Amazon Prime Day is just a few days away, but you can already get all-time low prices on multiple Apple Watch models right now. As with all early deals, there is a chance that these Apple Watch discounts get even steeper when Prime Day officially kicks off on July 16, but for right now they're still great discounts on each model.
Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with Amazon. When you click a link and make a purchase, we may receive a small payment, which helps us keep the site running.
If you want to take advantage of all Prime Day has to offer, remember that only Amazon Prime members will be able to gain access to the majority of deals during the event. If you aren't a member, you can join Prime via a free 30-day trial to participate in this year's Prime Day. Once your trial is over, Prime membership will run for $14.99/month or $139/year. For students, that's $7.49/month or $69/year.
Apple Watch Series 9
You can get up to $100 off most Apple Watch Series 9 models right now on Amazon, starting at $299.00 for the 41mm GPS watches. We've rounded up all of the deals below, focusing on the aluminum devices, but you can also find $100 discounts on a few stainless steel models as well.
Apple's 40mm GPS Apple Watch SE is available for $189.00 today on Amazon, down from $249.00. This is just $10 higher compared to the all-time low price on the wearable. This deal is available in all three aluminum color options, and only Amazon has the discount.
You can also get the 44mm GPS Apple Watch SE on sale right now, available for $219.00 on Amazon, down from $279.00. This is another near all-time low price that's just $10 away from the lowest price on the Apple Watch SE, and it's only available in Starlight.
Our full Deals Roundup has more information on the latest Apple-related sales and bargains.
Apple today adjusted its trade-in values for select devices in the United States, with several reductions in value going into effect across the iPhone 14 series, Apple Watch models, select Macs and iPads, and some Android smartphones.
Most Apple smartphone reductions were slight: iPhone 14 trade-in values decreased by up to $20, but there were bigger cuts to Android phones. Meanwhile, select Apple Watch, iPad, and Mac models saw the largest downward adjustments. The latest trade-in values are listed below.
iPhone 14
iPhone 14 Pro Max: Up to $620 (vs. $630)
iPhone 14 Plus: Up to $400 (vs. $420)
Apple Watch
Apple Watch Ultra: Up to $355 (vs. $360)
Apple Watch SE (2nd generation): Up to $90 (vs. $110)
Apple Watch Series 7: Up to $125 (vs. $140)
Mac
MacBook Pro: Up to $925 (vs. $1,010)
MacBook Air: Up to $485 (vs. $525)
MacBook: Up to $130 (vs. $145)
iMac: Up to $330 (vs. $420)
iPad
iPad Pro: Up to $565 (vs. $580)
iPad: Up to $225 (vs. $250)
Android
Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra 5G: Up to $235 (vs. $270)
Samsung Galaxy S22 5G: Up to $170 (vs. $235)
Samsung Galaxy Note 20 Ultra: Up to $140 (vs. $150)
Apple's Vision Pro spatial computing headset has yet to sell 100,000 units in the quarter since it launched in the U.S. in February, according to market tracker IDC (via Bloomberg).
The device is projected to see a 75% drop in domestic sales in the current quarter, but the launch of Vision Pro internationally this month is expected to offset that decline.
IDC believes that a more affordable version at roughly half the price of the current $3,500 unit should rekindle interest in 2025, but sales are not expected to rise significantly over the coming year. Apple Vision Pro is set to launch in the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, France, and Germany on Friday, July 12.
Reviews for the device have been mixed overall. For the most part, users have been impressed with the hardware and the technology introduced by the Vision Pro, but there are questions about the actual function of the device, the intuitiveness of the gesture-based control, the weight and comfort, and VR in general. Users have also been critical of the lack of content for the device.
"The Vision Pro's success, regardless of its price, will ultimately depend on the available content," said Francisco Jeronimo, vice president at IDC. "As Apple expands the product to international markets, it's crucial that local content is also made available."
Apple is expected to produce fewer than 400,000 Vision Pro headsets in 2024 due to the complexity of manufacturing, according to analyst Ming-Chi Kuo. However, Apple is said to be already working on a new version of the Apple Vision Pro for 2025 that will be priced more affordably. IDC's Jeronimo predicts that will more than double sales when it arrives in the latter half of 2025.
The European Union has accepted commitments from Apple to open its mobile payments system and give competitors access to the iPhone's NFC technology, bringing an end to a lengthy investigation by EU regulators into the technology.
