This is so hilarious, apple selling volume up and down as it were some fantastical feature and not have been present in air pods pro since god nows when.
> Force sensor with volume swipe arrives on AirPods 5, a first for the open-ear form factor, adding the ability to quickly adjust volume by swiping up or down on the stem.
The swipe controls are terrible on my Pro 2s and make me miss physical buttons like on my ancient Jabra 65t. It's easier to reach into a pocket and push the volume buttons on my phone without unlocking or looking at it.
Oh man, I loved the 65t! I remember Jabra making great true wireless headphones. They were small, sounded ok, had actual buttons but operating them didn't push the earbud against the brain.
Miss that a lot. Nowadays it's all touch and I hate it so much because for some reason I have a problem spatially locating them and always end up touching it the wrong way (and yes, I know... ;)
As somebody w/ Celiac, you'd be surprised. Many a time I've been poisoned by normal gluten free things being tainted by poor manufacturing lines, or companies mixing in other product. Tortilla chips with gluten, Hashbrowns/Potatoes coated with wheat flour, so many things are made not-gluten-free for no reason.
Some brands use wheat to make the chips more crunchy. Just like IHOP puts wheat in their scrambled eggs. McDonald's uses wheat in their french fries. They stick wheat everywhere.
The marketing kool-aid must flow. Many other earbuds have swipe volume, but because they aren't open-ear Apple gets to claim this amazing breakthrough.
> … apple selling volume up and down as it were some fantastical feature and not have been present in air pods pro since god nows when.
I’ve been having to throw away my earphones and getting new ones whenever I needed a new volume setting. Going up and down in the same device is truly a game changer.
for those who were holding out from Gen1 or whatever, adding pro features at a non-pro price is definitely incentivising. I’m not sure why we’re pretending it’s not.
Would you rather have generation old Pros or brand new standard airpods which have the pro features you actually want.
>for those who were holding out from Gen1 or whatever, adding pro features at a non-pro price is definitely incentivising. I’m not sure why we’re pretending it’s not.
Because it's a non-feature even the cheapest $30 wireless earbuds have had since forever, often even better, like with physical buttons.
I think it’s nice and I think they covered it right in the video.
Do you want open ear (AirPods) or closed (AirPods Pro).
Some people can’t stand having something in their ear. The volume control is a nice feature to have and now it’s available on the cheaper ones. I’ve missed it on my 4s.
Yeah the marketing copy is marketing copy and Apple never references competitors. But if you like the non-pros it’s a nice upgrade.
>Do you want open ear (AirPods) or closed (AirPods Pro). Some people can’t stand having something in their ear.*
Both versions put something in your ear.
There are wireless earbuds that stay outside next to the ear, that are actually the ones legitimately called "open ear", but the AirPods aren't that type.
apple has been quite good at treating their "economy" products with the same level of respect as their premium ones, as far as I've experienced. the Neo is significantly more powerful than the Pro I bought four years ago and $100 cheaper, pre-inflation. A brand like Apple introducing a highly-capable "discount" product goes against all common sensibilities for a company whose branding is anchored on prestige. Plus the extended support window for older devices vs. their competitors in the smartphone space.
Apple are king of form over function. Have we already forgotten that hack Jony Ive and his fetish for removing usefulness in favor of a few mm of thinness? Or the stupid fucking Touch Bar keyboard?
I still have a touch bar MacBook and the keyboard is unusable now.
It’s Apple so the answer is clear: shorter stems look nicer. Functionality be damned. You’re holding it wrong my dude. Nobody wants to look like they have q-tips in their ears.
Also each device has to be identifiably different by at least some small margin, so the people who care about measuring worth/value based on the latest devices and similar trash can reject people based on what they "wear", pushing up device sales.
> For users who want even more, AirPods 5 with Wireless Charging Case add longer battery life and on-stem volume control for $149
This is a weird product feature versioning. Would people pay an extra $20 for these two features specifically? With the AirPods 4 the upsell SKU was ANC which made exponentially more sense.
I prefer the regular AirPods to in-ear. But I still keep an old pair of Pro's around purely because the stem is so convenient for changing volume when I'm walking the dog or out for a run and I'd rather not get my phone out my pocket.
