As expected, YouTube has announced the expansion of its $7.99 a month Premium Lite plan to the United States, following a months-long pilot phase in international markets. The new, lower-priced version of YouTube's paid video subscription service functions largely without ads, though music videos on the platform continue to include them.
Today we'll begin expanding our Premium Lite pilot to users in the US. Premium Lite gives viewers a new, more affordable way to enjoy most videos on YouTube ad-free for $7.99 per month. In the coming weeks, we'll also make Premium Lite available to all users in our current pilot countries - Thailand, Germany, and Australia.
According to the Google subsidiary, YouTube Premium Lite is aimed at people who want to consume podcasting, make-up, gaming streams, tutorials, and other core creator content on YouTube that is distinguishable from music.
It's important to note that the new Premium Lite plan does not include the ability to download and background play YouTube videos on devices. For users who want ad-free music on YouTube and YouTube Music, plus offline and background play, YouTube continues to recommend its Premium plan ($13.99 per month).
YouTube said it will continue to expand its Premium Lite pilots to additional countries this year and introduce more ways for users to get the most from their subscriptions. YouTube also revealed today that it now has over 125 million users worldwide who subscribe to YouTube Premium or YouTube Music.
Apple is planning to debut a high-end secondary version of AirPods Pro 3 this year, sitting in the lineup alongside the current model, reports suggest.
Back in September 2025, supply chain analyst Ming-Chi Kuo reported that Apple is planning to introduce a successor to the AirPods Pro 3 in 2026. This would be somewhat unusual since Apple normally waits around three years to make major...
Tuesday January 20, 2026 2:34 am PST by Tim Hardwick
Over the last few months, rumors around the iPhone 18 Pro's front-panel design have been conflicted, with some supply-chain leaks pointing to under-display Face ID, reports suggesting a top-left hole-punch camera, and debate over whether the familiar Dynamic Island will shrink, shift, or disappear entirely.
Today, Weibo-based leaker Instant Digital shared new details that appear to clarify the ...
Sunday January 18, 2026 3:51 pm PST by Joe Rossignol
iOS 27 is still many months away, but there are already plenty of rumors about new features that will be included in the software update.
The first beta of iOS 27 will be released during WWDC 2026 in June, and the update should be released to all users with a compatible iPhone in September.
Bloomberg's Mark Gurman said that iOS 27 will be similar to Mac OS X Snow Leopard, in the sense...
Sunday January 18, 2026 6:50 pm PST by Joe Rossignol
MacBook Pro availability is tightening on Apple's online store, with select configurations facing up to a two-month delivery timeframe in the United States.
A few 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro configurations with an M4 Pro chip are not facing any shipping delay, but estimated delivery dates for many configurations with an M4 Max chip range from February 6 to February 24 or even later. At...
Tuesday January 20, 2026 4:36 pm PST by Juli Clover
Apple's App Store, iTunes Store, and Apple TV service are experiencing an outage at the current time, according to Apple's System Status page.
Apple says that some users may be experiencing issues with the App Store and iTunes Store. Apple also says some users may be seeing intermittent issues with Apple TV. The Apple TV Channels feature is down too, and users may be unable to access some...
And the creators of the content you watch get nothing. You must be so proud.
It's always the ones who have never created or contributed anything of value that rationalize actions like this. Just take.
You're not wrong about that. It was partially a joke.
90% of my YouTube is watched on my TV through a firestick. I don't have an ad blocker on it.
When it comes to creators and musicians I like. I always let the ads play, except occasionally those 90+ seconds ads that I know are 10+ minutes long.
And this may shock people but I buy albums I like and shop around for digital stores that give the creator the best percentage. ? For example BandCamp occasionally gives a better percentage to artists and I will buy albums when they do that.
As for creators I HATE WATCH.
As for your statement, "It's always the ones who have never created or contributed anything of value that rationalize actions like this. Just take."
If you knew the depravity of corporate to corporate theft, you'd immediately retract that statement.
Isn’t gating pip behind a paywall against apples rules? How do they keep getting away with this?
PiP and background play are different. You can use YouTube in PiP mode on the free tier, while background play means still playing when completely closed.
