Today Apple held their "It's Glowtime" event. Today's announcement was just about 100 minutes long and it was full of a lot of information. As expected Apple introduced new iPhones, new Apple Watches, and AirPods. Let us start with the AirPods.

AirPods

Apple has long been in the headphones game and they have had a number of various headphones available for purchase over the years. In 2016 Apple released their first set of wireless headphones, called the AirPods. Over the last 8 years they have released a variety of new models. Today, there are two new various of the AirPods 4. The AirPods 4 take their cues from the 3rd Generation AirPods and the AirPods Pro, but there are in fact two distinct models, the AirPods 4 and the AirPods 4 with Active Noise Cancellation.

AirPods 4

The AirPods 4 are meant to replace the AirPods 2, but have a shape similar to that of the AirPods 3rd generation. The H2 chip that powers the AirPods 4 enables a number of features including Voice Isolation. Voice Isolation will remove background noise and will allow you to sound clearer on calls.

The second new feature is head tracking, so that you will be able to track shaking or nodding your head to be able to respond to Siri announcements.

The case of the AirPods 4 are USB-C, which is a change from the AirPods 2nd generation and the AirPods 3rd generation, which were both charged Lighting. However, the AirPods Pro 2 do have a USB-C case. AirPods 4 are available for pre-order today and will cost $129. They will be available on September 20th.

AirPods 4 with Active Noise Cancellation

The AirPods 4 with Active Noise Cancellation have all of the same features as the AirPods 4, but have even more features. As the name implies, the AirPods 4 with Active Noise Cancellation, like the AirPods Pro 2, does support Active Noise Cancellation. When you have Active Noise Cancellation enabled background noise will be reduced so that the sound that is coming out of your AirPods will be clearer. This will reduce the instances where you need to adjust the volume up just to drown out the background noise.

There are those instances when you may want to switch between Active Noise Cancellation and just standard listening. The AirPods 4 with Active Noise Cancellation also have Adaptive Audio. Adaptive Audio automatically blends Transparency Mode and Active Noise Cancellation and it does this dynamically as external noise changes. This is a plus if you do not want to have to keep adjusting not only the listening mode, but also the volume.

The AirPods 4 with Active Noise Cancellation have a USB-C case, but they also supports Qi-2 charging. This means that you can use the Apple Watch charger or any other Qi or Qi-2 compatible charger to charge your AirPods 4.

If you need to use Find My on your AirPods, the AirPods 4 with Active Noise Cancellation also have a speaker that will allow you to more easily find your AirPods.

The AirPods 4 with Active Noise Cancellation are available to pre-order today for $179 and they will be available starting on September 20th. Next, let us look at the iPhone.

iPhone

The big draw for Apple's September event is the iPhone. Today Apple unveiled four new iPhones, the iPhone 16, iPhone 16 Plus, iPhone 16 Pro, and iPhone 16 Pro Max. All of these support Apple Intelligence, meaning that they have 8GB of RAM. The two models have a number of common features, let us look at those.

Common Features

There are a number of features coming to both the iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Pro lines. The biggest change is called "Camera Control". Camera Control is a new button on all of the phone models that will allow you to control various aspects of the camera using certain gestures. You can press and easily swipe between five different functions: Exposure, Depth, Zoom, Cameras, Styles, and Tone. This will make it easier to quickly switch between functions.

One of the features that was introduced in 2017 with the iPhone 8, 8 Plus, and iPhone X was the addition of wireless charging, using the Qi charging standard. This has been a standard for all iPhones since then. MagSafe is great for charging without cables, but it can be a bit slower; but no more.

Starting with the iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Pro you can charge using MagSafe for up to 25 watts provided you have a 30-watt power adapter, or higher. This is an improvement over the maximum 15 watts provided with the previous adapter. You will need to purchase a new adapter to have this work properly.

The display on both the iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Pro are Retina OLED displays. They still have the same brightness values of 1000 nits during typical use, 1600 nits when looking at HDR content, and 2000 nits max brightness when outdoors. However, the big change is that the minimum brightness can now go down to 1 nit. This is great for dark rooms, because the brightness can go even lower.

The iPhone has a cellular modem and the 5G modem is in the 16 and 16 Pro, but what has changed is the Wireless standard. The new iPhones support Wi-Fi 7 (802.11be). These are the first Apple devices to support Wi-Fi 7. Many will not need it now, but it will be great a few years down the road when Wi-Fi 7 is more ubiquitous.

