Microsoft Drops Xbox One S to its Lowest Price Ever, Brings Invoke Down to $99

Microsoft today unveiled its Black Friday deals, available from the Microsoft Store starting November 23. The company is offering a couple of really sweet deals for its own hardware, and a couple of third-party products.

Xbox One X only launched earlier this week, so Microsoft obviously isn’t offering any discounts on that. But if you don’t need all the power that comes with the Xbox One X, you can get the Xbox One S at its lowest price ever: $189. That’s a very good deal as you’ll get a free month of subscription to Xbox Game Pass and a free game of your choice as well.

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Microsoft’s also introducing a significant price cut for the Cortana-powered Invoke smart speaker from Harman Kardon. The speaker usually comes at $199 which is higher than most of the relevant smart speakers in the market — including the Amazon Echo Plus. For Black Friday, Microsoft is bringing down the price to only $99 and buyers of the Surface Laptop will also get a free Invoke. $99 for the Harman Kardon Invoke is actually a very good deal, I use the speaker almost every day and although Cortana is a bit limited at the moment, it’s still surprisingly pleasant to use.

If you are looking to get a new Surface, you can save $329 on the Surface Pro (Intel Core i5/256GB SSD) and black Type Cover bundle. There’s a $229 discount on the 128GB variant of the Surface Pro as well, but you might just want to spend $100 extra for double the storage. And with support for SteamVR on Windows Mixed Reality set to arrive sometime soon, you might also get yourself a Windows Mixed Reality headset and save up to $100. Unsurprisingly enough, Microsoft is cutting a whopping $301 off the Alcatel Idol 4S phone running Windows 10 Mobile, although it’s probably a good idea to avoid buying a Windows Phone at this point in time.

There are a couple of other very good deals on third-party products as part of Microsoft Store’s Black Friday deals — for example, the Galaxy S8 and S8+ are being discounted by $150, the Fitbit Charge 2 is being discounted by $50, the Bose QuietComfort 25 headphones are going for $179, discounts on Windows 10 laptops, and much more. Make sure to checkout all the deals here, which go live on November 23 at 12:00 AM ET.

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Conversation 25 comments

  • George Coll

    Premium Member
    13 November, 2017 - 11:50 am

    <p>Welcome Mehedi!</p>

    • Mehedi Hassan

      Premium Member
      13 November, 2017 - 11:55 am

      <blockquote><a href="#215232"><em>In reply to Georgecoll:</em></a></blockquote><p><br></p><p>Thanks George!!</p>

  • Brandon Mills

    13 November, 2017 - 12:00 pm

    <p>There is part of me that wants to go in on the Invoke at that price, but I still view a single Cortana speaker from MS as bringing a knife to a gun fight. There is no way they are going to win against Echo with this, and they are too slow getting out new products if ( If! ) they have anything else planned to compete with the rest of the lineup.</p><p><br></p><p>Echo Plus brilliantly combines the Echo with a hub for the smart home. Normal Echo costs half of Harmon's normal price. Even Google's number two strategy looks better than Microsoft and Apple. The small Dot devices are perfect for small rooms. </p><p><br></p><p>If MS is serious about this, then they need to get serious. If they've secretly already decided to wave the white flag and not tell anybody they're doing so ( Windows Phone, Band, etc.. ), then they need to just be upfront about that, but they won't because Harmon needs to sell speakers.</p>

    • Jules Wombat

      13 November, 2017 - 1:29 pm

      <blockquote><a href="#215251"><em>In reply to BrandonMills:</em></a></blockquote><p>Its not really a Microsoft decision though is it. Its a Harman kardon business decision to provide a Cortana based product. Pretty stupid of them to<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> flog a dead horse. So</span> hey ho, but you really cannot really complain to Microsoft on this one. </p>

    • MutualCore

      13 November, 2017 - 2:13 pm

      <blockquote><a href="#215251"><em>In reply to BrandonMills:</em></a></blockquote><p>MS board clearly only cares about Azure/Office/LinkedIn stuff. Everything consumer-oriented is paid lip service.</p>

  • RamblingGeek

    13 November, 2017 - 12:01 pm

    <p>Welcome, first post already… :-)</p>

    • Mehedi Hassan

      Premium Member
      13 November, 2017 - 12:10 pm

      <blockquote><a href="#215252"><em>In reply to RamblingGeek:</em></a></blockquote><p>:)</p>

  • jrswarr

    Premium Member
    13 November, 2017 - 12:06 pm

    <p>I'd love to get the Invoke – but the fact that it's linked to a single MS account is a no-go for me.</p>

  • rmlounsbury

    Premium Member
    13 November, 2017 - 12:44 pm

    <p>Well, it looks like I'll be picking up the XBOX One S in the not so distant future. As much as I'd love the One X it is way too expensive for my desire for the moment. That and I don't have a 4K TV which doesn't help my brain make the case for the extra expense on the One X. </p>

  • gregsedwards

    Premium Member
    13 November, 2017 - 12:50 pm

    <p>Love the discount on the HK Invoke, but it makes me feel like a bit of a schmuck for buying one at full retail price when it launched three weeks ago.</p>

