Today marks eight years since Apple launched the original AirPods. Unveiled in September 2016 alongside the iPhone 7, the wireless headphones became available on December 19, 2016, following a slight delay.
At the time, wireless headphones were already on the market but had not yet reached true mass popularity. AirPods helped redefine the category through their convenience and seamless integration with Apple devices. Apple's Phil Schiller at the time:
AirPods are the first headphones to deliver a breakthrough wireless audio experience, and with the new Apple W1 chip they deliver innovative features including high quality sound, great battery life and automatic setup. AirPods are simple and magical to use, with no switches or buttons, automatically connecting to all your Apple devices simply and seamlessly, and letting you access Siri with just a double tap. We can't wait for users to try them with iPhone 7 and Apple Watch Series 2.
Priced at $159, the first-generation AirPods introduced key features such as one-tap pairing with Apple devices and in-ear detection for automatic play-pause functionality. Powered by Apple's custom W1 chip, they delivered enhanced audio quality compared to wired EarPods and set a new standard for battery life in a compact, completely wireless design.
Since their debut, AirPods have evolved with the release of second-, third-, and fourth-generation models in March 2019, October 2021, and September 2024. These updates brought improvements such as better audio quality, longer battery life, hands-free "Hey Siri" functionality, a wireless charging case, and, most recently, active noise cancellation. The product line has also expanded with the premium AirPods Pro, featuring an in-ear design and active noise cancellation, in October 2019, and the over-ear AirPods Max in December 2020.
Monday December 16, 2024 10:06 am PST by Juli Clover
Apple today seeded the first betas of upcoming iOS 18.3 and iPadOS 18.3 updates to developers for testing purposes, with the software coming a week after Apple released iOS 18.2 and iPadOS 18.2.
iOS 18.3 and iPadOS 18.3 can be downloaded from the Settings app on a compatible device by going to General > Software update.
There's no word yet on what's included in iOS 18.3 and iPadOS 18.3, ...
Tuesday December 17, 2024 9:02 am PST by Joe Rossignol
The current Apple TV 4K was released more than two years ago, so the streaming device is becoming due for a hardware upgrade soon. Fortunately, it was recently rumored that a new Apple TV will launch at some point next year.
Below, we recap rumors about the next-generation Apple TV.
Bloomberg's Mark Gurman last week reported that Apple has been working on its own combined Wi-Fi and...
Sunday December 15, 2024 9:47 am PST by Joe Rossignol
Apple is planning a series of "major design" and "format changes" for iPhones over the next few years, according to The Wall Street Journal's Aaron Tilley and Yang Jie.
The paywalled report published today corroborated the widely-rumored "iPhone 17 Air" with an "ultrathin" design that is thinner than current iPhone models. The report did not mention a specific measurement, but previous...
Monday December 16, 2024 8:55 am PST by Tim Hardwick
Apple released iOS 18.2 in the second week of December, bringing the second round of Apple Intelligence features to iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 16 models. This update brings several major advancements to Apple's AI integration, including completely new image generation tools and a range of Visual Intelligence-based enhancements. Apple has added a handful of new non-AI related feature controls as...
Tuesday December 17, 2024 6:25 am PST by Joe Rossignol
Apple on Monday seeded the first tvOS 18.3 beta to developers for testing. The update will likely be released in January. So far, there are only minor changes for the Apple TV, with one new feature and a few code changes discovered.
Below, we outline what is new in tvOS 18.3 so far.
Robot Vacuum Support in Home App
First, tvOS 18.3 will add robot vacuum support to the Home app on the...
Contrary to recent reports, the iPhone 17 Pro will not feature a horizontal camera layout, according to the leaker known as "Instant Digital."
In a new post on Weibo, the leaker said that a source has confirmed that while the appearance of the back of the iPhone 17 Pro has indeed changed, the layout of the three cameras is "still triangular," rather than the "horizontal bar spread on the...
I remember the memes and mocking these received from the initial unveiling. I was a day one adopter and didn’t care what they looked like on me. Game changing device IMHO, and as expected, I knew it was only a matter of time before it was as ubiquitous as they are now. The freedom from wires and the comfort (depending on a person’s ears of course), rendered the headphone jack on my iPhone useless from that point on. The sound quality was acceptable for casual listening on the go, and everything about the experience of setting up and using them gave me the “only would do this” vibes. Now on my 3rd set (Pros 2) and I cannot imagine life without them. Thank you !
Doesn't matter, just needs to not rely on bluetooth or tiny batteries.
Well, the good thing is until Apple goes 100% wireless you still have the option.
But I also find it hypocritical that Apple claims to be sustainable while products like AirPods are de facto non-repairable. And you are spot on, they account for a big portion of e-waste.
Loved that time in tech. It was a personal renaissance of my musical discovery, where having cordless in ear headphones that worked so seamlessly with my iPhone allowed me to make best use of Spotify & find new music throughout my work day.
While I never had to endure any version prior to the second generation so-called "pro" model, after suffering through several very different wireless offerings from other brands around the time of this initial AirPods launch, I'm still impressed with what Apple achieved. For one reason or another, I legitimately wanted to hate these things and had nothing but bad things to say about wireless headphones. I realize the industry has, by all accounts, finally caught up, but I have to give credit where it's due; that Apple created something that does exactly what I want it to – nearly flawlessly – and actually turned me into an AirPods user.
