MINNEAPOLIS, April 15, 2026, 2:11 PM CDT
Best Buy’s “Ultimate Upgrade Sale” rolls on through April 19, spotlighting new markdowns on Apple gear, TVs, laptops, and phones as part of its spring push. iPad models start at $299, some TVs are marked down by as much as 50%, and select Windows machines are seeing up to $600 slashed off the sticker. AirPods Pro 3 also turned up on Best Buy’s site for $199.99. Best Buy
This is significant, since Best Buy continues to flag choppy electronics demand for investors. Back in March, the company noted that customer demand over the holiday quarter came in a bit weaker for the sector, and it set a fiscal 2027 comparable sales outlook between down 1% and up 1% — that’s a metric that excludes the impact of store openings and closures.
Trade-ins take center stage in this sale. The approach nudges shoppers to swap out old tech, sidestepping a reliance on deep discounts. Best Buy is dangling an extra $150 in trade-in credit for eligible Mac laptops, applied toward select M5 MacBooks. Over on the trade-in offers page, the retailer pitches iPhone 17 Pro deals—up to $1,100 off, if you qualify for activation and trade-in.
Pricing is all over the map right now. TechRadar spots LG’s 48-inch B5 OLED TV—prized for its inky blacks and sharp contrast—down to $599.99. Over at Android Central, the Motorola Razr Ultra (2025) pops up at $699.99. 9to5Toys, meanwhile, singles out an MSI Prestige AI laptop dropping to $1,399.99 after a hefty $600 markdown.
But exclusivity isn’t the rule here. Amazon is lining up with a lot of the same deals and, for select Apple items, actually undercutting prices. Walmart’s also stepping in, locking its AirPods Pro 3 price right where Best Buy has it—so flashy discounts aren’t giving Best Buy much room to stand out this round.
Best Buy’s top brass aren’t sugarcoating the environment. Last month, Chief Executive Corie Barry described holiday-quarter demand as “slightly softer” across the board, and flagged “cost inflation and supply uncertainty” stemming from growing appetite for memory components—the chips powering PCs and phones. Chief Financial and Strategy Officer Matt Bilunas continued to characterize the backdrop as a “mixed macro environment.” Still, Evercore ISI analyst Greg Melich noted that Best Buy’s outlook came in better than many had feared. Best Buy Corporate News and Information
Still, there’s a real risk that the spring shopping season falls flat if pricier components push up sticker tags before buyers are ready to shell out for new upgrades. This week, Goldman Sachs slapped a rare double downgrade on Best Buy, dropping the stock to sell and trimming its price target to $59 from $76. The firm flagged higher memory costs as a concern, saying that if computer and laptop prices climb, demand could take a hit later in 2026.
Best Buy’s offer won’t last long. The deal wraps up at 11:59 p.m. CT on April 19, and according to the company, supplies could run out—no rainchecks if they do.
