KGI: AirPods Shipments Will Double Next Year Given Strong Demand

[44267547]

Your enjoyment of Airpods should not be to the exclusion of those of us with $300+ top of the line headphones. To each their own.

My reply to you was not about "Enjoyment." It's about not being dismissive of others preferences just because you're disgruntled over Apples decisions to remove the Jack. Perhaps instead of being facetious in your prior post, mutual respect extends both ways for whatever someone chooses to use for Bluetooth or wired
Without responding the way you did back on page three of this thread.

 

[himanshumodi]

I smiled at that use case. i thought I was the only one who used it like that. They do fit for me, but I still don't wear them like that because if a call comes in while they are in there under the helmet, there is no way to disconnect the phone besides pulling over, and getting the phone out. So when I do, need earphones in, I prefer the wired ones so that I can quickly disconnect a call if I need to.

I’m not surprised. They are much better sounding and versatile than I expected them to be.

The only downside is that they don’t fit underneath a motorcycle helmet.

 

[MH01]

What Apple does best: take an emerging product category with a frustrating user experience and deliver a polished product made possible by its control over both the hardware and software.

Other companies may be better in one area or another, but the end experience is rarely truly better as a result. Take the Airpods for example. It’s easy to point out how some other competing product beats it in one specific area or another, but again, it’s often cancelled out by some equally debilitating flaw in other areas. It’s not hard to see how the various design choices and compromises of the Airpods all come together to offer the user experience it does, and I think it says a lot that no other product even comes close to offering what it does.

That to me is the fundamental problem with this forum. The critics are choosing to fixate on individual bugs and perceived missteps in a vacuum, rather than choose to evaluate them holistically within the greater context of Apple’s achievements and accomplishments. No wonder the mood here is perennially salty and cantankerous.

The AirPods got me are the last awesome apple product , I mean in recent years , I really love mine, cause for me it's all about the user experience, and not about other products beating the AirPods at this or that . Though it's also user experience that I judge Apple other products and the Mac book pro and iPhone x fall short versus the predecessors, i judge Apple against Apple and for me greedy new apple is falling short, with user experience , the heart of apple, taking a back seat to raising prices and short cuts. iOS and macOS - are very disappointing, approaching Microsoft levels of indifference to ship products - sorry it's not good enough , greed is over taking what apple was all about, user experience design and execution
[doublepost=1512456327][/doublepost]

My reply to you was not about "Enjoyment." It's about not being dismissive of others preferences just because you're disgruntled over Apples decisions to remove the Jack. Perhaps instead of being facetious in your prior post, mutual respect extends both ways for whatever someone chooses to use for Bluetooth or wired
Without responding the way you did back on page three of this thread.

I choose AirPods mainly for gym - brilliant , I also have zero respect for someone telling me BT or £30 AirPods ---- that are sold as £160 AirPods sound better than wired headphones heaphones costing £160 + . Fact remains BT is Inferior SQ all things considered , and that is with the exactly Same headphone , be it wireless or wired, wired will sound better.

Those of us who do own good headphones get very very little respect on MR and constant ridicule from the non headphone jack users who frankly have no idea about SQ in most cases and plugging in a set of AirPods is the most amazing experience ever, which I only consider useful for gym listening.... each to their own.

Work trip this week, only realised on the flight I did not bring my headphone dongle for my iPhone 7 plus - **** experience. Unless I fall in and do what apple wants me to do, the user experience can be crap... and carrying a dongle for everything is an awful user experience....

 

[Abazigal]

I choose AirPods mainly for gym - brilliant , I also have zero respect for someone telling me BT or £30 AirPods ---- that are sold as £160 AirPods sound better than wired headphones heaphones costing £160 + . Fact remains BT is Inferior SQ all things considered , and that is with the exactly Same headphone , be it wireless or wired, wired will sound better.

Those of us who do own good headphones get very very little respect on MR and constant ridicule from the non headphone jack users who frankly have no idea about SQ in most cases and plugging in a set of AirPods is the most amazing experience ever, which I only consider useful for gym listening.... each to their own.

I think it goes both ways. For me, the AirPods sound "good enough" that I don't mind giving up that much sound quality which could be had from a better pair of wired headphones in exchange for the other conveniences its form factor brings.

