UPDATE: Jan. 23, 2024, 11:15 a.m. EST This post has been updated to track the latest product drops, including a $449.99 5th generation iPad Air and upcoming deals on a Razer gaming keyboard and a Disney+ gift card.
When it comes to shopping, a scarcity mindset is just as convincing as that one friend who always enables you to buy something you don’t need. It’s why there’s often a timer breathing down your neck from the corner of the screen during a sitewide sale. It’s exactly why Amazon’s invite-only Prime Day deals and Black Friday deals popped off, and why Walmart lets Walmart+ members get their hands on new groups of big shopping event deals hours before the general public can.
And it’s probably why Best Buy conveniently announced Best Buy Drops just ahead of the holiday shopping season. We’re pleasantly surprised that Drops turned out to not just be a holiday treat, though — it has solidified its spot as the middle tab of the Best Buy app, and we’ll certainly be taking advantage of this unique shopping hack as long as Best Buy will let us.
Best Buy Drops is a shopping hack dedicated to giving shoppers a heads-up about upcoming high-profile items and deals in categories like gaming, cheap TVs, fan-favorite toys and merch, high-profile hair tools, kitchen gadgets, and more dropping at Best Buy in the next week. As long as you have the Best Buy mobile app, you can preview what’s coming on what day so that you’re ready to click “add to cart” when the item or deal goes live.
If a Drop is currently live while you’re on the app, a status bar showing the percentage of inventory that has been claimed can give an idea of how fast you need to act. Once inventory for a certain Drop is gone, it’s gone.
The Drops tab also keeps a list of past Drops, which have included a limited-edition PlayStation 5 Marvel’s Spider-Man bundle, Pokémon Squishmallows, a super cheap 50-inch TV, and the Apple Watch Ultra 2. Even if you missed these, you at least have an idea of what similar items could pop up in the coming weeks. To look ahead, check the upcoming tab.
For extra cushion, you can opt-in to Drop Alerts for an extra reminder right before the drop of a product you care about goes live. Joining My Best Buy Plus or My Best Buy Total will unlock even better discounts on Drops than what the general public is getting.
Best Buy is only revealing the names of the upcoming products — not their actual Drop prices — in the Drop preview tab, so any prices listed below are the current price of the said product as it is on Best Buy’s site pre-Drop. Drops go live around 11 a.m. ET on the specified day (usually a string of Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday in any given week), and inventory is typically fully claimed by 5 p.m. that day.
Word of a potential OLED iPad traveling through the grapevine doesn’t make us any less obsessed with the latest version of the iPad Air. The 5th generation is the first Air to make the jump to the M1 chip that powers several 2021 MacBook Airs and MacBook Pros, which pairs nicely with its upgrade to the same 8-core CPU that powers the latest iPad Pro. This beastly pairing of specs makes the latest Air one of the fastest, most efficient tablets on the market — and if you have the Magic Keyboard, it becomes a totally viable laptop replacement.
For this Air’s Drop, Best Buy has tacked an extra $50 onto the $100 discount we were already seeing at Best Buy and other retailers. Now, $150 off the latest iPad Air is easily one of the best Apple deals of the week.
Razer makes some of the best gaming equipment in every category. Of its wide selection of gaming keyboards, the Cynosa V2 is likely the option being eyed by gamers on a budget. However, Razer’s ability to offer serious responsiveness (a 1,000Hz polling rate, to be exact), full programmability and N-key rollover, and those coveted individually backlit keys for $59.99 is super impressive. We wouldn’t be surprised if the Cynosa V2 is going for a mere $20 or $30 when it drops.
If you already have an iPad — specifically the 10th generation classic iPad — this Drop is for you. Logitech’s Combo Touch keyboard is a value-packed alternative to the $249.99 Magic Keyboard Folio made by Apple itself. Logitech’s rubber-edged design offers more protection against drops than the Magic Keyboard does, but definitely isn’t so rugged that it’s not still chic. Maybe even more noteworthy, the keyboard is backlit, unlike Apple’s expensive Folio option.
The Logitech Combo Touch is affordable as it is, retailing for $159.99 and on sale for $143.99. While it’s already more than $100 cheaper than the Magic Keyboard Folio ahead of its Drop date, we could see a price tag of $99.99 in its future.
Any respectable multi-console household should simply have a reliable multi-console gamepad like the 8BitDo Pro 2. This wireless controller, which gives GameCube vibes in terms of how it feels in your hand, is compatible with Windows, Mac, Android, and Nintendo Switch games, pairing to whatever device via Bluetooth. This iteration has programmable rear buttons that can be associated with one of the multiple profiles you can create.
The 8BitDo Pro 2 is already a super affordable gamepad at $50, but we could see Best Buy shaving $20 off to make it a quick $29.99 buy.
Disney+ doesn’t really do direct discounts, so your best bet for finding a Disney+ deal usually maxes out at a bundle option — or in this case, taking the discounted gift card route. This $100 gift card could cover a year of Disney+ Basic with ads ($7.99/month) or about seven months of Disney+ Premium without ads ($13.99/month). Unlike most streaming promos for which only new subscribers are eligible, gift cards are just an alternate payment method, so current subscribers are good to go here.
Best Buy offered a 15% discount on Disney+ gift cards during Black Friday, which took the $100 one to $85. We expect the Drop price to match that, or be even cheaper.
