I guess I'm just an old codger (I am!), but I see the concept of high priced "wireless" earpods as a foolish design and waste of money.
The things are so small, it's easy to lose one.
With wired headphones -- or even earpods -- at least they're attached to something, easy to grab if they fall out.
I've never liked "in the ear" devices in any case, and won't use one.
That said, the pricing is ridiculous. One can pay $20-25 for a decent set of "against the ear" headphones and get equivalent sound quality.
As the saying goes... "fools and their money"...
... keep Tim Cook smilin' all the way to the stockholders' meeting!
I'm not about to go out and buy a set, either. I barely use my wired EarPods, so spending on a wireless solution is below the bottom of my priority list.
However, I have many decades of professional, wired headphone usage behind me (radio, TV, music recording/production). In brief, cables suck. Cable-as-tether not only prevents loss, it has to absorb the stress induced when a user "reaches the end of his rope." The studios where I worked had dozens of headsets in active service. We had to check each pair deployed when setting up for a session. Air talent would press "Play" and pop up to dash to the bathroom... We were constantly swapping/replacing intermittent headsets, and repairing cables and connectors.
Now, wires are always the
simpler solution. The list of challenges that must be overcome for a system like AirPods to work well (which, reportedly, it does), is long. So yes, you can consider it an over-engineered solution. The only question is whether the problem to be solved is inconsequential. My feeling is, if the AirPods can out-live several wired headsets, they've paid for themselves. That will depend upon the individual - some people are much harder on their gear than others, and some are more prone to loss than others.
(And while in-ear headphones aren't your cup of tea, would you feel quite as strongly about a set of over-the-ear wireless headphones?)
My father recently got a new set of Bluetooth-enabled hearing aids. He'd lost his previous, older-tech hearing aids on numerous occasions, and we weren't always able to find them (hence, the need for the new ones). The new set has an iOS app - so long as the lost device is within Bluetooth range, it can be located. And so far, Dad has been able to locate them on his own, which was rarely the case previously.
