MacRumors

Zhengzhou city in China today implemented lockdowns near Foxconn's main iPhone manufacturing facilities, which could ultimately impact Apple's supply chain, reports Bloomberg.

Some areas in the Zhengzhou Airport Economy Zone have been placed under quarantine effective immediately, and people in the area must stay in their homes and are not permitted to leave. The Airport Economy Zone is where Foxconn's largest ‌iPhone‌ assembly plant is located, and the lockdown comes after employees have been undergoing mandatory Covid testing.

China has been implementing lockdowns in an attempt to curb the spread of the coronavirus, and these efforts could have an impact on Apple device manufacturing. At this time, there appear to be no ‌iPhone‌ or iPad delays, but Apple has been battling MacBook Pro shortages. Apple suppliers Pegatron and Quanta have also recently halted production in eastern China due to Covid restrictions.

Back in March, Foxconn was forced to suspend production for several days in Shenzhen following a city-wide lockdown that prevented residents from leaving their homes. The shutdown lasted just a couple of days before Foxconn was able to resume production, with employees living and working at the factory in bubble arrangements.

Note: Due to the political or social nature of the discussion regarding this topic, the discussion thread is located in our Political News forum. All forum members and site visitors are welcome to read and follow the thread, but posting is limited to forum members with at least 100 posts.

Apple today shared a new ad focused on the Apple Card, highlighting the convenience of having a card-free payment option and the simple sign up process.

In the spot, a man in a store pops a chocolate bar in his mouth before realizing he doesn't have his wallet on him to pay for it. He frantically checks all of his pockets at the checkout while people wait impatiently behind him.

Eventually, he pulls out his iPhone, opens up the Wallet app, and applies for an ‌Apple Card‌ right there in line. He's approved within minutes, and is able to use the ‌Apple Card‌ on his phone for his purchase. "Reboot your credit card," reads the tagline, with additional information available in the video's description.

Get the simplicity of Apple in a credit card. Apply in minutes and use right away. No fees, unlimited Daily Cash back, and you can share with whoever you call family.

Apple Card is available in the United States only and it is a convenient iPhone-based credit card issued by Apple in partnership with Goldman Sachs. It is linked to Apple Pay and built right into the Wallet app, but it also works like a traditional credit card.

Three years ago, Apple explored letting users use Siri to make purchases for apps and services, similar to how users can use Amazon's Alexa to place orders online, but engineers scrapped the idea following privacy concerns, according to a new report today by The Information.

The report highlights how engineers at Apple have limited access to how users use Apple's services, such as Apple TV+ and Apple Maps. Apple's strict privacy procedures make it harder for engineers to have direct access to usage data, causing concern that the company's strict privacy policy is stifling Apple's services and making it harder to compete with Google and others.

In the more noteworthy tidbit of the report, The Information reveals that in 2019, Apple explored the possibility of letting users use ‌Siri‌ to make purchases, but that further along in the project, the team in charge of the effort had to abort the idea following privacy concerns.

Some proposed Apple features never see the light of day because of privacy restrictions. In 2019, employees explored whether a customer could use Siri to purchase apps and other online services by using their voice, similar to how customers of Amazon buy products using its voice assistant, Alexa, according to a person with direct knowledge of the project. The effort stalled in part because of strict privacy rules that prevented Siri from tying a person's Apple ID to their voice request. The Apple media products team in charge of the project couldn't find an alternative way to reliably authenticate users in order to bill them, this person said.

This isn't the first time that Apple's privacy policy has limited what its engineers can do, according to the report. Engineers and staffers working on ‌Siri‌, the App Store, and even the Apple Card often have to "find creative or costly ways to make up for the lack of access to data."

One of those creative ways Apple engineers have come up with is differential privacy, which was first demoed by Apple's Craig Federighi at WWDC 2016. In a technical PDF overview, Apple describes its implementation of differential privacy as enabling it "to learn about the user community without learning about individuals in the community. Differential privacy transforms the information shared with Apple before it ever leaves the user’s device such that Apple can never reproduce the true data."

