Take-Two is selling its indie games label Private Division
Pokemon developer Game Freak’s unreleased Project Bloom game is included in the sale. | Image: Private Division
Take-Two Interactive is selling off its indie games label Private Division, which published titles such as The Outer Worlds and OlliOlli World, following rumors over the summer that Take-Two laid off most of Private Division’s staff.
Take-Two did not disclose the buyer of Private Division or how much they paid. In an emailed statement to The Verge, Take-Two spokesperson Alan Lewis wrote:
We recently made the strategic decision to sell our Private Division label to focus our resources on growing our core and mobile businesses for the long-term. As part of this transaction, the buyer purchased our rights to substantially all of Private Division’s live and unreleased titles.
Take-Two will continue to support No Rest for the Wicked, which launched in Early Access on PC in April. We are grateful for the contributions that the Private Division team has made to our company and are confident that they will continue to achieve success in their new home.
Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick told GamesIndustry.biz that the buyer would be named soon and said, “The team of Private Division did a great job supporting independent developers and, almost to a one, every project they supported did well. However, the scale of those projects was, candidly, on the smaller side, and we’re in the business of making great big hits,” like the upcoming Grand Theft Auto VI.
NYT tech workers are making their own games while on strike
Striking New York Times tech workers have created a “Guild Builds” page dedicated to strike-themed games you can play, including a spin on Wordle, a word search, and the custom Connections I reported on earlier today.
As part of its strike announcement on Monday, the New York Times Tech Guild requested that people don’t cross the digital picket line to play the NYT’s daily puzzle games. This collection of five other games offers an alternative if you want to support the striking workers but also do some brain teasers.
They aren’t super fancy, but I’ve had fun messing around with them. The games will be updated “when they can be,” Jen Sheehan, spokesperson for the NewsGuild of New York, tells The Verge, so you might want to check back every once in awhile to see if there’s a new version of a puzzle to play. Sheehan also says that guild members created all of the games but Strikle, which was made by an external supporter.
The New York Times didn’t immediately reply to a request for comment.
After Trump Took the Lead, Election Deniers Went Suddenly Silent Trump supporters spent years fomenting concern about election integrity. On Tuesday, they set it all aside.
Amazon’s CEO defends return-to-office policy
Illustration by Laura Normand / The Verge
Amazon CEO Andy Jassy is pushing back on claims that his return-to-office mandate was a “backdoor layoff.” In a transcript of an all-hands staff meeting seen by Reuters and CNBC, Jassy said the move “is very much about our culture and strengthening our culture.”
“A number of people I’ve seen theorized that the reason we were doing this is, it’s a backdoor layoff, or we made some sort of deal with city or cities,” Jassy said during the meeting, according to Reuters. “I can tell you both of those are not true. You know, this was not a cost play for us.” Amazon has laid off more than 27,000 workers since 2022.
Here’s when the Black Friday sales start at Amazon, Walmart, and other retailers
Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge
Black Friday officially kicks off on November 29th, but if you plan to make that the only day you buy gifts this holiday season, you’re missing out. Several prominent retailers, including Best Buy and Target, have already started rolling out their holiday discounts online and in-store. Both retailers are offering price protection through most of the holiday shopping season as well, so if you buy early and the same item drops to a lower price, you can retroactively get that better deal.
Whether you take advantage of the slew of early holiday deals or hold off until the day after Thanksgiving, it’s important to know how every major retailer is handling the shopping event this year. If you plan to spend some cash, here are the schedules and expectations for Amazon, Walmart, Target, and all the major retailers we know of.
Amazon has yet to announce a full Black Friday playbook, but it does have a landing page full of holiday deals, which the retailer may update and convert into its main hub for Black Friday — as well as Cyber Monday. There aren’t a ton of noteworthy early deals, at least in terms of tech, but Amazon is currently discounting a few pairs of Beats headphones. This includes the Beats Solo 4 and Beats Studio Pro, which are on sale for $99.99 ($100 off) and $169.99 ($180 off), respectively.
Just be aware that Amazon does not offer price matching, so price “protection” for many Amazon shoppers means buying the item at the lower price point and returning the original — which, unfortunately, is pretty wasteful.
