My first HN comment. It’s the monopoly tie in… so many features that other just cannot provide. Hey siri… handover to name a few. It’s a total disgrace IMHO. To think how much Microsoft got fined for just bundling IE..
2-3 years for earphones are a good metric? My Sony WH-1000X M3 are now almost 6 years old and still work perfectly (just replaced the pads once last year)
Sony has done the same with its ear buds as well. So I'm inclined to think it's not "they just make a good product" and more "they've positioned themselves as the premium electronics brand".
I disagree with author here. I wish I didn’t, because that would mean that customers are much more aware than they really are. In reality I doubt that adding those features to existing models had any impact on sales at all. If Apple had data that people would buy headphones for those features, they would 100% made them exclusive. AirPods are just the best in its class, that’s why people are buying them.
When my pair of Airpods started hissing, I bought "cheap" headphones from Amazon for $40. No Siri integration or what have you, but mic & speakers work great and if I lose them I'm not out hundreds of dollars.
Also the bluetooth pairing / switching between devices is much saner for me.
My AirPods Pro (2nd gen) are just about 3 years old, still going strong, used daily for anywhere from 30-minutes to a few hours. I recently rented a U-Haul cargo van and had to drive it empty for a few hours. It would've been deafening without the AirPods. The noise cancellation works great for something like that.
My AirPods Pro first gen are nearly 6 years old, same use up till I gave them to my wife. She uses them less, but they are still going strong as well.
I just wish the tips fit my ears better. I'v resorted to having to make custom tips by placing memory foam under the large silicone tips. It's the only way I can get a decent seal. I've tried a few different third-party tips (including Comply) and none work for me.
I've actually had this particular product fail on me twice, and coincidentally, I was just talking to a friend today whose AirPods are degrading after only 1.5 years. That's the same timeframe when both my regular AirPods and AirPods Pro started failing.
I might have just been unlucky, but I'd be happy to hear some positive experiences because as a product (especially the Pro), it really is brilliant.
When Apple discontinued the first generation of AirPods, the final firmware release had a bug that was never fixed. It caused the left AirPod to disconnect after one or two minutes. Hundreds of thousands of loyal customers were affected [0], including me. You couldn't even buy a second hand left AirPod because of a firmware version mismatch.
I still love Apple products, but under Tim Cook, it feels like they care more about margins than customers.
Moved from Airpods to Galaxy Buds Pro and haven't looked back. Much better sound quality and not as finnicky. Also easier to find decent prices via sales or refurbished
This.
I'm a bit baffled considering the loyalty of Apple users to AirPods.
They are not very special for the price and most of the gimmicky features are not that useful when they work at all.
But at the same time, I know that most Apple users nowadays are sheep following trends so whatever...
I don't agree at all. I love the product but I have to buy a new pair of airpods every few years very consistently. It's either battery capacity loss, or crackling audio issues, or both to the point of not being usable. The Apple Genius always comes up with a story like "well it's out of warranty and the cost of repair is about the same as just buying new ones so you make the call dear customer."
I would love to see the data they have on lost Airpods. They can take this strategy of continuous improvement because they can count on users needing to re-buy lost Airpods.
I gave up on mine because they went flaky and went back to wired. Have had no desire to replace them. Not running out of battery is quite a good feature.
I've never used AirPods but I can say their microphones are awful: whenever I'm talking to someone who is on AirPods, I can immediately tell it from the very low audio quality. This happens with many, many people.
When they switch to their iPhone mic, it literally sounds like the audio version of upgrading from 144p to 4K.
Most of the wireless earbuds are the same thought.
Fundamentally they are fighting an uphill battle with physics and they'll probably never win no matter how much tech is developed.
They have settled on multiple mics with noise suppression technology to try to isolate and amplify just the voice but it's still so much worse than the cheap approach of a single mic along a cable not too far from your mouth that it's laughable really.
In my opinion this is a case of tech for the sake of tech, it only exists to "fix" a perceived inconvenience (at least marketed) of having a cable but to do so it creates more inconveniences and actually degrades the experience/quality.
When you think about it, it's really marketing genius that they are able to sell them at all. Basically, selling worse audio quality (both mic and speaker) than what was available in the late 2000's at 2-3 times the price, all that to not have a cable.
Apple does not have a good track record of making devices that are built to last. It has repeatedly opposed right-to-repair legislation, and has been exposed as secretly throttling the CPU of phones as the battery decays, without making that known to users. If it really is Apple's vision to sell AirPods as a lasting product, it stands in stark contrast to its overall history.
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[ 3.9 ms ] story [ 50.9 ms ] threadThere’s your problem. Batteries are just like engines - dies when you don’t use them.
Also the bluetooth pairing / switching between devices is much saner for me.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09FLNSYDZ
Shhh! Don't give Apple any ideas.
My AirPods Pro first gen are nearly 6 years old, same use up till I gave them to my wife. She uses them less, but they are still going strong as well.
I just wish the tips fit my ears better. I'v resorted to having to make custom tips by placing memory foam under the large silicone tips. It's the only way I can get a decent seal. I've tried a few different third-party tips (including Comply) and none work for me.
I might have just been unlucky, but I'd be happy to hear some positive experiences because as a product (especially the Pro), it really is brilliant.
I still love Apple products, but under Tim Cook, it feels like they care more about margins than customers.
[0] https://discussions.apple.com/thread/250494933?sortBy=rank
But at the same time, I know that most Apple users nowadays are sheep following trends so whatever...
When they switch to their iPhone mic, it literally sounds like the audio version of upgrading from 144p to 4K.
Fundamentally they are fighting an uphill battle with physics and they'll probably never win no matter how much tech is developed.
They have settled on multiple mics with noise suppression technology to try to isolate and amplify just the voice but it's still so much worse than the cheap approach of a single mic along a cable not too far from your mouth that it's laughable really.
In my opinion this is a case of tech for the sake of tech, it only exists to "fix" a perceived inconvenience (at least marketed) of having a cable but to do so it creates more inconveniences and actually degrades the experience/quality.
When you think about it, it's really marketing genius that they are able to sell them at all. Basically, selling worse audio quality (both mic and speaker) than what was available in the late 2000's at 2-3 times the price, all that to not have a cable.
1. Lost a pair 2. Lost one bud from a pair 3. Washed them 4. Swam in the ocean with them 5. Had a pair generally degrade
So I know once I buy a pair, I'm good for about a year until I need another. That's also when I tend to notice the new features. :-)