According to the announcement, Apple has agreed to open up its payments system to other providers free of charge for a decade. Apple will let users set a third-party wallet app as their default, rather than its own Apple Wallet. It will also allow rivals full access to key iOS features, such as double click to launch wallet apps, along with Face ID, Touch ID, and passcodes for authentication. From the EU press release:
The commitments bring important changes to how Apple operates in Europe to the benefit of competitors and customers.
First, Apple commits to give access to NFC functionality to third-party mobile wallets. This access will be free of charge.
It will take place in what is called "Host Card Emulation mode". This is a software solution that allows rival wallets to make secure NFC payments. Apple Pay, on the other hand, relies on access to the hardware "secure element" in the iPhone. We accept Apple's commitment because it offers an equivalent solution in terms of security and user experience. And it is easier to implement both for Apple and wallet developers. Indeed, other wallets already use this solution in an Android environment.
Second, Apple committed to enable access to important functionalities available on iPhones. This includes Double-Click and Face ID. iPhone users will be able to double-click the side button of their iPhones to launch their preferred payment application. Competing wallets will also be able to use Face ID, Touch ID and passcode to verify users' identities.
Third, Apple will also enable users to make the wallet of their choice the standard option on their iPhones. This is also known as setting the default option.
These commitments are applicable to users registered in the European Economic Area, including when they travel abroad.
And Apple will not prevent developers from combining NFC payments with other use cases, for instance transit cards, access control, concert tickets, and digital identity credentials. Everything that you could have in a wallet.
Apple has until July 25 to implement the changes. The company risks a fine if it violates the agreement, which will remain binding for 10 years.
The European Commission charged Apple in 2022 with violating competition law, contending that Apple was preventing competitors from accessing its near-field communication (NFC) technology to favor Apple Pay. In response to the charges, Apple made a commitment to the European Commission in January to open access to the iPhone's NFC, allowing competitors to create their own contactless payment solutions outside of the confines of Apple Pay and Apple Wallet.
The settlement means Apple will avoid a potential fine by the EU that could have been as high as 10% of the company's global annual revenue. Given Apple's reported revenue of $383 billion in 2023, the fine could have amounted to approximately $40 billion.
Apple overhauled the Control Center in iOS 18, and it's one of the biggest changes to the iPhone and the iPad outside of the new Apple Intelligence features. The interface is much more customizable, there are more Control Center options, and controls can be accessed from new places.
This guide highlights all of the new Control Center changes that Apple added in iOS 18 (and iPadOS 18).
Reorder Controls
With iOS 17, you could choose some of the controls that were available in Control Center, but in iOS 18, customization goes much further. For the first time, you can rearrange Control Center quick access buttons into a layout that best suits your needs.
Apple has designed a Home Screen-style grid for the Control Center, with an 8x4 arrangement of open circular spots where different controls can be placed. You can fill up all the empty circle spots, or choose to leave blank spaces between columns and rows.
None of the Control Center buttons are permanent, and every one that you opt to use can be moved, duplicated, deleted, and rearranged as needed. To move controls, follow these steps.
Swipe down from the right upper corner of your iPhone or iPad display to open up Control Center.
Long press on any empty space and hold until the grid shows up, or tap on the "+" button at the upper left of the display.
Use a finger to grab an icon and move it where you want it to be.
Tap at the top or the bottom of the display to exit the grid mode.
Resize and Delete Controls
Control Center controls can be resized, so you can make your most used buttons bigger and easier to press. Single button controls like Dark Mode, Flashlight, Timer, Low Power Mode, Voice Memo, and Remote can be up to four grid circles in size.
Options include a single grid circle, a two grid circle that's horizontal, which adds the control's name, and a four grid circle arranged in a square shape. The majority of controls are limited to these sizes.
Some modules like volume and brightness can only be two horizontal circles in size, with Apple not offering an option to modify the shape or size. The aggregated connectivity controls can take up four spots of the grid in a square shape, or the entire thing with no options in between.
Controls like those for multiple smart home accessories and scenes have more sizing options and can be four grid spaces long or four spaces in a grid, eight spaces, sixteen spaces, or 24 spaces at maximum. The Now Playing control has a similar set of options, but can take up the entire grid.
To resize controls, follow these steps:
Long press in an open space in the Control Center or tap the "+" button.
Grab the bottom right corner of an icon, which has a curved, highlighted marker to indicate that it can be manipulated.
