SK Hynix, Samsung‘s chief competitor and the world’s number two memory maker, has begun its audacious plan to build the largest chip production facility on the planet.
The construction at SK Hynix’s giant Yongin Semiconductor Cluster in Gyeonggi Province, South Korea, will comprise four units. Work on the first unit, which is intended to be the world’s biggest three-story fabrication plant, is anticipated to commence in March 2025.
The Korea Economic Daily reports that the project is estimated to cost over 120 trillion won ($90.7 billion) and will span over two decades, with completion expected by 2046.
Government backing
The plan was first announced in 2019 but ran into delays due to Covid and licensing procedures. It received a boost in 2022 following an agreement between the government, municipalities, and companies, according to SK Hynix. The site of the first unit is now 35% prepared.
Trade Minister Ahn Deokgeun visited the site recently, promising government support for Korea’s chip industry. “All ministries will work together to ensure that Korean companies won’t lag behind global players in semiconductor manufacturing speed. We will actively support high-bandwidth memory (HBM) chips to achieve more than $120 billion in semiconductor exports this year,” he said.
The Korea Economic Daily says the government will unveil strategies to accelerate artificial intelligence chip exports and bolster semiconductor equipment by the end of June.
Creating the world’s largest chip factory is just part of SK Hynix’s future plans. The manufacturing giant is also intending to invest $4 billion to build an advanced chip packaging facility in West Lafayette, Indiana.
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The pages offer a variety of information about the latest Apple Watch models, including details about materials and finishes, size and weight, hardware, connectivity, battery life, health and wellness features, safety features, accessibility features, and more.
Apple will introduce new iPad Pro and iPad Air models in early May, according to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman. Gurman previously suggested the new iPads would come out in March, and then April, but the timeline has been pushed back once again. Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos. Apple is working on updates to both the iPad Pro and iPad Air models. The iPad Pro models will…
Phishing attacks taking advantage of Apple’s password reset feature have become increasingly common, according to a report from KrebsOnSecurity. Multiple Apple users have been targeted in an attack that bombards them with an endless stream of notifications or multi-factor authentication (MFA) messages in an attempt to cause panic so they’ll respond favorably to social engineering. An…
At least some Apple software engineers continue to believe that iOS 18 will be the “biggest” update in the iPhone’s history, according to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman. Below, we recap rumored features and changes for the iPhone. “The iOS 18 update is expected to be the most ambitious overhaul of the iPhone’s software in its history, according to people working on the upgrade,” wrote Gurman, in a r…
Apple on late Tuesday released revised versions of iOS 17.4.1 and iPadOS 17.4.1 with an updated build number of 21E237, according to MacRumors contributor Aaron Perris. The updates previously had a build number of 21E236. The revised updates are available for all iPhone and iPad models that are compatible with iOS 17 and iPadOS 17, but they can only be installed via the Finder app on macOS…
With the App Store and app ecosystem undergoing major changes in the European Union, The Wall Street Journal today shared a profile on App Store chief Phil Schiller, who is responsible for the App Store. Though Schiller transitioned from marketing chief to “Apple Fellow” in 2020 to take a step back from Apple and spend more time on personal projects and friends, he is reportedly working…
Apple may be planning to add support for “custom routes” in Apple Maps in iOS 18, according to code reviewed by MacRumors. Apple Maps does not currently offer a way to input self-selected routes, with Maps users limited to Apple’s pre-selected options, but that may change in iOS 18. Apple has pushed an iOS 18 file to its maps backend labeled “CustomRouteCreation.” While not much is revealed…
In case you missed the last week in the busy world of tech we’re here with your weekly update that’ll catch you up to speed on all the most important stories.
This week we finally got a date for Apple’s WWDC 2024 event – which might very well be the most important conference in Apple’s history. We also saw some weird creations from OpenAI’s Sora bot, got to hear some impressive ANC earbuds, and even witnessed the marriage of Disney Plus and Hulu.
To find out about these, and the other biggest stories of the week scroll down this page – and be sure to check back next Saturday for another quickfire round-up.
7. Apple WWDC 2024 was announced for June 10
(Image credit: Apple)
Apple’s next Worldwide Developer Conference got a date this week – and it’s due to land on June 10, 2024. During the opening keynote we expect to get our first look at Apple’s next batch of software updates – iOS 18, iPadOS 18, and macOS 15 – as well as some hardware reveals – perhaps new Macs, a new Apple silicone chipset, or maybe even a Vision Pro successor (though that seems unlikely).
One reveal that seems all but certain is the announcement of Apple’s big generative AI plans. While it hasn’t said anything specifically, Apple’s senior VP for marketing Greg Joswiak gave a less than subtle hint with a Tweet saying of WWDC 2024 “It’s going to be Absolutely Incredible!” – note the capitalization of Absolutely and Incredible.
We’ll have to wait until June to know what’s in store, but WWDC 2024 looks set to be an Apple event you won’t want to miss.
6. OpenAI wowed us with Sora videos
(Image credit: OpenAI / shy kids)
If you’re like us (and who isn’t?) you’ve been watching OpenAI Sora videos on TikTok with an increasing level of wonder and worry. The company responsible for DALL-E and ChatGPT has been posting all manner of bite-sized video creations that, if they weren’t so other-worldly, would look as if they were filmed in a real world. Put simply, this prompt-based generative AI video tool is unlike anything we’ve seen before, and no one really knows what it’ll do to the film, television, and animation industry.
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With an apparent nod to that concern, OpenAI recently opened up Sora to a set of independent artists and creators. Instead of throwing their hands up and running away in fear for their livelihoods, they created a set of unforgettable short films, including one that might rival an Oscar-winning short (okay, a very short film). You just have to see these AI-generated films to believe them. We guarantee you’ll be shocked and a little entertained. It won’t be long, we think, until Sora is credited as the cinematographer on a full-length film.
5. The Samsung Galaxy Ring dropped another big launch hint
(Image credit: Samsung)
Sometimes it feels like the Galaxy Ring is launching in slow motion, but the wearable inched closer to lift-off this week when it was spotted inside the battery widget on Samsung phones.
This didn’t really tell us anything new about the Oura rival, other than hinting that it’s on track for a full launch – most likely in July alongside phones like the Galaxy Z Flip 6. But it got us excited about the Galaxy Ring’s potential again, particularly for sleep tracking. If all goes well, it could be one of the gadgets of the year.
4. Hulu officially merged with Disney Plus
(Image credit: Disney)
Hulu and Disney Plus have officially tied the knot. Now in the US alongside hubs for Marvel, Star Wars, Pixar, and National Geographic you’ll see a Hulu option that’ll show you shows and films from the Hulu catalogue.
Of course, to watch this content you’ll need to pay for a Hulu subscription. A Disney Plus and Hulu bundle will start at $9.99/month for the standard subscription with ads (just $2 more than Basic Disney Plus). Meanwhile, you’ll pay $19.99/month if you want a Premium subscription to both services that offers 4K video and no ads.
Just note that some shows – like Modern Family and Love Island – won’t appear in Disney Plus right away thanks to “content licensing restrictions” per Variety. It’s unclear when these restrictions will stop getting in the way of Disney’s new one-stop streaming service shop, but we hope it’s soon.
3. Nikon launched a versatile zoom lens
(Image credit: Nikon)
We get the occasional 10x optical zoom lens for DSLR and mirrorless cameras, but 14x? That’s unheard of, until now. Nikon dropped the new Z 28-400mm f/4-8 VR, which looks like a superb all-in-one zoom lens for its full-frame mirrorless cameras such as the Nikon Z6 II. Its wide end covers shooting everyday observations and landscapes, its telephoto setting is ideal for distant wildlife and landmarks, and its close-up photography skills are super impressive thanks to its close minimum focus distance.
At 725g it’s pretty compact, too, ideal for your travels. The lens also comes equipped with 5 stops of image stabilization which is exactly what you’ll need for those telephoto snaps. It won’t be as sharp as a prime lens, but the 28-400mm could just be the last Nikon lens you ever buy.
2. Cambridge unveiled its first-ever noise-cancelling earbuds
(Image credit: Cambridge Audio)
The company that launched one of our all-time favorite sets of earbuds (namely the 2021-issue Melomania 1 Plus) is back with a new earbuds proposition – and the fact that they’re CA’s first noise-canceling option isn’t even their biggest selling point.
The firm has actually launched two models: the regular Melomania M100 and a limited edition Melomania M100 How High Edition. The latter comes in a bright yellow case that’s an homage to the music video for The Charlatans’ hit How High, in which singer Tim Burgess wore a glorious bright yellow mackintosh. But both products come with a veritable ace up their sleeves: the slinky vocal stylings of Matt Berry, aka Steven Toast (Toast of London/Toast of Tinseltown), aka Lazslo (What We Do in the Shadows). That’s right, Matt Berry will purr ‘Noise canceling’ or ‘Transparency’ in your ear as often as you’d like, for the princely sum of £169 (about $219 / AU$326). If that doesn’t make Apple nervous, we don’t know what will.
1. Google pulled the plug on the Pixel 6a
(Image credit: Future / Philip Berne)
This week Google unceremoniously killed off the Pixel 6a – with the budget smartphone being pulled from all of its official online stores all over the world. Even the official protective case has disappeared from the digital shelves.
Of course, you can still buy the device from third-party retailers, but you might not want to as we believe this is a sign that Google is planning to launch the Pixel 8a very soon.
Amazon’s Big Spring Sale ended earlier this week, but a handful of the better tech discounts we saw during the event are still kicking. We’ve also found a few new deals of note, including all-time lows on the newest MacBook Air, the best price to date for an Apple AirTags four-pack, a larger-than-usual drop for the top pick in our webcam buying guide and more. Here are the best tech deals from this week that you can still get today.
Photo by Devindra Hardawar / Engadget
The latest MacBook Air has only been out for three weeks, but it’s now $100 off and down to $999 at Amazon, albeit with a shipping delay. This deal is for the base 13-inch Air with Apple’s M3 chip, 8GB of RAM and a 256GB SSD, so it’s best suited for those who won’t use the notebook for more intense work. If you need more memory and storage, a configuration with 16GB of RAM and a 512GB SSD is down to $1,449 at B&H as well. That’s a $50 discount. If you prefer a larger display, Amazon is also selling the base 15-inch Air for $1,204, which is $95 off and another all-time low.
We gave both sizes of the M3 Air a review score of 90 and currently list them as the top picks in our laptop buying guide. They can run a little hot, and they’re still limited to two USB-C ports, but they continue to provide slim and sturdy frames, comfortable keyboards and trackpads, long battery life, accurate displays and strong performance for everyday tasks. Apart from the upgraded chip, these new models support Wi-Fi 6E and can output to two external monitors (when the laptop itself is closed, at least). The base configurations technically have faster storage than before, too.
Just note that these offers don’t apply to every color finish. We’ll also mention that the still-great M2 MacBook Air is down to $899 at Best Buy — that’s $50 more than the all-time low we saw earlier this week, but it’s a good price if the slightly faster processor and expanded external display support isn’t worth another $100 to you.
A four-pack of Apple’s AirTag trackers is on sale for $75 at Amazon, Best Buy and Walmart. That matches the largest discount we’ve tracked and comes in $24 below Apple’s list price. Unsurprisingly, we consider AirTags to be the best Bluetooth trackers for iPhone users since they leverage the enormous Apple device network and ultrawideband (UWB) wireless tech to locate lost items precisely. A waterproof design and replaceable battery help, too, though you’ll need to pay for a separate accessory if you want to physically attach an AirTag to a keychain or other belongings.
