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Best Apple iPhone to buy in 2024

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Best Apple iPhone to buy in 2024

It’s September, which means, new iPhones. This year, in terms of hardware, Apple has yet another S year. Which is fine. Most people aren’t upgrading every year, or even every couple of years. Most of the changes are in the software this year. Though there is Camera Control, which at least is available at launch. It’s a new button on the side of the phone that lets you control the camera.

iOS 18 is here with Apple Intelligence, though that is going to be limited to iPhone 15 Pro, iPhone 15 Pro Max, iPhone 16, iPhone 16 Plus, iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max. And Apple Intelligence is also delayed until at least iOS 18.1, which will start rolling out next month.

Best Overall iPhone: iPhone 16 Pro Max

iPhone 16 Pro image 2

iPhone 16 Pro Max gains camera control

The iPhone 16 Pro Max is by far the best iPhone that you can buy right now. While it does look pretty similar to the iPhone 15 Pro Max, it does bring in some nice changes. Of course, the big one is going to be the Camera Control. While it was rumored to be called the Capture Button, Apple refuses to call it a button.

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With Camera Control, you can easily open the camera app and snap a photo in both landscape or portrait orientation. You can also adjust the settings using that button, including the focus, aperture, and even photographic styles. Though, more features will be launching with iOS 18.1 in October.

The cameras are the same this year, aside from the ultrawide. It is now a 48-megapixel camera which is going to allow for much higher-resolution macro photos. That’s actually a pretty big deal, and even shortens the minimum focusing distance for macro shots.

iPhone 16 Pro Max does have significantly better battery life this year, Apple is touting that it can hit 33 hours of offline video playback, versus 27 hours on the iPhone 15 Pro Max. Since Apple doesn’t like to list battery capacities, that’s about the best we can do here.

Apple is once again selling the iPhone 16 Pro Max starting at $1,199 for 256GB. There’s also a 512GB and 1TB model available too. It’s available in Black Titanium, White Titanium, Natural Titanium and a new Desert Titanium.

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Best Small iPhone: iPhone 16 Pro

 

The smaller iPhone 16 Pro is now bigger than ever

Apple is one of the few companies that still makes a fairly small phone. Though, the iPhone 16 Pro is now larger than before, at 6.3-inches. Both Pro models did gain a 0.2-inch increase in its display size. Allowing for larger batteries and cameras on the iPhone 16 Pro.

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The iPhone 16 Pro is also made of titanium, like the Pro Max model, which makes this iPhone a lot easier to hold onto, and more comfortable. It’s much lighter this year while also being more durable, which is rather interesting. Apple is selling the iPhone 15 Pro in four colors: black, white, desert, and natural titanium. Making for some pretty boring colors this year on the Pro models, unfortunately.

There are fewer upgrades here, compared to the iPhone 16 Pro Max, but it does also get that A18 Pro chipset. This is a pretty powerful chipset, benchmarking ahead of the competition. But as I’ve always said, benchmarks really don’t matter. In day-to-day usage, I do notice a difference between the A18 Pro and the A17 Pro that was in the iPhone 15 Pro. You should see a much better performance here, with slightly better battery life.

The A18 Pro is also great to use for gaming, as Apple is even bringing console-level games to the iPhone 16 Pro. Making it so you can have a console in your pocket now – Nintendo Switch who? The first of those games, Resident Evil Village, has already been launched. It looks amazing on the iPhone 16 Pro, but it’s much better with a controller. The Backbone controller is a good option.

Of course, we can’t forget about USB-C. Finally, the chargers for Android phones will work with your iPhone. I’ve been using the iPhone 16 Pro for over a month, and it’s still weird plugging in a USB-C cable to it. Mostly because I use MagSafe almost exclusively on my iPhone, and have since the iPhone 12 Pro series. Apple did give us faster charging speeds this year, for wireless on the iPhone 16 Pro it can now charge as fast as 25W.