I won't say you headphone lovers get little respect, but I think you all also need to understand and accept that sound quality is just one of the many factors that go into making a great pair of headphones, and that different people are going to value different properties differently. My first pair of headphones was a pair of Sennheiser momentums, and they had a tendency to clamp really hard on my ears and press them against my spectacles, so I could never tolerate wearing them for more than half an hour.

Key word here - tolerate.

I am no headphone expert. I don't know my SQ from my EQ. What I do know is that people a product which makes them WANT to use them, not be forced to put up with compromises and shortcomings. In contrast, the AirPods are so light and comfortable (again, for me) that I have no issues wearing them for hours on end. I can leave them in my ears even when I am not listening to anything, without any discomfort whatsoever. And because it is so small and portable, I can easily grab it and bring it anywhere with me. When I go to the nearby coffeeshop for breakfast. When I am walking to work. When I am going to meet my friends at the mall. I don't have this bulky pair of headphones that I have to dangle awkwardly around my neck or wind and stuff into my pants pockets if I don't have my bag with me.

It's no surprise that the headphones which I can leave on for hours on end with no problems whatsoever is the one I will naturally gravitate towards and use more.

So when I am trying to explain what make the AirPods so awesome for me, only to have people dismiss them outright because the sound quality is inferior to a higher-end pair of headphones while completely ignoring every other merit the product has, I think even you can see why they would be treated as being elitist and arrogant. It's like "Who died and made you the sole arbiter of what makes a great pair of headphones?"

 

[Mike MA]

love my airpods. sure, the built quality could be better - the seam between the two halves of each airpod became pretty visible after the first half hour of usage - i‘m also able to feel it with my fingernail. plus the magnets in the case attract tiny metal particles in my pocket up to the point that they’re so stuck, you can‘t get rid of them anymore without scratching them off. i guess that‘s unavoidable but could be mitigated with darker colors.

some additional interface (e.g. triple tap) would be nice, especially for people who don‘t own an apple watch. sometimes i wish, siri would at least understand „volume up“ without an internet connection. the case could also have a bit more grip imho, it already slipped out of my pocket a few times. and, maybe future airpods could use both microphones at the same time for even better sound. oh, and water resistance would be nice. and better sound-quality than bluetooth of course, but that goes without saying.

still they are quite great. staying secure in my ear (but i wouldn‘t dare wear them while snowboarding), great battery life, nice charging case, switching between apple devices without disconnecting and repairing (although it could be faster) and just the freedom of not having a cable.

now they just have to not break or get lost for at least three years to justify the rather high price tag (unlike my powerbeats where the plastic of one earpiece broke after a year).
[doublepost=1512424851][/doublepost]

faster switching, even smaller and lighter, better built quality, better sound quality, different colors, better mics, an additional interface (touch stripe volume or triple-tap), water-proof, better accelerometer to give your iphone/ar device more information about your head and body movements, pulse measuring, body temperature measuring,... imho there’s still some headroom left.
[doublepost=1512425527][/doublepost]

yeah, but the homepod is a speaker for audio playback first and foremost, and they already did that in 2006 with the ipod hifi. it‘s probably not going to compete with the echo or google home, because those are not very good speakers, but interfaces to much more capable voice assistants than siri.

it‘s imagineable to put echo dots or home minis in every room of your home at $29 apiece, but only a few rich people will buy more than 1-2 $349 decices that maybe won‘t work with the remote-widget on your phone five years down the line. ( e.g. like the apple-tv 3g )

True, it‘s the opposite direction, but the smarter choice. HomePod has build in quality sound. AI and apps will follow as already announced. Amazon‘s echo was designed the other way round. They now have to desperately aprove sound quality which is a hardware and design thing. Tougher choice.

 

[MH01]

I think it goes both ways. For me, the AirPods sound "good enough" that I don't mind giving up that much sound quality which could be had from a better pair of wired headphones in exchange for the other conveniences its form factor brings.

I won't say you headphone lovers get little respect, but I think you all also need to understand and accept that sound quality is just one of the many factors that go into making a great pair of headphones, and that different people are going to value different properties differently. My first pair of headphones was a pair of Sennheiser momentums, and they had a tendency to clamp really hard on my ears and press them against my spectacles, so I could never tolerate wearing them for more than half an hour.