Even with differential privacy, however, and Apple's attempt to aggregate as much user data possible without making it traceable back to specific users, engineers remain concerned and feel constrained with what they can and can not do, according to the report.

Despite those efforts, the former Apple employees said that differential privacy and other attempts to work around customer data restrictions have had limited or mixed results and that it can be tough for new employees to adapt to Apple's strong privacy culture, which comes directly from CEO Tim Cook and other senior vice presidents. Apple's efforts to reduce how much customer data it collects are based on fears that employees could try to look at the information for improper reasons—the kind of well-known violations that have occurred at Google and at Uber—or that hackers could compromise the data.

The report also sheds light on privacy concerns during the development of the Apple Watch. According to people who worked on the project cited in the report, features like Raise to Speak, which lets users speak to ‌Siri‌ without a verbal "Hey ‌Siri‌" by just raising their wrist faced initial pushback due to concerns about microphone and accelerometer data collection.

Fitbit owner Google this week came a step closer to rivaling the health features of Apple Watch after the FDA approved its new algorithm for continuously monitoring users' heart rate rhythms.

Like Apple Watch, Fitbit devices with a heart-rate monitoring capability include an ECG app that must be manually run by the user to check for irregular rhythms, which can be a sign of atrial fibrillation (AFib), a potentially serious heart arrhythmia condition. AFib affects nearly 33.5 million people globally, and individuals with AFib have five times higher risk of stroke.

For several years, the Apple Watch has had one up on rival smartwatches by including an irregular rhythm notifications feature, which occasionally checks heart rhythm in the background and sends a notification if an irregular heart rhythm is identified that could potentially be atrial fibrillation (AFib). Upon receiving a notification, users can then launch the ECG app and perform a more comprehensive 30-second test by placing their finger on the Digital Crown to generate an ECG waveform.

Google's new PPG (photoplethysmography) algorithm works similarly by passively monitoring heart rhythm in the background overnight and whenever the user is resting, making for a potentially more capable life saver.

The clinical validation for Fitbit's PPG algorithm is supported by data from the landmark Fitbit Heart Study, which launched in 2020 and enrolled 455,699 participants over five months. The study was conducted entirely virtually during the pandemic, making it one of the largest remote studies of PPG-based software to date. Data presented at the 2021 American Heart Association Scientific Sessions found that the Fitbit PPG detections correctly identified AFib episodes 98% of the time, as confirmed by ECG patch monitors.

Google says the new PPG-based algorithm and Irregular Heart Rhythm Notifications feature will soon be available to consumers in the U.S. across a range of heart-rate enabled Fitbit devices.

Apple plans to further bolster the health smarts offered by Apple Watch this year, with a new body temperature monitoring sensor expected to feature in the Apple Watch Series 8. As part of watchOS 9, Apple is also planning to improve its existing atrial fibrillation detection feature with a new capability to measure how long a person is in a state of atrial fibrillation across a certain period.

Satechi this weekend is offering 15 percent off sitewide, and 20 percent off sitewide if your cart reaches $100 or more in total. To get these discounts, enter the code EASTER15 for cart totals below $100 and enter the code EASTER20 for cart totals at $100 or above.

Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with Satechi. When you click a link and make a purchase, we may receive a small payment, which helps us keep the site running.

Satechi is known for its wireless chargers, USB-C hubs, keyboards, cables, and other accessories, many of which are compatible with Apple products like the MacBook Pro, iPad Pro, iMac, and iPhone. Satechi has a hub showcasing all of its new products and we've highlighted some popular devices below, but remember that the codes will work sitewide and expire on April 17.

• 30W USB-C Wall Charger - $25.50, down from $29.99
• USB-C Magnetic Charging Cable for Apple Watch - $34.00, down from $39.99
• 2-in-1 Headphone Stand and Wireless Charger - $68.00, down from $79.99
• Pro Hub Max - $85.00, down from $99.99
• 3-in-1 Magnetic Wireless Charging Stand - $96.00, down from $119.99
• Trio Wireless Charger With Magnetic Pad - $96.00, down from $119.99
• USB-C Multimedia Adapter M1 Hub - $120.00, down from $149.99

Head to our full Deals Roundup to get caught up with all of the latest deals and discounts that we've been tracking over the past week.