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Best iPhone for Most People: iPhone 16

iphone 16 finish select 202409 6 1inch AV1

The iPhone 16 narrows the gap with the “Pro”

For most people, you won’t need something like a 120Hz display, a telephoto camera, or titanium. And for those people, the regular iPhone 16 is the best option. The iPhone 16 starts at $799, with options for up to 512GB of storage. It does actually add quite a few pro features, and even brings it up to the A18 chipset this year. Which is slightly lower than the A18 Pro in the iPhone 16 Pro models.

The iPhone 16 does once again have a matte back and sides, thank goodness. This is a change that Apple made last year with the iPhone 15. It also changed the orientation of the cameras, making it look more like the iPhone X from 2017. The main reason for this was, to allow users to shoot Spatial Video, which you need cameras to be in the same horizontal space to do so, versus them being diagonal like the iPhone 15.

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There was a lot of talk about the colors this year on the iPhone 15, or the lack of colors on the iPhone 15. Apple went very vibrant for the colors this year. There’s the usual black and white colors, along with pink, teal and ultramarine. My personal favorite is the ultramarine, to be honest.

The iPhone 16 this year, arguably got the biggest performance leap compared to the other iPhone 16 Pro models. That’s because it jumped from the A16 to the A18 and also jumped from 6GB of RAM to 8GB. So it’s a much more powerful device this year.

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Best Value iPhone: iPhone 15

iPhone 15 series colors

The iPhone 15 ditches some “pro” features for a cheaper price

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For most people, you won’t need something like a 120Hz display, a telephoto camera, or titanium. And for those people, the regular iPhone 15 is the best option. The iPhone 15 starts at $699, with options for up to 512GB of storage. Now that the iPhone 16 is out, the iPhone 15 gets a $100 price drop to $699. As mentioned, it does ditch quite a few “pro” features, like the ProMotion display, the telephoto camera and also the titanium frame. Instead, Apple is using an aluminum frame, which is fine. It’s still pretty durable and should survive a few drops with ease.

Something new that Apple did this year for the iPhone 15 was, give the back a matte finish. This was sorely needed, since the iPhone 12, 13 and 14 series all were fingerprint magnets on the back. Now, that’s not an issue on the iPhone 15 series either. Even though most people are going to stick to using their phone in a case, now you have the option to not use a case.

There was a lot of talk about the colors this year on the iPhone 15, which is a lot more pastel this year, compared to previous years. Apple is still offering five colors: blue, pink, green, yellow and black. There’s no true white color this time, but the colors are all so light, that you might not even notice. Honestly, the pictures really don’t do it justice. My sister picked up the iPhone 15 in blue and it looks really good. You can definitely tell that it is indeed blue and not white.

A few other upgrades for the iPhone 15 this year include the camera and processor. The iPhone 15 picked up the 48-megapixel sensor from the iPhone 14 Pro series the year before. Which kind of solves that telephoto problem. Since Apple lets you do 2x lossless zoom on the 48-megapixel sensor. This is because the sensor is so large, that Apple can crop in and give you a 2x zoom without losing any details. That’s a pretty big deal, to be quite honest. Then there’s the processor, it’s the A16 Bionic from the iPhone 14 Pro from last year. It’s not really a new processor, just new for this phone. It’s plenty fast, and battery life is pretty decent, too, so there’s that.

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Then there’s USB-C. Many believed that only the Pro models would get USB-C this year, but that’s not true. Apple did bring USB-C down to the iPhone 15. Though some will argue that it is still using USB 2.0 speeds instead of USB 3.0, keep in mind that most other phones on the market do this. Very few offer USB 3.0 or 3.1 speeds because many don’t transfer files off of their phones – they use iCloud.

With the launch of the iPhone 15, many were upset that it was still using a 60Hz display. I even wrote an editorial about why it’s not coming to the iPhone 15. Apple calls 120Hz, “ProMotion” so why would they add a “Pro” feature to a non-Pro iPhone? Additionally, most people don’t even know what 120Hz is. Which is why the iPhone 15 is the best for “most people”.