If you use a Samsung Galaxy phone, however, we recommend Samsung’s Galaxy SmartTag 2 in our Bluetooth tracker guide instead. A four-pack of those is now down to $70 at Amazon and B&H, a $30 discount that matches the lowest price we’ve tracked. The SmartTag only works with Samsung devices, but it’s easy to set up if you’re already onboard the Galaxy train, and its water-resistant design has a cutout for keychains, luggage and the like. While Samsung’s crowd-finding network isn’t as extensive as Apple’s, there are generally enough Samsung phones out there for it to be effective, an idea that held true in our testing.
The Logitech Brio 500 webcam is on sale for $88 at Amazon and Lenovo, which is roughly $25 off the device’s average street price in recent months and only about $5 more than its all-time low. This is the top pick in our guide to the best webcams. It streams up to 1080p/30fps, which should be sufficient for most, and it does well to automatically correct for the lighting of your room. It autofocuses quickly, and it has a handy “RightSight” feature that keeps you in frame even when you move around. It also has a built-in privacy cover, though its USB cable isn’t detachable.
If you want to save some cash, the Anker PowerConf C200 is the runner up in our guide, and it’s now $12 off at $48. That one can shoot at a sharper 2K resolution, though its image quality isn’t quite as impressive on the whole, and the device itself is more cumbersome to adjust.
If you buy an Apple gift card worth $100 or more at Target, the retailer will throw in a $10 Target gift card for no extra cost. We see this promotion pop up every few months, but if you plan on buying any sort of Apple product in the near-term and shop at Target anyway, it’s effectively free money. The deal applies to digital cards and will run through March 30. As a reminder, you can put an Apple gift card toward subscriptions like Apple Music or iCloud+, the App Store, physical Apple retail stores and more.
The latest USB-C version of the Backbone One mobile game controller is on sale for $80 at multiple retailers. That’s $10 more than the all-time low we saw around Black Friday last year, but steeper discounts have been uncommon, and this is still $20 off the controller’s usual price. Both the standard black and PlayStation-branded white models are on sale. Backbone says the offer will run through April 1.
We’ve previously recommended the One for people who want to stream console or PC games to their phone or play more complex mobile games without having to use touch controls. It’s not as luxurious as a normal gamepad, but it’s not too far off, and it has all the necessary buttons to play modern titles. This second-gen model has a revised D-pad and can fit neatly with a wider range of phones, including the iPhone 15 series.
You can still take up to $60 off an annual Max subscription if you pay for a year upfront. The sale brings Max’s top-level tier, which removes ads and includes 4K streaming, down to $140, or about $12 per month. Normally, it’d go for $200. The most affordable tier, meanwhile, is now available for $70 instead of $100. That works out to roughly $6 per month, though you’ll have to deal with ads. Max says this promo will run through April 9 and is available to new, returning and existing subscribers — though, if you subscribe an annual plan already, you can only use the offer to switch to a separate tier of service. Still, if you want to stream The Last of Us, A24 films and other works from HBO and Warner Bros. studios, this deal makes the service formerly known as HBO Max a little more affordable. Just note that your subscription will be set to auto-renew by default.
The Apple Watch SE is still down to $189 at Amazon and Walmart for models with an aluminum case and a nylon Sport Loop. We’ve seen this deal for much of the past few weeks, and it’s $10 more than this model’s all-time low, but it’s still a good price for those looking to buy their first smartwatch. For reference, Apple sells the wearable for $249.
The SE earned a review score of 89 back in late 2022, and we recommend it for those on stricter budgets in our best smartwatches guide. Compared to the flagship Apple Watch Series 9, it has a slightly smaller display that isn’t always-on, so it’ll only wake when you tap it or raise your wrist. It lacks fast charging and some more advanced health features like a skin temperature senor and ECG monitor as well. But it still gets you the core Apple Watch experience for much less cash, with support for notifications, heart-rate monitoring and crash detection, among other features.
The JBL Charge 5 is back down to $130 at several retailers, which isn’t an all-time low but is still $30 or so less than the average street price we’ve seen lately. We recommend the Charge 5 in our guide to the best Bluetooth speakers. It packs a big sound for its reasonably compact frame (8.7 x 3.8 x 3.7 inches) and it’s IP67-rated, so it can survive in the pool or shower. It also gets a solid 15 to 20 hours of battery life, plus it can double as a power bank in a pinch. There’s no aux port for wired listening, though, nor is there any speakerphone functionality. Note that this is the standard Bluetooth model, not the newer Wi-Fi-enabled version. This deal comes as part of a wider sale on JBL wireless speakers and headphones.
The Anker Soundcore Space A40 is still available for $49 at Amazon, which is a record low and $10 less than its usual sale price over the last couple of months. This deal applies to the black version; if you’d like a different color, the blue and white models are also on sale for a dollar more. The Space A40 is the top pick in our guide to the best budget wireless earbuds: It offers strong noise cancellation, a pleasantly warm (and customizable) sound profile, wireless charging, multi-device pairing and a solid eight hours of battery life per charge. It’s not very clear for phone calls, and it won’t automatically pause when you remove an earbud, but it punches well above its price range, especially with this discount.
If you prefer a more AirPods-style design with longer stems, meanwhile, the Soundcore Liberty 4 NC is the runner up in our guide and offers most of the same benefits. It’s still on sale for $74.50, which is a $25 discount and only $5 more than its lowest-ever price.
The latest Amazon Echo Buds are still $15 off and on sale for $35, too. That matches the lowest price we’ve tracked. We highlight the Echo Buds in our budget earbuds guide for those who prefer an open design, one that doesn’t totally seal off the ear canal and makes it easier to hear the outside world. They can’t produce much deep bass as a result, but they’re comfortable, and they can still sound better than most devices with this kind of design with a little EQ tweaking. They support wear detection and multi-device pairing as well, and they make it possible to access Alexa hands-free. Their five-hour battery life isn’t great, though, and their IPX2 water-resistance rating is too weak to use comfortably in the gym. They also lack wireless charging. But decent unsealed earbuds in this price range are rare. We gave the Echo Buds a score of 77 in our review.
Amazon has the Jabra Elite 8 Active earbuds available for $160. While that’s not an all-time low — this pair dropped as low as $135 during Cyber Monday last year — it’s about $20 off the earbuds’ average street price over the last few months. The Elite 8 Active is the runner up pick in our guide to the best running headphones due to their durable and comfortable design (complete with an IP68 rating), solid eight-hour battery life and well-balanced yet customizable sound. They have useful noise cancellation and ambient sound modes as well, though neither is superlative.
Amazon’s latest Fire TV Stick 4K Max is still hanging around at $40, which is $20 below the streamer’s list price. We’ve seen this deal a bunch of times in recent months; nevertheless, it matches the device’s lowest price to date. The 4K Max is the fastest streaming stick in Amazon’s lineup. It supports all the major streaming services and HDR formats, Dolby Atmos audio and Wi-Fi 6E with a compatible router. Its Fire OS software is less solid: Amazon isn’t shy about displaying ads and pushing its own content above others in search. For most, the Roku Streaming Stick 4K or Google Chromecast will feel tidier. Still, that may not be a big deal if you use Alexa, Prime Video and other Amazon services already, and the OS does include an “Ambient Experience” mode that displays artwork and other info when the device is idle. Other Fire TV devices are on sale, too, including the standard Fire TV Stick 4K for $30 and the 1080p Fire TV Stick Lite for $20. Neither of those are all-time lows, though.
The Meta Quest 2 VR headset remains available for $199 at Amazon, Walmart and others, a $50 discount that’s only a couple bucks more than the lowest price we’ve tracked. (A prior Walmart deal that also included a $50 Meta Quest Store credit is no longer available, unfortunately.) The Quest 2 is the top budget pick in our guide to the best VR headsets. It’s not as sharp, fast or feature-rich as the newer Meta Quest 3, but it can still run just about all the platform’s best games and apps, and its design is still completely wireless. It can also play VR games from a gaming PC with a link cable. To be clear, the $500 Quest 3 is worth the upgrade if you can swing it, but the older model is a strong value if you’re new to VR and plan on using your headset casually. This deal only furthers that.
The second-generation Apple Pencil is available for $79 at Walmart and Best Buy. We’ve seen this deal for the past few weeks, but it matches the stylus’ all-time low and takes $50 off Apple’s list price all the same. We highlight the second-gen Pencil in our iPad accessories guide. It’s comfortable to hold, and it’s the only stylus to support pressure sensitivity across iPadOS, so it makes drawing and note-taking feel a little more natural than most competitors. It’s also easy to charge and connect, as it snaps to the side of a compatible iPad Air, mini or Pro magnetically. It’s worth noting that we could see a new Pencil as soon as May, but we’d expect the current model to remain a good value at this price.
The Kobo Libra 2 ereader is down to $170 at Amazon and Kobo direct. That’s not an all-time low, but it still marks a $20 discount. We recommend the Libra 2 in our ereader buying guide for those who like physical page-turning buttons. Its design is premium, waterproof and ergonomically-friendly, and its 7-inch, 300 dpi display is comfortable to look at for long periods. Convenient integration with Overdrive makes it easy to borrow, download and read ebooks from your local library as well. If you don’t want to lock yourself into the Kindle ecosystem, it should impress.
The 128GB Google Pixel Tablet is still $100 off and available for $399, while the 256GB model is $150 off and down to $449. These deals have been available at multiple retailers for a couple of weeks now, but both represent all-time lows. Google says they’ll run through April 3.
While the Pixel Tablet isn’t a formal pick in our buying guide, it’s still a compelling option for those who’d like a tablet that can double as a sort-of smart display. With its included charging speaker dock, the 11-inch slate can work somewhat like a Nest Hub Max, controlling smart home devices, displaying photos and so on. It’s not as remarkable without the dock, but it’s still fast and vibrant enough for everyday streaming, reading and gaming. We gave the Pixel Tablet a score of 85 in our review last year.
In other Google deals, the Pixel Fold is down to $1,299 at Amazon, the Google Store and others. That’s $500 off the foldable phone’s list price and a new low for the unlocked 256GB model. The 512GB version is also $500 off and down to $1,419. Both deals beat the phone’s prior lows by $100.
The Pixel Fold is the runner up in our foldable phone buying guide. It’s thinner than Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold 5, and its 5.8-inch cover display is shorter and wider, so it’s easier to use like a traditional phone when the whole device is closed. It also takes better photos. Other foldables can run faster, however, and the Z Fold 5’s displays are a bit more vibrant. Plus, all foldables still carry some durability risk. But this is a slightly more manageable price if you’ve been thinking about making the leap. We gave the Pixel Fold a score of 85 in our review last year.
The Breville Smart Oven Air Fryer Pro is down for $320, an $80 discount that matches the best price we’ve seen over the past several years. The deal is available at multiple retailers, including Amazon, Best Buy and Williams Sonoma. We recommend this hefty appliance in our guide to the best air fryers. As its name implies, it’s a combination device that can air fry as well as toast, broil, roast and bake food. Its 40-pound steel frame is big and heavy, but its two-rack interior is spacious enough to cook a 14-pound turkey or fit a five-quart dutch oven. Most people don’t need something this heavy-duty, and it’s fairly pricey even with this discount, but it could be worth the splurge if you often prepare food for large groups of people.
A bundle that pairs the most recent Amazon Echo Show 8 with an AmazonBasics smart bulb is on sale for $100. We’ve seen the Echo Show 8 go for $10 less in the past, but this is still about $30 off the 8-inch smart display’s average street price as of late. A similar bundle with the smaller Echo Show 5 is available for $75, though we’ve seen that display fall as low as $40 in the past, so it’s not as strong of a deal.
