AirPods

Stay up-to-date on the latest AirPods news and learn how to get the most out of your AirPods with our comprehensive tutorials and guides. Discover new features, troubleshooting tips, and more!

Hey Apple, we need to talk about AirPods (again)!

AirPods teaser

On the back of their latest earnings call, a fair bit of renewed attention has been paid to Apple’s prodigious AirPods. In it, we got confirmation of what owners of the cordless headphones likely already knew, and what analysts were anticipating: AirPods crush customer satisfaction surveys and the sales are, to quote Tim Cook, a runaway success. As such, surely the Cupertino head office must feel in a party mood with regard to their EarPods successor?

Put it this way, something tells me the sound and sight of popping bottles and Eddy Cue flailing his arms to the sound of Pharrell’s Happy will have to wait - because for all their success, almost half a year into their lifecycle AirPods remain a problem child. It only takes one metric and four words to back up that not so outlandish case: ships in six weeks.

JPMorgan: iPhone 8 to bring enhanced stereo sound and waterproofing, ship with AirPods

JPMorgan analysts who track Apple's supply chain in the Asia-Pacific region, including Gokul Hariharan, shared a new research note this week. In it, the they predicted that the company's upcoming iPhone 8 will come outfitted with an enhanced earpiece sporting “further improvements” to stereo sound and waterproofing.

The note, obtained by MacRumors, does not specify what acoustical improvements Apple could introduce to iPhone 8's earpiece.

JPMorgan also made the prediction that AirPods could come as a free accessory with iPhone 8. If true, Apple's $159 wireless earbuds could replace the firm's $29 wired EarPods with Lightning connector that come in the box with current iPhone models.

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The research note mentions other previously rumored iPhone 8 features, like an OLED display, a stainless steel and glass design, a faster A11 processor, a larger battery, wireless charging and enhanced cameras with new sensors for 3D mapping, 3D selfies, facial recognition, augmented reality capabilities and more.

The analysts estimate that iPhone 8 will be $75 to $80 more expensive to manufacture.

iPhone 7 became the first iPhone to feature stereo sound.

Rather than use two separate speakers at the bottom of the device, Apple has opted to combine a speaker unit at the bottom with the earpiece at the top to create “immersive stereo sound” delivering two times the audio output of iPhone 6s and increased dynamic range.

Chinese firm is seeking approval to sell these knockoff AirPods in US

Chinese company called Dacom Electronics has created a pair of wireless headphones that look remarkably similar to Apple's $169 AirPods with the custom W1 chip that first went on sale in December.

As reported by Business Insider, Dacom via its recent FCC filing is now seeking approval to sell its knockoff AirPods to customers in the United States.

Upcoming tweak will bring new features to your AirPods

AirPods

AirPods are a hot commodity among iPhone users these days. In fact, they’re so popular that Apple can’t even keep up with the incredible demand they’re receiving from consumers.

That aside, users will soon have the ability to use their jailbreak to customize the way their AirPods work. iOS developer LaughingQuoll is currently working on a new jailbreak tweak called Siliqua that's specifically designed for using your AirPods in a bevy of new ways.

Protect your AirPods case with PodPockets

If you are lucky enough to own a set of AirPods, you love them, you take them everywhere, you show them to everyone, you run back into the house if you forget them. You are constantly grabbing and going these little wizards, which by most standards, are the best technology forward product Apple released in 2016. With all Apple products, I want to keep them safe and sound, but the high polish white plastic does not hold up very well against scratches.

Within about two days, my AirPods case was scratched and ruined. I use ruined fairly loosely, but any scratch on my Apple products is a total travesty. Thankfully, I stumbled across PodPockets, which now safely cradle my AirPods case.

Apple updates AirPods firmware to version 3.5.1

AirPods

Apple today updated the firmware on AirPods. The company did not publish the official changelog at post time so we don't know what this new firmware update provides in terms of new features aside from bug fixes and performance improvements, but we'll make sure to update the article as soon as we find out more. The new software bumps the AirPods firmware from the initial version 3.3.1 to version 3.5.1.

Which W1 chip-equipped audio device should you get?

Because Apple nixed the 3.5mm headphone jack from the bottom of the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus, you either have to use the supplied Lightning dongle for backwards compatibility with your 3.5mm audio accessories, or you have to kick it up to the new age with a pair of wireless or Lightning-enabled audio devices instead.

When you don’t want to be bothered with the issue of charging your device at the same time you're listening to audio with headphones or earbuds in, the obvious choice is to go wireless. While there are tons of options, only a few come with Apple’s brand new W1 chip, which supports the slick new Bluetooth pairing process. Among those are AirPods, Beats Solo3, and Powerbeats3.

If you’re in a predicament and can’t decide between the three then you should find this piece helpful, because I'll be comparing the strengths and weaknesses of each from a variety of angles.

How to find out your AirPods firmware version

Seeing AirPods firmware version

Most Bluetooth headphones have firmware that can be periodically updated, and AirPods are no different. These firmware updates tend to be extremely small and usually offer bug fixes and stability improvements to address issues users may encounter, such as rapid battery drain.

In this post, we’ll show you how to find out which firmware version your AirPods are running.

Apple releases iOS 10.3 beta 1 to developers with Find My AirPods & other new features

Apple today seeded the first beta of what would become the third major software update to iOS 10 since its September 2016 release. The release includes a new Find My AirPods feature and other enhancements, like Reduce Motion for websites.

iOS 10.3 beta 1 (build 14E5230e) is available to registered developers who are members of Apple Developer Program. A version of the software aimed at public beta testers registered with Apple Beta Software Program is expected shortly.