People who want to upgrade their TV into a smart TV are probably waiting for Black Friday to pick up a new deal on the best Amazon Fire TV Stick, as Amazon often discounts its own devices by significant amounts (including Black Friday Prime Video deals, hopefully!).
This year, there’s one Fire TV Stick that I’m expecting to see a particularly great saving (and another that’ll probably see an equal percentage discount, if we’re lucky, but I’ll get more into that later).
This device is the Amazon Fire TV Stick — that is, the ‘basic’ and suffix-free model, as opposed to the Lite, 4K, 4K Max or Cube.
This is the ‘bog-standard’ Fire TV Stick, which used to be considered the entry-level model. It’s usual price is $39.99 / £44.99 and it offers 1080p streaming, an Alexa-enabled Fire TV remote and 8GB memory to install apps.
I say “used to” because Amazon recently discontinued the device, replacing it (and the Fire TV Stick Lite) in its line-up with the brand-new Amazon Fire TV Stick HD. This shiny new device offers the specs of the Fire TV Stick but with a lower price and some improved aspects.
Because of this replacement, I think that Amazon will probably sell the Amazon Fire TV Stick at a significant reduction in its Black Friday sales, as a way of clearing out stick. Expect reductions of about 50%, and possibly also price cuts on accessories and peripherals.
Since the Fire TV Stick Lite was also replaced, we’ll hopefully also see price cuts on this streaming stick. If both get reduced, I’d say that the Fire TV Stick would be the better buy since it does have some upgrades over the Lite, and the prices will probably be similar.
Of course, it’s not guaranteed that Amazon will reduce these streaming sticks, but it seems likely given the line-up changes.
If you already own a streaming stick, there are two other streaming deals which I think you should look out for.
First is the Amazon Fire TV Cube, if you want to upgrade your set-up. This isn’t just a streaming device but a home hub machine, and while its price is usually quite high (think, about $/£100), a price cut would bring it below the three-figure mark.
The second is the Amazon Fire TV Soundbar, which is a loudspeaker that you plug into your TV to improve its audio. I tested it and it made — plus it’s cheaper than other companies’ soundbars (although if you’ve got the cash, you can get some very premium options.
Black Friday falls on Friday, November 29 but Amazon is expected to unveil its sales on Thursday, November 21. We’ll let you know of all the best streaming deals, but some are already live, and you can find more information below: