In my final edition of 9to5Toys Lunch Break, you’ll find Apple AirTags down at $24 each on Amazon. The latest AirPods 3 drop to $140, and Apple Pencil 2 is sitting at the Amazon low of $79. Hit the jump for all that and more.

Apple Arcade launched with close to 100 titles and the service is seeing new games added almost every week with over 200 games now in the library. Follow along with our guide on all the available Apple Arcade games plus the latest releases.

More than three years after Spotify lossless audio was first promised by the company, it still hasn’t launched. There have been multiple reports since, and the latest of these claims that the service is now very close to launching.

We’ve also heard three different brand names suggested. The company originally announced it as Spotify HiFi, then we heard Music Pro, and today’s report says it will be called Spotify Lossless …

Apple is out with its latest ad for iPhone 15 highlighting the power of Precision Finding. A fun twist with this commercial is a Star Wars Day theme where the main character heads to a convention and has to solve the problem of finding friends amongst a sea of cosplay characters.

A French website has obtained what appear to be molds of the iPhone 16 line-up, showing what appears to be a small but still notable change to the MagSafe charging ring.

The molds also reflect the changes we’re expecting to see to the camera layout in the base and Plus model iPhone 16 …

Next week’s Let Loose event will see the unveiling of new iPad Pro and iPad Air models, alongside a new Apple Pencil and an updated Magic Keyboard which will give the iPad Pro a more MacBook-like look and feel.

But there is one key iPad which won’t get an update next week, and that’s the entry-level model. Apple is said to be working hard on an updated version of this …

There were no surprises in Apple’s earnings report yesterday, with the company reporting close to the $5B year-on-year fall in revenue it had warned us to expect.

Analysts got their usual chance to question CEO Tim Cook and chief financial officer Luca Maestri directly after the announcement. The pair always remain tight-lipped about specific plans, but there are a few things worth noting …

Yesterday saw the announcement of the Apple Q2 2024 earnings report, which were pretty much exactly as expected – revenue coming in at $90.75B against Wall Street expectations of $90.1B.

As usual, Six Colors has brought the numbers to life with a great set of colorful visualizations, alongside a video talking through them …

Apple last year updated its online store with a new feature called “Shop with a Specialist over Video.” As the name suggests, it lets customers connect with an Apple Specialist using one-way video when buying certain products, such as the iPhone. This functionality is now coming to the Apple Store app on iOS as well.

Following on from the announcement of Apple’s second quarter fiscal 2024 results, Apple CEO Tim Cook joined the company’s chief financial officer Luca Maestri on a call with investors. During this call, Cook again teased Apple’s upcoming generative AI and said that the company has advantages over its competitors.

Apple on Thursday announced its earnings for the second fiscal quarter of 2024, slightly beating expectations with $90.75 billion in revenue. During an interview, Cook also took a moment to talk about the US Department of Justice’s (DOJ) antitrust lawsuit against Apple, calling it “misguided.”

AT&T thinks people are willing to pay $7 extra per month for what it claims is “enhanced data connectivity for real-time responsiveness.” This new AT&T “Turbo” option is rolling out now, and the carrier says it “boosts all the high-speed and hotspot data” while active.

Update: It turns out Tim Cook was misunderstood in the CNBC story. The full quote in context does not imply an AI software announcement at next week’s hardware event, although Apple does infuse its silicon with AI readiness. Here’s the full quote in context:



”Looking ahead, we’re getting ready for an exciting product announcement next week that we think our customers will love. And next month, we have our Worldwide Developers Conference, which has generated enormous enthusiasm from our developers. We can’t wait to reveal what we have in store.

”

Additionally, with a pause inserted to explain what happened:

“And we’re getting into a period of time here where we’re extremely excited like I’m in the edge of my seat literally because next week, we’ve got a product event that we’re excited about. And then just a few weeks thereafter, we’ve got the developers Worldwide Developers Conference coming up and we’ve got some big plans to announce in in both of these events. [pause] From an AI point of view…”

Apple is still expected to unveil its AI software innovations in June during its Worldwide Developers Conference.