Drag and pull outward to make a control bigger, or push up and over to make it smaller. There will be minimum and maximum sizes that vary for different controls.
Tap at the top or bottom of the display to exit the editing menu, or just wait and it will close automatically after a few seconds with no interaction.
To delete any Control Center control, follow the steps above to enter edit mode and tap on the "-" button.
Controls Gallery
Control Center controls are now organized into a gallery that can be accessed from the Control Center interface. To get to the Control Center gallery, long press on the display or use the "+" button to enter editing mode, and then tap on "Add a Control."
The main part of the gallery has a selection of suggested controls, and if you scroll down, you'll see options organized into the following categories: Accessibility, Capture, Clock, Connectivity, Display and Brightness, Focus, Hearing Accessibility, Home, Motor Accessibility, Notes, Now Playing, Remote, Shortcuts, Sounds, Translate, Utilities, Vision Accessibility, Voice Memos, Wallet, and Watch.
There is a search interface right at the top of the gallery so if you're looking for something specific, you can just search for it rather than having to swipe down to try to locate it manually.
Multiple Screens
Control Center has been just a single screen for the last few years, but that's changing in iOS 18. You can set up multiple screens for your controls, which means you can have dedicated pages for things like connectivity controls, HomeKit devices, and Accessibility options.
There are multiple pages by default when installing iOS 18, and you can customize them to your liking and add and delete pages. Control Center supports up to 15 separate screens.
Navigating through pages is done by swiping up and down through Control Center, tapping the small icons on the right side of the display, or holding a finger over the icons and scrubbing through them. As you add controls to different pages, Control Center automatically assigns an icon based on what's on the page. You can't customize the icons at this time.
Here's how to add pages:
Swipe down from the right hand side of the display to get into Control Center.
Tap on the circle icon at the bottom of the icon list, which denotes a blank page.
Tap on Add a Control to select the controls that you want to include on the page.
When finished, tap anywhere at the top or bottom of the display to exit editing mode.
If you add more controls than there are space for, or resize something to be larger than will fit, Control Center will automatically add another page and move the control to that page.
There are some limitations to what can be on a single page. Control Center won't allow you to add a single-sized icon to a page and then create another page - the create new page option won't show up while an existing page still has enough space to accommodate icons. It does offer the option when a page is about half full, which provides enough wiggle room to have spacing between icons.
To remove a page, you just need to delete all of the controls on it following the steps up above.
Power Button
At the top right of the Control Center, Apple added a Power Button to make it easier to turn your iPhone off. To prevent accidental activation, using the Power Button requires a press and hold.
Pressing and holding brings up the shut down interface where you need to swipe to turn your device off, and it locks your iPhone so Face ID or Touch ID will be needed to unlock it again (similar to multiple presses on the side button).
Third-Party Apps
In iOS 18, Control Center is no longer limited to built-in apps and features. Third-party app developers can create controls for their apps, and those can be added to Control Center through the Control Center gallery.
Lock Screen
iOS 18 brings Control Center to the Lock Screen, allowing you to swap out the default Flashlight and Camera icons for new quick access buttons. There's also an option to remove Lock Screen controls entirely.
At the Lock Screen, unlock and long press to get into the Lock Screen editing interface.
Tap on Customize to customize an existing Lock Screen or tap on the "+" button to create a new Lock Screen.
Tap on Lock Screen.
Tap on the "-" buttons on the Flashlight and Camera icons to remove them. Stop here if you don't want to add new controls.
To swap in something else, tap on the "+" button to open up the Control Center gallery.
Choose a control from the list or use the search interface.
When you're finished, tap on Done and then tap on the Lock Screen to exit out of editing mode.
Many of the Control Center options can be put on the Lock Screen, including those from third-party apps. You can activate everything from Dark Mode to Airplane Mode, or open up apps like Notes or Home. There is an option to set any Shortcut to the Lock Screen, or add a control to open any app you have on your device.
With this option in particular, you have a lot of customization options. You can, for example, set a third-party camera app to open instead of the main Camera app, giving you quick access to a non-default camera.
There are some Control Center controls that are not available, such as volume and brightness adjustment, Low Power mode, Bluetooth and Wi-Fi, Focus, and Screen Recording.
For some actions, such as opening an app or activating a Shortcut, Face ID or Touch ID authentication is required for privacy purposes.
Action Button
Control Center controls can also be assigned to the Action Button on devices that support it, which includes the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max.
