We had been hearing rumors that Apple might unveil new wireless headphones at its event on September 7th and that they might be called AirPods. During the event today, Apple indeed unveiled these wireless headphones and as you would have guessed, they are called AirPods. This was the perfect stage to unveil AirPods as Apple has done away with the 3.5mm headphone jack in the iPhone 7 so it’s subtly nudging people to adopt wireless audio devices and what could be better than offering customers one of its own.
At first glance, you might think that the AirPods are actually the EarPods without wires, that’s kind of what the design is going to make you think. However, since there are no wires to connect, the AirPods are ready to go as soon as they’re out of their charging case.
AirPods seamlessly connect to Apple devices so there’s no need for any buttons on switches. A simple double tap lets users access Siri. They are powered by a new low-power Apple W1 chip that’s aided by optical sensors and accelerometers in each AirPod.
This means that the music is automatically paused if you remove the AirPods, or remove just one to have a conversation. A double tap on the headphones enables users to access Siri to control music, make calls, and do much more.
Apple says that the AirPods can provide up to five hours of listening time on a single charge and that the custom charging case can hold additional charges for more than 24 hours of total listening time.
The AirPods come with a charging case and are priced at $159 in the United States, they will be available from Apple’s website and retail stores starting late next month. AirPods are compatible with Apple devices running iOS 10, watchOS 3 or macOS Sierra.