Apple teases upcoming Black Friday ‘one-day shopping event,’ suggesting possible return of discounts

Apple today unveiled a new webpage teasing the upcoming Black Friday shopping holiday. On the webpage, Apple touts that it will be holding a “one-day event” this Friday, much like other retailers do.

Apple, however, has largely stayed out of Black Friday in recent years, instead opting to offload the responsibility of slashing prices to retail partners. If this webpage is any indication though, it seems like Apple might be preparing to reenter the Black Friday game this year…

Apple teases that “Friday can’t come soon enough” and invites customers to come back to shop and start checking items off their list on Friday:

Friday can’t come soon enough. Our one-day shopping event will be here before you know it. Come back this Friday to check everyone off your list.

At this point, Apple’s “one-day event” webpage simply teases the upcoming event and outlines potential gifts across a variety of categories, including Music, Photography, Games & Toys, and actual Apple products.

It’s unclear what exactly Apple has planned for its Black Friday shopping event. Apple has never been one to offer huge discounts on its products during the shopping season (other retailers are where to look for that). Rather, Apple in recent years has generally offered gift cards with the purchase of a product, with the gift card denomination varying depending on which product was purchased. Apple last participated in Black Friday during 2014, offering:

• iPod touch – $25 gift card
• iPod nano – $25 gift card
• Apple TV – $25 gift card
• Select Beats by Dre headphones – $25 gift card
• Any iPad – $50 gift card
• Any Mac – $100 gift card

Going further back, Apple did take some discount off of its products, but the price cuts never brought the deals in line with what other retailers were offering.

At this point, we’ll have to wait and see what Apple has in store for Black Friday 2016. While product discounts are possible, gift cards and perhaps Apple Music promos seem like the most likely scenarios.

Whatever the company decides to do, especially if the deals are available in retail stores, will be notable as Apple’s retail head Angela Ahrendts last year spoke out against the tradition, saying that “being good to your employees will always be good for business.”

In the meantime, check out all of the latest deals over at 9to5Toys.com.