Technology

It's an excellent time to find AirPods deals, thanks to the new release of the AirPods 4 and AirPods Max 2. This means you can find fantastic AirPods sales on all models, including the AirPods Pro 2, the AirPods 2 and 3, the luxurious over-ear AirPods Max, and even rare AirPods 4 deals.

The AirPods 4 and AirPods 2 were just unveiled at last year's September Apple Event and are available in two models: one with active noise cancellation, priced at $179 / £179, and one without, costing $129 / £129. Thanks to holiday sales, you can find impressive discounts on Apple's newest AirPods and AirPods deals on older models, with prices as low as $69 / £69.

Below, you'll find all the best AirPods deals, categorized by Apple's standard AirPods, which include the AirPods 2, the AirPods 3, the all-new AirPods 4, the AirPods Pro 2, which include noise-canceling technology, and Apple's only over-ear headphones, the AirPods Max and AirPods Max 2.

Our price comparison tool automatically brings you the best savings from all your favorite retailers. You can shop the latest prices when they hit the shelves to ensure you get the best AirPods deals.

The best AirPods sales and deals The best AirPods deals

(Image credit: Apple)

Apple's all-new AirPods 4 are available in two models: one with active noise cancellation, priced at $179 / £179, and one without, costing $129 / £129.

Apple says the AirPods 4 are the best-fitting AirPods ever and feature a new refined contour and shorter stem. The AirPods include Apple's H2 chip that supports personalized spatial audio and voice isolation to improve the quality of phone calls in loud conditions. Other features include new controls for playing music and muting calls, a case that delivers 30 hours of battery life, and support for USB-C for wireless charging.

There are plenty of AirPods deals to be found for the 2019 AirPods that had a launch price of $159 / £159 / AU$249. But thanks to the AirPods 3 release, you can find frequent discounts on the 2nd generation AirPods, dropping as low as $99 / £99 / AU$99.

While the AirPods 2 lack noise cancellation, the 2nd generation earbuds come with Apple's H1 chip to deliver quality sound and faster pairing with seamless connectivity. The H1 chip also offers voice control via Siri, so you can get directions, skip songs, and make calls completely hands-free. The earbuds come with a charging case that provides a further 20 hours of battery life in addition to the five hours in the buds themselves.

(Image credit: Apple)

The Apple AirPods 3 were released in 2021 and are the latest true wireless earbuds in Apple's line-up of AirPods. The earbuds feature a new design that resembles the AirPods Pro with shorter stems that include touch-capacitive force sensors for easy control. You're also getting improved sound with spatial audio, resulting in a more immersive experience, and a MagSafe charging case that provides more than 30 hours of total listening time.

The 3rd generation AirPods have a starting retail price of  $179 / £169 / AU$279, but you can regularly find the earbuds on sale since their release.

The best AirPods Pro deals

(Image credit: Apple)

In September of 2022, the long-awaited AirPods Pro 2 launched with a starting price of $249 / £249 / AU$399. You're getting enhanced noise cancellation and overall sound quality thanks to Apple's new H2 chip and improved in-ear detection and touch controls for volume adjustment. At the 2023 Apple September event, the AirPods Pro 2 received an upgrade and now come with a USB-C charging case, so you don't have to rely on a Lightning cable, plus additional dust resistance and Lossless Audio with Apple Vision Pro.

Thanks to recent holiday sales, we've already seen impressive AirPods Pro deals, with record-low prices reaching $189.99 in the US.

The original AirPods Pro were released in 2019 with a starting price of  $249 / £249 / AU$399. While the earbuds are no longer available to purchase from the Apple store, you can sometimes find the original AirPods Pro on sale at third-party retailers.

The AirPods Pro were the first AirPods to include active noise-canceling technology to keep outside distractions away from your music, which is excellent for those noisy commutes or keeping your concentration going at work. The AirPods Pro are also water and sweat resistant, making them much better suited to the gym than the standard AirPods, and they come with multiple tips so you can adjust to the best fit for you.