Open up the Settings app.
Tap on Action Button.
Swipe until you get to the Controls option.
Tap on Choose a Control.
Scroll down to select a control or use the search interface to find what you're looking for.
Swipe up to exit the Settings app.
After setup, when you press the Action Button, you'll activate the control that you've set.
There are a limited number of options for the Controls Action Button.
Calculator
Stopwatch
Alarm
Home
Timer
Dark Mode
Airplane Mode
Cellular Data
Personal Hotspot
Open Music
Quick Note
Remote
Scan Code
Wallet
Tap to Cash
Ping My Watch
Some other features that you would normally find in Control Center, such as the Camera, can be added through other Action Button options.
New Control Center Options
With these changes, there are Control Center options that were not previously available.
Open Music
Activate a Shortcut
Open any app
Third-party app controls
Translate
Print Center
Tap to Cash
There are also a number of new hearing, motor, and vision accessibility options that can be added. Apple had broader categories for these before, but now there are specifics for things like Voice Control, Assistive Touch, Background Sounds, Live Listen, Headphone Levels, Live Speech, Reduce Motion, Invert, and more.
Settings
There were a number of Control Center settings in the Settings app in iOS 17, but Apple has eliminated almost all of them because these capabilities are now in the controls gallery. The only option you'll find in the Settings app is Access Within Apps, a toggle for determining whether swiping down on the display brings up Control Center when you're using an app.
Astropad today announced a major update for the Astropad Studio app, introducing new features that work with the Apple Pencil Pro that Apple launched earlier this year. Astropad Studio is designed to turn the iPad into a drawing tablet that can be used with PC and Mac creative apps.
The 5.4 version of Astropad Studio supports Squeeze Gesture Shortcuts, so you can set custom shortcuts to swap between your preferred tools using the Squeeze feature on the Apple Pencil Pro. It also adds support for barrel rotation, which takes advantage of the gyroscope that Apple added to the Apple Pencil.
Turning and twirling the Apple Pencil Pro when using Astropad precisely rotates the brush while drawing, and as of now, Astropad Studio is the only drawing tablet option that supports barrel roll rotation.
Along with these features, there is a new Adaptive Image Rendering video compression algorithm that provides 53 percent clearer image quality during high-motion content like rotating an object in blender or previewing animations. Astropad says that Astropad Studio now has a feature set that puts it on par with the Wacom Cintiq drawing tablets.
A one-year Astropad license is available for $60, while a lifetime license is priced at $120. These are sale prices that can be obtained by entering the promo code SUMMER24 at checkout on the Astropad website.
Apple today seeded the third beta of an upcoming macOS 15 Sequoia update to developers for testing purposes, with the software coming two weeks after the release of the second beta, which added iPhone Mirroring support.
Registered developers can opt-in to the beta through the Software Update section of the System Settings app. Note that an Apple ID associated with an Apple Developer account is required to get the beta.
macOS Sequoia includes iPhone Mirroring, which allows you to control your locked iPhone from your Mac. You can open and use iPhone apps, interact with notifications, and drag and drop files between your iPhone and Mac and vice versa.
There are new options for window tiling, and dragging a window to the edge of the display will suggest a tiled location to make it easier to use multiple apps at once. Apple is adding a Passwords app for managing passwords, Safari can summarize websites and surface key information, and Notes has support for live audio transcription and math equations.
All of the Apple Intelligence features coming to iOS 18 will also be available in macOS Sequoia, but Apple does not plan to add these until later in the beta testing process. Apple Intelligence includes Writing Tools for editing, proofreading, and summarizing text in apps, and an Image Playground allows for AI images to be created from prompts.
Custom emoji or "Genmoji" can be created for any situation and used just like emoji, and Siri is getting much smarter. Siri will be able to do more in apps and will better understand requests, especially those made in regard to on-screen content.
macOS Sequoia is available to developers right now, but Apple will release a public beta later this month.
Apple today seeded the third beta of an upcoming macOS 14.6 update to public beta testers, allowing non-developers to test the software ahead of its launch. Today's public beta comes a week after Apple released the second public beta.
Beta testers can opt-in through the Software Update section of the System Settings app. Under Beta updates, simply toggle on the Sonoma Public Beta. Note that you must sign up to participate on Apple's beta testing website.
No new features have been found in the macOS Sonoma 14.6 developer betas, so it is not clear what might be included. With Apple now working on macOS Sequoia, development on macOS Sonoma is beginning to wrap up so it's likely a bug fix update.