We haven’t formally reviewed this newest model, but it’s a straightforward upgrade over the previous-gen Echo Show 8, which we called the best smart display for Alexa users. It remains the best blend of price, size and functionality in the Echo Show lineup, with a better camera and more spacious display than the Echo Show 5 and a much lower price than the Echo Show 10. This latest model has a more centered front camera, an upgraded processor, a slightly revised design and compatibility with other smart home devices using the Matter, Zigbee and Thread protocols. There’s also a built-in camera cover and mic mute button, though no device like this will be truly comfortable for the privacy-conscious. Still, if you’re happy with Alexa and want a hub for pulling up recipes, displaying photos, streaming music and the like, this is a decent value.
Up through April 11, Samsung will throw in a 65-inch 4K TV for no extra cost when you pre-order one of its new OLED, 8K, 4K or Frame TVs for 2024. It’s hard to call this a great deal: Many of the better Samsung TVs from last year are now available for much cheaper, and we can’t say how much of an upgrade the new models will be until we see more reviews drop. On paper, they don’t look to be huge leaps, though the top-end S95D OLED TV may be notable for its new anti-glare panel. The freebie TV is also a basic entry-level model from 2022, the Samsung TU690T.
Still, this is a decent sweetener if you’re willing to pay for one of the latest models and could use any sort of large screen for a secondary room around the house. The offer may be particularly appealing if you want a new Frame TV, as the previous version is currently going for the same price as the 2024 model. You can read more about this discount here.
A new patent from Microsoft has popped up, revealing a concept called Pixel Luminesce for Digital Display technology. This product would, theoretically, allow users to control every pixel on a display, essentially allowing you to selectively dim your display based on preferences and needs.
Though this concept sounds like an accessibility dream for those who suffer from sight issues, light sensitivity, and other disorders, it could also be a case of technology that’s mostly too good to be true.
According to the patent (and reported by Windows Report), individual pixels would be controlled by a part called an EM gate driver. It sends the pixels a signal to control how bright or dim they are, and then a luminance controller tells the EM gate drivers to send another kind of signal called a pulse-width modulated signal to the rows of pixels.
Since the signals could alternate between off and on, it could allow for one part of the display to be brighter while another could be at default brightness or darker. This could also allow other features like color accuracy, refresh rate, and even power consumption to be adjusted as needed.
Dimming technology may not be ready to see the light
However, there are several possible drawbacks to this technology that could severely affect the display. First, the actual benefits would be restricted to LCD monitors since OLED and QLED can already produce true black local dimming. Second, constantly altering pixel brightness could negatively impact the overall lifespan of your display, by decreasing it.
Because of this, if Microsoft were still planning this device, it would be difficult to make it work well enough to justify it, especially for such a limited amount of display types.
There is one bit of good news, and it’s that the Pixel Luminesce for Digital Display can work if you’re willing to be a bit more flexible on what can make proper use of it. Gaming laptop displays are ideal for this dimming technology, as the EM gate driver needs local processing to function. A display with dimming couldn’t use an HDMI connection but instead a USB-C with datastream as well as display throughput. A laptop display, however, completely bypasses this requirement thanks to its local processing.
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This patent isn’t a product set in manufacturing stone, but one that could possibly happen. If it does, though, there are too many setbacks involved when using a separate monitor that would outweigh the positives. Only if it’s reconsidered for a laptop display could the concept succeed, but even then OLED and QLED are already on the market, meaning there’s very little return on investment.
We reached out to Microsoft for comment and will update this article if there is anything new to report.
Amazon’s Big Spring Sale has officially ended but a few deals are still going strong. While this latest event wasn’t on the level of a Prime Day or a Black Friday sale, over the past week we found decent savings on some of the gadgets and devices we recommend. Now that the sale is done, the pickings are a little slimmer, but that doesn’t mean you’re out of luck completely. If you didn’t take advantage of the sale while it was live, or if you’ve still got some shopping left to do, consider this list your last chance to reap the discounts from Amazon’s latest sale. (Of course, if you miss out now, Prime Day typically comes back around in July every year.) Here are the best Amazon Spring Sale discounts on tech we love that you can still get today.
Best Spring Sale deals under $50
Apple
A single AirTag is on sale for $24, which is $5 off and close to its record low price. These are the best Bluetooth trackers for those with iOS devices since they use the vast Find My network to keep track of your belongings. You can force them to ring to help you find your stuff if you’re within close range, and newer iPhones can even display directions on their screens to guide you to your lost stuff. Just make sure to pick up a holder if you intend on attaching the AirTag to your keys. If you want to pick up more than one, we recommend getting the four-pack that’s on sale for $80 right now — that brings each individual AirTag down to only $20.
Our favorite pair of budget wireless earbuds has dropped to a new record-low price of $50. The Anker Soundcore Space A40 impressed us with their solid sound quality, comfortable fit and impressive active noise cancellation for the price. We think they’re a great value at their normal $80 price, so this sale makes them even more attractive. In addition, they have good battery life and support for multi-device connectivity and wireless charging. They may not have the best call quality, and they don’t support automatically wear detection, but otherwise you’re getting a nearly-full package for a great price.
The new Fire TV Stick 4K Max is back down to its record low of $40. It’s a discount we’ve seen a few times before, but nevertheless, it matches the item’s all-time-low price. This is the most powerful streaming dongle Amazon has, with support for 4K content, Dolby Vision with HDR, Wi-Fi 6E and the “Fire TV Ambient Experience,” which puts art and photos on your TV screen when you’re not actively watching anything. Also discounted is the Fire TV Stick Lite, which you can pick up for only $20.
One of our favorite pairs of budget wireless earbuds, Amazon’s latest Echo Buds are still on sale for only $35. These buds have an open design, which means they purposely let sound in so you can stay more aware of your surroundings. They support adjustable EQ and, unlike many other earbuds at this price, auto-pausing and multi-device pairing. And, as to be expected, they have Alexa built in so you can call upon the voice assistant when you need to while wearing them.
The most recent Echo Dot is down to $35, which is $12 more than the lowest price we’ve tracked but still $15 off the smart speaker’s usual going rate. It also matches the best price we’ve seen for the device in 2024. The Echo Dot is the “under $50” pick in our guide to the best smart speakers. It can still do just about all of the expected Alexa features, and it sounds decently balanced for something this compact. It can also serve as a node to extend an Eero mesh Wi-Fi system, if you own one of those. So long as you’re comfortable having a voice-activated speaker in your home in the first place, this is a good way to see if you’d find an Alexa device useful.
If you can pay a little bit extra, the full-size Amazon Echo is also on sale for $65. Again, that’s not an all-time low, but it’s $35 off Amazon’s list price. This model offers all the same functionality as the Echo Dot but sounds louder and fuller across the board, so it’s better for streaming music.
A number of Ring security devices have been discounted, including the classic Ring Video Doorbell. That’s down to just $60, which is only $5 more than its record low. This model can be hardwired or run on battery, and it supports 1080p video recordings, motion alerts, two-way talk and quick replies. There are various bundles on sale as well, so if you’re looking to add cameras and an alarm system to your home for the first time, you can save up to 44 percent during this sale.
A number of Amazon’s Fire tablets are on sale right now, including the new Fire HD 10 for $95. That’s about $15 more than its record-low price, but it’s still a decent deal for this time of year. Updated in 2023, the Fire HD 10 has a 10-inch 1080p touchscreen, an octa-core processor, up to 13 hours of battery life and it charges via a USB-C port. We still think Fire tablets are best as secondary devices rather than daily drivers — that slab you keep next to the couch to check email or shop online on the fly, or by your bedside to read books and comics. And when they’re discounted like this, it’s much easier to justify getting a secondary device like that in the first place. A bunch of kid-friendly Fire tabs are on sale, too, most of which come with a childproof protective case, a two-year warranty and a one-year subscription to Amazon Kids+.
Amazon’s Echo Show 8 is down to $100 right now, which is only $10 more than its record-low price. There’s also a bundle available that includes a free smart light bulb. The updated version of one of our favorite smart displays includes an 8-inch touchscreen, improved speakers, a 13-megapixel camera for video chats (which you can cover at any time, too) and a built-in Zigbee smart home hub for connecting all of your IoT gadgets.
A variety of Amazon Blink devices are still on sale today. A three pack of the new Blink Outdoor 4 is down to $150 instead of $260. That’s a 42 percent discount and the lowest price we’ve seen this year (the set hit an all-time low of $135 for Black Friday).
If you just need one camera, take advantage of the sale on a single Blink Outdoor 4. It’s currently down to $65 from $100 — a 35 percent discount.
The Blink Outdoor 4 came out last August with a lot of upgrades including a larger field of vision, up to143 degrees and better low-light sensitivity and image quality. Blink claims the devices will go for two years before needing their AA batteries replaced.
The Apple Watch SE is on sale for $200 at the moment, which is only $20 more than the best price we’ve seen. It’s the best budget Apple Watch you can get at it’s normal price of $249, so it’s an even better deal right now. It offers excellent performance for the price, a host of health and fitness tracking features and all of the iPhone-related perks you’d expect like notifications delivered to your wrist, easier access to Siri and more.
The second-gen Apple Pencil is down to $79, which is one the best prices we’ve seen. It’s important to note that it’s rumored that we’ll see new Apple Pencils when new iPads come out sometime within the next month — but if you already have an iPad and have been looking to snag this accessory on discount, now’s your chance. This is the Pencil that works with most of the latest iPad models and it magnetically snaps to the sides of the tablets for safe keeping. It’s one of our favorite iPad accessories thanks to that, and its generally stellar, little-to-no latency performance.
Apple’s AirPods Pro are once again available for $199, which is a near record low for the latest iteration with a USB-C charging case. Apple normally sells the noise-canceling earphones for $249, though we often see them go closer to $200 at third-party retailers. Either way, they remain our favorite wireless earbuds for iOS users, as they provide an array of perks when paired with an iPhone, from faster pairing to hands-free Siri. Useful ANC, a superb ambient sound mode and a pleasingly warm sound profile help beyond that. Their battery life and mic quality are just OK these days, but this pair should serve you well if you’re all-in on Apple. We gave the second-gen AirPods Pro a review score of 88 back in 2022.
Best Spring Sale deals on headphones, earbuds and speakers
Photo by Billy Steele / Engadget
Sony’s WH-1000XM5 headphones are back on sale for $328. This isn’t an all-time low, and it’s a deal we’ve seen numerous times over the past few months, but it’s still $70 off the noise-canceling cans’ list price. The XM5s are the top pick in our guide to the best wireless headphones thanks to their comfy fit, solid active noise cancellation (ANC), clear mic and handy bonus features. They’re bass-heavy by default, but you can adjust their sound profile with EQ tools in Sony’s companion app.
This XM5’s predecessor, the Sony WH-1000XM4, is also worth a note at $248. Again, that’s not an all-time low, but it’s about $50 below the pair’s average street price in recent months. This older model has many of the same benefits as its successor, plus its earcups can fold up, which makes the design a little easier to pack away. Its call quality is worse, however, and it’s not quite as light on the head. We gave the XM5 a review score of 95 in mid-2022, while the XM4 earned a 94 way back in 2020.
If you’re not tethered to Apple, the Bose QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds are another set of high-end earphones we recommend. Right now they’re down to $249 at Amazon, Bose.com and other storefronts. That’s a $50 discount. We’ve seen this price a few times before, but it still matches the best deal we’ve tracked. Bose says the offer will run until March 31.
We specifically highlight the QuietComfort Ultras in our buying guide for their noise-canceling prowess, as they do a superlative job of muting outside noise and allow you to lower the intensity of the ANC if it ever becomes uncomfortable. They’re another pair with a somewhat bass-heavy sound out of the box, but they don’t sound sloppy, and unlike the AirPods Pro you can customize their EQ through a companion app. That said, they don’t support wireless charging or multi-device pairing, and their six-to-seven-hour battery life isn’t anything special. The earpieces themselves are also fairly large, though we wouldn’t call them uncomfortable. We gave the QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds a score of 88 in our review last year.
