Sony
WH-1000XM3
Test score
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Looking for a cheap deal on a pair of Apple AirPods? We’ve rounded up some of the best offers you can find in the sales right now, along with some cheaper alternatives that are worth considering.
Thanks to being truly wireless earbuds, Apple AirPods are both compact and save you from the daily untangling of wires. However, even when discounted they're not exactly cheap. If you're willing to look elsewhere, there are plenty of wireless earbuds from rival manufacturers that often get bigger discounts and still perform well.
We've scoured the market for the best deals at the moment. The deals we’ve covered here were all available on 30th June 2022, but please be aware that deals won’t necessarily last the full month.
Just looking for a decent set of headphones that won't break the bank? Check out our best cheap headphones for 2022
We like: Comfortable
We don’t like: Quite a bit of sound leaks to your surroundings
With the launch of the third-generation Apple AirPods in October last year, the price of this second-generation model (which launched in 2019) has fallen, making it a good time to buy. The cheapest we can find them at this month is £109, which is about £10 less than their typical price.
Find out whether they’re still a good choice in our Apple AirPods (2nd Gen) review.
Buy for £109 from Amazon, AO and Currys or Boots.
We like: Comfortable, easy to use
We don’t like: Can be hard to maintain phone call conversations in noisy places
This latest version of the Apple AirPods have an RRP of £169, but the best price we found this month is £159.
Find out if they’re right for you in our Apple AirPods review.
Buy for £149 from Laptops Direct.
We like: Easy to use, water resistant, offers wireless charging
We didn’t like: Limited functionality on Android devices, no equaliser to adjust sound preferences
Normally selling for around £200 in the main high-street retailers, a reasonable discount can be had on the AirPods Pro by turning to online sellers at the moment.
Find out whether they’re the best option for you in our Apple AirPods Pro review, or buy now for £184 from Amazon.
We like: Comfortable, good build quality
We didn't Like: App is Android-only
Samsung's answer to the Apple AirPods Pro, the Galaxy Buds 2 are wireless, in-ear headphones with active noise cancelling, and they're designed for use with Android devices.
The earpieces are waterproof and they come with a small charging case, so you can charge the battery when you're not using them.
Read our Samsung Galaxy Buds 2 review or buy them for £89 in white from Laptops Direct, or for £99 in black from Amazon.
We like: Over 6 hours of battery life
We Don't Like: Sound quality isn't great when making calls inside
These headphones come with noise cancelling, helping to block out unwanted background sounds. They also come with a charging case which will give you 24 hours of listening. They're normally on sale for £129, but you can currently pick them up for under £100.
Find out whether they're a match for your ears by reading our expert Sony WF-1000XM3 review or buy them for £98 from John Lewis, Boots or Amazon, or £99 from Currys.
We like: Comfortable, affordable
We didn't like: App only available for Android devices
There are zillions of Apple AirPods lookalikes out there, but this Huawei pair has proved to be incredibly popular and very widely available at retailers. They're intended for Android device users tempted by the Apple AirPods-style design - and the price difference is remarkable compared to Apple's pair - even more so considering these offer active noise-cancelling to remove unwanted noises around you.
Are they as good as their popularity suggests, or is there something to watch out for? Find out in our expert Huawei Freebuds 4i review or buy them now for £45 from AO or Boots.
Be aware that not all price cuts are as good as they seem. Even if a retailer promotes a big price cut, it doesn’t guarantee that you won’t find the headphones cheaper elsewhere, or that the pair is good enough to justify even a rock-bottom price.
We only feature deals on headphones that score pretty well in our tests, though they’re not all Best Buys. You can make sure that the headphones you have your eye on deliver where it matters to you – be that sound quality, comfort, ease of use or battery life – by clicking on the links to our full reviews.
Some headphones are cheap all year, while pricier sets from big-brand names such as Sony and Bose get their prices slashed at certain times of year.
However, just because the price tag highlights a huge saving, it doesn’t mean the offer is as special as is claimed. Retailers use all sorts of tricks to try to convince you to buy, such as:
It’s worth stepping back from these messages and ensuring the product really is a good deal, as it could just be one being heavily marketed at that time.
Below, we’ve highlighted some of the most popular retailers to buy headphones from, and what to watch out for to identify a genuinely great deal.
Apple headphones, such as the AirPods, are very popular, but the Apple Store is usually not the place to go if you’re looking for the best price, as Apple rarely cuts its prices when selling direct.
You’d be better off keeping an eye on big tech retailers such as Amazon and Currys PC World. These often offer considerable savings over the recommended retail price of Apple products to tempt your custom their way.
Click on the links below to head to these key retailers’ dedicated AirPods pages and see what they have to offer right now:
Amazon can be a great place to compare prices and snap up a bargain on headphones from big name brands such as Bose, Sennheiser or Sony – and it offers some particularly good deals around Amazon Prime Day, Black Friday and other promotional periods.
Search for headphones on Amazon.co.uk and you’ll also find loads of very cheap pairs for sale, including many brands you’ve probably never heard of – names that crop up regularly include Anker, Mpow and Enacfire. Many of them will have hundreds, or even thousands, of positive reviews.
If you’re tempted by the low prices of lesser-known brands, proceed with caution. Just because you haven’t heard of a brand doesn’t automatically make the headphones a bad buy, and we’ve found some great cheap headphones in our testing. However, we’ve also found many that have disappointed our lab experts, despite the apparently endless number of rave reviews.
Which? investigations repeatedly show that product reviews on online marketplaces such as Amazon can’t always be trusted, and a huge numbers of positive reviews for budget-priced products is something to be sceptical about.
The only way to make fully considered comparisons is to check out our headphone reviews. There are so many pairs on Amazon we don’t test them all, but we do review some of the most popular models from brands that regularly feature in Amazon's bestsellers charts, such as Anker, Mpow and Enacfire.
Argos is a popular place to buy small consumer electronics such as headphones. The retailer often has handy outlets in larger Sainsbury’s stores too.
Argos often has good deals on individual headphones, so it can be worth checking the Argos website on occasion to see what new pairs it's promoting heavily.
Argos also has a clearance section. It’s worth keeping an eye on, as clearance deals at Argos are often genuine discounts on stock that it’s trying to get rid of.
Be wary of headphones marked with a ‘WOW’; Argos uses this to pull your attention to a product (often its own-brand Bush range), and it doesn’t always mean that the headphones are a good deal.
Also watch for ‘Great new price’ labels, as that is no guarantee the price is better than the old one.
While Currys can offer some genuinely great headphone deals on its dedicated clearance deals page, it’s worth scrutinising the small print.
What to watch out for
Many Currys deals aren’t all they’re cracked up to be. The retailer sometimes puts headphones on sale at an inflated price, before suddenly dropping the price to a more appropriate level just a few weeks later. This can make the saving seem bigger than it actually is – and doesn’t necessarily mean you won’t find the same headphones cheaper elsewhere.
The ‘clearance’ page at certain times of year is packed with headphones. However, whatever the term ‘clearance’ might suggest, discounts on these models can be very small or, in some cases, nothing at all. Currys may want to shift stock, but it doesn’t guarantee it’s a good deal.
Some headphone manufacturers such as Jabra also offer trade-in schemes for the headphones, where you send back your current pair for a discount on a newer model, and they responsibly recycle your old pair.
This can be a good way to get an even better deal on your new pair of headphones, although the manufacturer’s discount will often be on the standard retail price rather than any lower price commonly offered by other retailers, so the discount can seem larger than it actually is.
Alternatively, you can recycle your old headphones along with other small electrical items.
Head over to our best headphones guide to find more about how to buy the ideal pair of headphones for you.