Apple chipmaking partner TSMC says it will be ready to move its 3nm chip process to volume production in the second half of this year, putting it on track to supply Apple with the next-generation technology in 2023 (via DigiTimes).

"We expect the ramp of N3 to be driven by both HPC [high performance computing] and smartphone applications," said Wei during an April 14 earnings conference call. "We continue to see a high level of customer engagement at N3 and expect more new tape-outs for N3 for the first year as compared with N5 and N7."

TSMC is expected to initially process 30,000-35,000 wafers manufactured using 3nm process technology monthly, according to industry sources cited by DigiTimes.

A July 2021 report from Nikkei Asia claimed Apple will launch an iPad this year featuring a processor based on TSMC's 3nm process. The report from DigiTimes today also claims the process will first be used by Apple in iPads, although it doesn't say which model or when it would launch.

If true, it would be the second time in recent years that Apple has debuted new chip technology in an ‌iPad‌ before using it in its flagship smartphones. Apple first debuted the A14 Bionic chip, based on 5nm technology, in 2020's fourth-generation iPad Air.

Whether or not it goes down the same adoption route, Apple is expected to release the majority of its devices with 3nm chips fabricated by TSMC in 2023, including Macs with M3 chips and iPhone 15 models with A17 chips.

The move to a more advanced process typically results in improved performance and power efficiency, enabling faster speeds and longer battery life on future Macs and iPhones. According to TSMC, 3nm technology can increase processing performance by 10% to 15% compared to 5nm tech, while reducing power consumption by 25% to 30%.

Some M3 chips are said to have up to four dies, potentially allowing up to a 40-core CPU. In comparison, Apple's M1 chip has an 8-core CPU and the M1 Pro and M1 Max chips have 10-core CPUs.

TSMC said it is also on track to move N3E, an enhanced version of N3, to volume production in the second half of 2022. Wei said TSMC's N3E process would "further extend our N3 family with enhanced performance, power, and yield."

Looking ahead, TSMC said its next-generation N2 (2nm) process development was also on track, and the foundry expects to get ready for risk production at the end of 2024 followed by volume production in 2025.

Reddit has announced a new comments search tool that gives users the ability to get search results from replies to original posts – a first for the platform in its 16-year history.

Until now, Reddit users could only retrieve search results for original posts, communities, and individual users, meaning they would have to click on several posts and then scroll through what could sometimes be thousands of comments to find the information they were looking for in a thread.

With the latest changes, however, everything on Reddit is searchable – users, posts, communities, and now comments, allowing redditors to further refine their searches. In a blog post announcing the new function, Reddit offers an example of what this means in practice:

"If someone wants to find a thread about the best locations in London, previously they would have to look through each post in the r/London community, browsing the comments to find it. Now, they can easily see all the different recommendations on the best places for high tea that people have shared in comments."

Alongside the much-requested comments search, Reddit says it has also improved search relevance to help users find results on the platform. Previously, results had to match the user's query almost exactly, but now it's less restrictive, and 100% of a query doesn't have to match the text of a post to return relevant results. In tests, Reddit says its changes led to a 60% increase in results.

As well as less restrictive matching, Reddit is now utilizing global user patterns and post interactions to improve results, so if someone is searching for a topic that a lot of other people are searching for, their results will be sorted to prioritize the newest content or the most popular clicks.

The new search features and improvements are coming in a new look for the search results page on desktop and mobile that's based on user feedback. The changes aim to show content in a simpler design that makes it easier to skim through results and find relevant information.

The ability to comment search is rolling out today on desktop. This feature, along with the other updates, can be accessed by heading to the home feed, clicking within the search bar, and conducting a search.

Niantic, the company behind the popular Pokémon Go game for iOS devices, this week announced the upcoming launch of its next tile, a virtual pet game called "Peridot."

