8 Amazon Prime Day Predictions

Prime Day is less than a week away, and Amazon will start rolling out some big deals very soon.

via PC Mag

There's still plenty of uncertainty, and Amazon will undoubtedly deliver some surprises here and there, but we have eight predictions for Prime Day, which kicks off at 9 p.m. ET on June 10 and runs through June 11. If you want to get a head start on your Prime planning, these trends are worth keeping an eye on.

1. By far, the safest bet is discounts on Amazon-branded hardware. Fire tablets, Kindle ereaders, Fire Sticks and the Echo Dot are all on the table here, and we'd expect Amazon to have plenty of stock.

2. More interestingly, the new touch-screen Amazon Echo Show seems ripe for some bold promotion right now. At the very least, we'd hope for a modest discount to drive sales on this oddball device that's more than a little reminiscent of the Chumby.

3. If you're in the market for a new smart TV, watch out for price drops on the Fire TV-branded models from Element. They offer a voice remote and access to loads of great apps, and PCMag found them to be "a wallet-friendly way to get a connected 4K television."

4. In previous events, Amazon has offered up to 20 percent discounts on select items when you use an Amazon Store Card. There might be something similar this year, but eligible Prime members earn 5 percent back on purchases anyway, so it's worth using for big-ticket items regardless.

5. During the past two years, we've seen some gift card deals pop up, but only for early bird shoppers. If we see it for a third year in a row, expect it only for a limited window.

6. Prime Now offers two-hour delivery of tens of thousands of items in select markets. Earlier in the year, Amazon had promotions around select products through Prime Now, so we could see that in either the lead-up or on Prime Day proper.

7. Gaming deals have left us wanting on Prime Days past, but we expect to see promotions around Twitch Prime this year. If you're really into the streaming community, this will likely be a good time to invest.

8. What about Apple products? Sadly, we don't anticipate Macs, iPads, iPhones or Apple Watches to be meaningfully discounted. But if you really have your heart set on something from Cupertino, watch the refurbished and used selection for any limited-stock bargains.