Black Friday has already kicked off to some degree at Best Buy, with the retailer offering various specials via its “Holiday Savings” event, which runs through November 7th. That being said, the first wave of early “doorbuster” Black Friday deals will go live on Friday, November 8th, with new doorbusters to follow every Friday until November 20th. They’re open to everybody, though those who subscribe to My Best Buy Plus or My Best Buy Total will get access every Thursday before they become more widely available.
Best Buy’s main Black Friday event, which will feature returning doorbusters and new deals, is slated to begin on November 21st (yes, that’s a full eight days for a singular “Black Friday Sale”). The retailer’s Cyber Monday promo, meanwhile, will kick off on Sunday, December 1st, meaning Best Buy is running sales throughout the entire month of November.
Best Buy shoppers also get price protection, ensuring that if you purchase a qualifying item and it goes on to receive a bigger discount between November 1st and December 31st, you can request a refund for the difference through January 14th. As with some of the Black Friday promos, you’ll want to make sure you’re signed in with your My Best Buy account while browsing to ensure you’re getting the lowest price.
Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge
Apple Watches are popular items that usually receive deep discounts around Black Friday.
Like Best Buy, Target has launched a “Deal of the Day” holiday promo, which runs through December 24th for members of its free Target Circle program. Target will also host an Early Black Friday Sale, which will kick off on November 7th and last through November 9th.
Each Sunday in November, Target will drop new deals at brick-and-mortar stores and online, which you can preview a week beforehand using Target’s weekly circular. Target says it will be offering the best prices throughout the holiday season; however, the retailer also has a holiday price-match policy in place if it happens to offer a better deal on an item between now and December 24th. Just keep in mind that you may need to return to the store from which you purchased the product to receive a price match or call Target’s guest services for online purchases.
Walmart plans to start rolling out its Black Friday deals in multiple waves. The first begins online at 12PM ET on Monday, November 11th, for paying Walmart Plus subscribers (or 5PM ET for everybody else). An in-store sale will follow on November 15th at 6AM local time.
The second wave begins online at 12PM ET on Monday, November 25th, for Walmart Plus members (or 5PM ET for everybody else). An in-store sale will follow on Black Friday proper (November 29th) at 6AM local time.
Walmart will then hold its Cyber Monday sale online for Walmart Plus members beginning at 5PM ET on December 1st before opening it to non-members at 8PM ET.
If you want to get early access to any of the aforementioned waves, Walmart is offering 50 percent off an annual Walmart Plus membership through December 2nd. The current promo brings the cost of its premium service down to $49 a year. Along with early access to all of Walmart’s holiday discounts, Plus members also get free delivery on millions of products.
There is no word yet on Black Friday details from GameStop. We expect to hear more soon regarding store hours on Black Friday and possibly Thanksgiving, as well as some specifics regarding what kind of gaming deals it plans to offer throughout the holiday season.
Newegg has already started dropping its Black Friday deals. Like other retailers, it also offers price protection, so you can choose to buy early without having to worry about potential discounts down the line. Newegg is noting price-protected items with a colorful badge near the product’s name through November 20th, and if said product drops in price on or before November 30th, Newegg will automatically refund the difference to the original payment method.
Costco recently announced two deals events ahead of Black Friday, including a “Holiday Savings” event that runs through December 2nd online and in-store. There’s also an online “November Savings” promo, which runs through November 30th. Costco will continue to drop new deals throughout November, which you can preview here. There aren’t a ton of notable tech highlights (yet), but Costco will be discounting the noise-canceling Bose QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds to $229.99 ($70 off) starting on November 18th. Costco will also throw in a $50 gift card from one of several retailers, including Apple and Google.
Meta Permits Its A.I. Models to Be Used for U.S. Military Purposes The shift in policy, covering government agencies and contractors working on national security, is intended to promote “responsible and ethical” innovations, the company said.
Judge declines to block Musk’s $1 million voter giveaways
Illustration by Kristen Radtke / The Verge; Getty Images
Elon Musk’s America PAC can move forward with its $1 million giveaways to voters after a Philadelphia judge declined an emergency petition from District Attorney Larry Krasner to block them.