In Peridot, users will care for, raise, and breed virtual pets, sort of like a modern day, iPhone version of a Tamagotchi. The pets are called "Peridots" or "Dots" for short, and players will raise them from birth.

After thousands of years of slumber, Peridots (or Dots for short) are waking to a world vastly different from the one in which they used to roam, and they'll need our help to protect them from extinction.

You'll foster your own Peridots as you embark on this experience. These are creatures who feel so real, you'll love every moment raising them from birth to adulthood. While you explore the world together, you'll get to learn more about your cute new friends, develop a bond as you nurture and play with them, and work with other players to diversify their species.

Players will care for their Peridot, take them on walks, meet their desires, play games, explore places, discover hidden treasures around the world, take photos, and unlock new Peridot archetypes through breeding.

As with other Niantic games, there is a real world component to Peridot, with augmented reality versions of the pets able to be broadcast into the real world for walks and playing.

Niantic is soft launching Peridot in select markets in the near future, and the company plans to iterate on the gameplay experience during the testing period. Those who want to learn more can sign up for the email newsletter on the Niantic website.

Niantic is best known for its development of Pokémon Go, but the company also developed Ingress and the now defunct Harry Potter: Wizards Unite game that did not prove to be popular with users. Harry Potter: Wizards Unite was shuttered on January 31, 2022.

Apple is internally testing several variants of the next-generation M2 chip and the updated Macs that will be equipped with them, reports Bloomberg, citing developer logs. There are "at least" nine new Macs in development that use four different M2 chips that are successors to the current M1 chips.

Apple is working on devices with standard M2 chips, the M2 Pro, the M2 Max, and a successor to the M1 Ultra, with the following machines in the works:

• A MacBook Air with an M2 chip that features an 8-core CPU and 10-core GPU.
• A Mac mini with the M2 chip and a variant with the M2 Pro chip.
• An entry-level 13-inch MacBook Pro with M2 chip.
• A 14 and 16-inch MacBook Pro models with M2 Pro and M2 Max chips. The M2 Max chip features a 12-core CPU and 38-core GPU, along with 64GB Memory.
• A Mac Pro that will include a successor to the M1 Ultra used in the Mac Studio.

Apple has also tested an M1 Max version of the Mac mini, but the release of the Mac Studio may make such a machine redundant, so Apple could stick with M2 and M2 Pro chips when the Mac mini eventually sees a refresh.

According to Bloomberg, the internal testing is a "key step" in the development process, and it suggests that the machines could be released in the coming months. We have heard multiple rumors about a new MacBook Air, an updated 13-inch MacBook Pro, a Mac Pro, and a new Mac mini, but this is the first we are hearing of a possible 14 and 16-inch MacBook Pro refresh this year.

Prior rumors have suggested that we can expect to see the MacBook Air, low-end MacBook Pro, and Mac mini come out in 2022, and Bloomberg has previously said that at least two Macs will launch mid-year, perhaps at WWDC.

Satechi today announced the launch of a new Dual Vertical Laptop Stand, which is an upright stand that is able to hold two laptops, two tablets, two smartphones, or any similar combination of devices vertically.

The upright design of the stand is designed to keep devices tucked away when they're not in use, for a more organized desktop space that also keeps devices protected.

Available in a space gray shade that matches well with Apple's devices, the Dual Vertical Laptop stand supports charging and using a Mac in clamshell mode.

Satechi today also announced the launch of an 8K Ultra HD High Speed HDMI 2.1 Cable with support for 8K resolutions at 60Hz and 4K resolutions at 120Hz. The cable features a braided nylon design and a 24K gold-plated metal connector for both durability and a quality viewing experience.

The Dual Vertical Laptop Stand is available for $39.99, while the 8K HDMI cable is available for $29.99. Both can be purchased from the Satechi website starting today, and a 20 percent discount is available with promo code DUAL20.

Netflix is currently in the process of rolling out an update to its Apple TV app, introducing support for the tvOS 15 player. As noted on Reddit and Twitter (via 9to5Mac), the updated interface began appearing on Apple TVs earlier this week in version 2.1.23 of the app.

The tvOS 15 native player displays show and movie titles in a larger type on the bottom of the screen above the playback bar. There's also an updated information button that displays details about the content, run time, and subtitles, and more.

With this change, there is no longer an option to swipe down to access subtitles, language, sound output settings, and more, as the native tvOS 15 video player interface does not use that layout.

Some other streaming services like HBO Max also use the same native player, so the interface will feel familiar to those who already use apps that support the tvOS 15 player. Other apps like Amazon Prime Video continue to use their own interfaces and have not adopted support for the native player.

‌Apple TV‌ apps update automatically, so users should begin seeing the updated Netflix interface soon.

There are plenty of hidden features and shortcuts that Apple has built into macOS over the years, ranging from keyboard commands to less than obvious settings. These small hacks can improve your workflow and make your Mac experience more customized, so we've highlighted several tips and tricks that you might not know in our latest YouTube video.

1. Open With Default App - Want a certain file type to only open with a specific app? Right click on a file, click on Get Info, click on Open With, and select the app you want to use from the dropdown menu.
2. Automatically Open Safe Files After Downloading - To automatically open safe files downloaded from Safari, open up the app, go to preferences, open up the General tab and select Open "safe" files after downloading. Don't want files to open automatically? Uncheck it.
3. Convert to PDF - In Finder, or the desktop, you can right click on a file and use the "Quick Actions" feature to turn an image, document, or downloaded webpage to a PDF. Just right click on the file you want to turn into a PDF, select Quick Actions, and choose "Create PDF." You can select multiple files and combine them all into one PDF using this method. Convert to PDF is a default option, but if it's not enabled for some reason, choose "Customize" and select it to add it to your Quick Action options.
4. Search Current Folder - Want to set your Mac to default to search in your open current folder instead of the entire device? Open up Finder, to Preferences, select "Advanced," and then under the "When performing a search" heading select "Search the Current Folder."
5. Close All App Windows - To close all open windows of an app all at once, hold down Option and click the red x of one of the windows.
6. Always Show Scroll Bars - To keep your scroll bars visible at all times, open up System Preferences, select General, and then under the "Show scroll bars" option, choose "Always."
7. Access Sound Input and Output from Menu Bar - You can access sound input and output by holding down option when clicking the sound icon in the menu bar or in Control Center on your Mac. Go to System Preferences > Sound > Show Sound in menu bar and set it to always if you want to have a permanent menu bar sound option.
8. Quickly Find a File from Spotlight - If you have Spotlight search open, you can find a file in Finder by holding Command + R and clicking on it.
9. Minimize Windows With a Click - Want to change what a double click on a window's title bar does? Go to System Preferences, Dock & Menu Bar, and under "Double-click a window's title bar," select minimize instead of zoom, which is the default.
10. Automatically Hide and Show Menu Bar - To automatically hide and show your menu bar, go to System Preferences, select Dock & Menu Bar, and then choose "Automatically hide and show menu bar on desktop."
11. Hide Menu Bar Date - Don't want to see the date? go to System Preferences, select Dock & Menu Bar, and then under the Clock heading on the left menu, deselect "Show day of the week" and "Show date."
12. Delete by Word - When you're writing, you can edit more efficiently with keyboard commands. To delete an entire word at once instead of character by character, hold down the option key and then press the delete button.
13. Delete by Line - To delete an entire line, hold down the command key and then press the delete button.
14. Move Cursor by Word - To move your cursor through text faster, hold down the option key and use the arrows to move word by word instead of character by character. Hold down command to move it by line.
15. Customize Screenshots - Macs have a lot of built-in customization options for screenshots. When you use shift + command + 4 to take a sized screenshot, hold option when dragging to resize all four corners, and space bar to move the selection box.

Have other great Mac tips that we didn't include here? Let us know in the comments.

WeWork appears to be working on Apple Wallet support for the WeWork Access Card based on image assets and hidden code that MacRumors discovered in the WeWork app code.