Perhaps my favorite feature of the iPhone 15 series is the new Find My Friends feature. This lets you find your friends, just like you put an AirTag on them. It’s thanks to the new Ultra Wideband chip (which they didn’t call U2 for some reason; the 2014 fiasco might be the reason why). This chip gives you better precision finding, the only problem here is that it is only available on the iPhone 15 models, so your friends and family would need an iPhone 15 series phone to use this feature.

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Best Cheap iPhone: Apple iPhone 14

Apple iPhone 14 color lineup 230307 big jpg large 2x

2022’s iPhone is a great bargain in 2024

Apple is surprisingly still selling the iPhone 14. Which is fine, because it is still a really good iPhone. I absolutely loved my red iPhone 14. It was a good size, lightweight and the battery life was really impressive. So the iPhone 14 used the same A15 Bionic as the iPhone 13 series, which seemed odd, but it meant that Apple was really able to optimize for it, offering up really impressive battery life on the iPhone 14.

Now that we are two years out from the iPhone 14 release, Apple has dropped the price permanently to $599. Now that’s not the cheapest “new” iPhone you can get, as the iPhone SE is still out there. But that iPhone SE is from 2022 as well, and is not a good option for $429. You’d be better off spending another $170 for a much better experience and much more storage. Considering the iPhone SE starts at 64GB.

It does still have that aluminum frame, which looks and feels great, though the back is not matte like the iPhone 15. If you’re going to stick it in a case or don’t really care much about fingerprints, then that’s not a deal breaker. For me, it was really annoying and forced me to use a case.

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iPhone’s cameras are always really good, and that’s still the case on the iPhone 14. It sports dual 12-megapixel cameras for wide and ultrawide. It does not offer telephoto and only digital zoom. However, the pictures of this phone are still impressive. I’m still shocked when I see photos coming out of the iPhone 14 because it’s just on another level.

Now for the real question: is it worth buying a year-old iPhone? Apple is really good with software updates. It updated the iPhone 6s for well over seven years before calling it quits. And we’d expect something similar for the iPhone 14. So even though it launched with iOS 16 and has already gotten iOS 17, we definitely expect it to hit at least iOS 22 or longer. So, buying a year-old iPhone is not a big deal. And even once it stops getting new versions of iOS, it will continue to get security updates – Apple just updated the iPhone 4s with a security update in September 2023.

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Amazon October Prime Day: how to find the best deals

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Amazon October Prime Day: how to find the best deals

Amazon Prime Day is one of the biggest shopping events of the year outside of Black Friday and Cyber Monday, with this year’s autumnal incarnation (once again dubbed Prime Big Deal Days) running from October 8th through the 9th. The two-day shopping affair will likely grant Prime members access to some of the best prices of the year on Amazon devices, as well as products from Sony, Sonos, Peloton, Withings, and other well-known brands. This applies to items spanning a range of categories, including gaming peripherals, laptops, 4K TVs, phones, PC accessories, and more.

As always, you can count on us to publish only the best deals during Prime Big Deal Days — as well as any worthwhile ones featured at Walmart, Best Buy, and other competing retailers. That said, if you want to be sure you catch any and all deals that are most important to you — or be among the first to know of certain price drops — we’ve compiled some helpful tools and advice.

Below, we’ve spelled out a few of our biggest deal-hunting tips, from how to use automated price trackers to the different ways you can set up your own personalized deal alerts. All of these methods and tools are free to use, and once you put in just a little bit of work, you can rest easy knowing that you don’t need to take much action until it comes time to make a purchase.

