Amazon Launches Its Memorial Day Sale a Full Week Earlier Than Expected

What’s Worth Buying Now?

Amazon tends to adjust its prices over the course of a sale, so not everything discounted this weekend is everything that will be on sale by next weekend. Amazon has launched its sale earlier than competitors like Target and Walmart, so the prices are likely to get more competitive starting next week.

In the meantime, the one thing that is definitely worth buying right now is Amazon devices. In pretty much every Amazon sale, it’s Amazon’s own devices that get the steepest discounts. For this year, that includes price cuts on smart security cameras, smart speakers, and Fire TV sticks. Unfortunately, none of the latest Kindle devices are included in the sale at this time.

The other thing to consider checking out now is Amazon’s Lightning Deals page. These are discounts that are only available for a limited-time window and will often go out of stock quickly. You don’t need to be a Prime Member to take advantage of most of these discounts, but there are some Prime-exclusives you won’t be able to access without a subscription.

Should you wait for Prime Day?

Memorial Day sales are a great time to buy stuff at a discount, but it’s not the biggest sale event of 2026 by any means. Amazon recently revealed that Prime Day would be in June this year, which is earlier than it’s been in a really long time. In general, Amazon’s Prime Day sale will have better discounts on most items compared to Memorial Day, but will exist in a much smaller time frame. If you can wait to make a major purchase, we’d generally suggest waiting for that sale.

It is worth noting, however, that Prime Day is a Prime-exclusive sales event. That means the majority of the discounts will only actually be available to Prime members during the sale. Other major retailers like Best Buy and Walmart tend to have competing sales during this time, though, so there will be other places to shop for non-Prime members.

Jacob Kienlen is a Senior Audience Development Strategist and Writer for IGN. Born and raised in Portland, Oregon, he has considered the Northwest his home for his entire life. With a bachelor’s degree in communication and 10 years of professional writing experience, his expertise is spread across a variety of different pop culture topics — from TV series to books and the latest Pokémon games.