Now, let us look at specific features for each of the models.

iPhone 16

The iPhone 16 often gets features that were previously only available on the Pro line. In the past this has included the Dynamic Island, but this year the iPhone 16 gets the Action Button. The Action Button is a customizable button that will allow users to choose what action to perform. This could be opening the camera, handling the ringer, or even running a shortcut depending on time of day.

The big change with the iPhone 16 is the new camera system. This includes a 48 Megapixel Fusion camera with a 2x Telephoto lens. This is done on the same lens. Similarly, the Ultra Wide camera enables Macro photography, which is new for the iPhone 16.

One of the features that was only available on the iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max was the ability to record Spatial videos. Now that comes to the iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Plus, and you can record up to 1080p at 30 frames per second.

The iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Plus are powered by the A18 processor, which is an improvement over the A16 on the previous iPhone 15. The A18 is up to 20% faster than previous models and up to 2x faster than the A16 Bionic chip, when it comes to Machine Learning operations. Beyond being faster, the A18 is able to perform the same workload with 30% less power, which means that the battery should last even longer.

The iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Plus have the same screen sizes as the iPhone 15 line. This means that the iPhone 16 has a 6.1-inch screen while the iPhone 16 Plus has a 6.7-inch screen and both models come in five colors, Black, White, Pink, Teal, and Ultramarine and it comes in three storage sizes, 128GB, 256GB, and 512GB. The iPhone 16 is $799, $899, and $1099 for each size. Meanwhile, the iPhone 16 Plus is $899, $999, and $1199 for the same sizes.

You can pre-order the iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Plus this Friday, September 13th, beginning at 7 a.m. Pacific time.

iPhone 16 Pro

The iPhone Pro line is where the latest and greatest features. One of the most used features is the camera, and the new 48 Megapixel camera system. Then new camera system allows for recording video at 4K at 120 frames per second with Dolby Vision. This is an increase from 4K for 60 frames per second, so this is a huge improvement. Along with this, you can even adjust the speed later in the Photos app. The Ultra Wide camera on the iPhone 16 Pro Max is now a 48 Megapixel camera. This is an increase from the previous 12MP. An even better improvement is a zero-lag shutter. This results in photos being taken even faster, and this is all made These new camera system is made possible with the A18 Pro.

The A18 Pro is even more powerful than the A17 Pro. The A18 Pro has 17% faster memory bandwidth. This bandwidth increase means that the CPU can be up to 20% faster and hardware acceleration can provide ray tracing up to 2x as fast. Because these are faster, they should result in less battery usage. The A18 Pro enables even faster USB 3 speeds and it has new video encoders, which also enables the 4K at 120 Frames per second.

The sizes of the iPhone 16 Pro has changed slightly, by 0.2-inches. This means that the iPhone 16 Pro is now 6.3-inches and the iPhone 16 Pro Max has a 6.9-inch screen. The iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max comes in four colors, Natural Titanium, Black Titanium, White Titanium, and Desert Titanium. The "Desert" color replaces the Blue with the iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max.

Just like with the iPhone 15 Pro, the iPhone 16 Pro comes in 128GB, 256GB, 512GB, and 1TB models. The prices are for these are $999, $1099, $1299, and $1499 respectively. The iPhone 16 Pro Max comes in 256GB, 512GB, and 1TB options. These are $1199, $1399, and $1599 respectively.

These devices all have the A18 Pro processor. Pre-order start this Friday, September 13th and 7am Pacific Time with delivery starting next Friday, September 20th.

Apple Watch

The Apple Watch has gotten some updates as well. The Apple Watch Series 10 is another Apple Watch model that has some significant changes, including a new design. The Apple Watch Series 10 has a slightly in screen size, from 41mm and 45mm on the Series 9 to 42mm and 46mm on the Series 10. This is a slight increase, but not the only change with the screen.

The Apple Watch has always had an OLED display, in order to save battery. The Series 4 introduced the LTPO OLED Retina screen. The Series 5 introduced the Always On display and this remains on the Series 10. However, The Series 10 now has an LTPO3 screen that is an "Wide-angle OLED". This means that the screen will be able to be seen more clearly when viewing at an angle. While you might not think about it, there are many situations where you might look at your Apple Watch at an angle, including sitting, typing, or even using your iPhone. In fact, when viewing your Series 10 at an angle it should be up to 40% brighter, making it that much easier to see the information.

The Apple Watch Series 10 comes in two finishes, Aluminum and Titanium. The Aluminum some new colors including Jet Black, Rose Gold, and Silver. The prices for the Apple Watch Series 10 remain the same at $399 for the 42mm and $429 for the 46mm. The cellular models are $100 more at $499 and $529 respectively.