The code that we located reads "add to wallet button tapped," suggesting that a future version of the WeWork app is going to integrate with Apple Wallet using the Office Key feature. Office Key support would allow users to use their Apple Watch to gain access to WeWork locations, and it would not require users to have the "Background Location" permission turned on for the WeWork app.

The current WeWork Access Card supports Bluetooth Low Energy at limited locations, but ‌Office Key support in Apple Wallet is not available at this time. Apple in iOS 15 announced the new Wallet features that let users add hotel, car, and office keys for one-tap access.

Companies that support the Office Key feature can allow their employees to add corporate access badges to the Wallet app, with the iPhone and Apple Watch able to unlock office doors. World Trade Center tenants and employees were the first to be able to use this technology earlier this year.

WeWork has been in the news as of late thanks to the "WeCrashed" television show that premiered on Apple TV+ on March 18.

Today on Amazon you can save on every Wi-Fi model of the iPad mini 6, with prices starting at $459.00 for the 64GB Wi-Fi model, down from $499.00. You'll find all four colors on sale at this price, and B&H Photo is matching in Purple.

Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with some of these vendors. When you click a link and make a purchase, we may receive a small payment, which helps us keep the site running.

At $40 off, this deal remains the best price we've ever seen on this iPad mini 6 model, which first launched in September 2021 with a larger 8.3-inch display, the A15 Bionic chip, support for the Apple Pencil 2, and a USB-C port. Each iPad mini is shipped and sold directly by Amazon.

You can also get an all-time low price on the 256GB Wi-Fi iPad mini 6, priced at $599.00, down from $649.00. Amazon is again offering this iPad mini in all four colors: Starlight, Space Gray, Purple, and Pink. B&H Photo is matching the sale in every color as well.

There are some cellular deals on the iPad mini 6, but they aren't as steep or varied as the Wi-Fi models. The 64GB Cellular iPad mini 6 is on sale for $599.00 in Space Gray, down from $649.00 (matched at B&H); and the 256GB Cellular iPad mini 6 is on sale for $759.00 in Starlight, down from $799.00 (matched at B&H).

For even more iPad deals, head to our full Best Deals guide for iPad. In that guide we track the best discounts online for iPad, iPad mini, iPad Air, and iPad Pro.

From now until Earth Day on April 22, Apple is planning to donate $1 to the World Wildlife Fund for every Apple Pay transaction made in Apple Stores, through the Apple Store app, or on the Apple.com website.

Apple announced the promotion in an email that went out to ‌Apple Pay‌ users today, and it is the same promotion that Apple has also done in past years, though with different charities benefitting.

For 60 years, World Wildlife Fund has worked to conserve nature and reduce the most pressing threats to the diversity of life on Earth.Connecting cutting-edge conservation science with the collective power of its partners in the field, World Wildlife Fund strives to develop and deliver innovative solutions that protect communities, wildlife, and the places in which they live.

Apple also used the email to highlight its own environmental commitments and its plan to make every Apple product carbon neutral by 2030.

Along with World Wildlife Fund donations, Apple will celebrate Earth Day with an Activity Challenge. Users can do any workout for 30 minutes or longer on April 22 to earn a special badge in the fitness app.

Apple also often tweaks the Apple logo on Apple retail stores in celebration of Earth Day, turning the leaf green.

Popular Meta-owned messaging app WhatsApp today announced the launch of a new "Communities" feature, which is designed to allow people to bring together separate groups under a single umbrella. WhatsApp says that this will give people a way to receive updates that are sent to an entire community, and then organize smaller discussion groups on important topics.

So, for example, school parents could create an overarching "School" community, which breaks out into smaller groups based on grade and other factors. Community admins will have access to "powerful new tools" like announcement messages and control over the groups that can be created within a community.

We think Communities will make it easier for a school principal to bring all the parents of the school together to share must-read updates and set up groups about specific classes, extracurricular activities, or volunteer needs.

