Apple's Plan to Introduce New AirPods Later This Year Reportedly Delayed

[farewelwilliams]

my 1st gen AirPods is over 3 years old and it still holds about an hour charge.

 

[DravenInc]

Wish they would just release more colors of these.

You see how many news reports that are using Facetime or Zoom are prominently showing AirPods in peoples ears these days? Hell, my wife just watched the latest episode of "All Rise" and it was set in current time, so everyone was video chatting, and they were all over that. Not every character so it looked obnoxious, but many. I'd love them in another color as well, but I don't ever see Apple releasing a different color. Too much visibility with the iconic white.

 

[bobob]

These ar my favorite type of BS rumor - - ones contradicting previous BS rumors!

It's an alternate universe (where the birds sing and the rivers flow with BS).

 

[manu chao]

It is unfortunate these devices have a fairly short life span because of the inherent problem of a high use device relying on a tiny battery. Only so many charge cycles it can handle.

That is one aspect that gets sometimes overlooked. A long battery life on any kind of device is not just something nice and convenient, it also means for any given amount of usage (per day or week), you'd end up with fewer charge cycles used up over that time period. And thus the battery will stay somewhat close to full capacity for significantly longer (and on top, 50% of 10 h will be much better than 50% of 5h).

When Jaybird released the Tarah Pro with 14-h battery life, I knew the price differential (50% more expensive) to the plain Tarah (with 6 h battery life) would easily pay for itself. I don't need 14 h, even on the longest of days. But with, let's say, 6-h usage per day, the Tarah would hit 500 cycles within 16.5 months. While the Tarah Pro wouldn't get there until 38 months. And it might take another 12 months until the battery life of the Tarah Pro would have hit the same mark the Tarah would end up after 500 cycles. That combines to the Tarah Pro offering acceptable battery life to me for 3x as long as the Tarah while only costing 1.5x as much.

That means if nothing else on the Tarah Pro fails within three to four years (which is somewhat of an 'if'), the lifecycle costs of the Tarah Pro are half that of the plain Tarah. On top, for the first couple of years, I profit from a much more comfortable battery life.
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My airpods are 2 years old, always used as a pair, and when one of them gets into the red with under 10%, the other still has 39-40%. The difference was already there maybe 15-20% when they weren't a year old, I went to Apple and they said it was "within spec". Bullshizzle if you ask me.

But yeah, such is life with expensive disposable products, because the headphone jack was so bad.

Even Apple sold several Bluetooth 'headphones' with a wire between the two sides that have significantly longer battery life: Beats X (8 h) & Powerbeats (15 h)

 

[Seanm87]

I only bought a paid of AirPods a couple of months ago. If I knew they only had a 2 year lifespan I wouldn't have bothered.

 

[bobob]

I only bought a paid of AirPods a couple of months ago. If I knew they only had a 2 year lifespan I wouldn't have bothered.

If this example indicates the amount of pre-purchase research you usually do, you're in for a lifetime of disappointment.

 

[Abazigal]

Pipeline too cluttered Timo?

Apple is likely moving mountains just to get their iPads and MacBooks out the door. I won’t be surprised if AirPods end up taking a back seat.

In a sense, more people need tablets and PCS now that they are working from home. Conversely, AirPods are more typically used while outdoors, so they might actually see a temporary dip in demand during this pandemic period as more people are forced to stay at home.

So Apple might decide to prioritise the production of products they believe will be higher in demand, at the expense of products like the AirPods.

 

[Seanm87]

If this example indicates the amount of pre-purchase research you usually do, you're in for a lifetime of disappointment.

Well tbh Apple normally has pretty good support and lifespan on their products. So I guess I trusted them based on past purchases.

 

[bobob]

I only bought a paid of AirPods a couple of months ago. If I knew they only had a 2 year lifespan I wouldn't have bothered.

If I didn't get enough value out of AirPods' lightweight wireless convenience, I wouldn't bother either.

Well tbh Apple normally has pretty good support and lifespan on their products. So I guess I trusted them based on past purchases.

Personally, I am willing to pay the premium for the ultralightweight comfort and convenience of them. I consider AirPods to be a type of subscription service - - I am expecting to get 5 years out of mine based on my light use level, so I think of them as a recurring monthly cost of $2.65 ($159 / 60 months). I am entirely satisfied with them, so I am happy to keep paying the ~3 bucks every month for the use of AirPods for the rest of my life.

On the other hand, a heavy user I know who uses their AirPods for work calls every day, had completely used up the life of their AirPod batteries in two years. So their monthly cost goes up to $6.62 ($159 / 24 months). However, they went on to buy a replacement pair, because of how satisfied they were. They say they have the best phone call microphones among the wireless earbuds. I figure if they love them that much and buy them again, it's clearly also worth the ~7 bucks a month to them.