eh, i have standard airpods which I bought in 8/2023. I use them 3 times per week. Battery is still plenty fine.
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AirPods Are Still Untouchable as Apple Crushes the Competition in 2025
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I picked up the Pro 2’s a couple of months ago to replace my AirPods Max (the clamping force was causing my glasses to hurt my head). If the main selling point of the Pro 3’s really is just HR monitoring like the rumours say then I’ll happily hold onto my 2’s until the battery starts to degrade. They’d have to offer something like massively improved battery life to tempt me.
I've bought the Airpods 2 quite a few times for $69 for me and the family strictly for listening to music. I think for that price and what they do, it's a good headphone (no idea if the other bells and whistles are good). But, as others have said, the battery dies within 2 years. I use mine only a handful of times EACH YEAR on airplane rides and already 1 of my pairs died.
If they could figure out how to make the battery last 4-5 years I would buy again. But since the full price is $129 that's a significant cost difference from the Airpods 2.
If they could figure out how to make the battery last 4-5 years I would buy again. But since the full price is $129 that's a significant cost difference from the Airpods 2.
Everyone releases they just don’t want to run with a subwoofer and if I listen to Fin Taylor at work I’m liable to get a meeting with HR very quickly.
That’s because the AirPods use Apple-proprietary protocols that aren’t open to third-party earbuds. Not exactly hard to be ahead of the competition that way.
AirPods for me are equally everything that's right and wrong about 'ecosystems'.
I love my AirPods Pro 2. It's fantastic how quickly I can pair them, interact with Siri etc. Plus for what they are they are good earbuds with decent battery life and a good case.
But why can't other earbuds read my messages to me? Why is there no standardised way for earbuds to call up a voice assistant? I'm not sure I would by something other than AirPods, but the fact that I lose all additional features, including those that really do not have a hardware limitation, is highly annoying.
I love my AirPods Pro 2. It's fantastic how quickly I can pair them, interact with Siri etc. Plus for what they are they are good earbuds with decent battery life and a good case.
But why can't other earbuds read my messages to me? Why is there no standardised way for earbuds to call up a voice assistant? I'm not sure I would by something other than AirPods, but the fact that I lose all additional features, including those that really do not have a hardware limitation, is highly annoying.
If these pods use Buetooth, then they are limited by the limitations of bluetooth, simple as that.
I don't like pods myself, but i am looking at getting some headphones, not going to go crazy on price, so many one of the Sony ones, saying that I am not really a fan of Sony, so may br Panasonic.
At the end of the day you will get the best sound when they are conencted via cable, but for what I want, Bluethooth will be fine, it is only to listen to while walking
I don't like pods myself, but i am looking at getting some headphones, not going to go crazy on price, so many one of the Sony ones, saying that I am not really a fan of Sony, so may br Panasonic.
At the end of the day you will get the best sound when they are conencted via cable, but for what I want, Bluethooth will be fine, it is only to listen to while walking
yep, but a real pain to carry on my walks. And I get complaints when someone nearby is trying to listen to something else. I don't use the pro versions so at least I'm not blocking my ear quite as much.
Make sure you're not leaving their batteries at 0% for a long time. lithium batteries really hate it when their voltage drops too low (and takes a serious impact to its capacity when it's deep discharged)
I also find that once the case is empty, the airpods don't "turn off" in the case and then just drain its charge as well
Or comments about the original iPod on some forums.
Less space than a Nomad, no WiFi, lame.
Same in Asia. Head to the markets will stalls and there are boxes of "authentic" beats, airpods, etc.
In NYC and Tokyo there are guys selling airpods out of their jackets, like watch people back in the day.
I will replace my old set with APP3 when they arrive but that is the only *pod* Apple product I will buy. Too much distrust from their refusal to acknowledge, let alone fix previous problems.
Not too bad on empty hiking trails tho😃 Tho it depends which one and whether there are no people around.
I think I should be more precise in writing my posts, sometimes I forget to add details.
I just came to realization two years ago that I actually hate headphones and would rather listen music in a car, on an old home stereo or bt JBL speaker. Commutes or when not in a car are still in question, but after all some people restrain themselves and wait until they go home to play their favorite vinyls. Maybe one day that will become my new hobby, right now too poor to get into vinyl🤣
It’s interesting how individual experiences vary. My best friend has gone through 4 pairs of these. They either start having connection issues, battery issues, or microphone issues. I personally dislike the fact AirPods have glued-in batteries.
I have been using a pair of V-Modas since 2016. Still my best daily companion. (Not advertising for them. I heard a few years ago the company was sold and since the build quality is terrible now.)
I don’t see it as any stranger than buying things off “Amazon”, where most of the time people have no clue who the actual retailer is. It’s just not feasible to care and investigate the source of every little thing we buy, so we choose what we are selective about. Some people who don’t give a rat’s behind about headphones, spend thousands on golfing gear.
And then of course there is stupid people. Never underestimate the power of stupid.
Some people don’t understand the concept of statistics.
“40% of product X breaks within 2 years!”
The 60%: “That can’t be true, I have one and it works just fine!”
Sadly, in the world of TWS headphones, I don’t believe actual longevity with low failure rate exists. It’s a throwaway product. I generally expect 3 year lifetime, and about half (including other brands, some more expensive than Apple) got replaced on warranty before that. This is not restricted to Apple, by any means.
I have to wonder if the people saying that all AirPod batteries die after a year or so are just talking about the original 1st gen AirPods? Those truly were barely able to last a year before the batteries wouldn't hold a charge for very long. The second gens may have been as bad, but for me the microphones broke so often on them that they never lasted more than 6 months.
My 3rd Gen AirPods are amazing though, I've had them from launch day back in 2021 and they still last just as long as they did at launch. So far my ANC AirPod 4s have been fine too (knocks on wood). My AirPod Pro 2s don't get much use because they irritate my ear canals but their batteries are still fine as well (which is quite surprising as they are barely used).
My personal belief is that since the launch of the AirPods 3, when the buds show 100% charge they're actually only at 80% and that's why we aren't seeing the battery fade that we did with the early models. Or maybe I've just been lucky and had good batteries? 🤷♂️
My 3rd Gen AirPods are amazing though, I've had them from launch day back in 2021 and they still last just as long as they did at launch. So far my ANC AirPod 4s have been fine too (knocks on wood). My AirPod Pro 2s don't get much use because they irritate my ear canals but their batteries are still fine as well (which is quite surprising as they are barely used).
My personal belief is that since the launch of the AirPods 3, when the buds show 100% charge they're actually only at 80% and that's why we aren't seeing the battery fade that we did with the early models. Or maybe I've just been lucky and had good batteries? 🤷♂️