Use a price-tracking tool or deal aggregator

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CamelCamelCamel’s extension helps you keep tabs on historical price trends with useful graphs like these.
Screenshot: CamelCamelCamel

CamelCamelCamel tracks the price of every product sold on Amazon and can send you alerts when they reach the price that’s right for you. Once a product reaches the desired price you’ve set or lower, you’ll get an email about it. CamelCamelCamel only works for products on Amazon, however, so you’ll need to use a different one below if you want to track price movement at Walmart, Best Buy, Target, and other retailers.

To track prices and get alerts via email, you’ll need to create a free account. Also, we suggest installing the site’s browser extension, called The Camelizer, which lets you see pricing trends on a product-by-product basis and allows you to set your desired price without navigating away from Amazon. It’s fantastic and easy to use.

As soon as one of the products falls below the amount set on your price alert, you’ll instantly get an email. And if you already have a wishlist saved on Amazon, you can import it into CamelCamelCamel.

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Honey’s price-tracking feature can automatically find coupons on your behalf when viewing a product.
Screenshot: Honey

Like CamelCamelCamel, the PayPal Honey browser extension can track the prices of items you’re interested in, and it will alert you via email when it finds a deal. However, unlike the price-tracking site above, Honey will also scour each site you visit for offer codes that can be applied to your checkout total to save you even more money.

Honey works with Amazon and many other retailers, and you can add items to your “Droplist,” which is basically just a wishlist. In most instances, the option to add an item to your list pops up on the right-hand side, and you can select the price watch duration as well as the percentage off you’re looking for. As an added convenience, Honey will also automatically add items you frequently browse to your Droplist thanks to its so-called “Smart Droplist” feature, which can be turned on and off at your discretion.

Slickdeals allows you to set up custom alerts for specific keywords, though finding the right parameters can be a trial and error process.
Screenshot: Slickdeals
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Slickdeals aggregates some of the best deals around the internet, as discovered by its team and community of users. It’s a great place to find a curated set of deals on things you might be interested in. The site also allows you to create deal alerts based on keywords, but they work a little differently on Slickdeals than they do on the above sites.

You can type in a product name, like “Sonos Era 100” or a retailer’s name, and once it’s added to your list, you’ll be notified of a deal alert if it meets your criteria. You can set it to alert you to any deal related to your keyword, or you can filter out deals so that you’ll be notified if, for example, the deal is popular enough to make it to Slickdeals’ front page or earned a high rating from the community. Setting these keywords a little too broadly may result in frequent notification pings and emails, though, so you’ll need to use some discretion and find the right balance of how aggressively you want Slickdeals to notify you.

Unlike the Honey extension and The Camelizer, Keepa integrates historical pricing data directly into the Amazon product listing.
Screenshot: Keepa

Keepa is another handy tool you can use to track and compare Amazon prices over time. Like CamelCamelCamel, Keepa provides charts that track pricing trends and will alert you when it finds a deal. You can also import any wishlists you’ve previously saved on Amazon.

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Unlike CamelCamelCamel, however, you don’t necessarily need to create an account in order to track prices with Keepa. You just need to install the extension, and Keepa will automatically add a price history graph to supported product listings. The embedded extension features different tabs as well, one of which showcases pricing history and another that allows you to specify various pricing details. Once you’ve set your desired price, you’ll then receive price alerts via email, push notification, Telegram, or RSS.

Set up deal alert notifications through Alexa or the Amazon app

If you’re a Prime member who owns a fourth-gen Echo speaker or a newer model, you can also request that Amazon send you deal notifications up to 24 hours ahead of time on products you’re interested in. Amazon can alert you of price drops on eligible products in your shopping cart or wishlist, as well as anything you’ve marked as “saved for later.” To enable the feature, tap More > Settings > Notifications in the Alexa app, and then tap Amazon Shopping. Then, scroll down to Shopping Recommendations and enable Deal Recommendations. Once done, you’ll receive a notification on both your device and your Echo speaker (the latter in the form of a yellow ring) notifying you of the deal.

