Australian technology news, reviews, and guides to help you
Australian technology news, reviews, and guides to help you

2021 Boxing Day sales roundup

With another Christmas Day gone, retailers are hoping Aussie spend big, as the Boxing Day sales kick off for the year.

It’s the end of the year as we know it, and retailers are feeling fine. How do we know? Because sales have kicked in.

If you’re someone planning to take advantage of the December 26 sales period, or even a few days after, and don’t want to clamber into a physical store, you may not need to, as online equivalents whir into action and cut the dollars and cents off items big and small.

Unsurprisingly, it’s happening for electronics, computers, phones, appliances and more, and as we do every year, we’re rounding up some of the items worth checking out from across Australia.

This year, we’re doing it on a store-by-store basis, finding out what could be worth checking out, especially in relation to some of the reviews we’ve made during the year, because we’ve written a fair bit in 2021, and if any of those gadgets have grabbed you, then you might be able to save a few bucks.

Amazon

Sony WF-1000XM4 vs Sony WF-1000XM3

One of Australia’s biggest online stores won’t see you stand in line, but may see you save a few bucks here and there, whether you’re considering something made by Amazon or someone else.

In the former, the Kindle Paperwhite Signature Edition drops to the price near to the non-Signature Edition, falling from $289 to $239, while the Echo Dot 3rd gen soft hockey-puck styled version will cost $19 by itself like it did during the Black Friday sales or $29 with a Lifx lightbulb, handy for folks keen to try out the whole smart home thing.

Elsewhere on Amazon, there are deals on Sony earphones, with the $150 WF-C500 dropping to $96, while the older $400 Sony WF-1000XM3 drops to $178, and this year’s WF-1000XM4 goes from $450 to $337.

Huawei’s FreeBuds 4i will drop from $159 to $79, while the FreeBuds Pro goes from $329 to $179, practically half off for either, while Huawei’s wearables in the Huawei Band 6 and Watch GT models go similarly half off, as well.

There’s a lot more happening in the discounts at Amazon, with way too many to list, ranging from Panasonic Lumix cameras, Lowepro camera bags, KEF speakers, Denon receivers, Fitbit wearables, and so on and so on.

Big W

iPad Air (2020)

Appliances and electronics don’t have to come from dedicated electronics and appliance stores, so we’re looking at Big W, which is getting the cost of the $799 Samsung Galaxy Tab S7 FE to $699, the Fitbit Ace 3 kids wearable from $99 to $69, last year’s 10.9 inch Apple iPad Air from $899 to $839, and BlueAnt’s $169 Pump Air 2 down to $64.50.

JB HiFi

One of Australia’s biggest purveyor of gadgets has a bunch of sales around the place, some of which offer decent discounts provided you’ve been waiting all year for a savings or two.

We won’t list all of them, but the good news is, you won’t have to wait in store and mingle with others, and can do everything online, ranging from $46 off the current benchmark of noise cancelling headphones in the $349 Sony WH-1000XM4, $500 off this year’s Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 3 for $999, $605 off an HP 14 inch Pavilion 2-in-1 hybrid laptop for $993, $304 off a JBL 9.1 channel soundbar going for $1195, and $1107 off a 65 inch LG C1 4K OLED TV down to $2888.

Yes, the Galaxy Z Flip3 is a foldable phone.

The Good Guys

There are some fairly sizeable sales over at the JB HiFi-owned Good Guys, as well, including a Dell 15 inch G15 gaming laptop down from $1399 to $849, $100 off the normally $699 Sonos Beam Gen 2, plus some appliance deals seeing the Nespresso Lattissima One drop from $399 to $329, while the recently reviewed DeLonghi La Specialista Arte goes from $749 to $599 for the sale period.

You may also find some sizeable TVs from the Boxing Day sales at The Good Guys, with 4K TVs dropping in price from most brands, and even maybe the odd 8K TV. Finding 8K content in Australia is still a little difficult, but if you’ve been waiting all year to make the move to either 4K or 8K, you may find the odd deal or two.

Myer

Delonghi La Specialista Arte

A quick glance at Myer’s electronic and appliance range told us that the price drop for the DeLonghi coffee machine wasn’t just limited to electronics retailers, but rather something DeLonghi was likely doing everywhere.

The same La Specialista Arte machine was down to $599 at Myer, while the Breville version of much the same drops from $999 to $599 in the Barista Express, as well as a DeLonghi VertuoPlus Nespresso machine down from $389 to $279, plus some other appliance deals.

Elsewhere in tech, Dyson’s Pure Cool Tower Fan drops from $599 to $498, while the noise cancelling Bose QuietComfort Earbuds drop from $399 to $299, alongside a bunch of other earphones and speakers for a few bucks here and there, as well.

A quick note about Boxing Day sales

Any sale is tinged with a bit of deception, and it’s something any buyer should be aware of.

While the year’s end is the obvious period for when you can expect prices to fall, not every lower price is necessarily that much lower than what you may expect. Some might actually be just the same, or only a few bucks lower, if that.

As such, if you see a price tag that seems good, you might want to search around and see how legitimately low it is. It’s entirely possible you’ll get a better deal if you look rather than simply bet on what you see.

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