New AirPods Launch With H1 Chip, Hey Siri, Up to 50% More Talk Time, and Optional Wireless Charging Case

[tasset]

has anyone tried third-party Qi Wireless cases for the AIrPods (they seem to be a case for the Air Pods Case, so adding thickness butter $20-30 instead of Apple $$)

Yeah I bought one for $10-$12 on AliExpress that I slip my AirPods case into when I get home, since my nightstand has a Qi charger built in. Works perfectly fine, and since I only use it at home the extra thickness doesn't matter to me.
I would've bought new AirPods if they were matte or space gray, but oh well maybe in the Fall.

 

[Cryates]

Still the lone white color option, boooooo. Also not keen on the $40 markup for wireless charging.

 

[benshive]

Only apple would make a huge event over a wireless charging mat.

Given the delay that has gotten endless attention, it's probably a smart move to be very vocal about the fact that they're actually releasing it.

 

[G5isAlive]

Yeah but who knows, eh? Look at the date - Tuesday 23d. The original iPod was launched on Tuesday 23d October 2001...

good catch... will be interesting to see...

 

[BarredOwl]

Siri is nowhere good enough to be right in my darn ear.

Nine out of ten times the ‘assistance’ is an absolute waste of time and effort. I might as well type it myself.

No thanks, Apple.

 

[iMatt.]

Don't think I've ever ordered something within 10 minutes of announcement before

 

[matrix07]

Is there expected to be any improvement to sound quality?

There is!

 

[thadoggfather]

WEAK!

$199 for the wireless charger model too? After all these delays and an incremental bump?

 

[Frankied22]

So 2 more days = 2 more products..
new Apple Watch bands? AirPower? iPod touch.
They can’t let the last day be a new iPod touch. It’s anticlimactic lol. Nobody wants a new iPad touch lol.
We know we are getting new Apple TV hardware next week..
could they surprise everyone with a new Mac Pro since it’s a media focused event?
I feel like they are teasing us is going to do something big that fundamental changes the apple ecosystem going forward.

Hate to break it to you but there’s not going to be a new Apple TV next week. There’s nothing they can add to warrant a hardware upgrade. The event Monday will be 100% services. They are getting their paltry hardware updates out of the way this week.

 

[nilk]

As much as I want new AirPods I'm going to hold out. I sense an iPad 3rd gen situation. Rumours persist true AirPods 2 may be just 6 months away. I suspect there's a reason these haven't been given the '2' moniker

I doubt we'll see another Airpods update this year (at least where the internals changed, maybe we'll see different colors). I don't see them numbering many of their products like that, so I don't think the lack of number on this update has that significance. With the iPhone they still include the version in the name (I guess because they sell a wide range of versions, so have to differentiate), but with many other products you just have, for example, "iMac", "iPad Air", "iPad Mini", "iPad Pro" in much of their materials. When they need to differentiate, they use year or generation number (or sometimes size of the screen I think?)

I found in the fine print they call these "AirPods (2nd generation)".

 

[Corsig]

Battery didn't last too long on mine so happily ordered the new ones with the wireless case. Will give the old ones to my daughter so everyone ends up happy. If a new version comes out next year with a better design so be it. No buyers remorse here!

 

[caskin8a]

$89, still these prices are getting ridiculous. It's $269 with the wireless charging case with airpods, insane!

CAD $303 with Ontario taxes for the wireless charging option. Killing me, Apple

 

[69Mustang]

I was waiting on these, but I am lost on the actual improvements. Better sound? Better noise cancellation? Anything along those lines?

To be fair, without the in-ear option you really couldn't expect much in the way of noise cancellation. There's no seal for sound isolation. I think Apple missed an opportunity here. I think they should have made two versions, just like they have two versions of the wired EarPods. The in-ear version would have gone a long way towards improving sound and noise cancellation.

 

[Oohara]

So 2 more days = 2 more products..
new Apple Watch bands? AirPower? iPod touch.
They can’t let the last day be a new iPod touch. It’s anticlimactic lol. Nobody wants a new iPad touch lol.
We know we are getting new Apple TV hardware next week..
could they surprise everyone with a new Mac Pro since it’s a media focused event?
I feel like they are teasing us is going to do something big that fundamental changes the apple ecosystem going forward.

