Amazon Prime Day 2019’s deals and drama

Amazon Prime Day 2019, the two-day shopping holiday, is wrapping up, and almost everything that was discounted earlier in the week is either sold out or back to its original price. However, not all of the deals are done just yet. We’ve sorted through the remains of Prime Day to see if any deals were left over. There are only a few deals left compared to the hundreds that we originally picked out, but we’ve laid out the best deals below.

You can still get a Samsung Galaxy S10 for as low as $499 at Best Buy, but only if you activate service in-store through Sprint, Verizon, or AT&T. This discount brings the S10E down to $349.99. Otherwise, unlocked Samsung Galaxy S10 phones can still be found for around $200 off at Amazon and B&H Photo.

Updated 12:51PM ET, July 17th: As you can see from the list of expired deals below, most Prime Day discounts have come to an end. However, there are still some good deals happening.

Day 2 of Amazon Prime Day 2019 is underway, and things are slowing down. There are fewer Lightning Deals popping up than we saw yesterday, though there are still some great prices to check out. You’ll have time to shop the tech deals below until tonight at 2:59AM ET / 11:59PM PT.

Ahead of the strike, an effort had been made to decorate the fulfillment center in Shakopee for Prime Day. There were silvered balloons spelling out MSP1, the name of the warehouse, visible through the glass visitor’s window in the lobby, and walls of smiling Amazon boxes festooned with Prime Day banners. Also in the window: a large, smiling man in a blazer, some sort of security person, but it was hard to say because his ID tag was tucked out of sight in his armpit. Above the turnstiles was written: Work Hard. Have fun. Make History. That sign was permanent. 

The week before, the Shakopee workers had announced their intention to strike on the first day of Prime Day, which this year lasts two days. It would be the first work stoppage at a US facility during a peak shopping time, the most ambitious in an escalating series of actions at the Shakopee fulfillment center. 

There’s been a huge amount of publicity generated by Amazon Prime Day (publicity that, in all honesty, The Verge has contributed to, covering both Prime Day Deals and Prime Day boycotts). However, there are obviously other places to buy from out there in the wilds of the web. We took a quick poll of The Verge’s staff, and came up with a few favorite sources for books, gifts and other products that you might want to try if you’re not a member of Prime, want to do some comparison shopping, or just want to see something a bit different.

This is by no means a complete list. In fact, it’s only a beginning — there is an incredible variety of stores outside of the Amazon ecosystem (many of which also sell via Amazon). But we thought we’d offer a few alternatives, just to get you started.

If you want fast, consistent Wi-Fi coverage throughout your home, you should think about getting a mesh Wi-Fi system. A single wireless router can only cover so much ground before the signal starts to deteriorate, but placing mesh Wi-Fi beacons around your house helps to vastly broaden the coverage without a noticeable decrease in download or upload speed.

Several mesh Wi-Fi systems are discounted for Amazon Prime Day 2019. Brands like Amazon’s own eero, Netgear’s Orbi, Nokia’s mesh Wi-Fi bundles, Google, and others are participating with some deals you might be interested in.

Fitbit has announced a few price cuts on its catalog of fitness trackers for Amazon Prime Day 2019. The best deal of the bunch is on the Fitbit Versa Lite, which is currently $119.95. That’s $30 off of its usual $159.95 price. This is the biggest price drop yet for this model, and it can track sleep and various exercises. However, it doesn’t offer music playback, swim laps, floors traveled, or Wi-Fi connectivity — features found in the more expensive Versa. Speaking of the Versa, that’s a little cheaper, too. It’s $169.95 instead of its usual $199.95 price.

The Versa is a good option for most people, unless you want to track your runs or walks without bringing a phone with you. If that describes you, the Fitbit Ionic has GPS built-in, as well as NFC for contactless payments, and support for all of the workouts listed above. The Ionic is $169.95, as well, down from $249.95.

It’s not often you find a too-good-to-be-true deal on an 4K HDR OLED TV, but Google Express is coming through on Amazon Prime Day, per Android Central. The 55-inch LG C8 OLED is $948 right now, the lowest price that we’ve seen.

To get this discount price, simply click the “add to cart” button at Google Express. Doing so will knock $548 off of the total, then enter the code FOHTTK at checkout to save another $100 off of the original price. This deal ends tomorrow, or sooner if supply runs dry.