Apple today seeded the third betas of upcoming iOS 17.6 and iPadOS 17.6 updates to public beta testers, with the betas coming a week after the second iOS and iPadOS 17.6 public betas. Apple seeded the third betas of iOS 17.6 and iPadOS 17.6 to developers earlier this week.
Public beta testers can get the beta by opening up the Settings app, going to the Software Update section, tapping on the "Beta Updates" option, and toggling on the iOS 17 or iPadOS 17 Public Beta. Signing up on Apple's beta testing website is required.
The new features that Apple announced for iOS 17 have all been implemented at this point, so it is not clear what will be included in iOS 17.6, and no features have been discovered in the developer betas so far.
With Apple now shifting its focus to iOS 18, it is likely that iOS 17.6 will include bug fixes and other under-the-hood improvements rather than outward-facing features.
Apple has also seeded the second public betas of upcoming watchOS 10.6 and tvOS 17.6 updates.
Apple wants to ship a minimum of 90 million iPhone 16 models in 2024, reports Bloomberg. Apple is telling its suppliers and partners that it is aiming for 10 percent shipment growth over 2023, when it shipped approximately 81 million iPhone 15 models.
The upcoming iPhone 16 models will all use next-generation A18 chip technology, which will support Apple Intelligence. As of right now, only the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max are powerful enough for Apple's AI features, so anyone with an older iPhone that wants to take advantage of the new capabilities will need to upgrade this year. iPhone 15 pricing starts at $799, and that will also likely be the starting price for the entry-level iPhone 16 model that will support Apple Intelligence.
Apple is expecting Apple Intelligence to increase demand for the new iPhone 16 models, which indicates that Apple could see a strong 2024, especially in countries like China. Apple is lagging behind Chinese smartphone manufacturers in AI development, as brands like Xiaomi and Huawei have already shipped AI features.
There is no word yet on how Apple Intelligence will function in China because Apple has not yet established a deal with a Chinese AI company. OpenAI's ChatGPT, which will be available in the United States and other countries, is not able to operate in China. To get similar functionality, Apple needs to ink a deal with a company that operates in China. Apple has been holding talks with Baidu, Alibaba group, and Beijing startup Baichuan AI, but there hasn't been news of an agreement.
Apple Intelligence will only be available in U.S. English at launch, and it will not be launching in the European Union when the iPhone 16 models come out, which could hurt sales in Europe. Apple said in June that it needs more time to figure out how to make Apple Intelligence compatible with the requirements of the Digital Markets Act.
With Apple Intelligence, Apple is introducing a long list of new capabilities, including Writing Tools for proofreading, polishing, and summarizing text, Image Playground for generating images, and Genmoji for creating custom emoji. Apple Intelligence will also be used to overhaul Siri, but the new Siri functionality isn't slated to launch until 2025.
Google today released a tool that allows you to transfer photos and videos from Google Photos to iCloud Photos, complete with albums and descriptions.
Apple released an equivalent tool for moving from iCloud Photos to Google Photos three years ago, so this was a reciprocal move by Google. The companies released the tools as part of the Data Transfer Initiative, which is focused on ensuring that customers can download their data from one online service and upload it to another.
Google's tool merely creates a copy of your photos and videos for another service. The original photos and videos will remain in your Google Photos account following the transfer process, unless they are manually deleted afterwards.
Apple is encouraging parents to purchase a cellular Apple Watch for their children with a new "Apple Watch For Your Kids" campaign, which appears to be a more informative rebranding of the Apple Watch Family Setup feature that's been around since 2020.
The Apple Watch For Your Kids website walks through how the feature works and the perks. An Apple Watch with cellular can be added to and managed by an adult's iPhone, providing kids with a wrist-worn device for phone calls, text messaging, and location tracking.
Apple touts Schooltime, an option that restrictions notifications and apps during school hours through Do Not Disturb. The Schooltime schedule is set by parents and adds a visible yellow circle to an Apple Watch so teachers are aware the device is not usable during classtime.
Apple also promotes Apple Watch durability and water resistance, as well as the built-in activity tracking options that include workouts for children and activity awards.
The newly rebranded Apple Watch For Your Kids feature is being promoted on the Apple Watch pages, but Apple has not yet updated the support document that walks parents through setup.
