> Force sensor with volume swipe arrives on AirPods 5, a first for the open-ear form factor, adding the ability to quickly adjust volume by swiping up or down on the stem.
Pure apple marketing juice this one.
Apple Introduces AirPods 5 (apple.com)
162 pointsby awad2 hours ago134 comments
motoboi 2 hours ago
This is so hilarious, apple selling volume up and down as it were some fantastical feature and not have been present in air pods pro since god nows when.
fellowniusmonk 2 hours ago
My freebud 5's do that now.
dgellow an hour ago
Pretty sure I had something like that on galaxy buds 6+ years ago
stonogo an hour ago
Been a feature on Bose QC earbuds for a long time too
crossroadsguy 34 minutes ago
But is that an Apple? If not, then how is that good?
creaturemachine 2 hours ago
The marketing kool-aid must flow. Many other earbuds have swipe volume, but because they aren't open-ear Apple gets to claim this amazing breakthrough.
MBCook 2 hours ago
Translation: “We took a pro thing and put it on the non-pros. Money please.”
dijit 2 hours ago
for those who were holding out from Gen1 or whatever, adding pro features at a non-pro price is definitely incentivising. I’m not sure why we’re pretending it’s not.
Would you rather have generation old Pros or brand new standard airpods which have the pro features you actually want.
MBCook an hour ago
I think it’s nice and I think they covered it right in the video.
Do you want open ear (AirPods) or closed (AirPods Pro).
Some people can’t stand having something in their ear. The volume control is a nice feature to have and now it’s available on the cheaper ones. I’ve missed it on my 4s.
Yeah the marketing copy is marketing copy and Apple never references competitors. But if you like the non-pros it’s a nice upgrade.
coldtea an hour ago
>Do you want open ear (AirPods) or closed (AirPods Pro). Some people can’t stand having something in their ear.*
Both versions put something in your ear.
There are wireless earbuds that stay outside next to the ear, that are actually the ones legitimately called "open ear", but the AirPods aren't that type.
MBCook an hour ago
It’s confined to the assumption you already want AirPods.
Apple isn’t going to mention things they don’t sell.
accrual 40 minutes ago
> Do you want open ear (AirPods) or closed (AirPods Pro).
I'm holding out for the next Pro model as I genuinely benefit from closed headphones/earbuds. Open is nice in a controlled environment but I'd rather have that slight seal when I'm somewhere noisy.
My Pro 2s are genuinely very comfortable and still work great after 2+ years of moderate use, so haven't felt a need to upgrade to Pro 3 yet. I use aftermarket foam-like tips and find they seal great FWIW.
coldtea an hour ago
>for those who were holding out from Gen1 or whatever, adding pro features at a non-pro price is definitely incentivising. I’m not sure why we’re pretending it’s not.
Because it's a non-feature even the cheapest $30 wireless earbuds have had since forever, often even better, like with physical buttons.
joemi 2 minutes ago
So what are you saying? Because there are cheaper earbuds made by someone else with this feature, Apple _shouldn't_ add it to their earbuds? I'm not sure why that would be the case.
daseiner1 an hour ago
apple has been quite good at treating their "economy" products with the same level of respect as their premium ones, as far as I've experienced. the Neo is significantly more powerful than the Pro I bought four years ago and $100 cheaper, pre-inflation. A brand like Apple introducing a highly-capable "discount" product goes against all common sensibilities for a company whose branding is anchored on prestige. Plus the extended support window for older devices vs. their competitors in the smartphone space.
s3p 2 hours ago
*Less money please.