During a hearing earlier on Monday, a representative for the political action committee said prize winners are not randomly selected and are actually chosen to be paid spokespeople for the PAC, which supports former President Donald Trump, The Associated Press reported. Musk previously advertised the selection as random, but the fine print of the petition that applicants need to sign to enter the giveaway doesn’t mention it.
Krasner accused the PAC of running an illegal lottery and deceptively marketing the prize selections as random, even though “multiple winners that have been selected are individuals who have shown up at Trump rallies in Pennsylvania.” While the PAC’s admission at the hearing seemed to confirm that suspicion, it also undermined the idea that the giveaway is a lottery at all.
The PAC lists two additional giveaways on its site to take place on Monday and Tuesday. Those prizes are slated to go to voters in Arizona and Michigan, respectively.
It’s not yet clear what Judge Angelo Foglietta’s reasoning was behind denying the emergency injunction, but he said in a court filing that his findings would be forthcoming.
New York Times Tech Workers Go on Strike The Times Tech Guild represents more than 600 software developers and others who run the back-end systems behind The Times’s digital operation.
Right-Wing Groups Are Organizing on Telegram Ahead of Election Day Right-wing groups, which use Telegram to organize real-world actions, are urging followers to watch the polls and stand up for their rights, in a harbinger of potential chaos.
Perplexity debuts an AI-powered election information hub
The Verge
AI search company Perplexity is putting to the test whether it’s a good idea to use AI to serve crucial voting information with a new Election Information Hub it announced on Friday. The hub offers things like AI-generated answers to voting questions and summaries of candidates, and on November 5th, Election Day, the company says it will track vote counts live, using data from The Associated Press.
Perplexity says its voter information, which includes polling requirements, locations, and times, is based on data from Democracy Works. (The same group powers similar features from Google). And that its election-related answers come from “a curated set of the most trustworthy and informative sources.”
Perplexity spokesperson Sara Plotnick confirmed in an email to The Verge that both AP and Democracy Works are official partners for the hub. Plotnick elaborated on Perplexity’s sources:
We selected domains that are non-partisan and fact-checked, including Ballotpedia and news organizations. We’re actively monitoring our systems to ensure that we continue to prioritize these sources when answering election-related queries.
The hub serves up details about what’s on the ballot for whatever location you enter (for instance, an address or city). There are also tabs for monitoring the elections for the President, US Senate, and US House as they come in starting Tuesday, with per-state breakdowns showing the percentage of votes counted and who’s leading.
Screenshot: Perplexity Election Hub
Amusing, but perhaps not what Perplexity is going for.
The AI summaries when I clicked on candidates had some errors, like failing to mention that Robert F. Kennedy, who’s on the ballot where I live, had dropped out of the race. It also listed a “Future Madam Potus” candidate that, when clicked, led me to the above summary of Vice President Kamala Harris’ candidacy, except with some meme pictures that aren’t in her normal summary.
Plotnick said the company is looking into why the summary didn’t mention that Kennedy had dropped out. “Depending on your location, sometimes write-in candidates will appear,” Plotnick added by way of explaining why Future Madam Potus’ listing may have appeared. (It doesn’t explain why it summarized Harris, but Future Madam Potus is indeed running as a write-in candidate, according to Ballotpedia.)
The errors illustrate the challenge of using accuracy-challenged generative AI for such a high-stakes use case, and why other AI companies have shied away from doing it. ChatGPT, Meta AI, and Google Gemini each deflect voter information questions to other resources like canivote.org or Google Search. Microsoft’s Copilot simply refused to answer when I tried.
The AI search engines are here — and getting better
Image: David Pierce / The Verge
Hi, friends! Welcome to Installer No. 59, your guide to the best and Verge-iest stuff in the world. (If you’re new here, welcome, so psyched you found us, and also you can read all the old editions at the Installer homepage.)
I also have for you some interesting new AI search products, some new Apple gear, a couple of documentaries to watch this weekend, a calendar app for Windows, and much more.
