Don’t buy AirPods 2 for $89! Wait for these Sony or Nothing Black Friday earbuds deals instead

I get it: you want to find a few choice early Black Friday deals and avoid the stress of the big weekend itself. You also quite fancy a pair of those AirPods you’ve seen hanging out of people’s ears everywhere you look – and whoa! At Walmart right now, you can get a pair with the charging case for just $89; a $40 saving on their $129 ‘regular’ price.

The thing is, I’m TechRadar’s Audio Editor, and unless it has to be Apple and it absolutely has to be AirPods, I wouldn’t. This isn’t the cheapest they’ve been – and even then, they’re hardly the newest earbuds on the block (having been superseded twice… or four times if you count the Pro versions). While newness isn’t the be-all and end-all when it comes to audio, I think your $89 could be far better spent on something newer in the run-up to Black Friday. What would I nudge you towards? Either of these more fully-featured and sonically superior offerings from Nothing or Sony…

Both of these cheap AirPods alternatives feature in our best budget wireless earbuds lineup. Both are also five-star offerings (versus the 3.5 stars the AirPods gained under intense review) and during recent sales events their humble price tags have actually been slashed even further – and I’ll even tell you the discounts to look out for. Don’t thank me now…

So what do I suggest you snap up if you don’t grab a set of inexpensive AirPods? Let me direct you to the Sony WF-C700N or Nothing Ear (a). Which is best? Well, I’ve even written a versus comparing the Nothing and Sony options, so you can choose for yourself.

Now, I can’t promise you unequivocally that these deals will land again in the run-up to Black Friday, or even over the big weekend itself, but I can show you what has happened before – and will probably happen again if you’re prepared to exercise a little patience. I’m not a betting woman, but if I were, I’d wager these deals will land again soon…

So, the lowest price on the April 2024-release Nothing Ear (a) we’ve seen is $79 (down from $109), which happened in September 2024. And the Sony WF-C700N? The lowest asking fee we’ve seen on these April 2023-release earbuds is $78 (down from $119).

Both feature noise cancellation and a plethora of perks they’ve no business offering at the level – and both are cheaper than those $89 AirPods listed above that don’t have noise cancellation. See what I mean?