Requirements for providing a child with an Apple Watch include a Series 4 or later with GPS + Cellular and a cellular service plan, an iPhone 6s or later (for the parent), a Family Sharing group setup, and Apple IDs for both the parent and child.
The latest beta of Apple's app development tool Xcode allows developers to simulate an iPhone running the third beta of iOS 18, and this has led to the discovery of some Apple Intelligence settings that are not yet available.
Aaron Perris and Matthew Rodarmel are among those who spotted the settings, which can be seen in the screenshots above. However, Apple Intelligence features are still not available for testing in the third beta of iOS 18, released this week.
During its WWDC keynote last month, Apple said that some Apple Intelligence features would be available to try "this summer," but it did not provide a specific timeframe. The features will be available in U.S. English only at launch, and they require an iPhone 15 Pro or iPhone 15 Pro Max, or a Mac or iPad equipped with an M1 chip or newer.
Apple Intelligence will be able to summarize text, prioritize notifications and emails, and generate custom emoji and images, while the technology will also power a smarter version of Siri with richer language understanding, deeper per-app controls, on-screen awareness, and more. Apple said some of the features, along with support for additional languages and software platforms, will be added "over the course of the next year."
iOS 18 should be widely released in September. Even then, the initial Apple Intelligence features will still be considered a "preview" for all users.
Apple users are holding onto their devices for increasingly long periods of time as upgrade cycles slow, data from Consumer Intelligence Research Partners (CIRP) suggests.
In recent years, a shift has occurred in the behavior of Apple customers, who are increasingly opting to retain their iPhones, iPads, and Macs for extended periods before upgrading. In the most recent 12-month period, 71% of iPhone owners and 68% of Mac owners reported that their previous device was over two years old, up from 63% and 59%, respectively, in 2020.
In the specific case of the Mac, CIRP indicates a substantial increase in the length of time users keep their devices. Currently, 56% of Mac customers hold onto their laptops or desktops for three years or more, a significant rise from 40% in 2020. This trend has led to a decline in shorter lifecycle lengths, with fewer users keeping their Macs for less than three years. CIRP's research suggests that the transition to Apple Silicon, which began in 2020 with the introduction of the M1 chip, has played a crucial role in this shift. Apple Silicon has delivered significant performance and energy efficiency improvements, making Macs more capable of handling demanding tasks for several years.
Age of previous Mac for Apple customers buying a new Mac (12 months ending March of each year)
The economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic also likely influenced consumer behavior. During the early stages of the pandemic, there was a surge in demand for technology to support remote work and online education, but economic uncertainy followed and many consumers became more cautious with their spending, opting to maximize the lifespan of their existing devices rather than investing in new ones. Battery life improvements in MacBooks have also reached a satisfactory threshold for many users, further reducing the incentive to upgrade frequently.
This phenomenon has similarly been noted byBloomberg's Mark Gurman, who recently said that the percentage of iPhone and Mac users whose previous device was older than two years has risen sharply. He attributed the shift to several factors, including fewer significant features in new models, improved durability and reliability of devices, and changing user needs. The increased reliance on streaming services and web-based applications means that for many users, their current devices remain sufficiently powerful and capable for everyday tasks. As a result, the traditional motivations for frequent upgrades, such as the need for better cameras, more storage, or faster processing speeds, have diminished.
Apple's M2 iPad Air models are just a few months old, and Amazon has up to $90 off select models this week. We're tracking all-time low prices across the entire Wi-Fi M2 iPad Air lineup, although the steepest discounts will be found on 13-inch models.
Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with Amazon. When you click a link and make a purchase, we may receive a small payment, which helps us keep the site running.
The cheapest model is the 128GB Wi-Fi 11-inch iPad Air for $564.00, down from $599.00. You'll also find deals on the 256GB, 512GB, and 1TB models below, all of which are in stock on Amazon with delivery dates as soon as the end of the week for Prime members.
The 13-inch M2 iPad Air models start at $738.00 for the 128GB Wi-Fi tablet, down from $799.00. Similar to the 11-inch devices, all Wi-Fi models are on sale this week, and for the larger display iPad Airs these discounts reach up to $90 off original prices.
The iPad Air is Apple's middle-tier iPad model, equipped with an LCD Liquid Retina display, True Tone support, four unique color options, Touch ID, relocated front-facing camera, and two new size options with the 11-inch and 13-inch sizes.
Our full Deals Roundup has more information on the latest Apple-related sales and bargains.