Key word here - tolerate.

I am no headphone expert. I don't know my SQ from my EQ. What I do know is that people a product which makes them WANT to use them, not be forced to put up with compromises and shortcomings. In contrast, the AirPods are so light and comfortable (again, for me) that I have no issues wearing them for hours on end. I can leave them in my ears even when I am not listening to anything, without any discomfort whatsoever. And because it is so small and portable, I can easily grab it and bring it anywhere with me. When I go to the nearby coffeeshop for breakfast. When I am walking to work. When I am going to meet my friends at the mall. I don't have this bulky pair of headphones that I have to dangle awkwardly around my neck or wind and stuff into my pants pockets if I don't have my bag with me.

It's no surprise that the headphones which I can leave on for hours on end with no problems whatsoever is the one I will naturally gravitate towards and use more.

So when I am trying to explain what make the AirPods so awesome for me, only to have people dismiss them outright because the sound quality is inferior to a higher-end pair of headphones while completely ignoring every other merit the product has, I think even you can see why they would be treated as being elitist and arrogant. It's like "Who died and made you the sole arbiter of what makes a great pair of headphones?"

The AirPods are the best apple product I have bought for a long time. When it comes to convenience, nothing comes close, they are brilliant and I love mine. They are an excellent headphone. SQ is not the problem for me, battery is, makes a very convenient product very inconvenient at times.

The problem we face on these forums tends to be all or nothing mentality, once you go wireless, the rest is obsolete tech....etc etc, so to be honest that is also elitist / arrogant, its like the AirPod has solved the worlds headphone problems and the rest are crap.

All apple products are pros/cons, and for the pointless negativity we get we also get pointless cheerleading, while everyone tries to also play victim, very few here actually have a pros/cons mind set, it has to be crap or awesome....that is not realistic in my opinion.

My AirPods, they are £30 EarPods sound quality, its great for me - and when I say great, its based on the Convenience they provide, nothing comes close, they are my go to headphone if I'm out and about like commuting or gym, phone call etc etc.... if I want to sit down and listen to some music and relax, they are crap or me....ill be honest, compared to my other headphones, they sound ......awful.... though I know what they are aimed at, and for their purposes they are brilliant. My bigger issue is with wireless v wired, wireless is inferior, of the few higher end wireless headphones I have, I used them mostly wired now, the difference is that much. Though to appreciate what headphones can deliver......you really need to try some high end ones. Am I being elitist saying they sound awful......... well its like picking up a iPhone x versus a £100 android and saying the iPhone x is a far better device...... in which case we are all elitist hypocrites

I mentioned Pros/Cons - A massive con the AirPods face, outside the apple ecosystem , actually outside apples most recent products, the AirPods are very poor..... even pairing them with an iPod, very poor experience , so lets remember its pros are only enjoyed if you purchase a recent apple product....

I understand where you are coming from and I agree with you - If I was not into audio, the AirPods would be brilliant for me, and could not think of a better solution, outside of the another device to have to charge.....

 

[zipur]

Not much more you can give earbuds when u have already given it a convenient way to connect..

Apple just dived into this one here without leaving head room. Perhaps making them sound better than they already do, but apart from that how else can you improve them over the flip top and it connects. ?

Water proof and buttons, I don’t care about color in have Great black wraps on”em

 

[Abazigal]

The problem we face on these forums tends to be all or nothing mentality, once you go wireless, the rest is obsolete tech....etc etc, so to be honest that is also elitist / arrogant, its like the AirPod has solved the worlds headphone problems and the rest are crap.

All apple products are pros/cons, and for the pointless negativity we get we also get pointless cheerleading, while everyone tries to also play victim, very few here actually have a pros/cons mind set, it has to be crap or awesome....that is not realistic in my opinion.

You are right, and I suppose I have been guilty of that more often than not. I guess I just don’t feel passionately enough about the headphone jack to mourn its demise.