    • Darekmeridian

      13 November, 2017 - 1:06 pm

      <blockquote><a href="#215304"><em>In reply to gregsedwards:</em></a></blockquote><blockquote><br></blockquote><p> Feel the same way, we purchased 3 Xbox One S's back in July for use around the house. Kids room, living room and bedroom. Just got a Xbox One X for the living room a few days ago. Now I can't even unload any of the old ones for a decent price ? &lt;sigh&gt;</p><p><br></p>

  • NoFlames

    13 November, 2017 - 12:52 pm

    <p>The Invoke sounds interesting, but only if you can tell it to play music using Groove. I'm not even talking Groove streaming, just songs that you upload to one-drive that Groove can see and play.</p>

  • Bats

    13 November, 2017 - 1:01 pm

    <p>Looks like that i am finally going to buy an XBOX One. If Microsoft is selling it for $189, it's probably going to be cheaper elsewhere, by a little bit. </p><p><br></p><p>As for the Invoke….lol….. Are you kidding? There is no future for Invoke because Microsoft will abandon it. If the Google Home goes on sale, I'll probably buy another one of that. With the Google Mini going on sale for $29, I am already planning to buy 10 of them to give away as Christmas presents. As for the Invoke…oh gosh, no.</p>

    • MutualCore

      13 November, 2017 - 2:13 pm

      <blockquote><a href="#215323"><em>In reply to Bats:</em></a></blockquote><p>Ye of little faith!</p>

    • mikiem

      13 November, 2017 - 8:30 pm

      <blockquote><a href="#215323"><em>In reply to Bats:</em></a></blockquote><blockquote>"&nbsp;If Microsoft is selling it for $189, it's probably going to be cheaper elsewhere, by a little bit."</blockquote><blockquote><br></blockquote><p>So far, Kohls looks to be cheapest adding $40 Kohls cash for the same price, but no included game. Target matches it too, adding a gift card. That said, Microsoft has several bundles going on sale, starting Sunday, that **might** be a better value overall. </p>

  • Roger Ramjet

    13 November, 2017 - 1:54 pm

    <p>Lol. MSPU guy? Movin on up! But don't guys take a break to go around the world between jobs anymore? First Raja Kourdri who tanked my stocks, now this! :-)</p>

  • will

    Premium Member
    13 November, 2017 - 1:55 pm

    <p>While I love the idea of a $99 Invoke, it makes me curious about the longevity of the Cortana platform. I mean slashing the price for Black Friday is a great deal, but 50% feels like "We are not selling any and need to move them!". I guess it is a good sounding speaker that would be a good buy for that price.</p>

    • Mehedi Hassan

      Premium Member
      13 November, 2017 - 3:08 pm

      <blockquote><a href="#215406"><em>In reply to will:</em></a></blockquote><p><br></p><p>Remember how we're all over the $129 deal? :)</p>

      • will

        Premium Member
        13 November, 2017 - 11:19 pm

        <blockquote><a href="#215447"><em>In reply to Mehedi:</em></a></blockquote><p>LOL </p><p>I will be up ordering one!</p>

  • dhallman

    13 November, 2017 - 2:57 pm

    <p>Glad to see you landed here. I always enjoyed following <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent;">MSPU. </span></p>

  • rameshthanikodi

    13 November, 2017 - 7:22 pm

    <p>literally every single comment here is getting downvoted, WTF?</p><p><br></p><p>$99 is a great price for the Invoke, and honestly, it should have been the case from the start. I wonder if the price cut is because people are not buying it. </p>

  • SvenJ

    13 November, 2017 - 10:30 pm

    <p>With all the drawbacks to the Invoke, it really is a good sounding speaker. At $99 it is worth a try. It is going to have the same issue that WP had. If not enough of them are sold, there will be less incentive to make it better. The optimistic side of me says that it is just backend stuff that needs to be done. The hardware is solid. Just as Google just introduced intercom, months after Amazon did it, there is nothing but commitment keeping it from Invoke/Cortana, except that more than one Invoke may be less likely. Of course more than one Cortana is not out of the question. The Invoke is a Harmon product, but the Cortana skills are largely MS, as far as I know. They have a user voice forum and many things that have been promoted there have actually been incorporated. One current highly requested feature is in fact keeping the ability to stream from OneDrive via Groove. That makes a ton of sense to me and others. Hopefully it does to MS. I have one from the preview/beta, and while I am pretty embedded in Echos, I would miss Cortana on the Invoke. She is more pleasant sounding, and a bit more 'fun' than Alexa, even if less capable. Multiple AIs can co-exist. At $100, it's a decent buy.</p>

  • PincasX

    14 November, 2017 - 6:50 am

    <p>Over 50% of invoke? Great deal for sure but also a pretty good indication that the product isn’t off to a particularly good start. </p>

  • louda55

    14 November, 2017 - 9:21 am

    <p>Gonna jump in here and say Welcome Mehedi! Looking forward to all the insight you have to bring to the table. </p>

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