Fervicus an hour ago
Come on, it's their best AirPod yet!
accrual 44 minutes ago
I know it's silly but I enjoy listening for the "this is our X-est Y yet" during these events. It's incremental improvements I enjoy, but it's like a mini trope for me.
m3kw9 an hour ago
why not? lets not talk about it, people like this gonna say we are highlighting a new feature on a non-pro model
pkulak an hour ago
Of all the marketing to complain about, this seems super tame. Wait until you see "gluten-free tortilla chips" at the supermarket. :D
KyleTheDev an hour ago
As somebody w/ Celiac, you'd be surprised. Many a time I've been poisoned by normal gluten free things being tainted by poor manufacturing lines, or companies mixing in other product. Tortilla chips with gluten, Hashbrowns/Potatoes coated with wheat flour, so many things are made not-gluten-free for no reason.
giglamesh 14 minutes ago
There is always a reason and it usually has something to do with money. We really need to find a cure for Celiac 'cuz wheat is just too ingrained in our culture to be removed. (pun not intended, but also not removed so...)
newguytony an hour ago
Some brands use wheat to make the chips more crunchy. Just like IHOP puts wheat in their scrambled eggs. McDonald's uses wheat in their french fries. They stick wheat everywhere.
bromuro an hour ago
Actually in the event they presented it exactly like that.
lvillani an hour ago
The Pros don't fit my ears even with the smallest ear tips. I definitely welcome bringing that feature to the regular model.
anonthrownaway 34 minutes ago
They make aftermarket tips that are a bit smaller. Still to big for my ears so I switched to the newer "cuff" style and am reasonably happy with them except when I want noise-cancelling.
xattt an hour ago
> … apple selling volume up and down as it were some fantastical feature and not have been present in air pods pro since god nows when.
I’ve been having to throw away my earphones and getting new ones whenever I needed a new volume setting. Going up and down in the same device is truly a game changer.
/s
jerlam an hour ago
The swipe controls are terrible on my Pro 2s and make me miss physical buttons like on my ancient Jabra 65t. It's easier to reach into a pocket and push the volume buttons on my phone without unlocking or looking at it.
mszcz an hour ago
Oh man, I loved the 65t! I remember Jabra making great true wireless headphones. They were small, sounded ok, had actual buttons but operating them didn't push the earbud against the brain.
Miss that a lot. Nowadays it's all touch and I hate it so much because for some reason I have a problem spatially locating them and always end up touching it the wrong way (and yes, I know... ;)
cco 2 hours ago
Extend the Stem!!
I have no idea why Apple has made AirPods harder to handle, impaired mic placement, and limited the battery capacity with shorter stems.
The longer stems offered more room for battery, got the mic closer to your mouth, and were so much easier to handle, manipulate etc.
Can't really fathom why they shortened the stem and made it harder for everyone, themselves and users alike.
cj 2 hours ago
Aesthetics. Short stem looks sleeker.
Form vs. function
s3r3nity 2 hours ago
Or, you know, design trade-offs like every other hardware ever made.
I don't want to feel like I'm wearing one of those customer support head mics. I'm ok with shorter stem, and never had a problem.
throwup238 2 hours ago
> Or, you know, design trade-offs like every other hardware ever made.
Or different SKUs. Just saying.
Not that hard for the most profitable trillion dollar company on the planet.
stackghost 2 hours ago
Apple are king of form over function. Have we already forgotten that hack Jony Ive and his fetish for removing usefulness in favor of a few mm of thinness? Or the stupid fucking Touch Bar keyboard?
I still have a touch bar MacBook and the keyboard is unusable now.
grvbck 19 minutes ago
The touch bar was not a bad invention. Apple just neglected it and never gave it the software support it deserved. With some proper development it could have been great.
cco 2 hours ago
Do they? I don't think so. Makes them look stubby and more like a hearing assistive device (not particularly fashionable).
They looked sleeker and more balanced with the longer stem and in the ear more like jewelry.
raverbashing an hour ago
Honestly the stems always looked kinda dorky to me
loloquwowndueo 2 hours ago
It’s Apple so the answer is clear: shorter stems look nicer. Functionality be damned. You’re holding it wrong my dude. Nobody wants to look like they have q-tips in their ears.
euroderf 2 hours ago
So fade the stem to dark grey already.
loloquwowndueo 2 hours ago
Dirty q tips? Eww :)
longbrass 2 hours ago
The smaller the form factor, the closer they are to functional implants.
embedding-shape 2 hours ago
Also each device has to be identifiably different by at least some small margin, so the people who care about measuring worth/value based on the latest devices and similar trash can reject people based on what they "wear", pushing up device sales.
afavour 2 hours ago
Personally I prefer it. Less chance of accidentally knocking them out.
ksec an hour ago
>Extend the Stem!!