The upcoming iOS 18 update for the iPhone includes two new Background Sounds: Night and Fire.
Introduced on iOS 15, the Background Sounds feature allows you to play ambient background sounds on your iPhone to help you focus or rest. Other available sounds include Balanced Noise, Bright Noise, Dark Noise, Ocean, Rain, and Stream.
Background Sounds is a free feature built into the iPhone that offers similar functionality as apps such as Dark Noise. We have a step-by-step guide that outlines how to turn on the feature in the Settings app or in Control Center.
iOS 18 is currently in beta for developers, and a public beta will be available soon. The update should be widely released in September.
The new Backgrounds Sounds are also included in the iPadOS 18 and macOS Sequoia betas.
Apple is believed to have seen a significant 21% increase in Mac shipments for the second quarter of 2024, the largest growth among global PC manufacturers during this period, as part of an industry-wide recovery.
According to a report by IDC, an industry research firm, worldwide shipments of desktops and laptops increased by 3% year-over-year for the quarter ending in June 2024. Apple and Acer led the growth among major manufacturers, with Acer showing a 14% increase in shipments. This marked the second consecutive quarter of growth for the PC industry, following a period of decline after the pandemic-driven surge in purchases during 2020 and 2021.
Ryan Reith, group vice president at IDC, noted that the combination of two consecutive quarters of growth, market excitement around AI-focused PCs, and a commercial refresh cycle, provided a much-needed boost to the PC market. AI-focused PCs are anticipated to drive a new wave of upgrades, though IDC reports that only about 3% of PCs shipped this year are said to be optimized for AI tasks. Apple's Mac lineup is likely to see further traction with the integration of Apple Intelligence, which positions the company to capitalize on the growing demand for AI-optimized PCs.
Apple's shipments jumped 20.8% from the second quarter of 2023, the largest rise among global PC makers. Acer followed with a 13.7% increase. Dell experienced a 2.4% decline in shipments, making it the only major company to see a decrease during this period. A new report from Gartner shows similar figures.
Despite weak demand in China, which held back overall results, excluding China, global shipments grew by more than 5%, according to IDC. Lenovo maintained the highest market share at nearly 23%, while HP saw a 1.8% increase from the previous year, holding 21% of the market.
Canalys, another market research firm, reported a slightly higher global PC market growth of 3.4% year-over-year, with total shipments reaching 62.8 million units in the second quarter of 2024. Apple secured the fourth position with 5.5 million units shipped, translating to a 9% market share, and marking a 6% increase from the same period last year. Lenovo led the market with 14.7 million units shipped, followed by HP with 13.7 million units, and Dell with 10.1 million units.
Mac cloud services provider MacStadium today unveiled Orka Desktop, a free virtualization tool that allows Mac users to create and manage macOS virtual machines locally via an easy-to-use admin panel.
Orka users can create or download custom macOS images locally for their own personal use, or to collaborate with team members using a familiar workflow, versioning, audit, and review controls. The tool has been designed for iOS/macOS Developers, DevOps Engineers, and IT Admins, as well as students, hobbyists, technologists, and others.
MacStadium claims it is the "ideal tool" for those who want to learn more about Mac virtualization and learn how an image can be built and tested locally, then uploaded to the cloud.
"Orka Desktop provides the tools to allow developers to create many different macOS image versions locally, commit those into a shared repository, and pass them around for collaboration. Developers can also scale further by pulling those resources into an Orka Cluster at MacStadium where you can orchestrate workloads with cloud resources," said Chris Chapman, MacStadium's chief technology officer."
MacStadium says Orka Desktop achieves near-native performance on Apple Silicon, with virtualization overhead as low as 5% in most cases. Orka Desktop also wraps and compresses macOS images with an Open Container Initiative (OCI)-compliant specification, which allows it to reduce a 90GB image by as much as 80%, shrinking it to nearly 15GB, making it much easier to move around.
There are two options for creating a new VM in Orka: Clean Install, where the image is created from an existing IPSW file, and Pull Image, where the image is pulled from an Image Repository. There is also an option to pull the latest IPSW directly from Apple's servers. More information can be found in Orka's documentation.
The new VM application requires macOS Ventura or macOS Sonoma running on an Apple silicon Mac with at least 8GB of RAM and more than 50GB of free disk space. Orka Desktop can be downloaded for free from the MacStadium website.
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Age of previous Mac for Apple customers buying a new Mac (12 months ending March of each year)
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