Oh, and thanks to everyone who reached out about the Omnivore acquisition. Which sucks. I heard from a lot of folks wondering where to go next, and since I feel partially responsible for getting some of you into an app that is now dying, I’m gonna help you figure it out! But I need help: what about Omnivore, or any other reading app, do you 100 percentneed? Tell me your desires and I’ll see if I can point us all in the right direction.
All right, lots to do this week. Let’s go.
(As always, the best part of Installer is your ideas and tips. What do you want to know more about? What awesome tricks do you know that everyone else should? What app should everyone be using? Tell me everything: installer@theverge.com. And if you know someone else who might enjoy Installer, forward it to them and tell them to subscribe here.)
The Drop
ChatGPT search. It’s not called SearchGPT, lame, but it is what we expected: live web search baked into OpenAI’s chatbot. So far, it looks an awful lot like Perplexity and Bing and the rest, but I suspect a lot of people will use this just because it’s right there in ChatGPT.
Ask Maps. This is the kind of AI search I’m most bullish on: Google pointing Gemini at the Maps app, so you can more easily find stuff to do and places to go. If AI can just prevent me from having to comb through a million reviews looking for the word “kid-friendly,” all this nonsense might be worth it.
Fantastical for Windows. I do most of my calendaring in one of two apps: Fantastical or Notion Calendar. Notion Calendar is free and faster, but Fantastical is much nicer-looking and much more powerful. The new Windows app has all the features, all the design, and looks like a winner.
The new Mac Mini. There are reasons to be excited about the new MacBook Pros that launched this week, and I guess even the super-colorful iMac, but for me, the smaller, faster Mini is the most exciting computer Apple has launched this year. This thing will be my daily driver from the minute it ships.
The new Magic Keyboard. Two things, both true: $149 is way too much for this keyboard (much less $199 for the black one with the number pad), and also once you use a Mac keyboard with built-in Touch ID, there is just absolutely no going back. And it finally doesn’t require a Lightning cable! What a world!
Dragon Age: The Veilguard. Our friends at Polygondescribed this game as basically a game about a protagonist “and their traveling Deep Roadshow of trauma-drenched weirdos (complimentary),” which I love so much. Sounds like this game takes a beat to get going but is hugely rewarding once it does.
Uncanny Valley. A new podcast from Wired, hosted by a bunch of folks we like (and a couple of former Verge staffers!) talking about all the news and chaos happening in Silicon Valley. A surprising amount of hoodie talk in the first episode! But I’m excited to see where this goes.
Endurance. If you haven’t read the book this new series is based on — about the British explorer Ernest Shackleton’s disastrous attempt to sail to the South Pole — do that this weekend. I’m serious. It’s an all-timer. And I’ve only heard great things about the doc.
Nintendo Music. For years, I liked writing while listening to the Pirates of the Caribbean soundtrack, which made everything feel a little more epic. From now on, though, I’m all in on the Boss Battles playlist in this delightful new streaming app.
Music by John Williams. Big week for soundtracks, it turns out! John Williams is a legend, and it looks like Disney got an amazing roster of other legends to come talk about how important and special he has been to the movie business. I’ve been excited for this ever since the Jaws bit in the trailer.
Pokémon TCG Pocket. Truthfully, the Pokémon trading card games have never been my bag, but a game like this makes perfect sense as a mobile app you can play for a few minutes at a time. Or a few hours. Or days. Whatever works.
Screen share
A few weeks ago, I went to New York City and wandered into a coffee shop called Coffee Check. It was started by a guy named David Cogen, who you might recognize as the face of TheUnlockr YouTube channel. At the beginning of this year, after more than a decade as a creator, he decided to open a coffee shop. And still keep being a creator. Somehow.
I spent an hour with David talking about all this, which turned into a really fun episode ofThe Vergecast. But I left David still wondering how he balanced it all — and wondering what I might be able to tell about his priorities from his homescreen. So I asked him to share!
Here’s David’s homescreen, plus some info on the apps he uses and why:
The phone: Pixel 9 Pro. I always switch fully into whatever phone I am making a video about, and as I am very behind on reviews (see the Vergecast episode for more on that), that’s the next one on the docket.