My AirPods, they are £30 EarPods sound quality, its great for me - and when I say great, its based on the Convenience they provide, nothing comes close, they are my go to headphone if I'm out and about like commuting or gym, phone call etc etc.... if I want to sit down and listen to some music and relax, they are crap or me....ill be honest, compared to my other headphones, they sound ......awful.... though I know what they are aimed at, and for their purposes they are brilliant. My bigger issue is with wireless v wired, wireless is inferior, of the few higher end wireless headphones I have, I used them mostly wired now, the difference is that much. Though to appreciate what headphones can deliver......you really need to try some high end ones. Am I being elitist saying they sound awful......... well its like picking up a iPhone x versus a £100 android and saying the iPhone x is a far better device...... in which case we are all elitist hypocrites

I guess it all comes down to how people phrase it. It’s one thing to acknowledge its pros, and conclude that it’s still ultimately not the product for you due to its lacklustre sound quality, vs dismissing them outright as crap.

Like it or not, Apple products are likely a reflection of its parent company. They are that polarising in that people either love them or hate them, because Apple tends to design their products with a fixed experience in mind. It’s really their way or the highway. If it happens to match what you want in a product, or if you are willing to compromise to work around their idiosyncrasies, good for you. Otherwise, you are so out of luck.

I mentioned Pros/Cons - A massive con the AirPods face, outside the apple ecosystem , actually outside apples most recent products, the AirPods are very poor..... even pairing them with an iPod, very poor experience , so lets remember its pros are only enjoyed if you purchase a recent apple product....

I understand where you are coming from and I agree with you - If I was not into audio, the AirPods would be brilliant for me, and could not think of a better solution, outside of the another device to have to charge.....

Is this a fair criticism though? The Airpods use iCloud for easy pairing. If the older iPods don’t support this, it’s probably not worth the effort to rewrite the software, especially for a dying product category.

 

[idrewuk]

Hopefully Apple will introduce the wireless charging case at the same time as the mat. But, I'd love other colour options -- the white feels a bit much. A dark grey would be cool. Saying that, I love mine.

 

[curtvaughan]

My reply to you was not about "Enjoyment." It's about not being dismissive of others preferences just because you're disgruntled over Apples decisions to remove the Jack. Perhaps instead of being facetious in your prior post, mutual respect extends both ways for whatever someone chooses to use for Bluetooth or wired
Without responding the way you did back on page three of this thread.

Perhaps I might have been less sarcastic in my post; however, where was all of the support of wireless lovers when those of us with wired headphones were told to just be courageous and suck it up in the name of progress? A large segment of Apple customers have been told that our need for phone jacks, magsafe connectors, and USB 2/3 ports was old fashioned and silly in Apple's contemporary vision of the world. No, what we got from Airbud and minimalist Mac people was scorn, with the frequent piping of how much they love Apple's new minimalist approach. My need for the 3.5 mm jack was at times equated to being wistful over a missing floppy drive. Okay, this discussion has hit the point of minimal progress. Sorry to have offended you.
[doublepost=1512484744][/doublepost]

I think it goes both ways. For me, the AirPods sound "good enough" that I don't mind giving up that much sound quality which could be had from a better pair of wired headphones in exchange for the other conveniences its form factor brings.

I won't say you headphone lovers get little respect, but I think you all also need to understand and accept that sound quality is just one of the many factors that go into making a great pair of headphones, and that different people are going to value different properties differently. My first pair of headphones was a pair of Sennheiser momentums, and they had a tendency to clamp really hard on my ears and press them against my spectacles, so I could never tolerate wearing them for more than half an hour.

Key word here - tolerate.

I am no headphone expert. I don't know my SQ from my EQ. What I do know is that people a product which makes them WANT to use them, not be forced to put up with compromises and shortcomings. In contrast, the AirPods are so light and comfortable (again, for me) that I have no issues wearing them for hours on end. I can leave them in my ears even when I am not listening to anything, without any discomfort whatsoever. And because it is so small and portable, I can easily grab it and bring it anywhere with me. When I go to the nearby coffeeshop for breakfast. When I am walking to work. When I am going to meet my friends at the mall. I don't have this bulky pair of headphones that I have to dangle awkwardly around my neck or wind and stuff into my pants pockets if I don't have my bag with me.

