Apple’s new wireless earbuds, expected to be announced this week as “AirPods,” are said to feature a custom-designed wireless chip that will be “Bluetooth-like” … targeting the high-end market, with Beats positioned in the midrange market [emphasis mine]
Source: Apple ‘AirPods’ to target high end of headphone market with custom ‘Bluetooth-like’ low-power tech
Like John Gruber,
Ming-Chi Kuo: ‘Apple Planning Wireless Headphones to Target Higher-End Than Beats for iPhone 7’
I saw this report and had the same reaction–This makes no sense. Beats is already positioned as a high end headphone compared to Apple’s EarPods (regardless of where you stand on the audio quality of Beats). How much more expensive are “AirPods” going to be!?
Personally, while I think there will be some kind of wireless Apple headphones, branded “AirPods” based on Apple’s trademark filings [Leaked Apple trademarks reveal iPhone 7’s smart button, MacBook Pro’s touch bar and more], I don’t expect Apple to ship wireless headphones as the standard headphone with the new iPhone. I expect that they will ship a wired headphone which uses the Lightening connector. “AirPods” will be an optional accessory, but more than Beats, I think NOT.
But with today’s special event about to start, we’ll soon see if I am right.
UPDATE (2:27 PM EDT): New iPhone 7/7 Plus ship with Lightening headphones. But surprisingly, to me at least, Apple is also including a 3.5mm to Lightening adapter. I guess that Apple was worried about the feedback/resistance. Also introducing AirPods.
UPDATE (3:30 PM EDT): AirPods to go on sale for $159, Beats are $199-$299. So it looks like Beats are still positioned as the higher end headphones. Phil Schiller’s description of the technology and functionality of the AirPods is amazing. Can’t believe how they packed it all into a pair of earbuds.