The Microsoft Surface Headphones marked an impressive debut for the company in a new product category, and today you can buy them for far, far below their usual cost. As part of Prime Day, Amazon has discounted the noise-canceling headphones all the way down to $189.99. Microsoft Store is offering them for $189.99.

The Surface Headphones originally sold for $350 — in line with competition from Sony and Bose. It’s been possible to find them for less in recent months, but this is a very appealing price. It was difficult to recommend them at over $300, but a sale that drops them to under $200 changes the story quite a bit.

If you’re a shopping enthusiast or just in need of some new tech, then you’ll be glad to know that Amazon Prime Day 2019 is going strong. This annual event from one of the biggest online retailers is offering deals on computers, headphones, displays, games, and (as you might expect) a variety of Amazon-labeled devices. So if you want to save a little money (and who doesn’t these days?), then this is the place to be. We’re searching out some of the best deals so you don’t have to.

Amazon Prime Day 2019 runs on July 15th and 16th, but you don’t have to shop at Amazon to get some great deals. Several other retailers, including Target, B&H Photo, Best Buy, and more, are getting in on the savings, too. What’s better is that most retailers across the US don’t require a membership.

It’s still worth checking out the best Amazon Prime Day 2019 deals, if only because there’s a good chance that your preferred retailer will be able to price-match a product that you’re interested in buying.

If you’re looking to buy a new 4K TV, Amazon Prime Day is a good opportunity to do just that. The online retailer is slashing prices for popular sets from LG, Sony, and many of its Fire TV Edition partners.

Fire TV Edition TVs run Amazon’s Fire TV software; there’s no need to buy a separate streaming box or stick. They don’t match top-tier TVs in terms of picture quality, but still offer a 4K image that many will find perfectly acceptable (especially for the price).

If you buy a Nintendo Switch at Amazon for $299 (its regular price), you’ll receive a $35 eShop credit, which you can use toward a new game on the eShop. It’s not technically a price cut, though it’s an Amazon Prime Day deal that brings a much better value than the standard console offering. It guarantees that you’ll have something to play shortly after unboxing the portable console.

Joy-Con controllers are an accessory that you’ll need if you want to play multiplayer modes in games like Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, and more. Those come in pairs for just $59.99 (usually $79.99) right now at Amazon.

The Instant Pot Duo Plus 60 6-quart pressure cooker is $55.99 for Amazon Prime Day 2019. This is $15 off of its usual price, and though it’s not the lowest price this model has ever been, it’s still a good price price to pay for such a handy kitchen tool. If you want a larger or smaller size, those are discounted, too.

If you do all of your cooking on the stovetop, the Instant Pot can handle most of those tasks without the worry of keeping the stovetop element or flame on all day. The Duo Plus 60 model is a 9-in-1 device, serving as a rice cooker, slow cooker, steamer, yogurt maker, food warmer, and pressure cooker. It can sauté food, sterilize, and cook eggs, as well.

If you’re in the market for an unlocked Samsung Galaxy S10, today is the best day to pull the trigger, as the entire line of S10 phones is at their lowest price ever for Amazon Prime Day. Amazon is cutting $300 off of the S10 and S10 Plus, while the S10E is selling for $200 below its launch price. Since these are US unlocked models, they are compatible with all four major carriers (and their related subsidiaries), have full US warranties, and do not require signing up for any specific service plans.

In addition to the S10 line, Amazon is discounting last year’s Galaxy S9 and Note 9 models, the Google Pixel 3 and 3 XL, some Motorola devices, the Razer Phone 2, and a handful of Nokia phones, including an aggressive $200 discount on the flagship Nokia 9 PureView.

Prime Day 2019 starts on Monday, July 15th, but Amazon has announced that it will knock the prices on a bunch of products down a day before it begins, starting on Sunday, July 14th, at 3PM ET / 12PM PT. Two of the announced deals below will begin first thing Monday morning.

As far as what you’ll find for less, the list is already pretty big. There’s a good mix of Amazon Kindle e-readers, Fire tablets, Fire TV streaming devices, Echo smart speakers, and more. Some products that usually avoid hitting the discount chopping block have been included, too.