Apple has disclosed its fiscal year 2024 Q2 earnings results. The company reports $90.75 billion in revenue during the three-month period, dropping 4.31% year over year. Analysts expected revenue around $90.33 billion. Apple netted $23.64 billion in profit, 2.15% decline.

Apple reported revenue of $94.8 billion for the same quarter a year ago. Apple argues that last year’s results included around $5 billion in revenue from “pent-up demand from the constraints” of Covid-19 factory shutdowns.

Other numbers from Apple’s quarterly results:

Listen to a recap of the top stories of the day from 9to5Mac. 9to5Mac Daily is available on iTunes and Apple’s Podcasts app, Stitcher, TuneIn, Google Play, or through our dedicated RSS feed for Overcast and other podcast players.

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There is no shortage of great third-party podcast clients on the App Store, such as Castro, Overcast, and Pocket Casts. But when Apple Podcasts introduced transcripts in iOS 17.4, the app immediately won me over.

Podcast transcripts are a fantastic feature for all kinds of users. For Deaf users there’s a clear benefit, since content that was previously limited to audio suddenly became accessible in written form. For researchers trying to quickly find key info, transcript search is an invaluable tool.

For me though, the biggest win with podcast transcripts has been their ability to save me significant time by filtering down the content to only what I actually want to hear.

We’re excited to announce the launch of something new for the amazing 9to5Mac community: YouTube channel memberships! This is your opportunity to directly support the channel you love and unlock some fun perks as a result.

Why support the channel?

9to5Mac has been going strong on YouTube for eight years and is inching closer to one million subscribers. Your support helps us to continue growing and creating the in-depth video content you love. We provide in-depth iOS guides, walkthroughs, tutorials, news, reviews, and, most recently, the 9to5Mac Overtime podcast.

Of course, our YouTube content will always remain free and accessible, and you are not obligated to become a channel member. However, for those who especially appreciate our work, here is your chance to support us directly.

Apple’s “Let Loose” event is almost here and we’re expecting the official launch of the new iPad Pro, iPad Air, and more. Here’s how to watch the iPad event (including below), plus a reminder that the start time is three hours earlier than most of the company’s events.

Update May 2, 2024: Another day, another Beats Pill comeback teaser. This time, F1 driver Daniel Ricciardo was spotted carrying an unreleased Beats Pill speaker in Miami this week.

Back in January 2022, Apple discontinued the years-old Beats Pill+ without announcing a replacement of any sort. It looks like that could be about to change, at least based on a teaser this week.

TwelveSouth recently sent me their latest HoverBar Duo product to test with FaceTime on Apple TV 4K. HoverBar Duo is primarily marketed as an adjustable iPad mount for using the tablet hands-free. However, the arrival of FaceTime for Apple TV 4K makes HoverBar Duo a versatile solution for positioning your iPhone camera just right. Before trying it with FaceTime on Apple TV 4K, the TwelveSouth HoverBar Duo has proved useful with the iPhone in lots of other ways.

Benjamin and Chance assess the final iPad rumors ahead of next week’s ‘Let Loose’ event. Beats launches an incredibly compelling new addition to their headphones lineup, the Beats Solo Buds. At the same time, Apple fails to acknowledge what happened with people getting locked out of their Apple IDs over the weekend, in the same week as it releases a statement promising to fix an issue with iPhone alarms. 

And in Happy Hour Plus, Benjamin and Chance discuss what podcast client they currently use and why, and how their listening habits reflect their app preferences. Subscribe at 9to5mac.com/join.

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We’re getting closer every day to a password-free future. Less than two years after Apple launched passkeys with iOS 16 and macOS 13, more and more companies continue adding support. Following in the footsteps of Amazon and Nintendo, among others, today Microsoft announced that passkey support is rolling out for all its consumer accounts across Apple platforms, Windows, and Google products.

Users of Word, Excel, and the host of other popular products requiring Microsoft sign-in will be able to authenticate using simple biometric tools like Face ID or Touch ID.

Apple has launched its newest specials when using its payment platform. For Mother’s Day, use Apple Pay to get up to 20% off a range of gifts from flowers, jewelry, chocolate, clothing, gift boxes, and more. Here are the details.