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Winners and Losers: Xbox rolls out money-saving update as Netflix ups subscription costs
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Every date Apple chooses to hold a launch event is a busy one for us and this week was no exception.
The company held its ‘Peek Performance’ spring event this week, with the most anticipated update of the night being theiPhone SE 2022. Not only did Apple introduce its new mid-range smartphone, but it also unveiled the newiPad Air 5,Mac Studiodesktop andMac Studio Displaymonitor.
Samsung had a less positive week after the company was called out forthrottling over 10,000 appsby limiting their performance on Galaxy phones. The company has since responded byrolling out a software updatethat’ll allow users to control performance on their own phones – at least for gaming apps.
However, neither of these stories warranted our winner or loser title this week. Keep reading to discover what did.
Winner: Microsoft
Microsoft quietly issued a handful of updates for theXbox Series XandSeries Sthis week – one that could save you money on your electricity bill and another that’ll make it easier to jump between your favourite games.
Perhaps the most exciting news here is gamers will now be able topin two titles to the Xbox Quick Resume menu, making moving between two of your most frequently played games a breeze.
In the same release, Microsoft made it possible to remap the Share button on the Xbox Wireless Controller, meaning you can now reassign the button to mute your TV, open your friends list or open your achievements.
The brand also announced that its consoles would now be capable ofdownloading system and game updates in Energy Saving mode.
This means that users will no longer be forced to switch out of Energy Saving mode – which has become the recommended setting when setting up the console – to install an important update.
Not only does reducing the energy consumption of your console help in terms of your environmental impact, but it’ll also save you quite a bit of cash on your energy bills.
Last January, theNational Resources Defence Councilestimated that gaming without Energy Saving mode could cost US gamers an additional $500m (around £380m) in electricity over the course of five years.
Loser: Netflix
It’s tough to think of a company that frustrated us as much as Netflix did this week when it announced it would beincreasing its subscription prices in the UK and Irelandonce again.
The streaming service confirmed that it would be raising costs across the board in the regions like the UK, with the Basic package increasing from £5.99 a month to £6.99 a month, the Standard plan going from £9.99 to £10.99 and the Premium plan going from £13.99 all the way up to £15.99.
While that may only be an extra £1 to £2 a month, it means subscribers will have to fork out up to £24 a year on top of their usual plans if they want to keep their accounts.
This isn’t even the first time we’ve seen a Netflix price hike in recent years.
Just last January, the company upped the prices of its Standard and Premium packages from £8.99 and £11.99, respectively. This means the cost of a Premium subscription has skyrocketed from £11.99 a month to £15.99 in the space of just over a year – a 33% increase on its 2020 price.
Netflix says the decision was made to allow it to continue to invest in high quality UK productions but, given this is thesame excusewe heard last year, the price hikes are becoming harder and harder to stomach.
Sign up for Disney+
Disney+ offers access to loads of original shows like The Mandalorian and Hawkeye, classic films and content from big brands like Star Wars, Marvel and Pixar.
Of course, Netflix isn’t the only streaming site looking for ways to scrape some extra cash right now.
Disney recently announced plans to introduce anew, cheaper subscription tiersubsidised by ads – something rival streaming sites like Discovery Plus and NBC Peacock have been doing for a while over in the US.
This left some Netflix subscribers wondering if an ad-supported Netflix tier could be in the cards for those of us looking to save some cash.
However, when asked at an investor conference, CFO Spencer Neumann stated that, while Netflix won’t rule the idea out, an ad-supported model isn’t the company’s plans right now.
All that goes to say you’re probably going to have to accept Netflix’s new prices if you want to catch the next season ofStranger Things,Squid GameorThe Crown.
Netflix wasn’t even the only company to increase its prices this week, asO2 customers were hit with a similarly frustrating 8% price hike. With streaming sites and mobile networks raising prices as the cost of living goes up, consumers are only going to be able to budget for so much before subscriber counts start dropping.
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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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Why trust our journalism?
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.