Alternatively, you can sign up to receive deal alerts regarding products you’ve recently viewed in the Amazon Shopping app, as well as those related to your recent search history. If you’re a Prime member, you just need to navigate to the Prime Big Deal Days event page in the mobile app between now and October 8th to create the alert. Once done, you’ll receive push notifications for any deal(s) you’ve subscribed to when the event begins on October 8th. You can also just open the Amazon Shopping app and tap Settings > Notifications > Deals and Recommendations before toggling “Savings” and / or “Recommendations.”

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Look for deals outside of Amazon

Prime Day and Prime Big Deal Days are events that show off Amazon’s huge retail presence, so, naturally, other retail chains take notice. Because of this, you can sometimes find better deals at retailers like Target, Walmart, and Best Buy. At the very least, they may be able to match Amazon’s pricing if you ask.

If Amazon’s upcoming sale doesn’t have everything you want or if you just want to make sure you’re getting the best deal, shop around a bit. Walmart will be hosting its own sale starting on October 8th, for example, and Target plans to run a “Circle Week” promo for members of its free Target Circle program starting on October 6th. And once again, you’ll be able to find all of our deals coverage in and outside of Amazon here.

Trust the experts

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We’re a discerning bunch here at The Verge, so don’t fret if you’re going into this without any prep. We’ll be corralling the best tech deals and keeping our coverage up to date in the run-up to the main event. So mark October 8th and 9th on your calendar, sign up for Amazon Prime and our new and improved Verge Deals newsletter, and maybe start putting aside a little spending cash.

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Pretty Little Liars reboot canceled after two seasons on Max and I’m now not sure I can trust the show’s 90% Rotten Tomatoes score

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Zaria, Chandler Kinney, Bailee Madison, Maia Reficco, and Malia Pyles posing against school lockers.

School’s out for Pretty Little Liars: Summer School as Max has canceled the show after two seasons.

One of the best streaming services has decided not to renew the series three months after it ended on Max. The reboot is a horror twist on the original 2010 hit mystery drama series Pretty Little Liars and was originally called Pretty Little Liars: Original Sin (2022) before being renamed to Pretty Little Liars: Summer School in the second season.

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Transformers: Why the T in ChatGPT is AI’s biggest breakthrough – and greatest risk

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New Scientist. Science news and long reads from expert journalists, covering developments in science, technology, health and the environment on the website and the magazine.
New Scientist. Science news and long reads from expert journalists, covering developments in science, technology, health and the environment on the website and the magazine.

A good neural network architecture is vital when developing artificial intelligence

SHUTTERSTOCK/Qpt

When ChatGPT first took the world by storm in 2022, its capabilities were so impressive that people happily looked past its awkward name. Yet hidden within those initials lies a key breakthrough responsible for sending artificial intelligence rocketing these past few years – and potentially a limitation that could see it crashing back to Earth.

GPT stands for generative pre-trained transformer, and it is the last word that matters most. The term was coined in a 2017 paper by a team at Google, which introduced a concept called…

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Stellar Blade now subject of trademark lawsuit

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Stellar Blade now subject of trademark lawsuit
EVE stares at an enemy in Stellar Blade.
Sony Interactive Entertainment

Stellar Blade has been the subject of some strange controversies since its release in late April, but one of the strangest has to be a recent lawsuit filed against developer Shift Up and Sony that claims its name is guilty of trademark infringement.

IGN reports that the lawsuit was filed in a Louisiana court earlier this month by Griffith Chambers Mehaffey, the owner of film production company called Stellarblade LLC. His lawyers claim that he’s been using stellarblade.com since 2006, and that his company has existed since 2010. However, the game’s release has made it tougher for people to find information about his business.

Mehaffey is seeking damages and for Sony and Shift Up to no longer use the name “Stellar Blade.”

Additionally, the suit claims that the trademarks for his business and Shift Up’s game look “confusingly similar.” Both have blue color schemes and a stylized S, although the two look very different otherwise.