The Beats Studio Buds + are back on sale for $130 in various colors, which is roughly $20 off the true wireless earbuds’ average street price and $40 off Beats’ list price. The only time we’ve seen them go for less was a brief drop to $120 around Black Friday. This deal is also available at other retailers, including Target, Best Buy and B&H.
We gave the Studio Buds + a review score of 84 last year. As Beats is an Apple subsidiary, this pair provides many of the iOS-friendly perks you’d get from a set of AirPods, such as faster pairing, Find My tracking, hands-free Siri and Control Center integration. Unlike AirPods, they offer similar features on Android as well. A comfy fit, decent ANC and a mostly neutral sound profile also help. However, other AirPods features like audio sharing and automatic device switching (with Apple gear) aren’t supported, nor is wireless charging or wear detection. And the ANC and audio quality are a step down from the AirPods Pro. Still, if you dig the style and want to save some cash, the Studio Buds + are worth considering.
One of our favorite headphones for running is on sale for a near record-low price. Jabra’s Elite 8 Active earbuds have dropped to $160, which is only about $10 more than the best price we’ve seen. They’re rated IP68, which is one of the best protective ratings we’ve seen on workout earbuds. Jabra even put these buds through military-grade testing, so it’s fair to say they can take a beating. They also have great sound quality (that has spatial sound with Dolby Audio), good ANC and HearThrough transparency mode, multipoint connectivity and an easy to use mobile app. Also included in this sale are our budget top pick, the Jabra Elite 4 Active, for only $90.
The Google Pixel Buds Pro are down to $139 from $200. The 30 percent discount doesn’t bring the earbuds to their all-time low, but this is the cheapest we’ve seen the Google Pixel Buds Pro so far this year. These are our choice for the best wireless earbuds for Android.
Engadget’s Billy Steele gave them an 87 in his review thanks to the addition of solid active noise cancellation, punchy bass and reliable touch controls. They also offer IPX4 water resistance so you can take them on a run without worry. The buds get up to 11 hours on a charge and 31 hours in total with the case. And when it’s time to recharge, wireless charging makes a refill a little easier. One catch is the call quality isn’t as great as it could be, but if you’re primarily using them for music and podcasts, you may not notice.
Our favorite midrange smartphone, the Google Pixel 7a is on sale for $374 right now, which is a record-low price. That almost puts it within our “budget” price range ($350) for Android phones, so while it’s still a splurge pick, it’s arguably the best Android phone you can get in that price range at the moment. It runs on Google’s Tensor G2 chipset, plus it has a lovely 90Hz touchscreen, long battery life and an excellent camera array that takes impressive photos in all kinds of light situations, and good selfies, too. While there are plenty of good budget Android phones available today, you won’t find one that offers a better value than the Pixel 7a when on sale like this.
Both the Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro remain discounted today, down to $499 and $749, respectively. Both run on the Google Tensor G3 chip, and they have great battery lives and excellent cameras. We consider both of them to be the best Android phones available right now thanks in part to those features. Google also added a number of actually useful AI features like Best Take and Magic Eraser for photos, and more accurate voice typing and article summaries for the Google Assistant.
Our favorite budget-friendly VR headset is down to a new low: You can grab the Meta Quest 2 for only $199, which is $50 off its usual price. Walmart has it for the same price, and it includes a $50 Meta Quest store gift card with purchase. There’s no better VR headset for those who don’t have a lot of spend, and the Quest 2 holds its own even among the newest models. It’s completely cordless and comfortable to wear for long sessions, it comes bundled with Meta’s solid motion controllers and there’s a huge library of titles that you can try out with it.
Bundles that pair the PlayStation 5 with a digital copy of Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 are still $50 off, bringing the standard model down to $449 and the digital-only version down to $400. My colleague Nathan Ingraham gave Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 a glowing review last year, calling it a “perfectly balanced game with gorgeous graphics, delightful combat and traversal systems, a compelling storyline and characters, plenty of challenge and a huge map to explore.”
The Google Nest Thermostat is on sale for $100, which is about $10 more than the best price we’ve seen over the past year but $30 below its typical going rate. We’ve highlighted this entry-level smart thermostat in past gift guides. Compared to the higher-end Nest Learning Thermostat, it has a cheaper plastic frame, doesn’t support remote temperature sensors and can’t learn your heating and cooling tendencies to make automatic adjustments throughout the day. That said, it’s a more affordable way to remotely control your home’s climate, and it still supports features like HVAC monitoring and voice assistant control. It’s also compatible with the Matter standard, unlike the pricier model, so it can work with third-party platforms like Apple Home.
The iRobot Roomba j7 is the runner up in our best robot vac guide and it remains half price today, making it just $300. That’s not quite an all-time low — it was $2 cheaper for much of February — but still a significant discount on one of our recommendations.
Engadget’s Valentina Palladino found this one to have powerful suction and an easy-to-use app. She also appreciated the upgraded obstacle detection that particularly avoids pet poop. The bot does take a couple runs before it can create a full map — and it doesn’t clean while it does that, so be prepared to wait a little after unboxing before your floors are truly on auto-pilot.
The Kobo Libra 2 is $20 off right now and down to $170, which is the best price we’ve seen all year. You can get that discount at Amazon or from Kobo direct. The Libra 2 is one of our favorite ereaders thanks to its handy page-turn buttons and ergonomic design. The page will automatically switch orientation when you rotate the ereader, which makes it much easier to hold, and you can lock the orientation when you want it to stay put. The design feels premium, the 7-inch display is comfortable to look at for long periods of time and the convenient Overdrive integration makes it easy to borrow, download and read books from your local library.
The Google Pixel Tablet makes a good smart display and tablet hybrid. Right now the 11-inch slate-plus-dock is back down to $399 at multiple retailers for the 128GB model. In addition to Amazon you can save at Target and the Google Store. This matches the lowest price we’ve seen and works out to $100 below the variation’s usual going rate. If you need more storage, the 256GB version is $150 off and available for $449, also an all-time low.
Engadget’s Cherlynn Low gave the Pixel Tablet a score of 85 in her review last June, and we mention the device in our tablet buying guide, though it’s not one of our top picks. But if you’re looking for a tablet that can also be your smart home command center, this is a good pick for controlling smart home devices, showcasing photos, streaming music with the improved speakers, and even cast video from your phone.
New subscribers can get 40 percent off a Max subscription when you pay for one year upfront. If you want to go all-in on the highest tier, which gives you ad-free viewing and 4K streaming, it’ll cost you $140 for the year (roughly $12 per month). The most affordable tier will set you back a total of $70 for the year, which works out to about $6 per month. Considering how often streaming prices have increased recently, a sale like this is a great time to invest in a year of access to shows like The Last of Us and movies from outlets like Studio Ghibli and A24.
However technologically impressive a foldable smartphone may be, they’re seriously expensive. A $500 discount can help if you’re ready to grab one. The Google Pixel Fold is one of our favorites, and it’s now down to $1,299 at the Goole Store. It beats the largest discount we’ve seen for the unlocked 256GB model, by $100. If you need more storage space, Google has the 512GB model for $1,419, another $500 discount and record low.
The Pixel Fold is the runner-up pick in our guide to the best foldable phones, and Engadget’s Sam Rutherford gave it a score of 85 in his review last June.
The discount is part of a larger sale Google is hosting on its storefront right now, perhaps in response to Amazon’s event.
We’ll move beyond Amazon for our last few deals this week. First, a configuration of Apple’s 14.2-inch MacBook Pro with an M3 Pro chip, 18GB of RAM and a 512GB SSD is down to $1,799 at B&H. That’s close to an all-time low and comes in $200 below Apple’s MSRP. We gave the latest MacBook Pro a review score of 90 last year. It’s more Mac than most people need, especially after the recent refresh of the MacBook Air. But for video editors, 3D designers and other professional types who need more power, a wider port selection and a brighter display, it should still fit the bill.
Amazon’s Big Spring Sale is nearly over and if you’re interested in saving on tech, you’ve come to the right place. This sale event may not have been a boon for discounts on laptops, tablets, wearables and the like, but we were able to dig up a number of decent tech deals available right now. While most of these prices are not the same as those we saw during the Black Friday time period, some get pretty close (as a general rule of thumb, a good price in March isn’t necessarily the same thing as a good price in November). As a reminder, the Big Spring Sale comes to a close at the end of the day March 25, so you have limited time left to shop these deals. Here are the best Amazon Spring Sale discounts on tech we love that you can get before the event ends.
Best Spring Sale deals under $50
Apple
A single AirTag is on sale for $24, which is $5 off and close to its record low price. These are the best Bluetooth trackers for those with iOS devices since they use the vast Find My network to keep track of your belongings. You can force them to ring to help you find your stuff if you’re within close range, and newer iPhones can even display directions on their screens to guide you to your lost stuff. Just make sure to pick up a holder if you intend on attaching the AirTag to your keys.
Our favorite pair of budget wireless earbuds has dropped to a new record-low price of $50. The Anker Soundcore Space A40 impressed us with their solid sound quality, comfortable fit and impressive active noise cancellation for the price. We think they’re a great value at their normal $80 price, so this sale makes them even more attractive. In addition, they have good battery life and support for multi-device connectivity and wireless charging. They may not have the best call quality, and they don’t support automatically wear detection, but otherwise you’re getting a nearly-full package for a great price.
The new Fire TV Stick 4K Max is back down to its record low of $40 for the Big Spring Sale. It’s a discount we’ve seen a few times before, but nevertheless, it matches the item’s all-time-low price. This is the most powerful streaming dongle Amazon has, with support for 4K content, Dolby Vision with HDR, Wi-Fi 6E and the “Fire TV Ambient Experience,” which puts art and photos on your TV screen when you’re not actively watching anything. Also discounted for the Big Spring Sale is the Fire TV Stick Lite, which you can pick up for only $20.
Prime members can get two Nintendo Switch-ready microSD cards from SanDisk for only $25 right now. It’s part of a larger sale on SanDisk storage cards, thumb drives and SSDs. and just because these are licensed for the Switch doesn’t mean that’s all they’re good for. They can be used in cameras, tablets and other devices as well, but they’ll be a great addition to a Switch console for anyone who’s running out of built-in storage space to store games. We tested these for our microSD card guide and, while they didn’t get a top slot, we still think they’re a good option especially when on sale like this.
One of our favorite pairs of budget wireless earbuds, Amazon’s latest Echo Buds are on sale for only $35 ahead of the Spring Sale. These buds have an open design, which means they purposely let sound in so you can stay more aware of your surroundings. They support adjustable EQ and, unlike many other earbuds at this price, auto-pausing and multi-device pairing. And, as to be expected, they have Alexa built in so you can call upon the voice assistant when you need to while wearing them.
Amazon’s Big Spring Sale has brought the most recent Echo Dot down to $35, which is $12 more than the lowest price we’ve tracked but still $15 off the smart speaker’s usual going rate. It also matches the best price we’ve seen for the device in 2024. The Echo Dot is the “under $50” pick in our guide to the best smart speakers. It can still do just about all of the expected Alexa features, and it sounds decently balanced for something this compact. It can also serve as a node to extend an Eero mesh Wi-Fi system, if you own one of those. So long as you’re comfortable having a voice-activated speaker in your home in the first place, this is a good way to see if you’d find an Alexa device useful.
If you can pay a little bit extra, the full-size Amazon Echo is also on sale for $65. Again, that’s not an all-time low, but it’s $35 off Amazon’s list price. This model offers all the same functionality as the Echo Dot but sounds louder and fuller across the board, so it’s better for streaming music.