The Titanium replaces the previous Ceramic version and comes in three colors, Slate, Gold, and Natural finishes. The Titanium version comes in the same two sizes, 42mm and 46mm and like the previous Ceramic models, are GPS + Cellular versions. The 42mm starts at $699 and the 46mm starts at $749.

All Series 10 Apple Watches can be pre-ordered today and will be available starting on September 20th.

Other Changes

The AirPods Max got a slight update with some new colors and USB-C, but no other significant changes. The new colors available are Blue, Purple, Midnight, Starlight, and Orange. These still cost $549, can be pre-ordered today, and will be available on September 20th.

The Apple Watch Ultra 2 also got a small update, specifically there s a new Black Titanium color. To go with the new Black Titanium color there are new matching Milanese loop bands for both the Black and Natural Titanium. There are also some new Alpine Loop, Trail Loop, and Ocean Band for the Ultra 2.

OS Releases

The last item to cover is the operating systems that will run these new devices. iOS 18, iPadOS 18, watchOS 11, visionOS 2, and macOS Sequoia will all be released on Monday, September 16th.

Closing Thoughts

If you are in the market for a new Apple Watch or AirPods, you can pre-order them today and they will be available on September 20th. If you want to purchase a new iPhone 16, 16 Plus, 16 Pro, or 16 Pro Max you will be able to pre-order them at 5am Pacific Time on Friday, September 13th, 2024. You can get your pre-order ready now, so it will be a faster checkout at pre-order time.

The AirPods 4, Apple Watch Series 10, updated Apple Watch Ultra 2, and AirPods Max can all be pre-ordered today.

All of the products announced will be available on September 20th and the new operating systems will be available on Monday, September 16th.

You can watch the "It's Glowtime" event on the Apple Events website, on YouTube, or even via Apple's Podcasts app.

Sources:

Apple Newsroom: iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Plus
Apple Newsroom: iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max
Apple Newsroom: AirPods 4 and AirPods Max
Apple Newsroom: Apple Watch Series 10

It is September and that means, barring unforeseen consequences like in 2020, that Apple is going to hold an event. This event is titled "It's Glowtime” and will be held on Monday, September 9th at 10am Pacific Time.. Apple's September event is typically the event where they introduce new iPhones. The last few years I have been posting the list of things that I hope to see from Apple's event. I will be doing the same for the "It's Glowtime" event.

iPhone

Each year Apple releases a new set of iPhones. I suspect that we will get new iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Pro models. I am guessing that we will see four new phones, the iPhone 16, the iPhone 16 Plus, iPhone 16 Pro, and iPhone 16 Pro Max.

I expect them all to support Apple Intelligence, meaning that they will have at least 8GB of memory in them. I also suspect that they will have A18 chips in the iPhone 16 models and A18 Pro chips in the iPhone 16 Pro and Pro Max.

With the iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max Apple introduced the Action button. Reportedly, the iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max will have a new capture button. This could be useful for being able to take pictures, and even adjust focus, like a traditional camera.

Reportedly, the Ultra Wide camera will become a 48 Megapixel camera, which could be interesting, but I would much prefer that the Telephoto lens would become a 48 Megapixel camera, as I use that one WAY more often than the Ultra Wide lens. However, any improvement to the cameras is welcome.

Apple Watch

2024 marks the 10th release of the Apple Watch. The Apple Watch was announced in September of 2014 and released in April of 2015. The initial introduction had two sizes, 38mm and 42mm and while it did work, the original Apple Watch was woefully underpowered. In 2018 with the release of the Series 4, Apple increased the screen sizes to 40mm and 44mm. This remained the size until the Series 7 in 2021 when they were increased to 41mm and 45mm. The current rumors indicate that the screen size of the Apple Watch will increase again. This time to 45mm and 49mm. It would make sense since it has been 3 years since the last screen size change.

I would not be surprised if there are actually 3 screen sizes for the aluminum models, 41mm, 45mm, and 49mm. The reason that I think this is possible is because it would provide an even wider range of sizes, at relatively affordable prices. Right now, if you want the largest screen on the Apple Watch you need to purchase the Apple Watch Ultra, which starts at $799. By offering three sizes, I think Apple could change up the pricing to be $369 for the 41mm, $399 for the 45mm, and $429 for the 49mm version. The pricing is entirely a guess on my part, and would not be surprised if Apple had increments of $50 instead, meaning $349, $399, and $449.

