I remember the days when the best Black Friday deals meant lining up outside stores before opening hours and probably getting into a fistfight to grab one of the best Black Friday TV deals. Thankfully you needn't risk a black eye for your new telly purchase in 2023, but you do need to act now for the very best deals – in particular from Amazon.
Because here's one of the most insane Black Friday deals I've ever seen: Amazon is selling its 55-inch 4-Series 4K TV for a mere £149. But you must act now because there's a catch: one, you need to be an Amazon Prime member; two, you need to register your interest for this invite-only deal to be considered for random selection; three, you need to be ready to buy as and when the invitation email arrives.
Amazon Fire TV 55-inch 4-Series 4K: was £549.99, now £149.99 at Amazon [invite-only deal]
This invite-only deal, which knocks 73% off the list price, is only available to invited Amazon Prime members. You can request an invitation and express your interest by selecting 'Request invite' on Amazon's purchase page.
I really like this Amazon invite-only setup. It's got an air of the original old-school Black Friday sales about it, primarily because it's knocking a massive chunk of cash off a great product – this isn't just a couple of quid off the norm – but also I think it's a savvy way to promote Amazon Prime subscriptions by adding real potential value to customers.
But it does mean you need to take action in advance and be ready to buy: there's no beating around the bush for this deal, you need to set your intent of purchase by registering pronto, and if you are selected in the lottery-style system, then an email invitation to purchase will arrive between the 22 and 25 November – but you'll then only be given between 4 and 8 hours to complete this. Whew, pressure!
Still, if I was in the market for a 55-inch 4K smart TV and didn't have much cash to spend then there's no doubt this £149 deal would be on my radar. It's not Amazon's best-of-best TV (that's reserved for the QLED-touting Omni series), but for a large LED set with built-in Fire TV smarts it's got plenty of modern smarts to keep you entertained – from high dynamic range to HDMI 2.1 for current-gen console support and more.
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Mike is T3's Tech Editor. He's been writing about consumer technology for 15 years and his beat covers phones – of which he's seen hundreds of handsets over the years – laptops, gaming, TV & audio, and more. There's little consumer tech he's not had a hand at trying, and with extensive commissioning and editing experience, he knows the industry inside out. As the former Reviews Editor at Pocket-lint for 10 years where he furthered his knowledge and expertise, whilst writing about literally thousands of products, he's also provided work for publications such as Wired, The Guardian, Metro, and more.