As part of Amazon’s Big Spring Sale, the Paperwhite Signature is getting a $30 discount — it’s first sale since Black Friday last year. The catch is that this deal is exclusively for Prime members. The Signature Edition is an upgrade over the standard Kindle: It has a larger, 6.8-inch screen, 32GB of storage, auto-adjusting warm front lights and wireless charging capabilities. It also comes standard without lockscreen ads, a great perk since you usually have to pay upwards of $20 to remove those on other Kindle models.
A number of Ring security devices have been discounted for the Big Spring Sale, including the classic Ring Video Doorbell. That’s down to just $60, which is only $5 more than its record low. This model can be hardwired or run on battery, and it supports 1080p video recordings, motion alerts, two-way talk and quick replies. There are various bundles on sale as well, so if you’re looking to add cameras and an alarm system to your home for the first time, you can save up to 44 percent during this sale.
A number of Amazon’s Fire tablets are on sale right now, including the new Fire HD 10 for $95. That’s about $15 more than its record-low price, but it’s still a decent deal for this time of year. Updated in 2023, the Fire HD 10 has a 10-inch 1080p touchscreen, an octa-core processor, up to 13 hours of battery life and it charges via a USB-C port. We still think Fire tablets are best as secondary devices rather than daily drivers — that slab you keep next to the couch to check email or shop online on the fly, or by your bedside to read books and comics. And when they’re discounted like this, it’s much easier to justify getting a secondary device like that in the first place. A bunch of kid-friendly Fire tabs are on sale, too, most of which come with a childproof protective case, a two-year warranty and a one-year subscription to Amazon Kids+.
Amazon’s Echo Show 8 is down to $100 right now, which is only $10 more than its record-low price. There’s also a bundle available that includes a free smart light bulb. The updated version of one of our favorite smart displays includes an 8-inch touchscreen, improved speakers, a 13-megapixel camera for video chats (which you can cover at any time, too) and a built-in Zigbee smart home hub for connecting all of your IoT gadgets.
A variety of Amazon Blink devices are now discounted as part of the site’s Big Spring Sale. A three pack of the new Blink Outdoor 4 is down to $150 instead of $260. That’s a 42 percent discount and the lowest price we’ve seen this year (the set hit an all-time low of $135 for Black Friday).
If you just need one camera, take advantage of the sale on a single Blink Outdoor 4. It’s currently down to $65 from $100 — a 35 percent discount.
The Blink Outdoor 4 came out last August with a lot of upgrades including a larger field of vision, up to143 degrees and better low-light sensitivity and image quality. Blink claims the devices will go for two years before needing their AA batteries replaced.
The Apple Watch SE is on sale for $189 for the Big Spring Sale, which is only $10 more than the best price we’ve seen. It’s the best budget Apple Watch you can get at it’s normal price of $249, so it’s an even better deal right now. It offers excellent performance for the price, a host of health and fitness tracking features and all of the iPhone-related perks you’d expect like notifications delivered to your wrist, easier access to Siri and more.
The second-gen Apple Pencil is down to $79, which is one the best prices we’ve seen. It’s important to note that it’s rumored that we’ll see new Apple Pencils when new iPads come out sometime within the next month — but if you already have an iPad and have been looking to snag this accessory on discount, now’s your chance. This is the Pencil that works with most of the latest iPad models and it magnetically snaps to the sides of the tablets for safe keeping. It’s one of our favorite iPad accessories thanks to that, and its generally stellar, little-to-no latency performance.
Apple’s AirPods Pro are once again available for $199, which is a near record low for the latest iteration with a USB-C charging case. Apple normally sells the noise-canceling earphones for $249, though we often see them go closer to $200 at third-party retailers. Either way, they remain our favorite wireless earbuds for iOS users, as they provide an array of perks when paired with an iPhone, from faster pairing to hands-free Siri. Useful ANC, a superb ambient sound mode and a pleasingly warm sound profile help beyond that. Their battery life and mic quality are just OK these days, but this pair should serve you well if you’re all-in on Apple. We gave the second-gen AirPods Pro a review score of 88 back in 2022.
Best Spring Sale deals on headphones, earbuds and speakers
Photo by Billy Steele / Engadget
Sony’s WH-1000XM5 headphones are back on sale for $328. This isn’t an all-time low, and it’s a deal we’ve seen numerous times over the past few months, but it’s still $70 off the noise-canceling cans’ list price. The XM5s are the top pick in our guide to the best wireless headphones thanks to their comfy fit, solid active noise cancellation (ANC), clear mic and handy bonus features. They’re bass-heavy by default, but you can adjust their sound profile with EQ tools in Sony’s companion app.
This XM5’s predecessor, the Sony WH-1000XM4, is also worth a note at $248. Again, that’s not an all-time low, but it’s about $50 below the pair’s average street price in recent months. This older model has many of the same benefits as its successor, plus its earcups can fold up, which makes the design a little easier to pack away. Its call quality is worse, however, and it’s not quite as light on the head. We gave the XM5 a review score of 95 in mid-2022, while the XM4 earned a 94 way back in 2020.
If you’re not tethered to Apple, the Bose QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds are another set of high-end earphones we recommend. Right now they’re down to $249 at Amazon, Bose.com and other storefronts. That’s a $50 discount. We’ve seen this price a few times before, but it still matches the best deal we’ve tracked. Bose says the offer will run until March 31.
We specifically highlight the QuietComfort Ultras in our buying guide for their noise-canceling prowess, as they do a superlative job of muting outside noise and allow you to lower the intensity of the ANC if it ever becomes uncomfortable. They’re another pair with a somewhat bass-heavy sound out of the box, but they don’t sound sloppy, and unlike the AirPods Pro you can customize their EQ through a companion app. That said, they don’t support wireless charging or multi-device pairing, and their six-to-seven-hour battery life isn’t anything special. The earpieces themselves are also fairly large, though we wouldn’t call them uncomfortable. We gave the QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds a score of 88 in our review last year.
The Beats Studio Buds + are back on sale for $130 in various colors, which is roughly $20 off the true wireless earbuds’ average street price and $40 off Beats’ list price. The only time we’ve seen them go for less was a brief drop to $120 around Black Friday. This deal is also available at other retailers, including Target, Best Buy and B&H.
We gave the Studio Buds + a review score of 84 last year. As Beats is an Apple subsidiary, this pair provides many of the iOS-friendly perks you’d get from a set of AirPods, such as faster pairing, Find My tracking, hands-free Siri and Control Center integration. Unlike AirPods, they offer similar features on Android as well. A comfy fit, decent ANC and a mostly neutral sound profile also help. However, other AirPods features like audio sharing and automatic device switching (with Apple gear) aren’t supported, nor is wireless charging or wear detection. And the ANC and audio quality are a step down from the AirPods Pro. Still, if you dig the style and want to save some cash, the Studio Buds + are worth considering.
One of our favorite headphones for running is on sale for a near record-low price. Jabra’s Elite 8 Active earbuds have dropped to $160, which is only about $10 more than the best price we’ve seen. They’re rated IP68, which is one of the best protective ratings we’ve seen on workout earbuds. Jabra even put these buds through military-grade testing, so it’s fair to say they can take a beating. They also have great sound quality (that has spatial sound with Dolby Audio), good ANC and HearThrough transparency mode, multipoint connectivity and an easy to use mobile app. Also included in this sale are our budget top pick, the Jabra Elite 4 Active, for only $90.
The Google Pixel Buds Pro are down to $139 from $200. The 30 percent discount doesn’t bring the earbuds to their all-time low, but this is the cheapest we’ve seen the Google Pixel Buds Pro so far this year. These are our choice for the best wireless earbuds for Android.
Engadget’s Billy Steele gave them an 87 in his review thanks to the addition of solid active noise cancellation, punchy bass and reliable touch controls. They also offer IPX4 water resistance so you can take them on a run without worry. The buds get up to 11 hours on a charge and 31 hours in total with the case. And when it’s time to recharge, wireless charging makes a refill a little easier. One catch is the call quality isn’t as great as it could be, but if you’re primarily using them for music and podcasts, you may not notice.
Sonos has kicked off a new round of discounts on its soundbars and portable speakers. The deals include the Sonos Move 2 for $359, which is $70 off its usual going rate and the second-best price we’ve seen outside of a very brief drop to $349 last year. The Sonos Ray soundbar is $56 off and down to an all-time low of $223, while the higher-end Sonos Beam (Gen 2) is available for $399, a $100 discount. The Sonos Sub Mini subwoofer is also down to a low of $343, which is $86 less than usual, while the compact Sonos Roam SL is $32 off at $127. A few speaker bundles are also discounted. These offers are available at several retailers, including Amazon, B&H and Sonos.com. Sonos says they’ll run through March 25.
None of these devices come cheap, but they all deliver relatively clean sound, easy pairing with other Sonos hardware, AirPlay support and an app that (mostly) makes it simple to set up and stream music. The Move 2 is a hefty yet powerful battery-powered speaker for those who are more concerned with sound quality over portability. The Roam SL doesn’t sound as rich, but it’s much more travel-friendly and has a better water-resistance rating. (It lacks built-in mics, though.) The Ray is an entry-level 2.0-channel soundbar meant for smaller rooms and budget buyers. The Beam is a 5.0 model with a more expansive sound, an HDMI eARC port and voice assistant functionality. It also supports Dolby Atmos, though it can’t take advantage of that quite as much as larger models. The Sub Mini, meanwhile, is a handy way to beef up the bass response of an existing Sonos system. You can check out our reviews of the Move 2, Ray, second-gen Beam and Sub Mini for fuller breakdowns of each device.
Our favorite midrange smartphone, the Google Pixel 7a is on sale for $374 right now, which is a record-low price. That almost puts it within our “budget” price range ($350) for Android phones, so while it’s still a splurge pick, it’s arguably the best Android phone you can get in that price range at the moment. It runs on Google’s Tensor G2 chipset, plus it has a lovely 90Hz touchscreen, long battery life and an excellent camera array that takes impressive photos in all kinds of light situations, and good selfies, too. While there are plenty of good budget Android phones available today, you won’t find one that offers a better value than the Pixel 7a when on sale like this.
Both the Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro have been discounted for the Spring Sale, down to $499 and $749, respectively. Both run on the Google Tensor G3 chip, and they have great battery lives and excellent cameras. We consider both of them to be the best Android phones available right now thanks in part to those features. Google also added a number of actually useful AI features like Best Take and Magic Eraser for photos, and more accurate voice typing and article summaries for the Google Assistant.
Our favorite budget-friendly VR headset is down to a new low for the Amazon spring sale. You can grab the Meta Quest 2 for only $199, which is $50 off its usual price. Walmart has it for the same price, and it includes a $50 Meta Quest store gift card with purchase. There’s no better VR headset for those who don’t have a lot of spend, and the Quest 2 holds its own even among the newest models. It’s completely cordless and comfortable to wear for long sessions, it comes bundled with Meta’s solid motion controllers and there’s a huge library of titles that you can try out with it.
Bundles that pair the PlayStation 5 with a digital copy of Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 are still $50 off, bringing the standard model down to $449 and the digital-only version down to $400. These deals aren’t tied to Amazon’s Spring sale, but larger discounts on the PS5 have been uncommon, so this is still a good opportunity if you’ve been looking to take the plunge. The offers are available at several retailers, including Amazon, Best Buy and Sony’s PlayStation Direct store. Sony says they’ll last through March 31. My colleague Nathan Ingraham gave Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 a glowing review last year, calling it a “perfectly balanced game with gorgeous graphics, delightful combat and traversal systems, a compelling storyline and characters, plenty of challenge and a huge map to explore.”