• Check out AirPods Pro deals direct from Apple

The best AirPods Max deals

Apple quietly released the AirPods Max in December of 2020 as Apple's most expensive headphones with a starting price of  $549.99 / £549.

The AirPods Max not only stand out because of their price, but the Apple headphones also feature an over-ear design, which is a first from the AirPods line. Apple claims the AirPods Max bring the magic of AirPods to an over-the-ear design, which means you're getting Active Noise Cancellation, powerful H1 Chips, and an enhanced audio experience.

The AirPods Max also feature a unique design with a breathable knit mesh headband and a stainless steel frame with memory foam earcups for ultimate comfort. The Apple headphones come in several sleek color choices, such as space gray, silver, sky blue, green, and pink, and provide up to 20 hours of battery life.

• Check out AirPods Max deals direct from Apple

How much are AirPods?

The official AirPods' price is $159 in the US and £159 in the UK and $249 in Australia. So you shouldn't pay any more. Although, we have seen some stores cheekily push the price up when stock thins out. If you're looking for the version with the wireless charging case, then prices shoot up to around $199 in the US and £199 in the UK.

Expect the usual outlets to charge closer to the MSRP and, better yet, potentially dip below it around the key shopping seasons. Fingers crossed we don't have to wait long for some proper Apple AirPod sales though!

As an alternative, there are lots of wireless earphone and headphone deals in our Beats headphone deals page and other brands are covered in our wireless headphone deals page.

What about the original 2016 Apple AirPods?

These models have been discontinued and phased out at most stores now. On the rare occasions that we do spot unused stock units, they're actually the same price as the new and improved 2019 versions.

Short version: get the 2019 models instead via one of the deals in the comparison chart above. To be sure they are the new ones, look out for H1 chip and hands-free Siri functionality in the description if the title doesn't say something along the lines of '2019' or 'latest/newest version'.

Should I wait for a cheaper AirPods deal?

You might be waiting a while for seriously big discounts. Last year around Black Friday, we were seeing $20 discounts selling out in minutes, and it was one of the most popular deals we highlighted in our extensive roundups of the hottest offers. We saw similar discounts in the UK too - much better than last year's $7 discount but still no flash sales around right now.

Things have actually been better overall this year though with much better deals available in various regions. We're regularly seeing discounts of $15/£20 outside of peak seasonal discounts, so you should be able to beat the recommended asking price to be honest.

• Apple fan in general? Then take a look at the latest iPad deals and the best Apple AirTag prices and sales.

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Good morning! Let's play Connections, the NYT's clever word game that challenges you to group answers in various categories. It can be tough, so read on if you need clues.

What should you do once you've finished? Why, play some more word games of course. I've also got daily Wordle hints and answers, Strands hints and answers and Quordle hints and answers articles if you need help for those too.

SPOILER WARNING: Information about NYT Connections today is below, so don't read on if you don't want to know the answers.

NYT Connections today (game #527) - today's words

(Image credit: New York Times)

Today's NYT Connections words are…

• FOCUS
• FACE
• FIELD
• JEOPARDY
• RIBBON
• PIN
• WHEEL
• EAR
• PASSWORD
• AGENT
• CONCENTRATION
• FINGERPRINT
• STANDARD
• ELBOW
• SPECIALTY
• DRIBBLE

NYT Connections today (game #527) - hint #1 - group hints

What are some clues for today's NYT Connections groups?

• Yellow: Thing you're good at
• Green: Security measure
• Blue: BOW is another
• Purple: [Twice] blank

Need more clues?

We're firmly in spoiler territory now, but read on if you want to know what the four theme answers are for today's NYT Connections puzzles…

NYT Connections today (game #527) - hint #2 - group answers

What are the answers for today's NYT Connections groups?

• YELLOW: AREA OF EXPERTISE
• GREEN: WAYS TO UNLOCK A DEVICE
• BLUE: PASTA SHAPES
• PURPLE: DOUBLE ___

Right, the answers are below, so DO NOT SCROLL ANY FURTHER IF YOU DON'T WANT TO SEE THEM.

