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Winners and Losers: AirPlay checks into hotels as Amazon makes its cheap Prime Video tier harder to find
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It’s the start of a new week, meaning it’s time for another edition of Winners and Losers.
It’s been a major week in mobile, with Motorola announcing theEdge 50 Ultraand theEdge 50 Pro, Huawei taking phone cameras to the next level with thePura 70 Ultra, and HMD and Heineken teaming up to createThe Boring Phone, a drab-looking flip phone designed to take you offline.
This week also saw some big announcements in audio from theNothing Ear and Nothing Ear (a)to theMarshall Major V and Minor IVheadphones.
Keep reading to learn who we named our winner and loser this week.
Winner: Apple
Our winner this week is Apple asAirPlay support officially began rolling out in IHG hotels. That means no more worrying about germs on the remote control or wrapping the remote in plastic if you’re used to taking extra precautions.
Apple first announced that it would be launchingAirPlaysupport on compatible LG TVs in hotel rooms last year. However, the update didn’t make it onto the iPhone until January’siOS 17.3release and didn’t arrive in its first hotel chain until this week.
Going forward, guests at select IHG locations will be invited to connect to the TV sets in their rooms via a QR code displayed on the screen. From there, they can stream content from the apps on their iPhones and iPads or use their device as a remote to navigate the menus on the TV, essentially rendering the TV remote useless during their stay.
AirPlay also supports multiple devices, meaning friends and family members sharing one room can all connect to the TV during their stay.
Not only is AirPlay more sanitary than a traditional remote, but it also means that iPhone users can enjoy a wider variety of shows and movies while away from home. Hotel guests can swipe through holiday pics, play games on Apple Arcade, work out with Apple Fitness+, practice presentations, and listen to music using the TV’s speakers.
AirPlay is only available in IHG locations right now, with 60 hotels and resorts in the US, Canada, and Mexico offering support for the feature.
Loser: Amazon
Amazon is this week’s loser as the companyreportedly made it more difficult to subscribe to Prime Video without registering for Prime delivery.
The change was reported byCord Busterswho spotted that attempts to sign up to the Prime Video-only tier in the UK and US were being redirected to the sign-up page for a full Prime account. The outlet later updated its report to reflect that the cheaper tier had not been axed but had been removed from Amazon’s primary sign-up pages, making it harder for new subscribers to find.
The Prime Video-only tier, which launched in 2016, made it possible to stream popular shows and movies from Prime Video without committing to a full Prime membership in exchange for a discounted subscription. That means no access to additional benefits like on-day and same-day delivery, Amazon Music, Prime Try Before You Buy, and Deliveroo Plus.
While for many the perks of a full Prime membership outweigh its higher price, there are still users happy to pay for access to Prime shows and movies and leave the rest if it means saving a few quid every month. The Prime Video-only plan is Amazon’s lowest-priced streaming tier aside from its student plan, making it an easy win for anyone wanting to stream the new Fallout series while also juggling multiple other streaming subscriptions.
The Prime Video-only tier costs £5.99/month in the UK and $8.99/month in the US, while a full Prime membership comes in at £8.99/month in the UK or $14.99/month in the US. That’s a potential £3/$5 saving if you know to look for the tier.
Thankfully, Amazon has only removed the option from its main sign-up pages. However, with the prices of streaming services continuing to rise, it might only be a matter of time before the company chooses to bin it entirely.
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Hannah joined Trusted Reviews as a staff writer in 2019 after graduating with a degree in English from Royal Holloway, University of London. She’s also worked and studied in the US, holding positions …
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Founded in 2003, Trusted Reviews exists to give our readers thorough, unbiased and independent advice on what to buy.
Today, we have millions of users a month from around the world, and assess more than 1,000 products a year.
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