The Google Nest Thermostat is on sale for $100 ahead of Amazon’s Spring sale, which is about $10 more than the best price we’ve seen over the past year but $30 below its typical going rate. We’ve highlighted this entry-level smart thermostat in past gift guides. Compared to the higher-end Nest Learning Thermostat, it has a cheaper plastic frame, doesn’t support remote temperature sensors and can’t learn your heating and cooling tendencies to make automatic adjustments throughout the day. That said, it’s a more affordable way to remotely control your home’s climate, and it still supports features like HVAC monitoring and voice assistant control. It’s also compatible with the Matter standard, unlike the pricier model, so it can work with third-party platforms like Apple Home.
The is the runner up in our and thanks to the Amazon Big Spring Sale it’s now half price, making it just $300. That’s not quite an all-time low — it was $2 cheaper for much of February — but still a significant discount on one of our recommendations.
Engadget’s Valentina Palladino found this one to have powerful suction and an easy-to-use app. She also appreciated the upgraded obstacle detection that particularly avoids pet poop. The bot does take a couple runs before it can create a full map — and it doesn’t clean while it does that, so be prepared to wait a little after unboxing before your floors are truly on auto-pilot.
The Tineco Pure One S15 is the runner up pick in our cordless vacuum guide and right now it’s on sale for $349, but an addition clippable $25 coupon brings the final price down to $324.
This model is slightly less powerful than our top pick from Dyson but it handles dry messes well — including pet hair. It also automatically adjusts suction power depending on the amount of dirt it detects through the sensor. It’s app-connected, though that feature is admittedly not super necessary in a cordless vac. Still, it can help keep you apprised of your filter and battery levels.
The Kobo Libra 2 is $20 off right now and down to $170, which is the best price we’ve seen all year. You can get that discount at Amazon or from Kobo direct. The Libra 2 is one of our favorite ereaders thanks to its handy page-turn buttons and ergonomic design. The page will automatically switch orientation when you rotate the ereader, which makes it much easier to hold, and you can lock the orientation when you want it to stay put. The design feels premium, the 7-inch display is comfortable to look at for long periods of time and the convenient Overdrive integration makes it easy to borrow, download and read books from your local library.
The Google Pixel Tablet makes a good smart display and tablet hybrid. Right now the 11-inch slate-plus-dock is back down to $399 at multiple retailers for the 128GB model. In addition to Amazon you can save at Target and the Google Store. This matches the lowest price we’ve seen and works out to $100 below the variation’s usual going rate. If you need more storage, the 256GB version is $150 off and available for $449, also an all-time low.
Engadget’s Cherlynn Low gave the Pixel Tablet a score of 85 in her review last June, and we mention the device in our tablet buying guide, though it’s not one of our top picks. But if you’re looking for a tablet that can also be your smart home command center, this is a good pick for controlling smart home devices, showcasing photos, streaming music with the improved speakers, and even cast video from your phone.
Plugable TBT4-UDZ gets a mention in our guide to the best laptop docking stations and right now it’s 20 percent off and down to $239. It’s a rare discount for the brand and the lowest price we’ve tracked. We were a little disappointed that the dock only has one downstream USB-C port, but it has plenty of USB-A and display connections and worked well with the MacBook and Dell laptops in our test, but didn’t work with a Chromebook.
New subscribers can get 40 percent off a Max subscription when you pay for one year upfront. If you want to go all-in on the highest tier, which gives you ad-free viewing and 4K streaming, it’ll cost you $140 for the year (roughly $12 per month). The most affordable tier will set you back a total of $70 for the year, which works out to about $6 per month. Considering how often streaming prices have increased recently, a sale like this is a great time to invest in a year of access to shows like The Last of Us and movies from outlets like Studio Ghibli and A24.
Our top pick for the best cordless vacuum cleaner, the Dyson V15 Detect, is on sale for $600 right now directly at Dyson. We’ve seen this model drop to $550 in the past, but this remains a great sale on a cordless vacuum that’s typically priced at $750. The “Absolute” models are much the same as the standard models, but you can typically only get Absolute versions at Dyson.com. Also, this model has HEPA filtration, a built-in tool and an exclusive gold color. Otherwise, it’s the same as our top pick, which impressed us with its excellent suction power, lightweight design and good battery life. In general, we found Dyson stick vacuums to provide the strongest suction power of any brand we tried, and the V15 is noticeably stronger than older models like the V8. It comes with a number of attachments as well, including the Fluffy Optic cleaner head that illuminates your floors with a laser of light so you can see exactly where the most debris is as you clean.
As part of the Big Spring Sale, Amazon has a similar version, the V15 Detect Complete, for $690 as a Prime exclusive. The main difference here, aside from the lack of HEPA filtration, is that you get a standing dock with Amazon’s model, which will be handy if you aren’t keen on mounting your new cordless vacuum to a wall.
However technologically impressive a foldable smartphone may be, they’re seriously expensive. A $500 discount can help if you’re ready to grab one. The Google Pixel Fold is one of our favorites, and it’s now down to $1,299 at the Goole Store. It beats the largest discount we’ve seen for the unlocked 256GB model, by $100. If you need more storage space, Google has the 512GB model for $1,419, another $500 discount and record low.
The Pixel Fold is the runner-up pick in our guide to the best foldable phones, and Engadget’s Sam Rutherford gave it a score of 85 in his review last June.
The discount is part of a larger sale Google is hosting on its storefront right now, perhaps in response to Amazon’s event.
We’ll move beyond Amazon for our last few deals this week. First, a configuration of Apple’s 14.2-inch MacBook Pro with an M3 Pro chip, 18GB of RAM and a 512GB SSD is down to $1,799 at B&H. That’s close to an all-time low and comes in $200 below Apple’s MSRP. We gave the latest MacBook Pro a review score of 90 last year. It’s more Mac than most people need, especially after the recent refresh of the MacBook Air. But for video editors, 3D designers and other professional types who need more power, a wider port selection and a brighter display, it should still fit the bill.
The Amazon Big Spring Sale is in full swing, and among the slew of clothing, outdoor and home products on discount, there are a few good tech deals to be had. Unlike regular Prime Day, the Big Spring Sale is not exclusive to Prime members, which is great for any shopper with items to check off on their lists. However, it’s also not like Prime Day in that the number of tech deals available is much less than that of Amazon’s summertime or fall sales events. But if you’re on the market for a new Bluetooth tracker, robot vacuum or pair of wireless earbuds, you have some decently discounted options to choose from. We’ve scoured Amazon’s site to find the best tech deals to come out of the Big Spring Sale — check them out below.
Apple
A single AirTag is on sale for $24, which is $5 off and close to its record low price. These are the best Bluetooth trackers for those with iOS devices since they use the vast Find My network to keep track of your belongings. You can force them to ring to help you find your stuff if you’re within close range, and newer iPhones can even display directions on their screens to guide you to your lost stuff. Just make sure to pick up a holder if you intend on attaching the AirTag to your keys.
Our favorite pair of budget wireless earbuds has dropped to a new record-low price of $50. The Anker Soundcore Space A40 impressed us with their solid sound quality, comfortable fit and impressive active noise cancellation for the price. We think they’re a great value at their normal $80 price, so this sale makes them even more attractive. In addition, they have good battery life and support for multi-device connectivity and wireless charging. They may not have the best call quality, and they don’t support automatically wear detection, but otherwise you’re getting a nearly-full package for a great price.
The new Fire TV Stick 4K Max is back down to its record low of $40 for the Big Spring Sale. It’s a discount we’ve seen a few times before, but nevertheless, it matches the item’s all-time-low price. This is the most powerful streaming dongle Amazon has, with support for 4K content, Dolby Vision with HDR, Wi-Fi 6E and the “Fire TV Ambient Experience,” which puts art and photos on your TV screen when you’re not actively watching anything. Also discounted for the Big Spring Sale is the Fire TV Stick Lite, which you can pick up for only $20.
One of our favorite pairs of budget wireless earbuds, Amazon’s latest Echo Buds are on sale for only $35 ahead of the Spring Sale. These buds have an open design, which means they purposely let sound in so you can stay more aware of your surroundings. They support adjustable EQ and, unlike many other earbuds at this price, auto-pausing and multi-device pairing. And, as to be expected, they have Alexa built in so you can call upon the voice assistant when you need to while wearing them.
Amazon’s Big Spring Sale has brought the most recent Echo Dot down to $35, which is $12 more than the lowest price we’ve tracked but still $15 off the smart speaker’s usual going rate. It also matches the best price we’ve seen for the device in 2024. The Echo Dot is the “under $50” pick in our guide to the best smart speakers. It can still do just about all of the expected Alexa features, and it sounds decently balanced for something this compact. It can also serve as a node to extend an Eero mesh Wi-Fi system, if you own one of those. So long as you’re comfortable having a voice-activated speaker in your home in the first place, this is a good way to see if you’d find an Alexa device useful.
If you can pay a little bit extra, the full-size Amazon Echo is also on sale for $65. Again, that’s not an all-time low, but it’s $35 off Amazon’s list price. This model offers all the same functionality as the Echo Dot but sounds louder and fuller across the board, so it’s better for streaming music.
The second-gen Apple Pencil is down to $79, which is one the best prices we’ve seen. It’s important to note that it’s rumored that we’ll see new Apple Pencils when new iPads come out sometime within the next month — but if you already have an iPad and have been looking to snag this accessory on discount, now’s your chance. This is the Pencil that works with most of the latest iPad models and it magnetically snaps to the sides of the tablets for safe keeping. It’s one of our favorite iPad accessories thanks to that, and its generally stellar, little-to-no latency performance.
Apple’s AirPods Pro are once again available for $199, which is a near record low for the latest iteration with a USB-C charging case. Apple normally sells the noise-canceling earphones for $249, though we often see them go closer to $200 at third-party retailers. Either way, they remain our favorite wireless earbuds for iOS users, as they provide an array of perks when paired with an iPhone, from faster pairing to hands-free Siri. Useful ANC, a superb ambient sound mode and a pleasingly warm sound profile help beyond that. Their battery life and mic quality are just OK these days, but this pair should serve you well if you’re all-in on Apple. We gave the second-gen AirPods Pro a review score of 88 back in 2022.
As part of a larger portable speaker sale, Anker’s Soundcore Motion 300 has dropped to $64, which is a record low. It earned a spot on our favorites list thanks to its solid sound quality featuring crisp highs and generally punchy, bright audio. Its IPX7 design weighs only 1.7 pounds and the built-in loop makes it easy to attach to a bag to take with you on the go. It also works with Anker’s Soundcore app, which lets you customize EQ, button brightness and more.
Best Spring Sale deals on headphones, earbuds and speakers
Photo by Billy Steele / Engadget
Sony’s WH-1000XM5 headphones are back on sale for $328. This isn’t an all-time low, and it’s a deal we’ve seen numerous times over the past few months, but it’s still $70 off the noise-canceling cans’ list price. The XM5s are the top pick in our guide to the best wireless headphones thanks to their comfy fit, solid active noise cancellation (ANC), clear mic and handy bonus features. They’re bass-heavy by default, but you can adjust their sound profile with EQ tools in Sony’s companion app.
This XM5’s predecessor, the Sony WH-1000XM4, is also worth a note at $248. Again, that’s not an all-time low, but it’s about $50 below the pair’s average street price in recent months. This older model has many of the same benefits as its successor, plus its earcups can fold up, which makes the design a little easier to pack away. Its call quality is worse, however, and it’s not quite as light on the head. We gave the XM5 a review score of 95 in mid-2022, while the XM4 earned a 94 way back in 2020.
If you’re not tethered to Apple, the Bose QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds are another set of high-end earphones we recommend. Right now they’re down to $249 at Amazon, Bose.com and other storefronts. That’s a $50 discount. We’ve seen this price a few times before, but it still matches the best deal we’ve tracked. Bose says the offer will run until March 31.