I’ve had them for 3,5 years now and off the top of my head I can’t remember where the “charging leads” are. So it’s safe to say that mine definitely don’t get gunked up.
Im on my third pair of Airpods pro (replacement courtesy of Apple) and all of them had the ANC partially fail the longer i use them. I wonder why Apple still release new versions of these whem they cant even get the basics right.
Have you tried replacing your eartips? I find that radically improves performance - I think they must either get clogged or brittle in a way that causes problems.
Cheap foam eartips from Amazon are even better than stock for my AirPods Pro but they need to be replaced more often.
A worthy upgrade to a miracle product . Just a couple decades it was a sci-fi fantasy and we all can enjoy it . I get the bible in my ear all night at bed time and books while I work and walk around the property. Great to see the price cut .
I wonder if they have an automation system which releases these perfectly in time with the video, or if they have some blog boy that has to post them at the right time.
A manual operation wouldn't shock me at all. A friend used to work on Apple.com and as recently as 5 years ago the product pages were still hard coded. No CMS.
I really hate silicone tip earbuds and the AirPods 4 with ANC were game changing. Having ANC without the silicone tips was just huge for me. It's obviously not as good as having the passive isolation of the silicone as well, but it's plenty good for airplanes and trains.
Are there non-Apple alternatives that also accomplish this?
Not exaggerating. My daily drives are Apple products except for Airpods, and I will always single them out because (in my experience) they’re that bad.
I don't usually defend Apple products, but my AirPods Pro 2nd gen have been rock solid and taken insane abuse. I use them working on cars, runs, hiking, rain, shine, sauna. I drop them. They land in puddles. They smack concrete every couple of months. Sample size 1, but they are probably one of my favorite accessories and things I lug around with me. I use them a lot and if not love /really/ like them and nothing else has come close to the frictionless experience of them.
Although that may be in part due to vendor lock in and not sharing some of their connection handling API / tech.
> overengineered sound makers that breaks the moment you drop them.
Which ones are those? I've owned a couple of generations of airpods and dropped them probably hundreds of times (both in the case and out of it) and it has never had any detectable effect on their appearance or functionality. I even had a pair go through the wash and they still mostly worked afterwards (only issue was that the ANC performance was worse and slightly weird).
Yes, on mine (the OG Pros) the ANC would consistently fail. On my second pair the battery refused to charge when i left them in the drawer for too long. Apple replaced them a total of 3 times for all these failures, but i simply stopped wearing them because theyre too unreliable.
To be fair, I don't expect anything electronic to survive going through the wash unless it has hardcore waterproofing (eg a dive computer). I was pleasantly surprised by the way my airpods kept working.
I don't remember whether my first airpods were the gen1 pros or the gen2 pros, but you may have been a victim of early teething issues. I don't really have anything negative to say about the ones I've owned.
Dunno man, I bought a cheap set once and they were abysmal, I hated them so much I just destroyed them in a rage when they started malfunctioning yet again. I got AirPods and haven’t looked back, they just work all the time. Granted I’ve never dropped them :)
You would be fine then, too. My daughter makes a sport out of how often she can drop airpods and even put them through the wash. She's on the hook for buying her own pair next time but the old ones keep on working.
Another year of disappointment for me. Airpods gen 1 and 2 were the only buds I could find that fit in my funky ears perfectly. The new shapes just fall right out unless I'm constantly adjusting them. Apple may have found a more universal fit, but I'm not part of their universe.
Been using the new Siri since June. ChatGPT voice is still superior!
Please Apple let me easily swap out Siri for chatGPT voice! Work together .. buy them or something. Their voice conversation tech is superior and can help save lives when driving!
Yeah Im aware but it could lead to better integration and or an all out buy out.
If you have ever used chatGPT voice for directions you could forsee that super intelligent contextual directions are safer then looking at a screen. I.e. "That new mechanic is across the street from the McDonalds on Dorset," in a locale you are familiar with.
What's a good naming convention? I draw a pretty big distinction between earbuds that seal and earbuds that just sit in front of my ear canal. I have AirPods Pro for when I really need isolation, and regular AirPods for when I need hours of comfortable wearing. "Open-ear earbuds" would make sense to me.
> Force sensor with volume swipe arrives on AirPods 5, a first for the open-ear form factor, adding the ability to quickly adjust volume by swiping up or down on the stem.