The wallpaper: The one that comes on the phone by default. I switch phones so often that I usually don’t change the wallpaper unless it’s obnoxious. In that case, I’ll still grab something minimalistic from Google’s Wallpapers app (maybe a landscape to remind me what outside looks like).
The apps: Spotify, Phone, Gmail, Chrome.
I generally have the multiple-clock widget, as it automatically shows me my current time and time back in NYC, which I find incredibly helpful while traveling as much as I do. Otherwise, the tools section has Notion, which I’m a heavy user of after Evernote got worse and worse over time — it has replaced that, along with Airtable.
That folder has since expanded recently thanks to the coffee shop as I now have Homebase for scheduling my baristas, Poplin to get our cleaning rags picked up and delivered, Shopify for inventory / POS / sales / obsessive data analyzing, Ring for all the cameras in the space and to make sure milk deliveries show up on time in the middle of the night (we use a service called Odeko, which has a key and brings supplies in / puts the milk in the fridges for us), and Peerspace to make sure I can respond to inquiries to rent out the back space.
I also asked David to share a few things he’s into right now. Here’s what he sent back:
Probably comes as no surprise, but coffee. Particularly, I’m going to start roasting in the coffee shop soon and so I’m looking forward to sourcing beans from various places, getting better at roasting those beans, and tweaking roasts to get different flavors out of them.
I’m also wanting to take more classes and attend more coffee events to try and learn more about the coffee world and what people in that world are also experimenting with. And eventually figuring out how to balance these two worlds of coffee and YouTube but, you know, first things first.
Crowdsourced
Here’s what the Installer community is into this week. I want to know what you’re into right now as well! Emailinstaller@theverge.comor message me on Signal — @davidpierce.11 — with your recommendations for anything and everything, and we’ll feature some of our favorites here every week. For even more recommendations, check out the replies tothis post on Threads.
“I saw you had Coffee Golf on your iPad Mini homescreen. It has IAP and is really just ok. You’d be better off trying Golf On Mars. It’s the slightly more polished version of Desert Golfing by the same developer. Best quick-play golf game ever.” – Casey
“The story about Arc sunsetting in favor of a new browser kicked me into gear on finding a new home. I saw a comment on the Verge story that mentioned Zen Browser, pitching it as feeling like Arc but built from Firefox. I gave it a shot, and I love it!” – Tom
“I’ve been playing with different web browsers again. It came down to Brave and Vivaldi to try as a daily driver for a while, but I’ve settled on Vivaldi. Loving it. It is much snappier than the last time I tried it, plus it has the advantage of Chrome extensions and plenty of customization while locking down privacy. I think I’ve found my new web browser.” – Josh
“I’m a Letterboxd junkie for logging movies and this week I found a really nice app for logging TV watching! It’s called Marathon. The design of the app is niiiiiice.” — Garrett
“Started playing Rivals of Aether II, a new indie platform fighter like Super Smash Bros., and it’s *so* much fun. Learning curve is steep, but it’s so worth it.” – Anuj
“Loving the new season of Shrinking on Apple TV Plus. I don’t often get emotional, but they’re killing it (and me. Not sure I want to see where the father / son storyline goes). Big recommend.” – Matthew
“Redownloading Raindrop after the demise of Omnivore. Luckily I saved my config for the Obsidian plugin so it’s been an easy switch.” – Tynan
“Caught as much of the World Series as I could, but the Apple Sports live activity was awesome for keeping track when I couldn’t watch it.” – Justin
“I’ve been reading the Red Risingseries because of one of my coworkers. The way that you get sucked into the characters and that every book builds on the previous ones, it has become one of my favorite series that I can’t recommend enough.” – Travis
Signing off
It’s Election Day on Tuesday! Wild, important, fascinating, terrifying, causing me to feel a lot of feelings. But one thing I unequivocally love about election season is a fresh set of reporting about some of the stranger and more annoying quirks of the American political process. Do you hate all the political texts? The Wall Street Journal has a fun investigation into how they work, The Washington Post has good tricks for turning them off, and our friends at Vox did a great podcast about how they became such a scourge. Elsewhere, Cleo Abram made a great video about why you can’t vote online, which is a question that keeps coming up.