We specifically highlight the QuietComfort Ultras in our buying guide for their noise-canceling prowess, as they do a superlative job of muting outside noise and allow you to lower the intensity of the ANC if it ever becomes uncomfortable. They’re another pair with a somewhat bass-heavy sound out of the box, but they don’t sound sloppy, and unlike the AirPods Pro you can customize their EQ through a companion app. That said, they don’t support wireless charging or multi-device pairing, and their six-to-seven-hour battery life isn’t anything special. The earpieces themselves are also fairly large, though we wouldn’t call them uncomfortable. We gave the QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds a score of 88 in our review last year.
The Beats Studio Buds + are back on sale for $130 in various colors, which is roughly $20 off the true wireless earbuds’ average street price and $40 off Beats’ list price. The only time we’ve seen them go for less was a brief drop to $120 around Black Friday. This deal is also available at other retailers, including Target, Best Buy and B&H.
We gave the Studio Buds + a review score of 84 last year. As Beats is an Apple subsidiary, this pair provides many of the iOS-friendly perks you’d get from a set of AirPods, such as faster pairing, Find My tracking, hands-free Siri and Control Center integration. Unlike AirPods, they offer similar features on Android as well. A comfy fit, decent ANC and a mostly neutral sound profile also help. However, other AirPods features like audio sharing and automatic device switching (with Apple gear) aren’t supported, nor is wireless charging or wear detection. And the ANC and audio quality are a step down from the AirPods Pro. Still, if you dig the style and want to save some cash, the Studio Buds + are worth considering.
One of our favorite headphones for running is on sale for a near record-low price. Jabra’s Elite 8 Active earbuds have dropped to $160, which is only about $10 more than the best price we’ve seen. They’re rated IP68, which is one of the best protective ratings we’ve seen on workout earbuds. Jabra even put these buds through military-grade testing, so it’s fair to say they can take a beating. They also have great sound quality (that has spatial sound with Dolby Audio), good ANC and HearThrough transparency mode, multipoint connectivity and an easy to use mobile app. Also included in this sale are our budget top pick, the Jabra Elite 4 Active, for only $90.
The Google Pixel Buds Pro are down to $139 from $200. The 30 percent discount doesn’t bring the earbuds to their all-time low, but this is the cheapest we’ve seen the Google Pixel Buds Pro so far this year. These are our choice for the best wireless earbuds for Android.
Engadget’s Billy Steele gave them an 87 in his review thanks to the addition of solid active noise cancellation, punchy bass and reliable touch controls. They also offer IPX4 water resistance so you can take them on a run without worry. The buds get up to 11 hours on a charge and 31 hours in total with the case. And when it’s time to recharge, wireless charging makes a refill a little easier. One catch is the call quality isn’t as great as it could be, but if you’re primarily using them for music and podcasts, you may not notice.
Sonos has kicked off a new round of discounts on its soundbars and portable speakers. The deals include the Sonos Move 2 for $359, which is $70 off its usual going rate and the second-best price we’ve seen outside of a very brief drop to $349 last year. The Sonos Ray soundbar is $56 off and down to an all-time low of $223, while the higher-end Sonos Beam (Gen 2) is available for $399, a $100 discount. The Sonos Sub Mini subwoofer is also down to a low of $343, which is $86 less than usual, while the compact Sonos Roam SL is $32 off at $127. A few speaker bundles are also discounted. These offers are available at several retailers, including Amazon, B&H and Sonos.com. Sonos says they’ll run through March 25.
None of these devices come cheap, but they all deliver relatively clean sound, easy pairing with other Sonos hardware, AirPlay support and an app that (mostly) makes it simple to set up and stream music. The Move 2 is a hefty yet powerful battery-powered speaker for those who are more concerned with sound quality over portability. The Roam SL doesn’t sound as rich, but it’s much more travel-friendly and has a better water-resistance rating. (It lacks built-in mics, though.) The Ray is an entry-level 2.0-channel soundbar meant for smaller rooms and budget buyers. The Beam is a 5.0 model with a more expansive sound, an HDMI eARC port and voice assistant functionality. It also supports Dolby Atmos, though it can’t take advantage of that quite as much as larger models. The Sub Mini, meanwhile, is a handy way to beef up the bass response of an existing Sonos system. You can check out our reviews of the Move 2, Ray, second-gen Beam and Sub Mini for fuller breakdowns of each device.
Our favorite midrange smartphone, the Google Pixel 7a is on sale for $374 right now, which is a record-low price. That almost puts it within our “budget” price range ($350) for Android phones, so while it’s still a splurge pick, it’s arguably the best Android phone you can get in that price range at the moment. It runs on Google’s Tensor G2 chipset, plus it has a lovely 90Hz touchscreen, long battery life and an excellent camera array that takes impressive photos in all kinds of light situations, and good selfies, too. While there are plenty of good budget Android phones available today, you won’t find one that offers a better value than the Pixel 7a when on sale like this.
Both the Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro have been discounted for the Spring Sale, down to $499 and $749, respectively. Both run on the Google Tensor G3 chip, and they have great battery lives and excellent cameras. We consider both of them to be the best Android phones available right now thanks in part to those features. Google also added a number of actually useful AI features like Best Take and Magic Eraser for photos, and more accurate voice typing and article summaries for the Google Assistant.
Our favorite budget-friendly VR headset is down to a new low for the Amazon spring sale. You can grab the Meta Quest 2 for only $199, which is $50 off its usual price. Walmart has it for the same price, and it includes a $50 Meta Quest store gift card with purchase. There’s no better VR headset for those who don’t have a lot of spend, and the Quest 2 holds its own even among the newest models. It’s completely cordless and comfortable to wear for long sessions, it comes bundled with Meta’s solid motion controllers and there’s a huge library of titles that you can try out with it.
The Elgato Stream Deck Mk.2 in white is back down to $130. This is another deal we’ve seen pop up periodically in recent months, but it’s $20 off the device’s usual street price all the same. The Stream Deck is a macro keypad we recommend in our guide to the best game streaming gear. It has 15 programmable hotkeys that you can set to perform different commands, from launching an app to activating smart lights to triggering on-screen GIFs and sound effects. It’s really meant for content creators and power users first and foremost, but if you think you could benefit from having a bunch of shortcuts within arm’s reach, this is a decent time to pick one up.
Bundles that pair the PlayStation 5 with a digital copy of Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 are still $50 off, bringing the standard model down to $449 and the digital-only version down to $400. These deals aren’t tied to Amazon’s Spring sale, but larger discounts on the PS5 have been uncommon, so this is still a good opportunity if you’ve been looking to take the plunge. The offers are available at several retailers, including Amazon, Best Buy and Sony’s PlayStation Direct store. Sony says they’ll last through March 31. My colleague Nathan Ingraham gave Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 a glowing review last year, calling it a “perfectly balanced game with gorgeous graphics, delightful combat and traversal systems, a compelling storyline and characters, plenty of challenge and a huge map to explore.”
The Google Nest Thermostat is on sale for $100 ahead of Amazon’s Spring sale, which is about $10 more than the best price we’ve seen over the past year but $30 below its typical going rate. We’ve highlighted this entry-level smart thermostat in past gift guides. Compared to the higher-end Nest Learning Thermostat, it has a cheaper plastic frame, doesn’t support remote temperature sensors and can’t learn your heating and cooling tendencies to make automatic adjustments throughout the day. That said, it’s a more affordable way to remotely control your home’s climate, and it still supports features like HVAC monitoring and voice assistant control. It’s also compatible with the Matter standard, unlike the pricier model, so it can work with third-party platforms like Apple Home.
The is the runner up in our and thanks to the Amazon Big Spring Sale it’s now half price, making it just $300. That’s not quite an all-time low — it was $2 cheaper for much of February — but still a significant discount on one of our recommendations.
Engadget’s Valentina Palladino found this one to have powerful suction and an easy-to-use app. She also appreciated the upgraded obstacle detection that particularly avoids pet poop. The bot does take a couple runs before it can create a full map — and it doesn’t clean while it does that, so be prepared to wait a little after unboxing before your floors are truly on auto-pilot.
The Tineco Pure One S15 is the runner up pick in our cordless vacuum guide and right now it’s on sale for $349, but an addition clippable $25 coupon brings the final price down to $324.
This model is slightly less powerful than our top pick from Dyson but it handles dry messes well — including pet hair. It also automatically adjusts suction power depending on the amount of dirt it detects through the sensor. It’s app-connected, though that feature is admittedly not super necessary in a cordless vac. Still, it can help keep you apprised of your filter and battery levels.
As part of Amazon’s Big Spring Sale, the Paperwhite Signature is getting a $30 discount — it’s first sale since Black Friday last year. The catch is that this deal is exclusively for Prime members. The Signature Edition is an upgrade over the standard Kindle: It has a larger, 6.8-inch screen, 32GB of storage, auto-adjusting warm front lights and wireless charging capabilities. It also comes standard without lockscreen ads, a great perk since you usually have to pay upwards of $20 to remove those on other Kindle models.
A number of Amazon’s Fire tablets are on sale right now, including the new Fire HD 10 for $95. That’s about $15 more than its record-low price, but it’s still a decent deal for this time of year. Updated in 2023, the Fire HD 10 has a 10-inch 1080p touchscreen, an octa-core processor, up to 13 hours of battery life and it charges via a USB-C port. We still think Fire tablets are best as secondary devices rather than daily drivers — that slab you keep next to the couch to check email or shop online on the fly, or by your bedside to read books and comics. And when they’re discounted like this, it’s much easier to justify getting a secondary device like that in the first place. A bunch of kid-friendly Fire tabs are on sale, too, most of which come with a childproof protective case, a two-year warranty and a one-year subscription to Amazon Kids+.
A variety of Amazon Blink devices are now discounted as part of the site’s Big Spring Sale. A three pack of the new Blink Outdoor 4 is down to $150 instead of $260. That’s a 42 percent discount and the lowest price we’ve seen this year (the set hit an all-time low of $135 for Black Friday).
If you just need one camera, take advantage of the sale on a single Blink Outdoor 4. It’s currently down to $65 from $100 — a 35 percent discount.
The Blink Outdoor 4 came out last August with a lot of upgrades including a larger field of vision, up to143 degrees and better low-light sensitivity and image quality. Blink claims the devices will go for two years before needing their AA batteries replaced.
The Kobo Libra 2 is $20 off right now and down to $170, which is the best price we’ve seen all year. You can get that discount at Amazon or from Kobo direct. The Libra 2 is one of our favorite ereaders thanks to its handy page-turn buttons and ergonomic design. The page will automatically switch orientation when you rotate the ereader, which makes it much easier to hold, and you can lock the orientation when you want it to stay put. The design feels premium, the 7-inch display is comfortable to look at for long periods of time and the convenient Overdrive integration makes it easy to borrow, download and read books from your local library.
The Google Pixel Tablet makes a good smart display and tablet hybrid. Right now the 11-inch slate-plus-dock is back down to $399 at multiple retailers for the 128GB model. In addition to Amazon you can save at Target and the Google Store. This matches the lowest price we’ve seen and works out to $100 below the variation’s usual going rate. If you need more storage, the 256GB version is $150 off and available for $449, also an all-time low.
Engadget’s Cherlynn Low gave the Pixel Tablet a score of 85 in her review last June, and we mention the device in our tablet buying guide, though it’s not one of our top picks. But if you’re looking for a tablet that can also be your smart home command center, this is a good pick for controlling smart home devices, showcasing photos, streaming music with the improved speakers, and even cast video from your phone.