This wasn’t a problem back when the game was announced in 2019 under the name Project EVE, although Sony revealed the Stellar Blade name at its September 2022 State of Play According to U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, the Stellar Blade trademark was initially filed in January 2023, with an “opposition” filed on September 11, 2024. Mehaffey filed his own trademark in June 2023, and then sent a cease and desist letter to Shift Up in July.

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Stellar Blade was the PlayStation 5’s first big console exclusive release for 2024. While reviews were mixed (Digital Trends said had great style but was “lacking substance”), Shift Up revealed that the game sold 1 million units over the first couple of months. It dropped out of PlayStation’s top 20 downloads list in June.






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Gemini app on Android gets a more simplified homescreen

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Gemini app on Android gets a more simplified homescreen

Earlier this month, Google redesigned the Gemini homepage on desktop. The redesign removed the “Hello” + greeting and suggestions and now offers a simple “Hello can I help you?” message. The search engine giant has now provided the same on mobile devices. The Gemini app on Android devices has received a new simplified homescreen, which is now more minimalistic than earlier.

Gemini app’s new simplified homescreen replaces the old design with a minimalistic interface

According to a report by 9to5Google, the Gemini app on Android has received a new update, which brings a more simplified homescreen. The new update replaces the old design with a more minimalistic interface. The new UI is designed to prioritize user experience.

Earlier, there was the “Gemini Advanced” logo on top, apart from a handful of suggestions and the “Chats & Gems” list. However, the new homescreen only has the “Hello, [user name]” greeting. It now also includes a new message bubble icon in the top-left corner, which gives you access to the Recent conversations and Gems. Notably, the chat box at the bottom of the screen is unchanged.

As you can see, the new Gemini app interface draws inspiration from the search’s homepage. If you want to access the new Gemini interface, then simply update the app on your Android device. The new design seems to be rolling out gradually, it may not be available in all regions right away.

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Google recently also added Gems to Gemini’s mobile app

It’s worth mentioning that Google added Gems to Gemini’s mobile app earlier this month. Gems were originally launched for gemini.google.com at the end of August on the web. However, now they are also available in the Gemini app on Android and iOS devices. Earlier, the “Recent” section was renamed to “Chat & Gems”. However, with the latest homescreen layout update, they are moved to the bubble icon in the top-left corner.

For those unaware, Gems in Gemini allows you to program the AI assistant for a single and repetitive task. Notably, they can “remember a detailed set of instructions to help you save time on tedious, repetitive or difficult tasks”. Google also offers a handful of pre-generated Gems like a learning coach, brainstormer, career guide, and writing editor.

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Prime Day deals include three free months of Amazon Music Unlimited for new users

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Prime Day deals include three free months of Amazon Music Unlimited for new users

Amazon is hoping to get more people hooked on Music Unlimited with a pre-Prime Day offer. Those who haven’t tried the service before can get three months of access for free. The offer is even better for Prime members who haven’t checked out the music-streaming platform. They can use it for four months at no extra cost. Music Unlimited typically costs $11 per month without Prime and $10 per month for Prime members.

The company isn’t leaving existing subscribers entirely out in the cold. Those with an individual Amazon Music Unlimited plan can upgrade to the Family Plan at no extra cost for two months.

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Amazon Music Unlimited is free for three months to those who haven’t used it before. Prime members who are newcomers to the service get an additional month of access at no extra cost.

$0 at Amazon

Amazon Music Unlimited includes more than 100 million songs, many of which are available in high definition and/or spatial audio. The service also includes ad-free versions of many popular podcasts.

While it may not be the first music streaming service that springs to mind for most folks, Amazon Music Unlimited may be worth checking out. The HD music selection is particularly notable, since Spotify has yet to offer that feature.

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Follow @EngadgetDeals on Twitter for the latest tech deals and buying advice in the lead up to October Prime Day 2024.

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