Amazon is now powerful enough to push its own holiday onto the calendar. Starting Monday, Prime Day will kick off with an avalanche of deep discounts — and Amazon is doing everything it can to make sure it feels festive. In fact, the company is doing so much, it might make you uncomfortable.

Last Wednesday, the company hosted an exclusive concert for Prime members, with performances from SZA and Taylor Swift. It was a bit tacky, but the general message to users was unmistakable: it’s good to be a Prime member! (“As Alexa launches into an original rap about Jane Lynch,” one reviewer raved, “I can feel my soul scream to be delivered back into the ethereal mush of the pre-born realm, to begin again brand new.”) It’s particularly inescapable online, where deal roundups and alerts flood websites (including this one) to a level not even Christmas can match.

If you’re attracted by the goodies being offered during the Prime Day sales, but you haven’t signed up for Amazon Prime, don’t worry — Amazon makes it very easy. (As you’d expect, it’s the sorry vendor who makes it difficult for people to become new customers.)

Prime Day is, of course, a once-a-year event. Amazon has come up with a bunch of features to entice people to sign up to its Prime service. These include: access to Prime Video, the streaming video service; free two-day shipping on purchases (with same-day delivery for some items); Prime Music audio streaming (not to be confused with the more extensive Amazon Music Unlimited, which is an additional $7.99 / month); online photo and video storage; Prime Reading, which gives access to a library of comics, books, and magazines; and, last but certainly not least, you get a 30-day free trial.

Amazon workers at a Shakopee, Minnesota warehouse plan to strike for six hours during Prime Day to demand safer working conditions and secure jobs. According to Bloomberg, workers across two shifts will leave the warehouse and protest outside the facility; they’ll also be joined by some engineers from the Amazon Employees For Climate Justice group who plan to fly in to support the strike.

There have been a number of strikes at Amazon warehouses on major shopping days, like Black Friday, but those protests have been in Europe, where unions are much stronger. Protests in the US have been far more limited, but there’s been a growing movement at this warehouse in particular. A group of Somali-American workers walked off the Shakopee warehouse in December and then again in March, demanding the company relax quotas during Ramadan and offer a space to pray.

Pretty much every company is finding a way to get involved in the lead-up to Prime Day 2019, which starts July 15th. Google is one of them, and it announced price cuts on most of its smart home devices. The deals will last through July 17th, the day after Prime Day concludes.

A few retailers besides Google Store are participating in this sale, including Best Buy, B&H Photo, and Walmart. You’ll find a few of the best deals below, and you can check out more at the Google Store.

Amazon’s Fire TV Recast, its Alexa-enabled take on the Slingbox, is currently discounted from its regular price of $230 down to $130. You’ll need to be a Prime subscriber to take advantage of the deal, but if that’s the case then you can get the device at its cheapest price ever. According to the price tracker CamelCamelCamel, the cheapest the Fire TV Recast has been previously was $180, and that was back in November. 

When we reviewed Amazon’s DVR last year we generally liked its user interface, but we weren’t fans of the mobile app, and its limit of two concurrent streams felt too low. That made the device hard to unambiguously recommend at its $230 starting price, but with a $100 discount these limitations could be glossed over by some. 

Amazon Prime Day 2019 is still a few weeks away — it starts on July 15th, in case you hadn’t heard. But right now, Prime members can save $30 on a year-long membership to Audible, the company’s audiobook platform. Not just that, but Amazon will also toss in an Echo Dot (third-generation) to go with it for an extra $1.

Paying for a year of Audible service usually costs $150, and the Echo Dot costs an extra $50 at regular price. It should go without saying that this is a far better deal than usual, and buying a year-long subscription is smarter than paying month to month, which costs you $180 after a single year.

Amazon Prime Day 2019, the two-day shopping extravaganza held exclusively for Amazon Prime subscribers, starts Monday, July 15th at 12AM PT / 3AM ET, and ends on July 16th at 11:59PM PT / 2:59AM ET. There will be thousands of deals to check out across every product category on Amazon’s massive online storefront, and some of these discounts will be the best you’ll see until Black Friday.

Part of Prime Day’s fun comes from buying things that you didn’t expect to buy and maybe didn’t budget for. Based on last year’s Prime Day, there will be new Lightning Deals every few minutes of the 48-hour stretch, and they’ll often be pretty good products, too.