For those who have been waiting for the second generation AirPods to ship, Apple has announced the new hardware today. Following up on new iPads, iMacs, Apple’s week of hardware refreshes continues today with the new earbuds.
The new AirPods will start at $159 for the standard case and $199 for a case that supports wireless charging. Inside there is a new H1 chip that enables 50% more talk time, hands-free “Hey Siri” but the design remains largely unchanged.
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If you have the first generation AirPods and want to buy a wireless charging case, that will set you back $79.
Love them or hate them, Apple’s AirPods have sold well for the company and the second generation improves on most of the basic issues with the first generation. I would still prefer a style that improves the noise isolation in your ear but improving the battery life is a basic first step that was seriously needed.
The second generation AirPods are available starting today.
provision l-3
<blockquote><em><a href="#414004">In reply to MikeGalos:</a></em></blockquote><p>If only Apple had some sort of online presence where they published specs for their products so we could see what the listening time is for the new AirPods. Ohh wait …. they do and the the battery life has gone from three hours in gen 1 to five hours in gen 2. </p><p><br></p><p>Yeah… I know, actually taking a minute or two to look something up takes all the fun out making up crap to be critical about. </p>
dontbe evil
<blockquote><em><a href="#414004">In reply to MikeGalos:</a></em></blockquote><p>have an upvote … apple butthurt fans are already on the rise</p>
provision l-3
<blockquote><em><a href="#414117">In reply to warren:</a></em></blockquote><p>I don't recall this approach either but they have been known too mix things up and try new things. It used to be all products were delivered at an even but they changed that awhile ago and started doing some via press releases. They have more recently released minor updates like these in the days following a major event I'm guessing they are trying it as the build up so that the announcements don't get lost in the noise of the big reveal next week. If nothing the have managed to get a bit of milage in terms of press coverage by doing this. Certainly far more than any of this warrants and I'd imagine there is probably some sort of anticipation for tomorrow. I don't know if that actually equate to anything tangible in terms of sales but they certainly gotten press. </p>