Amazon, the most popular online retailer in the world, has signed a deal with Apple to start listing more of its products. Currently, there are a small handful of Apple products officially available from Amazon, but search for iPhone or iPad and you’ll be met with a bunch of third-party listings from no-name sellers with varying levels of competence.
That’s set to change in the coming weeks – in time for Black Friday and the festive shopping period – with the two companies agreeing to directly sell a great deal more Apple kit. That will include iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, and Beats headphones. It even includes the Apple TV – a competitor to Amazon’s own Fire TV sticks – but the deal does exclude Apple’s HomePod smart speaker, presumably to avoid it eating into sales of Amazon’s line of Alexa-powered Echo speakers.
The deal will also see the removal of unofficial sellers of Apple products from Amazon listings, starting in January. This will remove the confusing inconsistency of Apple listings on the site, but it will hurt the sales of second-hand iPhones and iPads. For used tech, you can still try Amazon Renewed for refurbished devices, or check out eBay for a much wider choice of third-party sellers.
This is good news for those who don’t live close to an Apple Store or official reseller, as it will provide an easy and trustworthy way to buy Apple kit online. One thing you’re unlikely to see, though, is the kind of crazy Lightning deals we’ve come to expect from Amazon. Most of these products will remain at their regular retail value, much as they do in the Apple Store.