’t count on a separate online head start. Last year’s sale went live in stores, in the Best Buy app and on BestBuy.com at the same time, and Best Buy never published an exact online start time. We’d still plan on the new prices showing up online around midnight ET on the 19th, but that part is a guess.

The first deals will almost certainly arrive earlier. Best Buy revealed its 2025 holiday calendar on Oct. 20, with weekly doorbusters on select tech every Friday starting Oct. 31. If it follows the same script, expect the 2026 calendar to be announced within the next week or so, the first doorbusters to land around the end of October, and a Cyber Sunday and Monday sale to start Nov. 29, the day before Cyber Monday on Nov. 30.

Will Best Buy Be Open on Thanksgiving, and What Time Do Stores Open on Black Friday?

Best Buy stores were closed on Thanksgiving Day in 2023, 2024 and 2025, and we expect them to stay closed on Thursday, Nov. 26, 2026. The Best Buy app and BestBuy.com keep running, so you can still order from the couch. On Black Friday, stores opened at 6 a.m. and closed at 10 p.m. in both 2023 and 2025, so we’re predicting the same hours on Nov. 27. Hours vary by location, so check your local store’s page before you go.

Best Buy’s Best Black Friday 2025 Deals Recap

Last November, Slickdeals members posted almost 1,300 Best Buy deals, and the ten below earned the highest deal scores. A very big TV and a very cheap MacBook were no surprise, but gift card promotions were. They took three of the ten spots and five of the 27 threads that cleared +100. It mirrors what we saw for Target’s Black Friday sale last year, when the top two deals were gift cards too, so this looks like a trend and not a one-off.

• 98-inch TCL Q55K: posted Nov. 11, 2025, deal score +268. View thread
• Best Buy gift card sale: posted Nov. 29, 2025, deal score +231. View thread
• 13.6-inch MacBook Air M4: posted Nov. 18, 2025, deal score +218. View thread

Just How Big Was Best Buy’s Black Friday? The Numbers Behind the Deals

Best Buy’s November was loud, but only a sliver of it was truly hot. Of the 1,297 Best Buy deal threads, 191 reached a deal score of +30 or better, 98 reached +50, and just 27 broke +100. Apple did the most with the least: its 111 threads produced eight of those 27.

Volume and heat were different things. TVs were the biggest category by far at 239 threads, yet only six cleared +100, which is why the 98-inch TCL stood out as the exception instead of the rule. Laptops (163 threads) and gaming (120) each produced only a handful of breakout deals, and appliances, at 90 threads, produced a single one.

What the numbers don’t show is how closely shoppers were checking the math. On the TCL, one commenter boiled the appeal down to “less than $10 per inch.” I’ve bought a lot of TVs in my days, but I never priced them per inch. Maybe I should?

On the MacBook Air, another buyer explained how they got there: “Thanks, ordered the 13″ M4 16/256 using the PayPal 20% rewards Pay-In-4 promotion. Was planning on having BB price match Amazon, but this made it easier.” And on the PlayStation trade-in, the skeptics were just as vocal, with one reader noting that “The credit is a deal, but not the price of the PS5 and PS5 Pro.” The pattern is that the best Best Buy deals weren’t only about the sticker price, but about what you could stack onto it. That’s usually how you get the very best deals.

Best Buy Black Friday 2026 Predictions: What We Expect on Sale

Gift cards are our surest bet. Best Buy ran five separate gift card promotions that cleared +100 last November, with discounts of 15% to 20% on cards like Instacart, DoorDash and Fandango At Home, plus bonus Best Buy eGift cards on Apple and Amazon cards. We expect a similar lineup in 2026, probably with the same per-customer limits (shoppers reported a cap of two Instacart cards), so plan to buy your cards early in the sale rather than waiting for the last day.

On the electronics side, we expect large TVs and Apple products to carry the event again. Six TV deals cleared +100 last year, led by TCL’s 98-inch Q55K at $1,000 and joined by 48-inch LG B5 OLEDs at around $530 to $550, so look for another aggressive big-screen doorbuster in the Nov. 19 launch. Apple’s run included AirPods 4 at $84.99, AirPods Pro 3 at $220, the 13.6-inch MacBook Air M4 at $749 and the Mac mini at $479. We’d expect those product lines back, with newer models taking the headline spots wherever Apple has refreshed them since.

Gaming looks less like a straight price cut and more like a deal with strings attached. The PS4 trade-in offer, worth $170 off a PS5 or PS5 Pro, scored +191, while only two gaming threads of the 120 posted cleared +100 all month, and shoppers were openly unimpressed by console pricing. We expect Best Buy to lean on trade-ins, bundles and gift card bonuses again, and members should also watch their inboxes: last year’s free $5 or $10 My Best Buy certificate scored +203, and a similar member perk is a reasonable bet for 2026.

How to Get the Top Best Buy Black Friday Deals

Set alerts for the specific models you want now, since Best Buy’s doorbusters tend to be limited in quantity and the best prices often disappear in hours. Check the deal score and price history on the Slickdeals thread before you buy, so you know whether a “Black Friday price” is actually a low. And if you’re a My Best Buy Plus or Total member, it pays to use it: last year those members earned up to $25 in bonus rewards on doorbuster purchases, and in 2024 they got early access to the weekly doorbusters before everyone else.

Then look for ways to stack. Last year’s MacBook Air buyers layered a PayPal cash back promotion and open-box pricing on top of the sale price, and gift card buyers reported extra cash back from card offers. Similar promos may return, so check the comments on a deal before you check out. Best Buy also runs a Holiday Price Match Guarantee that covers price drops on products it sells during the holiday season (some exclusions apply), so you can buy early without worrying that the price will fall a week later. Most gifts bought from Oct. 31 through Dec. 31 last year could be returned through Jan. 15, which gives you room to shop early too.

Why Check Slickdeals for Best Buy Deals?

Retailers decide what a “deal” is. Our community decides whether it’s real. Every Best Buy deal on Slickdeals is posted and voted on by shoppers, so the ones that rise to the top have already been checked against price history and competing offers. That’s why we built this guide from what our members actually voted up, not from Best Buy’s own ad copy.