The first chance to save on HomePod mini in months is now live. It drops all five colors of Siri smart speaker down to $80 and comes joined by an Amazon offer on the new 15-inch M3 MacBook Air at $1,234. Plus, Apple’s official Smart Folios start from $49 with these rare deals. Hit the jump for all that and more in the latest 9to5Toys Lunch Break.
First HomePod mini discount in months now live
Best Buy is offering a rare chance to save on Apple’s HomePod mini. We haven’t seen discounts on new condition models go live in months, and in fact, the last chance to save was back over Black Friday. Now you can drop all five colors of Apple’s smart speaker down to $80. That’s $19 off the usual $99 going rate and an offer that comes within $1 of the previous holiday shopping discount last year.
You’ll find that familiar fabric-style design wrapped around the compact Siri, Apple Music, and Thread-ready mini speaker. The illuminated touchpad on the top provides some manual control options as well as visual Siri feedback while Apple’s U1 chip on the inside accommodates quick music handoff from iPhone. HomePod mini “features a full-range driver and dual passive radiators for deep bass and crisp high frequencies. An array of four microphones allows you to control HomePod mini with your voice from anywhere in a room, no matter the volume.” Get a closer look in our coverage.
15-inch M3 MacBook Air drops to $1,234
Amazon is now offering Apple’s all-new 15-inch M3 MacBook Air for $1,234. This is down from $1,299 and marking the first discount at the retailer. It’s matching the all-time low overall, but the only other chance to save was for Best Buy members – this discount is open to everyone!
Apple’s new M3 MacBook Air debuts with the same design as last year’s model – just with some notable performance gains. There are, of course, all of the perks from Apple’s latest in-house silicon, like support for two external displays when the lid is closed, as well as Wi-Fi 6E support. A new 3-microphone array comes with Voice Isolation and Wide Spectrum modes, not to mention enhanced voice clarity in audio and video calls. And for those of you thinking about scoring the Midnight finish, there’s a new anodization seal to help reduce fingerprints.
Apple’s official Smart Folios start from $49
Amazon is now offering Apple’s official 12.9-inch M2 iPad Pro Smart Folio for $75. This first-party Marine Blue accessory normally sells for $99 and hasn’t budged from that price since all the way in the spring of last year. Now it’s dropping to the Amazon all-time low at $24 off. This is $4 under our previous mention from last March, too. Wrapping your iPad Pro in one of Apple’s official cases, the Smart Folio protects both the front and back of your device. On top of doubling as a stand for watching videos or taking notes, the folding folio cover provides sleep and wake functionality to automatically turn your tablet on just by opening the folio. It also magnetically snaps to the back of your device and features a soft polyurethane material to round out the package.
Alongside the 12.9-inch model at its all-time low, we’re also tracking some other rare deals on official iPad covers from Apple, courtesy of Amazon. These aren’t quite landing at the best-ever prices, but they’re still just as uncommon as the price cut noted above, and now start at $49.
Save $400 on Apple’s 15-inch M2 MacBook Air
Every time we share a baseline MacBook deal, we get a lot of replies to this saying that 8GB of memory wasn’t enough. Seems like Best Buy heard you, too, as it’s now dropping the 16GB/1TB configuration of Apple’s 15-inch M2 MacBook Air to $1,499 – down from $1,899. That’s $400 off, a new all-time low, and an extra $100 below our previous mention. Or you could just go with the entry-level model at $999 – down from $1,299. We offer a taste of what to expect in our hands-on coverage, which is only made better by the savings today. Below the fold we offer some extra insight on the offer, too.
This may be Apple’s previous-generation MacBook Air, but it still offers many of the same features – just for less. The biggest difference is the M2 chip, but otherwise you’re still looking at a 15-inch Liquid Retina display with 500 nits of brightness, P3 wide color, and the new aspect ratio, not to mention the same compact form-factor that comes in one of four colors. There’s 18 hours of battery life on a single charge, too.
Level Lock+ drops to $224 with Apple Home Keys support
Amazon is now offering the Level Lock+ Smart Lock for $224. This is down from its usual $329 price tag and marks the second-best discount we’ve seen. It’s nearly $105 off the MSRP we’ve seen it sell for over the past year and has only been beaten once before. That was back at the start of the year when it fell just $1 below today’s sale. We explore the whole experience of what earns this smart lock the plus in its name in our hands-on review.
Level Lock+ is the latest addition to the brand’s family of invisible smart locks. And as enticing as the minimal form-factor is, it isn’t the big selling point this time around. The new Lock+ is one of the few models on the market period equipped with Apple Home Keys support. So on top of leveraging Siri and HomeKit to unlock the front door, you’ll also be able to unlock by just tapping your iPhone to the lock thanks to NFC. In true Level fashion, there is then a sleek design that can hardly be identified as a smart lock.
Best trade-in deals
9to5Mac also keeps tabs on all the best trade-in deals on iPhone, iPad, MacBook, Apple Watch, and more every month. Be sure to check out this month’s best trade-in deals when you decide it’s time to upgrade your device, or simply head over to our trade-in partner directly if you want to recycle, trade, or sell your used devices for cash and support 9to5Mac along the way!
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