NYT Connections today (game #527) - the answers

(Image credit: New York Times)

The answers to today's Connections, game #527, are…

• YELLOW: AREA OF EXPERTISE CONCENTRATION, FIELD, FOCUS, SPECIALTY
• GREEN: WAYS TO UNLOCK A DEVICE FACE, FINGERPRINT, PASSWORD, PIN
• BLUE: PASTA SHAPES EAR, ELBOW, RIBBON, WHEEL
• PURPLE: DOUBLE ___ AGENT, DRIBBLE, JEOPARDY, STANDARD

• My rating: Moderate
• My score: Perfect

I managed a perfect score today, but it owed a huge amount to luck. Not on the first two groups, green and yellow in that order, which were both pretty simple. Green – WAYS TO UNLOCK A DEVICE – was particularly easy given that I'm a technology journalist when not writing this column, with FACE, FINGERPRINT, PASSWORD and PIN all rather obvious.

As is so often the case, I struggled with blue and purple. I had a hunch that WHEEL and EAR might go together with a vague food theme: EAR of corn and WHEEL of cheese, maybe? RIBBON felt like it could work for PASTA, while ELBOW… well, I wasn't sure, but you get a knuckle of beef, so maybe there was an elbow somewhere. I guessed it without expecting it to be right, but to my amazement it was – and for nearly the right reason. I'd been on the correct path with pasta, because these were all PASTA SHAPES, which was obvious after the fact. Purple was a difficult 'blank' variety that I wouldn't have got, due to not knowing what DOUBLE DRIBBLE means.

How did you do today? Send me an email and let me know.

Yesterday's NYT Connections answers (Monday, 18 November, game #526)

• YELLOW: USED IN HAIR CARE COMB, DRYER, HAIRSPRAY, ROLLERS
• GREEN: MONTHLY EXPENSES GAS, INTERNET, PHONE, RENT
• BLUE: THINGS WITH SPOTS DALMATIAN, DIE, DOMINO, LADYBUG
• PURPLE: ___ CRAB FIDDLER, HERMIT, HORSESHOE, SPIDER

What is NYT Connections?

NYT Connections is one of several increasingly popular word games made by the New York Times. It challenges you to find groups of four items that share something in common, and each group has a different difficulty level: green is easy, yellow a little harder, blue often quite tough and purple usually very difficult.

On the plus side, you don't technically need to solve the final one, as you'll be able to answer that one by a process of elimination. What's more, you can make up to four mistakes, which gives you a little bit of breathing room.

It's a little more involved than something like Wordle, however, and there are plenty of opportunities for the game to trip you up with tricks. For instance, watch out for homophones and other word games that could disguise the answers.

It's playable for free via the NYT Games site on desktop or mobile.

Strands is the NYT's latest word game after the likes of Wordle, Spelling Bee and Connections – and it's great fun. It can be difficult, though, so read on for my Strands hints.

Want more word-based fun? Then check out my Wordle today, NYT Connections today and Quordle today pages for hints and answers for those games.

SPOILER WARNING: Information about NYT Strands today is below, so don't read on if you don't want to know the answers.

NYT Strands today (game #261) - hint #1 - today's theme What is the theme of today's NYT Strands?

• Today's NYT Strands theme is… Pick-ups

NYT Strands today (game #261) - hint #2 - clue words

Play any of these words to unlock the in-game hints system.

• POOR
• POST
• TICK
• FORT
• SNORT
• NEWS

NYT Strands today (game #261) - hint #3 - spangram What is a hint for today's spangram?

• Kitchen essentials

NYT Strands today (game #261) - hint #4 - spangram position What are two sides of the board that today's spangram touches?

First: left, 4th row

Last: right, 5th row

Right, the answers are below, so DO NOT SCROLL ANY FURTHER IF YOU DON'T WANT TO SEE THEM.