I'd LOVE a new iPod touch. Provided it's the size of a XS Max and has OLED. Yeah yeah I know I'm totally in the minority on that, but I'd much rather have that than the current iPad Mini. Then I would use a small iPhone and buy the iPod for gaming, reading, watching movies while commuting etc. Basically an XS minus the premium camera and whatever fancy phone bits they could remove to lower the price.

But yeah I know, I'll keep dreaming. I still want one though

 

[seeforyourself]

Is there an update to the sound quality? If not I guess there’s no reason to update for me

 

[MistrSynistr]

You gotta admit this is hilarious.

What's old is new again!
iPad mini, same form factor, just upgraded internals (could of done this 3 years in a row)
iPad Air, repurposed iPad Pro MISSING features, lol!
"new" iMac, in the same chassis since 2007.
AirPods 1.1...with....a wireless charging case for more money?

But wait, there's more. They lowered the price of SSD's in only the super high end models of their Macs, the ones hardly anyone ever purchases!

 

[gwhizkids]

Why didn’t they launch these for Christmas last year? They probably would have gotten more sales that way.

Hmmm...perhaps they weren't ready to launch?

Realistically, they would have had to have been ready by early October to make a meaningful impact on Christmas sales.

 

[DNichter]

To be fair, without the in-ear option you really couldn't expect much in the way of noise cancellation. There's no seal for sound isolation. I think Apple missed an opportunity here. I think they should have made two versions, just like they have two versions of the wired EarPods. The in-ear version would have gone a long way towards improving sound and noise cancellation.

Yea I wasn't too sure what was possible or what they could come up with, but was hoping for some improvement there for plane rides. I ordered to try them out and will return if I don't see much improvement.

 

[AirunJae]

Instant buy for me. My only unfufilled wish was the lack of Space Gray/Black color option.

 

[giebe]

So you pay 50€ more to have a wireless case. + additional 20-30€ for a charging matte. 80€ for wireless charging extra. Don't see the value.

So what's next?
Monday - new iPads
Tuesday - new iMacs
Wednesday - new Airpods
Thursday - new iPod?
Friday - Airpower?

 

[recoil80]

https://www.apple.com/shop/product/MVF82ZM/A/iphone-xs-max-silicone-case-spearmint?fnode=42
is this case new? I don't remember that color.
There is a band with the same color for AW

They're not available for pickup, so I wonder if those are new so we had the new bands and cases today

 

[Deefuzz]

Been waiting for an update.

Ordered!

 

[gigapocket1]

Interesting. A new iPad?

Meant iPod lol

 

[jpn]

...Also, you mean “couldn’t care less”. That’s the phrase, not “could care less”.

in USAmerican colloquial speak, a very large group of people actually say it the way the poster phrased it.
speech is usually not a matter of what is correctly said or not.
it is a matter of if it is understood or not.
and everyone on the left side of the Atlantic understands exactly what s/he was saying.

 

[ugahairydawgs]

Yes but pricing is getting worse. There was no reason to charge extra for the wireless case. It should be standard like the galaxy Buds are

An apples to apples comparison is hard to do here though. While they occupy the same product space, the Air Pods and the Galaxy Buds are not the same product in different bodies. The Air Pods have more advanced tech just on spec with the inclusion of the W1 (and now H1) chips. Someone else who has used both can speak to audio quality, so I will leave that one alone. But there is also the R&D costs and you just can't really gauge how much each company spent bringing these products to market. All of that drives price and with Samsung working to be a similar premium brand I don't get the impression that they are trying to use Galaxy Buds as a loss leader, which leads me to believe it just simply costs them less to produce the Buds than it does for Apple to make the Air Pods.

Even the cost of the charging case is something that we aren't probably getting the full story on. The Galaxy Buds case is meant for a standard Qi charger. The Air Pods on the other hand are going to be good with standard Qi as well as whatever wireless tech is being used in the forthcoming Air Power pad and getting "A" to work with "B" likely just costs more money (which is obvious enough just in looking at how delayed this product has become).