Rolls-Royce’s first electric vehicle sounds like no other
Tim Stevens
My favorite feature of the new $420,000, all-electric Rolls-Royce Spectre isn’t the cosseting ride quality or the illuminated stars embedded in the headliner of the insanely ornate interior. It isn’t the 577 horsepower or the 266 miles of range. It’s neither the “yes, that’s the spot” massaging seats nor the curbside presence of that upright, chromed front grille. It isn’t even the aerodynamically refined yet classically styled Spirit of Ecstasy statuette perched atop.
My favorite feature of the Spectre is the sound it makes. As an EV, it doesn’t really make any engine sound on its own. It’s a rolling cocoon made inherently anti-acoustic thanks to the tireless work of some surely big-eared scientists. So, to inject a little more life into the driving experience, the Spectre plays a little digital tone when you accelerate.
Yes, nearly every modern EV emits some kind of synthetic whir or trill when you get on the accelerator — but nothing like the Spectre. This car makes the kind of sound that you would expect to hear when an omniscient, all-powerful alien force swoops through the clouds in a sci-fi movie, the gut-shaking tone backing the moment when everyone realizes that humanity is about to get served.
This heavenly chorus is so subtle, you almost can’t hear it, but with this Roller being as quiet as a tomb, the result is genuinely sublime. And that’s just one aspect of a completely refined experience that’s on a level above any other EV on the road.
A hushed destiny
The Rolls-Royce brand has been applied to top-tier machines since 1904, and it feels like the previous 120 years have been leading up to this moment.
If you’re lucky enough to see an early Rolls-Royce waft by, like a Silver Ghost or a Phantom, you won’t hear much. Despite massive engines in excess of seven liters (50 percent bigger than that of a current Ford Mustang GT), these early ultra-luxury cars featured exhausts designed to minimize drivetrain noise.
With the Spectre, Rolls-Royce’s first battery-electric EV, the company’s engineers can finally stop overengineering ye olde internal combustion to make it smooth and silent. The Spectre relies on two electric motors that make the combined 577 horsepower mentioned above and 664 pound-feet of torque. This thing weighs a massive 6,371 pounds, more than a Cadillac Escalade, yet it can accelerate to 60mph in just 4.4 seconds.
Yes, it’s fast when it needs to be, but you’ll see better range when driven calmly, up to 266 miles on a charge from its 102kWh battery pack.
Not only is relaxed driving more efficient but it’s also much more rewarding. The Spectre has a generally calm demeanor, like a throttle pedal that requires a deep application to unleash all that power. The brake pedal is equally laid back, as is the slow steering, with just enough feedback to let you know you are turning the wheels and tires.
All four of them, in fact. Rear-wheel steering makes this nearly 18-foot-long ultra-coupe a cinch to navigate through tight parking lots. The 360-degree camera and standard automated parking also help to ensure that you don’t curb one of those 23-inch wheels, something I appreciated during my loan, as replacing any of them would surely have bankrupted me.
On borrowed tech
That 360-degree camera is just some of the tech that Rolls-Royce engineers borrowed from parent company BMW, but I wish they’d stolen a bit more, like BMW’s hands-off driver assist system.
The touchscreen infotainment is also reasonably modern, offering integrated navigation and searching for charging stations. It’ll even do both Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, though, curiously, I couldn’t get the latter to work. Perhaps the car considered my last-season Samsung Galaxy S23 too passé? And though the media is played through a 16-speaker bespoke audio system that is powerful yet beautifully subtle, it sadly lacks Dolby Atmos support.
So this highest of high-tech Rolls-Royces doesn’t quite offer all the world’s features, but what you get instead is an astronomically detailed interior, floor mats of the softest lambswool, and a comprehensive set of polished metal controls, all designed with the perfect weight and feel.
Mortgage time
While you can get into a Spectre for $420,000, you’ll never get through the buying process without ticking a few boxes. Given options like the chartreuse paint you see here costs $13,100 on its own, expect to spend a lot more. This car stickered at $560,100 after a $2,750 destination charge.
A worthwhile expenditure? That’s a difficult thing for someone with the budget of a mere mortal to say. The Spectre is hardly a good value, but it is exceptional, made all the more spectacular considering it’s Rolls-Royce’s. But the presence of That Sound does make it all seem worthwhile.