NYT Strands today (game #261) - the answers

(Image credit: New York Times)

The answers to today's Strands, game #261, are…

• KNIFE
• TONGS
• FORK
• SPOON
• SKEWER
• SPORK
• CHOPSTICKS
• SPANGRAM: UTENSILS

• My rating: Easy
• My score: Perfect

This is about as easy as Strands get: I suspect a five-year-old knows most of this words and can probably spell half of them too. Bonus points for the NYT including SPORK as well as SPOON and FORK in order to make up the numbers; does anyone really use a SPORK? SKEWER is probably the only vaguely difficult word here, because it's not something I'd expect to find in the company of the other UTENSILS here. Well, other than on a barbecue, but that's a pretty rare thing round my way.

How did you do today? Send me an email and let me know.

Yesterday's NYT Strands answers (Monday, 18 November, game #260)

• ORCA
• DOLPHIN
• SEAL
• MANATEE
• WALRUS
• NARWHAL
• SPANGRAM: MARINEMAMMALS

What is NYT Strands?

Strands is the NYT's new word game, following Wordle and Connections. It's now out of beta so is a fully fledged member of the NYT's games stable and can be played on the NYT Games site on desktop or mobile.

I've got a full guide to how to play NYT Strands, complete with tips for solving it, so check that out if you're struggling to beat it each day.

Quordle was one of the original Wordle alternatives and is still going strong now more than 1,000 games later. It offers a genuine challenge, though, so read on if you need some Quordle hints today – or scroll down further for the answers.

Enjoy playing word games? You can also check out my Wordle today, NYT Connections today and NYT Strands today pages for hints and answers for those puzzles.

SPOILER WARNING: Information about Quordle today is below, so don't read on if you don't want to know the answers.

Quordle today (game #1030) - hint #1 - Vowels How many different vowels are in Quordle today?

• The number of different vowels in Quordle today is 4*.

* Note that by vowel we mean the five standard vowels (A, E, I, O, U), not Y (which is sometimes counted as a vowel too).

Quordle today (game #1030) - hint #2 - repeated letters Do any of today's Quordle answers contain repeated letters?

• The number of Quordle answers containing a repeated letter today is 2.

Quordle today (game #1030) - hint #3 - uncommon letters Do the letters Q, Z, X or J appear in Quordle today?

• Yes. One of Q, Z, X or J appears among today's Quordle answers.

Quordle today (game #1030) - hint #4 - starting letters (1) Do any of today's Quordle puzzles start with the same letter?

• The number of today's Quordle answers starting with the same letter is 2.

If you just want to know the answers at this stage, simply scroll down. If you're not ready yet then here's one more clue to make things a lot easier:

Quordle today (game #1030) - hint #5 - starting letters (2) What letters do today's Quordle answers start with?

• N

• P

• P

• F

Right, the answers are below, so DO NOT SCROLL ANY FURTHER IF YOU DON'T WANT TO SEE THEM.

Quordle today (game #1030) - the answers

(Image credit: Merriam-Webster)

The answers to today's Quordle, game #1030, are…

• NINJA
• PENCE
• PAINT
• FOIST

I very nearly failed for the second day in a row here, with the culprit this time being FOIST. Actually, the culprit was my brain, which should have spotted that FOIST, JOIST and MOIST were all valid answers to -OIST (with HOIST having been ruled out already), and that I should therefore have played something like JUMBO in order to rule out two of them. I didn't, so wasted three guesses on getting that one right then had to solve the remainder with no room to spare.

Fortunately I did that today, and in fact guessing JOIST earlier gave me the J I needed for NINJA, arguably an even harder word, what with its repeated N, uncommon J and uncommon format. I will try harder tomorrow!

How did you do today? Send me an email and let me know.

