Apple has announced its long-rumored third-generation AirPods, featuring an AirPods Pro-style redesign, spatial audio support, sweat and water resistance, and more.
Available starting today, the new AirPods will be available in-store next week priced at $179 (US).
Offering an extra hour of battery life over the previous generation, the new third-generation AirPods offer up to six hours of listening time and up to four hours of talk time. According to Apple, Just five minutes of charging provides about an hour of battery life.
Like the AirPods Pro, the third-generation AirPods feature a force sensor for controlling music and phone calls. Users can squeeze the stem of their earbuds and answer calls or wake Siri.
Image: Apple
Apple boasts that the new AirPods feature AAC-ELD, a speech codec that offers full HD voice quality, providing clear, natural communication when taking calls wearing AirPods. The microphone on the new earbuds is covered by an acoustic mesh to help reduce the sound of wind, so the speaker’s voice comes across distinctly.
The new AirPods use computational audio to bring similar audio experiences found on the AirPods Pro and AirPods Max — like Adaptive EQ and spatial audio with dynamic head tracking.
For improved listening, the new AirPods feature Adaptive EQ that tunes sound in real time based on how AirPods fit in the user’s ear. An inward-facing microphone monitors for sound, and then Adaptive EQ, powered by computational audio, tunes the low and mid frequencies to account for what may be lost due to variances in fit.