Pure apple marketing juice this one.
Miss that a lot. Nowadays it's all touch and I hate it so much because for some reason I have a problem spatially locating them and always end up touching it the wrong way (and yes, I know... ;)
I’ve been having to throw away my earphones and getting new ones whenever I needed a new volume setting. Going up and down in the same device is truly a game changer.
/s
Would you rather have generation old Pros or brand new standard airpods which have the pro features you actually want.
Because it's a non-feature even the cheapest $30 wireless earbuds have had since forever, often even better, like with physical buttons.
Do you want open ear (AirPods) or closed (AirPods Pro).
Some people can’t stand having something in their ear. The volume control is a nice feature to have and now it’s available on the cheaper ones. I’ve missed it on my 4s.
Yeah the marketing copy is marketing copy and Apple never references competitors. But if you like the non-pros it’s a nice upgrade.
Both versions put something in your ear.
There are wireless earbuds that stay outside next to the ear, that are actually the ones legitimately called "open ear", but the AirPods aren't that type.
Apple isn’t going to mention things they don’t sell.
I have no idea why Apple has made AirPods harder to handle, impaired mic placement, and limited the battery capacity with shorter stems.
The longer stems offered more room for battery, got the mic closer to your mouth, and were so much easier to handle, manipulate etc.
Can't really fathom why they shortened the stem and made it harder for everyone, themselves and users alike.
Form vs. function
They looked sleeker and more balanced with the longer stem and in the ear more like jewelry.
I don't want to feel like I'm wearing one of those customer support head mics. I'm ok with shorter stem, and never had a problem.
I still have a touch bar MacBook and the keyboard is unusable now.
Or different SKUs. Just saying.
Not that hard for the most profitable trillion dollar company on the planet.
Thing that only happens in the minds of SV marketing gurus.
This is a weird product feature versioning. Would people pay an extra $20 for these two features specifically? With the AirPods 4 the upsell SKU was ANC which made exponentially more sense.
I prefer the regular AirPods to in-ear. But I still keep an old pair of Pro's around purely because the stem is so convenient for changing volume when I'm walking the dog or out for a run and I'd rather not get my phone out my pocket.
Let's feel some excitement in your voices!
I have a pair of airpod pro 2 and i have to scrape the leads almost every day
would be amazing if they did it thru induction charging (tho i guess thats really slow)
That’s for all AirPod Pros, and definitely the AirPod 4 with ANC, not sure about other non pros.
Cheap foam eartips from Amazon are even better than stock for my AirPods Pro but they need to be replaced more often.
Devialet Gemini earbuds are superior: https://www.devialet.com/en-us/true-wireless-earbuds/
Also, they’re French acoustic experts, so cooler and deeper knowledge.
But in the end, it'll be the desire to eradicate the lightning port from my life that forces my hand on the upgrade
Are there non-Apple alternatives that also accomplish this?
You’d do your case favours by not exaggerating. My AirPods have proven perfectly rugged, I’ve dropped them plenty of times.
Although that may be in part due to vendor lock in and not sharing some of their connection handling API / tech.
Which ones are those? I've owned a couple of generations of airpods and dropped them probably hundreds of times (both in the case and out of it) and it has never had any detectable effect on their appearance or functionality. I even had a pair go through the wash and they still mostly worked afterwards (only issue was that the ANC performance was worse and slightly weird).
I don't remember whether my first airpods were the gen1 pros or the gen2 pros, but you may have been a victim of early teething issues. I don't really have anything negative to say about the ones I've owned.
You would be fine then, too. My daughter makes a sport out of how often she can drop airpods and even put them through the wash. She's on the hook for buying her own pair next time but the old ones keep on working.
Please Apple let me easily swap out Siri for chatGPT voice! Work together .. buy them or something. Their voice conversation tech is superior and can help save lives when driving!
Don’t expect it any time soon.
If you have ever used chatGPT voice for directions you could forsee that super intelligent contextual directions are safer then looking at a screen. I.e. "That new mechanic is across the street from the McDonalds on Dorset," in a locale you are familiar with.
You've mistaken a press release for an article. This is Apple's own site and announcement of Apple's own product. Of course it's an ad.