It's no surprise that the headphones which I can leave on for hours on end with no problems whatsoever is the one I will naturally gravitate towards and use more.

So when I am trying to explain what make the AirPods so awesome for me, only to have people dismiss them outright because the sound quality is inferior to a higher-end pair of headphones while completely ignoring every other merit the product has, I think even you can see why they would be treated as being elitist and arrogant. It's like "Who died and made you the sole arbiter of what makes a great pair of headphones?"

I agree with your point on toleration. It should be a two way street. It would be easy enough to retain a 3.5 mm sound jack, and magsafe, USB 2/3 ports, and SD card slots on phones and laptops. The only negative would be a couple of MM less thin for the devices. You could still use your Airpods, plug in your laptop, and ignore the ports you don't use, with minimal damage to your user experience. To take away all of those ports and interfaces is a huge detriment to those of us who use them on a regular basis. Apple, in the last several years, has told a large segment of its user base to suck it up and embrace Jony Ive's aesthetic in the name progress. That is not what I call tolerance.

 

[Rocko99991]

What happened to the negative hype of everyone that said they suck without trying them! And they will be a flop lol

They do. They are aesthetically horrible. Looks like earrings.
[doublepost=1512500033][/doublepost]

View attachment 740131 i use these and they are super comfortable and the quality of sound is exceptional.

These are good except for they are an open design-they let in way too much outside noise in.

 

[JackieInCo]

I bought a pair of AirPods yesterday. Very impressed with the sound over the wired headset that shipped with my iPhone. I'll be taking them on my daily walks and to work with me. Apple did a great job with them!

 

[Abazigal]

I agree with your point on toleration. It should be a two way street. It would be easy enough to retain a 3.5 mm sound jack, and magsafe, USB 2/3 ports, and SD card slots on phones and laptops. The only negative would be a couple of MM less thin for the devices. You could still use your Airpods, plug in your laptop, and ignore the ports you don't use, with minimal damage to your user experience. To take away all of those ports and interfaces is a huge detriment to those of us who use them on a regular basis. Apple, in the last several years, has told a large segment of its user base to suck it up and embrace Jony Ive's aesthetic in the name progress. That is not what I call tolerance.

Again, I guess it goes back to what exactly Apple is trying to achieve here.

A corollary I can think of is when Apple blocked flash on iOS, which in turn gave HTML 5 a much-needed boost in adoption while driving stakeholders to support HTML5 over flash. And boy did Apple get much pushback then. They could have just as easily supported both flash and HTML 5, and let the market sort itself out, but they didn't. Apple stuck to its guns, openly backed one standard over the other, and the rest as we know it is history.

We may never know Apple's real reasons for doing so. Was it solely for security and power savings? Did they not want to be beholden to a standard they did not control? Was Apple trying to promote the iOS App Store? Maybe the CEO of adobe snatched Steve's car one day and it was just Steve having an axe to grind. Either way, one single act pretty much drove a stake into the heart of flash adoption.

Did it suck? Yes. I remember getting my first iPad (iPad 3) and being a little annoyed that I couldn't showcase an online math manipulative which was coded in flash. But I think that in the long run, when you look at the larger picture and see what you have gained and what was made possible as a result, I daresay all the inconveniences were worth it when we get better native apps optimised for touch and direct input.

Same here. My guess is that Apple is trying to push its users towards what they feel is a better listening experience - wireless. And they are doing it the Apple way - by forcing change and being unapologetic about it. That's the Apple I know. It's irritating, it's disruptive, it's humbling being forced to give up the tools that we have spent so long being masters of and seeing our place in the tech hierarchy being reset, and I would have it no other way, because at the end of the way, I feel that it can only speed up my own evolution.

Yes, it can be difficult to let go of the workflows you have painstakingly developed over the years. Having to rewire your brain and change the way you do things can be very hard and I totally empathise why some get uncomfortable or defensive. And sometimes, Apple's attempts to jumpstart a new standard doesn't always pan out.

Shifts are never easy, and the best way (I feel) is to simply suspend reality sooner and embrace the shifts sooner. So to you, and all others like yourself out there, my message has been, and always will be - I am not saying it doesn't suck. I am saying that it will all be worth it in the end (hopefully).

That's just how I see it, at least.