There are more EVs to come, but we’ll have to be patient; an SUV has been promised for 2027, ahead of the brand becoming all-electric in 2030. How well those future EVs look and drive is anyone’s guess at this point, but if they all sound this good, they’ll be off to a very good start.
How Elon Musk’s X Account Dominates the Platform Ahead of the Election The billionaire has effectively become the star of his social media platform, transforming X into a reflection of his personal views before the election.
Here are the best AirPods deals you can get right now
The new AirPods 4 deliver better sound and voice call quality than prior models. | Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge
If you know where to look, you can often score discounts on Apple’s ever-popular AirPods. Although we’ve yet to see major deals on the new AirPods 4 and the updated AirPods Max, both the second- and third-gen AirPods can still often be found at a steep discount. The same goes for the original Max, which are nearly indistinguishable from the previous model aside from the addition of USB-C.
Here, we’ve rounded up the best deals currently available on each model, including the second-gen and third-gen AirPods, both iterations of the AirPods 4, the latest AirPods Pro with USB-C, and the last-gen AirPods Max.
The best AirPods (second-gen) deals
Before they were discontinued alongside the AirPods 4 announcement, the second-gen AirPods were Apple’s entry-level earbuds. Despite being released in 2019, they still offer terrific wireless performance, great ease of use, and reliable battery life, making them a solid pick if you can live without a wireless charging case or some of the more advanced software features afforded by Apple’s newer H2 chip.
The second-gen AirPods originally launched with an MSRP of $159; however, Apple eventually lowered their list price to $129, and we now often see them on sale for far less. Right now, for instance, you can buy them for $89 ($49 off) at Walmart, which is just $11 shy of their all-time low.
With support for the company’s MagSafe charger and an asking price of $179, Apple’s third-gen AirPods were once considered the middle child in the AirPods lineup. The shorter stems made for a more subtle design, too, while improved sound and features like sweat and water resistance, support for head-tracking spatial audio, and improved battery life rendered them a nice upgrade over their predecessor.
However, the AirPods 4 and AirPods 4 with Active Noise Cancellation have since replaced the third-gen AirPods in Apple’s lineup. The new earbuds run $129 and $179, respectively, with the step-up model offering a few perks once reserved for the Pro models, including ANC, a helpful transparency mode, and a case with a built-in speaker. You can also squeeze the stem to control media playback — a feature also available on the entry-level AirPods 4.
Right now, Costco members can buy the third-gen AirPods with a MagSafe charging case for $139.99 ($40 off); you can also grab them at Amazon with a Lightning charging case for $129.99 (about $39 off), which is $10 more than their best price to date. However, given the AirPods 4 are a notable upgrade and are on sale starting at $119, we’d recommend picking them over the third-gen model unless the latter dip further in price.
During Apple’s “It’s Glowtime” event last month, the company introduced the AirPods 4, a pair of wireless earbuds available in two flavors: a $129 standard model and a noise-canceling version for $179. Both models represent significant upgrades over the second-gen AirPods, with a more comfortable design and improved audio performance. They’re also better for taking calls thanks to Apple’s Voice Isolation feature, which better isolates your voice so that you can more clearly be heard in noisy environments.
For $50 extra, you can also buy the AirPods 4 with Active Noise Cancellation, which offer noise cancellation, a helpful transparency mode, and several more Pro-like features. Admittedly, the latest AirPods Pro do a better job of tuning out noise, but Apple’s newest pair of wireless earbuds still do a good job of reducing sound. They also offer other perks formerly reserved for Apple’s highest-end earbuds, including wireless charging and a case with a built-in speaker that allows you to easily track it down via Apple’s Find My app.
Although they’ve been out less than a month, we’ve already started seeing slight discounts on both versions of the AirPods 4. Right now, for instance, Amazon is offering the standard AirPods 4 for $119 ($10 off) and the AirPods 4 with ANC for $168.99 ($11 off).