WhatsApp is also adding a number of improvements for groups, including emoji reactions for reacting to messages, an admin delete feature that will allow problematic messages to be removed from everyone's chats, file sharing with support for files up to 2GB, and one-tap voice calling for up to 32 people.

Apple has responded to Meta's plan to take a nearly 50% commission for digital asset purchases made inside the metaverse after complaining about fees in the App Store, calling the decision hypocritical.

Yesterday, it was revealed that Meta, more commonly known as Facebook, plans to take a steep 47.5% commission for digital asset purchases made inside the so-called "metaverse."

The 47.5% cut includes a 30% hardware fee on top of a 17.5% platform fee. Responding to the plan, Apple spokesperson Fred Sainz told MarketWatch that Facebook is simply being hypocritical and that while it complains about Apple's own platform fees, it wants to charge creators even more.

“Meta has repeatedly taken aim at Apple for charging developers a 30% commission for in-app purchases in the App Store — and have used small businesses and creators as a scapegoat at every turn,” Apple spokesman Fred Sainz stated in an email to MarketWatch. “Now — Meta seeks to charge those same creators significantly more than any other platform. [Meta's] announcement lays bare Meta's hypocrisy. It goes to show that while they seek to use Apple's platform for free, they happily take from the creators and small businesses that use their own.”

Facebook and the company's CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, have repeatedly called Apple's ‌App Store‌ and the 15% to 30% cut that it takes for in-app purchases anti-competitive and monopolistic.

Zuckerberg in June 2020 said that Facebook would be making paid online events, subscriptions, badges, and other products free for creators until 2023, and after that, Meta would announce a commission that is "less than the 30% that Apple and others take." That lower commission has not yet been announced, and at least in regards to the "metaverse," Zuckerberg's promise for a lower cut than Apple's has already been broken.

Apple's entire current AirPods lineup is seeing notable low prices on Amazon, with up to $99 off the AirPods Max, AirPods 2, AirPods 3, and AirPods Pro.

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.

AirPods 2

Amazon has the AirPods 2 at $99.00, down from $129.00. This deal has been somewhat rare in 2022, and in total it's only about $10 higher than the all-time low price seen on this version of the AirPods.

This is the model of AirPods that comes with the Wired Charging Case. Apple discontinued the AirPods 2 with the Wireless Charging Case so we haven't seen any notable deals on that accessory in months, and recommend looking at deals on the AirPods 3 if you're looking for a model with a Qi-compatible case.

AirPods 3

AirPods 3 have dropped to $149.99 on Amazon, down from $179.00. Shipping has somewhat dwindled on the AirPods over the last few days, but you can still get the headphones this month; Amazon is now estimating a delivery date of April 18-28.

Similar to the AirPods 2 deal, this sale on the AirPods 3 is around $10 off from the record low Amazon price on this model. Overall, it's one of the best deals that we've tracked in 2022, and it's sold directly by Amazon.

The AirPods 3 were introduced in October 2021 and feature a more compact stem similar to the AirPods Pro, and a redesigned contoured fit. There's a force sensor built into the stem for physical control over media and Siri, and they come with a MagSafe Charging Case.

AirPods Pro with MagSafe

Apple's AirPods Pro with MagSafe Charging Case is on sale for $174.99, down from $249.00. This price is a match of the 2022 low price on the AirPods Pro, and overall it's the second-best price we've ever tracked.

The headphones are seeing a slight shipping delay, with a delivery possible by April 24. The new AirPods Pro launched in 2021, and are essentially the same as the 2019 model with the addition of the new MagSafe Charging Case.

AirPods Max

Lastly, the AirPods Max have returned to $449.99 in several colors, down from $549.00. This isn't quite an all-time low, but at $99 off it's one of the more consistent deals we've seen on the high-end AirPods Max in 2022.

You won't see this discount price until you reach the checkout screen and an automatic coupon worth $29.01 is applied. Colors available at this price include Space Gray, Sky Blue, and Silver.

We track sales for every model of the AirPods in our Best AirPods Deals guide, so be sure to bookmark that page while you shop around for the wireless headphones.