Prime Day 2020 previews: Amazon reveals upcoming smart home, electronics discounts

Amazon is already offering some early discounts ahead of next week's Prime Day 2020 sales, but the e-commerce giant gave us a preview of its upcoming sweet deals late Thursday.  The sales will run Oct. 13-14, and you'll need to be an Amazon Prime subscriber to take advantage of most Prime Day deals.

As is usual for Amazon's Prime Day and Black Friday sales, the headline discounts are deep discounts on Amazon's own devices, albeit with some caveats. For instance, the Echo Dot speaker is marked down to just $19 -- that's 60% off its sticker price and more than 50% off the price it's currently selling for -- but it's the third-generation "puck" model, not the new 2020 spherical design. The Echo Show 8 smart display will be $65, fully 50% off and $15 lower than its lowest price to date. The 10-inch Echo Show will be reduced to $150, matching its Black Friday 2019 low -- but that too is the older model, not the just-announced 2020 version with the swiveling screen. The Echo Show 5 and Echo Auto are already marked down to $45 and $20 respectively, matching or beating their all-time lows.

Plenty of other brands are coming to the party too. Amazon is promising up to 30% on some Samsung and Sony TVs, up a third off on DJI drones and 33% off Roomba vacuums. For gamers, it'll offer 36% off a 12-month Nintendo Switch Online Family Membership and SanDisk 128GB Memory Card combo, along with 33% off "selected" Nintendo Switch games. 

Note, too, that most of Amazon's big competitors will be having competing sales events next week, too. Walmart, Target and Best Buy have already teased their Prime Day alternatives, as has online retailer Newegg.   

Here at CNET, we'll be working to identify the best of these deals -- and the ones to avoid -- between now and when the full sale starts on Tuesday, across all major product categories. 

• Prime Day 2020 deals you can get right now: $20 Echo Auto, $25 Blink Mini, $300 Toshiba 55-inch TV
• Early Prime Day 2020 TV deals: Get a 32-inch Fire TV for $120, save $100 on 43-incher
• The best Alexa smart speaker deals
• Early Prime Day headphone deals: Sony price chops, $20 off Jabra Elite 45h
• Best pre-Prime Day 2020 phone deals: Motorola Razr 5G for $1,200, Samsung Galaxy S20 FE 5G for $600, TCL 10L for $210
• Amazon Prime Day deals now available in UK: Cheapest ever Echo Show 5 at £45
• Australian Prime Day deals: Save $70 on Echo Show 8 and 3 months of Audible for free

In the meantime, here's a small portion of discounts you can expect at Amazon, as taken directly from the megaretailer's press release:

Amazon devices

• Take Alexa on the road with $30 off Echo Auto, now with Auto Mode in the Alexa App and Start My Commute features, just $19.99
• Fire TV Edition Smart TVs start at just $79.99. Plus, get the Insignia 32-inch Smart HD Fire TV Edition TV for $109.99 and the Toshiba 43-inch Smart 4K UHD Fire TV Edition TV for $209.99
• Save $40 on Fire TV Cube and use your voice to control your entertainment experience, just $79.99
• Save up to 45% on Fire tablets. Get the Fire HD 10 for $79.99 and Fire 7 Kids Edition tablet for $59.99
• Save $75 on eero Mesh WiFi system ensuring you have whole home WiFi coverage, just $174.00
• Save $20 on Ring Stick Up Cam, just $79.99.
• Save 30% on Ring Video Doorbell devices and get Ring Video Doorbell (2nd Gen) for $69.99
• Get Blink Mini Indoor Cam, just $24.99
• Get your smart home started with Ring Video Doorbell 3 and Echo Show 5, just $149.99
• Get an Echo Dot and LIFX Smart Bulb (Wi-Fi set up), just $18.99
• Save $50 on Kindle Paperwhite, just $79.99
• Save $35 on the Kindle Kids Edition, just $74.99

Electronics

• Save up to 33% on DJI Mavic Mini Drone and Osmo cameras
• Save up to 35% on Nixplay WIFI digital frames
• Save up to 40% off on Panasonic cameras
• Save up to 46% on Garmin GPS units and smartwatches
• Save up to 30% on Tile trackers
• Save 30% on select cell phone cases
• Save on JBL Boombox
• Save up to 30% on headphones from top brands
• Save up to 30% on select Samsung and Sony TVs
• Save 20% on Mynt 3D pens
• Save 20% on Sindoh 3D printers
• Save 30% on Dremel 3D20 DigiLab 3D Printer

Smart home

• Save $75 on Select August Locks and get a free Echo Dot(3rd Gen)
• Save up to 30% off Arlo Smart Home Security Products
• Save up to 33% on iRobot Roomba vacuums
• Save on myQ Smart Garage Hub
• Save up to 35% on Smart Home products from Moen, Leviton, Kasa and more
• Save on ecobee3 lite Smart Thermostat
• Save up to 44% on Shark vacuums
• Save up to 22% on Hamilton Beach Works with Alexa Smart Coffee Maker