In 2022, Apple released the second-gen AirPods Pro, which feature a similar build to the first-gen model but offer better noise cancellation, swipe-based controls, and an extra-small pair of swappable silicone ear tips for smaller ears. Apple followed them up last year with a minor refresh, one that features a USB-C charging case and an upgraded IP54 rating for water and dust resistance. The newest model also supports lossless audio when used with Apple’s new Vision Pro headset and now double as FDA-approved hearing aids.
Apple’s updated AirPods Pro recently dropped to a new low of $168.99 ($81 off). Right now, however, you can only purchase the USB-C model at Amazon, Walmart, and Best Buy for as low as $179 ($70 off).
The AirPods Max aren’t the iconic in-ears that have become synonymous with the AirPods name. They’re large and luxurious, comprised of aluminum, steel, and mesh fabric that remains comfortable during extended listening sessions. They also sport excellent noise cancellation, Apple’s spatial audio feature, and expansive, balanced sound, even if they lag behind some of their peers when it comes to bass response and features. They’re not the best noise-canceling headphones for most people — blame the sticker price — but it’s hard to find a better pair of Bluetooth headphones if you’re an iPhone user.
At the beginning of September, Apple replaced the first-gen Max with a new model that features support for USB-C charging and a few new color options. They’re already on sale at Amazon starting at $528 ($21 off), though, if you’re not opposed to a Lightning port, the better deal is on the original pair. Right now, the first-gen model is on sale at Amazon and B&H Photo starting at $459 ($90 off), which is about $64 shy of their all-time low price.
Bose is taking up to 40 percent off headphones ahead of Black Friday
Thanks to their superb ANC, the QuietComfort Ultra Headphones are our No. 1 pick when it’s time to hop aboard a plane. | Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge
Well, the early Black Friday deals took less than a day to begin. Amazon, Best Buy, Lowe’s, and a number of other major retailers have officially begun running their holiday promotions in anticipation of the annual shopping event, though few of them are offering discounts as steep as Bose. For a limited time, you can grab the Bose QuietComfort Ultra Headphones at Amazon, Walmart, and Best Buy for an all-time low of $329 ($100 off) or the QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds for $229 ($100 off) via the same retailers (Amazon, Walmart, and Best Buy).
Unsurprisingly, the QC Ultra Headphones and QC Ultra Earbuds are incredibly similar, form factor notwithstanding. Both offer exceptional comfort and best-in-class noise cancellation, allowing you to eliminate the cacophony of daily life with ease and rendering either a terrific pick for travel. They also support Bose’s “immersive audio” mode — the company’s take on spatial audio — and AptX Adaptive Bluetooth, the latter of which allows for improved audio fidelity on Android devices. Plus, thanks to a recent software update that rolled out over the summer, they both support multipoint, so you can pair them with two devices simultaneously.
If you like to play games directly on your phone or via remote play, the latest Backbone One controller is available with a PlayStation layout through the PlayStation Direct storefront for an all-time low of $59.99 ($40 off). The second-gen mobile controller packs a few minor improvements over the original, including a reshaped D-pad and greater compatibility, though you’ll want to make sure you grab the appropriate version for your phone. The Lightning version only works with older iPhones, after all, while the USB-C option lets you use an iPhone 15- or 16-series phone or an Android device.
Amazon is currently offering a lightning deal on the OnePlus Pad, which drops the first-gen Android tablet to an all-time low of $340 ($140 off) for a limited time. The OnePlus Pad 2 is slightly larger and offers improved performance; however, the last-gen model still offers a stellar 144Hz LCD display, quick performance, and great speakers that can rival those on Apple’s 11-inch Air. Just don’t expect it to offer the kind of dedicated app ecosystem you’d get with one of Apple’s devices — or Samsung’s, for that matter. Read our review.
Grovemade remains my go-to for wooden desktop accessories, but Oaky isn’t far behind. And now through the end of November, the latter is hosting a Black Friday sale on a variety of goods, dropping prices on everything from standup desks to laptop docks. My personal picks are the 105-inch Desk Shelf, which is on sale for $150 ($50 off), and the angular Laptop Stand, which is going for $120 ($30 off). Neither is cheap, mind you, but oak rarely is.
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Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge
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Screenshot: Perplexity Election Hub
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