I would like to get a larger Apple Watch, but definitely do not need the features of the Apple Watch Ultra. I hope to see a 49mm watch, at a price close to the current 45mm price of $429.

Apple Watch Ultra

The Apple Watch Ultra was originally introduced in 2022 as a larger 49mm model. The Apple Watch Ultra is designed to work in extreme conditions, offers multi-day battery life, and includes cellular. The Apple Watch Ultra is a bit more expensive at $799.

I expect that we will see the Apple Watch Ultra 3 with an improved System in Package (SIP). I do not expect a lot to be changed except for maybe it finally coming in a dark titanium color, instead of the natural titanium. It is also possible that it will come in even more colors, maybe even those that match the iPhone 16 Pro Max colors, but that is highly unlikely.

iPad

It is not unheard of for Apple to announce new iPad models at their September event. Given how many eyes are on this event, to some extent it makes sense to announce them. I expect that will see a new iPad mini and 12th generation iPad announced.

iPad mini

The current 6th generation iPad mini was announced in 2021. At the time it had an A15 chip, which was the newest one at the time. I think Apple will announce the 7th generation and that this one will have an M2 chip in it. I suspect that the colors will be updated, and support for the Apple Pencil Pro will also be added. However, I do not expect much else to change. It is possible that there might be a slight screen size increase, due to smaller bezels, but we will see.

iPad (11th Generation)

Apple announced the 10th generation iPad in October of 2022. This was a radical change from the previous iPads as it used USB-C instead of Lightning, removed the home button in favor of Touch ID in the power button, and that meant a larger screen, of 10.9 inches.

Earlier this year, Apple removed the 9th generation iPad from sale and dropped the price of the 10th generation iPad by $100 to $349 for the Wi-Fi model and $499 for the Wi-Fi + Cellular model..

I think we will see a new 11th Generation iPad. I do not expect a lot to be changed, except for maybe an M1 processor. As much as Apple might want to bifurcate the iPad line, I think Apple Intelligence is too important to not have all of their new devices support Apple Intelligence. For this, it needs an M1 and 8GB of memory. It is possible that the screen size may increase to 11 inches to stay inline with the other iPad models.

If Apple is all-in on the Apple Intelligence and each new device will support it, then I could see Apple no longer selling the 10th generation and having the price of the 11th generation be $349.

Accessories

The September event is not just for iPhones and iPads, but it is often used to announce new accessories that can be used with the iPhone. This can include things like a battery pack, adapters, and even headphones, specifically the AirPods.

AirPods

Apple sells a variety of headphones, some wired, some wireless, and some that can be both. Apple's first wireless headphones were the AirPods. The AirPods were announced in September of 2016 and released in December of the same year. While many ridiculed their look at the time, they have become significantly more popular and now nobody thinks twice about them.

The 2nd generation AirPods were released in March of 2019 and were the same shape as the 1st generation, but had improved internals which supported "Hey Siri”, Bluetooth 5, and 50% more talk time. In 2017 a wireless charging case was announced and became an option when purchasing AirPods.

In 2019 Apple unveiled a new model of the AirPods, the AirPods Pro. The AirPods Pro included additional features, like noise cancellation. The 2nd Generation models were introduced in 2022 and included improved sound quality, and longer battery life. Along with this, you can replace the tips on the AirPods Pro

The 3rd generation AirPods were released in October of 2021 and had a different shape that was more akin to the AirPods Pro. Another adaptation from the AirPods Pro was the addition of touch controls on the stems. The 3rd generation AirPods support Dolby Atmos and Spatial Audio. Even when these were introduced, the 2nd generation AirPods had a price reduction to keep them around for those who were a bit more price conscious.

In September of 2022 Apple introduced the AirPods Pro (2nd generation). These had improved dust resistance, a USB-C charging port and can even use personalized audio. The 2nd generation AirPods Pro can also be used to nod or shake your head in response to Siri, provided you are using iOS 18.

AirPods

It is possible that Apple will introduce new models of the AirPods and AirPods Pro. The current rumor is that the 2nd generation AirPods will be discontinued and there will be two models of the 4th generation AirPods. One that supports noise cancellation and one that does not.

From a personal perspective, I hope that there are two variants of the 4th generation AirPods, one with the older shape from the 2nd generation AirPods. For me, the 3rd generation AirPods do not fit in my ears, while the 2nd generation AirPods do fit. If the 4th generation AirPods have a slightly smaller shape, that may be enough for me, but I suspect that the shape will follow the 3rd generation.