Daily Sequence today (game #1030) - the answers

(Image credit: Merriam-Webster)

The answers to today's Quordle Daily Sequence, game #1030, are…

• FILMY
• SWAMP
• DIVER
• PIXIE

Quordle answers: The past 20

• Quordle #1029, Monday 18 November: ASCOT, BRINK, WEIRD, HOMER
• Quordle #1028, Sunday 17 November: STATE, BRAWN, SWORE, URBAN
• Quordle #1027, Saturday 16 November: NOTCH, BENCH, BUSED, FOUND
• Quordle #1026, Friday 15 November: PURER, TRUSS, TORCH, FORUM
• Quordle #1025, Thursday 14 November: EXALT, TASTE, CRONY, CLOUT
• Quordle #1024, Wednesday 13 November: YEARN, ELBOW, SURGE, PINEY
• Quordle #1023, Tuesday 12 November: CHORD, ATTIC, OLIVE, EIGHT
• Quordle #1022, Monday 11 November: COPSE, REGAL, GRUNT, GOODY
• Quordle #1021, Sunday 10 November: GROIN, FAULT, FERRY, SUITE
• Quordle #1020, Saturday 9 November: FLUME, THERE, ATOLL, SANER
• Quordle #1019, Friday 8 November: DELAY, NAVAL, MOLAR, SWARM
• Quordle #1018, Thursday 7 November: REPAY, SYNOD, LOATH, PITHY
• Quordle #1017, Wednesday 6 November: SASSY, DRUID, THREW, SLOSH
• Quordle #1016, Tuesday 5 November: BEGET, AMUSE, STONY, LOUSY
• Quordle #1015, Monday 4 November: CHILL, TACKY, GRAPH, PLAZA
• Quordle #1014, Sunday 3 November: QUIRK, HEART, ELBOW, KNOWN
• Quordle #1013, Saturday 2 November: SWUNG, FLOOR, PARER, CRUST
• Quordle #1012, Friday 1 November: FIFTY, GULCH, RECUT, TWEET
• Quordle #1011, Thursday 31 October: TWINE, RIGID, BELCH, AMEND
• Quordle #1010, Wednesday 30 October: SLOOP, BRINE, BROOD, FLUID

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The AI health coach hyped up by OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Arianna Huffington earlier this summer as Thrive AI Health may not be ready to come off the bench just yet, as first found in what seems to be a brief and inadvertently released demo by TechCrunch. The health data tracker uncovered seems like a limited version of ChatGPT centered on sharing information gathered from your health wearables and leveraged to design workout routines.

If that sounds familiar, it's because it's basically the same as a million other health apps, not to mention those services built into Apple and Android mobile devices. Personalizing (and misspelling) suggested prompts like “Can you analyze my sleep patterns?” and “What were my [sic] heart rate over the last week?” doesn't come off as much of a revolution in personal health and wellness the way Thrive's backers envisioned.

Huffington's wellness technology firm Thrive Global and the OpenAI Startup Fund set up Thrive AI Health in the summer to eventually offer personalized health coaching with expert-level guidance. Altman and Huffington boasted in a shared op-ed that the AI choice could help reduce chronic diseases by promoting healthier daily behaviors.

The personal suggestions are supposedly created from peer-reviewed scientific research as well as biometric data. Thrive AI Health hired former Google product management leader DeCarlos Love as CEO, which made sense as he had overseen Fitbit, the Pixel Watch, and Wear OS.

Coach Crunch

"Thrive AI Health Coach is the product to solve the limitations of current AI and LLM-based solutions by providing personalized, proactive, and data-driven coaching across the five daily behaviors," Love said in a statement when the company launched. "This is how it will improve health outcomes, reduce healthcare costs, and significantly impact chronic diseases worldwide."

Since then, the company hasn't said much about its plans, and the website doesn't offer anything beyond a beta access signup sheet for those interested in trying out the AI coach. TechCrunch noted that the only recent mention of the company was when personal health management platform Function Health cited Thrive AI Health as part of a deal where members can share their data with the AI health coach for better advice.

Using AI to personalize health and wellness makes sense, but it may be harder to embed in a product than Altman and Huffington realized. If rumors that developers are struggling to make the next generation of AI models meet expectations are true, Thrive AI may not be as close to a full release as the founders hope.

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