Plugable TBT4-UDZ gets a mention in our guide to the best laptop docking stations and right now it’s 20 percent off and down to $239. It’s a rare discount for the brand and the lowest price we’ve tracked. We were a little disappointed that the dock only has one downstream USB-C port, but it has plenty of USB-A and display connections and worked well with the MacBook and Dell laptops in our test, but didn’t work with a Chromebook.
New subscribers can get 40 percent off a Max subscription when you pay for one year upfront. If you want to go all-in on the highest tier, which gives you ad-free viewing and 4K streaming, it’ll cost you $140 for the year (roughly $12 per month). The most affordable tier will set you back a total of $70 for the year, which works out to about $6 per month. Considering how often streaming prices have increased recently, a sale like this is a great time to invest in a year of access to shows like The Last of Us and movies from outlets like Studio Ghibli and A24.
Our top pick for the best cordless vacuum cleaner, the Dyson V15 Detect, is on sale for $600 right now directly at Dyson. We’ve seen this model drop to $550 in the past, but this remains a great sale on a cordless vacuum that’s typically priced at $750. The “Absolute” models are much the same as the standard models, but you can typically only get Absolute versions at Dyson.com. Also, this model has HEPA filtration, a built-in tool and an exclusive gold color. Otherwise, it’s the same as our top pick, which impressed us with its excellent suction power, lightweight design and good battery life. In general, we found Dyson stick vacuums to provide the strongest suction power of any brand we tried, and the V15 is noticeably stronger than older models like the V8. It comes with a number of attachments as well, including the Fluffy Optic cleaner head that illuminates your floors with a laser of light so you can see exactly where the most debris is as you clean.
As part of the Big Spring Sale, Amazon has a similar version, the V15 Detect Complete, for $690 as a Prime exclusive. The main difference here, aside from the lack of HEPA filtration, is that you get a standing dock with Amazon’s model, which will be handy if you aren’t keen on mounting your new cordless vacuum to a wall.
However technologically impressive a foldable smartphone may be, they’re seriously expensive. A $500 discount can help if you’re ready to grab one. The Google Pixel Fold is one of our favorites, and it’s now down to $1,299 at the Goole Store. It beats the largest discount we’ve seen for the unlocked 256GB model, by $100. If you need more storage space, Google has the 512GB model for $1,419, another $500 discount and record low.
The Pixel Fold is the runner-up pick in our guide to the best foldable phones, and Engadget’s Sam Rutherford gave it a score of 85 in his review last June.
The discount is part of a larger sale Google is hosting on its storefront right now, perhaps in response to Amazon’s event.
We’ll move beyond Amazon for our last few deals this week. First, a configuration of Apple’s 14.2-inch MacBook Pro with an M3 Pro chip, 18GB of RAM and a 512GB SSD is down to $1,799 at B&H. That’s close to an all-time low and comes in $200 below Apple’s MSRP. We gave the latest MacBook Pro a review score of 90 last year. It’s more Mac than most people need, especially after the recent refresh of the MacBook Air. But for video editors, 3D designers and other professional types who need more power, a wider port selection and a brighter display, it should still fit the bill.
The 8BitDo Retro Mechanical Keyboard is back on sale for $80 at Amazon subsidiary Woot, a $20 discount that matches the lowest price we’ve seen. This is a tenkeyless mechanical keyboard we recommended in our retro gaming gift guide late last year. You’d mainly buy it for the aesthetic, as it looks like a companion piece for an old NES. Beyond that, it’s sturdily built, it works wirelessly and it comes with a pair of giant “Super Buttons” that you can customize to perform different macros. It’s comfortable for typing as well, though its clicky Kailh Box White V2 switches are fairly noisy. It also lacks any kind of backlighting. The stock switches are hot-swappable, however, so you can easily replace them if needed.
The latest Steam Spring Sale is underway, bringing an enormous range of PC game discounts along with it. There are simply too many deals for us to list everything, but some highlights include the acclaimed CRPG Baldur’s Gate 3for $54 (a small but rare discount), the frantic platformer Pizza Towerfor $13.39, the recently released Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth for $56, the FPS compilation Halo: The Master Chief Collectionfor $10 and the VR adventure Half-Life: Alyx for $20.39. These big Steam sales are always a good time to grab some older classics for dirt cheap, too: The two Portalpuzzlers are available for $1.48, for instance, while the co-op shooter Left 4 Dead 2is just a buck. Valve says the sale will run until March 21.
Outside of Steam, the Epic Games Store has commenced its Spring Sale as well. The selection there isn’t as large, as usual, but it does include some well-reviewed exclusives like Alan Wake 2for $40 and Prince of Persia: The Lost Crownfor $30. Before you go padding your backlog on either store, though, we’d recommend using a price tracking site like IsThereAnyDeal to ensure you’re getting a genuine discount.
Without an efficient way to squeeze additional computing power from existing infrastructure, organizations are often forced to purchase additional hardware or delay projects. This can lead to longer wait times for results and potentially losing out to competitors. This problem is compounded by the rise of AI workloads which require a high GPU compute load.
ClearML has come up with what it thinks is the perfect solution to this problem – fractional GPU capability for open source users, making it possible to “split” a single GPU so it can run multiple AI tasks simultaneously.
This move recalls the early days of computing when mainframes could be shared among individuals and organizations, giving them the ability to utilize computing power without needing to buy additional hardware.
Fractional capabilities for Nvidia GPUs
ClearML says the new feature allows DevOps professionals and AI Infrastructure leaders to partition their Nvidia GTX, RTX, and data center-grade, MIG-enabled GPUs into smaller units to support multiple AI and HPC workloads, enabling users to switch between small R&D jobs and larger, more demanding training jobs.
The approach supports multi-tenancy, offering secure and confidential computing with hard memory limitation. ClearML says stakeholders can run isolated parallel workloads on a single shared compute resource, increasing efficiency and reducing costs.
“With our new free offering now supporting fractional capabilities for the broadest range of Nvidia GPUs than any other company, ClearML is democratizing access to compute as part of our commitment to help our community build better AI at any scale, faster,” says Moses Guttmann, CEO and Co-founder of ClearML. “We hope that organizations that might have a mixture of infrastructure are able to use ClearML and get more out of the compute and resources they already have.”
The new open source fractional GPU functionality is available for free on ClearML’s GitHub page.
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Apple‘s legal battles continued with new monopoly accusations being levied at it by the US Department of Justice and several states, Amazon‘s Big Spring Sale offered us some solid discounts, and the first Star Wars: The Acolyte trailer dropped.
We know keeping on top of everything can be a challenge so to lend a hand we’ve collected eight of the most important stories here in a roundup so you can get back in the loop within just a few minutes.
8. Apple was accused of being a monopoly in the US
Merrick Garland, US Attorney general (Image credit: US Department of Justice)
The US Department of Justice and more than a few States Attorney Generals unveiled a sweeping suit against Apple, accusing it of operating a monopoly iPhone business, one that crushes the competition by squeezing them out in innumerable ways.
Apple plans to fight and calls the charges unfounded.
It’ll be months before there’s any resolution but in the meantime, you can ponder if you chose the iPhone because you love it or because you thought you had no other choice. Guess it all depends on whom you believe.
7. Amazon’s Big Spring Sale boasted major deals
(Image credit: Future)
The Amazon Spring Sale has been live in the US and UK this week with thousands of deals across TVs, laptops, appliances, phones, tablets, smart home tech and so much more. It hasn’t been as expansive and the discounts haven’t been as strong as those we see during Amazon Prime Day or Black Friday, but there are still several bargains to be had this week.
Get the hottest deals available in your inbox plus news, reviews, opinion, analysis and more from the TechRadar team.
We’ve searched through the sale and picked out all the best ones that we recommend so check out our full coverage for all our top picks before the sale ends on March 25.
6. OLED burn-in became a thing of the past (maybe)
Thanks to research by the University of Cambridge we could see the beginning of the end for OLED burn-in, as well as having OLED TVs that last longer and are more efficient.
The crux of this lies in blue OLED diodes that emit light along the narrowband spectrum. Without going down a rabbit hole of science, this can suppress the undesirable energy transfer that affects current OLED panels. And better energy transfer could make for OLED TVs that are more power efficient and have a longer lifespan.
It may be a few years before we see this research yield a new generation of OLED TVs and displays. Yet it’s a promising step in the effort to fully remove concerns over OLED burn-in.
5. The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4 ran into some folding issues
(Image credit: Future)
This wasn’t a great week for Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4 owners, with a growing number of reports pointing to a potential issue with the screen’s hinge design.
While it isn’t yet clear how widespread the problem is, a chorus of complaints across X (formerly Twitter) and Reddit suggest it’s more than a few isolated cases. Unfortunately, the problem has left some Z Fold 4 owners unable to fully open the phone’s screen, which is a fairly big issue for a foldable.
We’re still waiting for some official comment from Samsung about the reports, but it may also be affecting the Z Fold 3 and Z Fold 5. Owning a foldable can still come with some early adopter headaches, it seems.
(Image credit: Meta)
If you haven’t already downloaded the latest Meta Quest 3 update – Meta Quest 3 update v62 – then don’t. That’s the advice of some users who have been plagued by an annoying popup for weeks after downloading the update – with it constantly warning them there’s a problem with their USB-C port even though it’s fine.
Meta is aware of the issue, and has been able to replicate it, but hasn’t yet said when a fix will be available – much to the chagrin of the unlucky Quest 3 owners affected by the bug.
Our best advice (beyond dodging update v62) is to only use the official Meta Quest 3 cables, and to not play any VR experiences while your headset is plugged in as some users have reported this seemed to cause their issues.
3. A new Android 15 developer preview landed, and teased major updates
(Image credit: Google)
We’re one step closer to Android 15 being released, with Google launching the second developer preview of its mobile OS for app creators to test out. While it’s still early days there are already some notable features catching our eye.
The continued improvements for satellite communications support in the Android 15 update suggest the Google Pixel 9 coming later this year could boast the feature seen on the iPhone 14 and iPhone 15. Plus there’s new loudness controls so you should notice programs are more consistent with their volume as you swap between them, and there are new tools that should make it easier for apps to take advantage of the small cover screens seen on folding phones such as the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5.
If you want you can check out the update yourself but we wouldn’t recommend it unless you’re a developer or have a spare android device lying around as these in-progress builds can suffer from stability issues.
2. The Acolyte’s first trailer showed us a new kind of Star Wars story
(Image credit: Lucasfilm/Disney Plus)
It’s almost time to forget everything you thought you knew about the Jedi and the Sith. Star Wars: The Acolyte, the next big Star Wars show coming to Disney Plus, will boldly go where no other Lucasfilm movie or TV series has gone before. Indeed, it’s set to explore The High Republic era in a live-action capacity for the first time – and it’ll subvert your expectations of the iconic galaxy far, far away when it does so.
We don’t have much longer to wait to see what Russian Doll showrunner and self-confessed Star Wars nerd Leslye Headland has got in store for us, either. This week, The Acolyte’s Disney Plus release date was finally revealed, with the highly anticipated series out in early June. We also received a first trailer, too, which teases an ominous disturbance in the Force ahead of its Disney Plus debut. Color us extremely excited.
1. IKEA made us some bargain fast chargers
(Image credit: IKEA)
Need a spare USB-C charger for your phone, tablet or laptop? This week IKEA took a break from Billy bookcases and gave us two new impulse buys with its impressively cheap Sjöss chargers.
The single-port Sjöss 30W USB-C charger ($7.99 / £5) is designed for phones and tablets, while the more powerful Sjöss 45W two-port version ($14.99 / £10) can charge laptops or two smaller devices simultaneously with 22W of power.
Both support the latest PD 3.0 fast-charging standard and also undercut the prices of rival chargers from the likes of Apple, Google and even Anker. You can buy the chargers right now in the US, but they won’t go on sale in the UK until July.