There is one more model, the AirPods Max.

AirPods Max

In 2014, Apple acquired Beats Electronics for a substantial sum of $8 billion. Following this acquisition, one of the long-standing rumors emerged that Apple was actively developing a line of over-ear headphones bearing the Apple brand. This rumor was finally substantiated when Apple unveiled the AirPods Max in December 2020.

It is plausible that Apple may announce a second generation of AirPods Max. While this iteration would likely be incremental, featuring USB-C connectivity, it is reasonable to anticipate that Apple will release these products through a press release rather later this year.

Closing Thoughts

It appears that the "It's Glowtime” event will be a busy one. With the introduction of new iPhones, new Apple Watches, possible iPads, and possibly even AirPods. At a minimum I expect iPhones and Apple Watches to be announced. I also do expect iPads to be announced, but outside of that, anything else is possible.

As always, I will have a post re-capping what is announced sometime after the event.

You can watch the event via the Apple Events page on Monday, September 9th, 2024 at 10:00 am pacific time.

Apple has made an announcement about a change to their Leadership that will be happening at the end of the year. Apple’s current Chief Financial Officer, Luca Maestri, will be stepping down as Chief Financial Officer effective January 1st, 2025. He will remain at the company but in a new role. This new role will be in charge of the Corporate Services teams, which includes information systems and technology, information security, and real estate and development. Maestri will still report to Apple CEO Tim Cook.

Apple's press release has this to say about Luca Maestri:

During his time as CFO, Maestri enabled essential investments and practiced robust financial discipline, which together helped the company more than double its revenue, with services revenue growing more than five times.

The press release by Apple provided a statement from Maestri about this change:

It is the greatest privilege of my professional life to serve the world’s most innovative and admired company, and to work side by side with a leader as inspirational as Tim Cook," said Maestri. "I’m looking forward to the next stage of my time at Apple…

Luca Maestri’s tenure as Apple’s Chief Financial Officer will be just over a decade. Luca Maestri became Apple’s Chief Financial Officer in September of 2014 when the previous Chief Financial Officer, Peter Oppenheimer retired.

Replacing Maestri is Apple’s current Vice President of Financial Planning and Analysis, Kevan Parekh. According to Apple’s press release announcing the transition:

Parekh has been at Apple for 11 years and currently leads Financial Planning and Analysis, G&A and Benefits Finance, Investor Relations, and Market Research. Prior to this role, Parekh led Worldwide Sales, Retail, and Marketing Finance. He began his tenure leading the financial support of Apple’s Product Marketing, Internet Sales and Services, and Engineering teams.

Source: Apple Newsroom

Today Apple sent out invitations to their September event entitled "It’s Glowtime". The "It’s Glowtime" event is scheduled for Monday, September 9th, 2024 at 10:00am Pacific Time.

Apple’s September event is typically where they announces new iPhones and it is expected that Apple will announce the iPhone 16 line at this event. Beyond this, Apple typically also uses this time to unveil a new Apple Watch, which is again, expected. It is also possible that Apple might announce some new products that work with the iPhone at this event.

Members of the press will be able to attend a screening at the Steve Jobs Theatre at Apple Park. For everyone else you can watch via the Apple TV app, or by going to the Apple Events page and watching it there.

Prior to the event I will have a post about what I suspect Apple might announce, so be on the look out for that.

Source: 9to5Mac.

It is well known that Apple has been trying to diversify their revenue. If you look back over the last 7 years, the percentage that Services made up of Apple's overall revenue has ranged from 9.15% in Q1 of 2017 to 28.23% in Q3 of 2024. At the same time, the percentage of revenue that was generated by the iPhone went from 69.40% in Q1 of 2017 to 45.81% in Q3 of 2024.

It should be noted that it has not been a steady decline, the revenue for each product category does differ each quarter. As an example, there are typically more sales in Q1 of a fiscal year, because this covers October through December, when iPhone sales are their highest.

In order to stave off any possible decline in iPhone sales, Apple has needed a means of increasing revenue. There are two ways of doing this, increase overall sales, and increasing the amount you get from each user. If you are just entering a market, the former may be possible, but in a situation where the market is matured, like the iPhone, you need to use the latter method. The way that they have been trying to do this is through subscriptions, and in particular services.

It should be mentioned that a bulk of Apple's yearly income comes from an agreement with Google, where Google pays Apple to be the default search engine on the iPhone. It is estimated that this agreement is valued up to $20 Billion per year, which is approximately 25% of all of Apple's services revenue.

The remaining 75% of Apple's services revenue comes from purchases, from the App Store, TV Shows, Movies, and Music. Much more of the services revenue comes from subscriptions like Apple Music Apple TV+, iCloud, Apple One, Apple Care+, and of course, app subscriptions and in-app purchases.

Within the last couple of months Apple has released a couple of new methods for expanding their services, web apps.

Recent Web apps

Apple has now released two brand new web apps in the last month, Maps in July and podcasts just this past Monday. The addition of these means that there are now four services that are available via the web. The other two items are Music and TV.

When Apple Music was announced in 2015, it was only available in iTunes and the Music app on iOS and macOS. It was not until June of 2019 when Apple Music was made available on the web. The rollout of Apple TV+ was slightly different. Apple TV+ was announced in March of 2019 and made available to the public in November of the same year. When Apple TV+ launched, it included a corresponding web version. This allowed users to watch Apple TV+ wherever they were, provided they had access a web browser. This also made it so the service could be made available to non-Apple device users, expanding the base for those who may want to watch Apple TV content.

I have been wondering why Apple is just now releasing web versions of Podcasts and Maps. These releases come many years after they these services have been available via an app. Ultimately, I think it is to help bolster their services revenue. Each of the services that are available on the web, excluding Maps, can generate income, specifically subscriptions. Some of the services will generate more revenue than others, but they all have a potential to create income.

I think that some groups within Apple have finally realized that only a certain percentage of Apple's existing customers who have purchased Apple hardware will subscribe. In order to help subscriptions they have turned to the "Sweet Solution", known as the web, can help generate revenue.

In case you are not aware, at Apple's World Wide Developer Conference in 2007 Apple provided a means of creating apps, and that "Sweet Solution" was to write web apps. Below is a video of that segment from WWDC 2007.

Having a web app can allow those who are not entirely ensconced in the Apple ecosystem to subscribe to Apple's services. As some have postulated, it could also be a way of easily enabling API endpoints for Apple's services for areas where Apple does not control the platform, possibly within cars, or any other internet connected device.

As an example, they could easily make apps that are effectively just wrappers for web pages. Taking this approach would absolutely minimize development costs. Furthermore, it could allow Apple to more easily create country-specific, or even area specific, app, and control it entirely on the server-side.

Lastly, it would also allow Apple to have feature parity for all platforms, because the web is available on a vast majority of new devices.

Closing Thoughts

Apple releasing web versions of their services makes complete sense from a financial standpoint. Being able to provide services to more users, particularly non-Apple users, only extends their possible revenue streams. Even if the services does not make direct revenue, in the case of Maps, it is still worthwhile to provide the service so others can use it, even if it's just within a web app.

With the recent release of both Maps and Podcasts, I would not be surprised to see additional services, like Weather, come to the web at some point in the not too distant future.

Earlier this week Apple made available the Apple Podcast service available via a web browser. You can access it by going to podcasts.apple.com. This will only work on a desktop. If you attempt to open the site on an iPhone or iPad, you will be prompted to open the Podcast app. Similarly, if you click on a link on macOS, the Podcasts app will open. However, you can type in the URL, or copy and paste it, and it should show.

Apple Podcasts on the web allows you to listen to any podcast within the Apple Podcasts directory. If you know the name of a podcast, you can search, but you can also browse a variety of categories like "New and Noteworthy", "Bingeworthy" ,"All-Time Favorites", "Daily News", "Comedy", "True Crime", and "Kids and Family", just to name a few.

Sometimes though, you want to see what’s popular, and this is where "Top Charts" can come in handy. Here you will see the Top Shows overall, "Top Episodes", "Top Subscribed", and "Top Subscriber Channels". You can also choose from any of the categories by click on the dropdown in the upper right corner.

What would be better is if you could easily listen to the podcasts you follow, and you can do this by signing on. Once you have signed in, you will see all of the podcasts you follow, just like on iOS, iPadOS, or macOS. At the same time your listen history and playback position will be saved.

While listening to a podcast, you can view episodes notes, see your queue, and adjust the volume, all while browsing the podcasts directory.

One limitation to the web version is that you cannot listen at faster than 1x speed, therefore if you are accustomed to listening at faster than 1x, you might be disappointed. Similarly, chapters are not supported with Apple Podcasts on the web.

This is a good addition for those users who may use an iPhone and a windows laptop, or just would like to be able to use a web version of podcasts.

Source: 9to5Mac.