Same thought as well. It doesn't have to be much bigger, but even 10% longer would be much more useful from mic placement and battery perspective.
jandrewrogers 26 minutes ago
I assume the long stem increases the likelihood it will be dislodged from the ear because it increases torque at the point of contact when moving. The first AirPods were much less secure in the ear than current ones. Reducing stem length may lower the risk of them falling out.
The long stem may have been a necessary but suboptimal engineering tradeoff to get the first version out the door. A lot of design tweaks have gone into making AirPods less likely to fall out.
ksec an hour ago
Interesting on the pricing. You now get some of the best AirPod features all in $129. In Apple's pricing that is cheap.
On the other hand in the past few years I have noticed a lot of people wearing Sony's Wireless headset and Earphones. Apple used to dominate this category when they first launch AirPods. I am wondering what happened they people discovered they could use other brand and Apple's brand loyalty don't quite work.
ghostly_s 42 minutes ago
Apple's product has never been near the top in ergonomics nor sound quality, there's no big mystery. The UX and the ANC were their differentiator but the competition has largely closed that gap.
rootusrootus 5 minutes ago
How do these compare to the AirPods 4 ANC, I wonder? Hopefully not too much better given that I bought a pair of those about a month ago... :-/
t1234s 10 minutes ago
I think the reason they are bringing the normal AirPods close to the features of the AirPods Pro is the next version of AirPods Pro will have tiny forward cameras on the tips allowing visual along with audio AI.
[holding two items at a store] "Siri.. which one of these should I buy"
mrheosuper 2 hours ago
$30 cheaper is a surprise for sure. Especially in this economy.
Flavius an hour ago
Too much competition from China. They would have bumped the price if it wasn't for the cheap alternatives from every Chinese manufacturer.
meindnoch 21 minutes ago
I hope they've made the metal contacts inside the case a bit sturdier, because I'm often getting one or both of my AirPods drained to 0% when I take them out of the case, due to contact issues (I assume).
mulderc 13 minutes ago
mostly likely you need to clean your case
meindnoch 11 minutes ago
Always do when this happens. I blow into it, and there's no visible dirt on the metal contacts either. Also, a friend of mine also reported the same for their AirPods Pro 2.
armadyl 3 minutes ago
Honestly the most frustrating thing about the pros tbh.
AndrewStephens 17 minutes ago
I knew this was going to happen when I purchased my AirPod3s a couple of weeks ago. The only feature I really miss is the touch volume control.
sajithdilshan 14 minutes ago
Looks like it’s better than AirPod Pro, but cheaper. That’s surprising
factorialboy 2 hours ago
Why do they all sound robotic and sterile? :-/
Let's feel some excitement in your voices!
bluepeter 2 hours ago
For real. I almost think they shouldn't practice, script it, or focus-group it. Just get up there and wing it. Would honestly sound better.
russh an hour ago
I'm stating to think everyone hands are actually AI CGI.
minimaxir 2 hours ago
> For users who want even more, AirPods 5 with Wireless Charging Case add longer battery life and on-stem volume control for $149
This is a weird product feature versioning. Would people pay an extra $20 for these two features specifically? With the AirPods 4 the upsell SKU was ANC which made exponentially more sense.
fckgw an hour ago
The differentiating feature is the Wireless Charging case, which they've had a separate SKU for forever.
m3kw9 an hour ago
^ knocking it before anyone on earth tried it- minus apple
minimaxir an hour ago
Both of these features have been on existing models (which I've used) for quite awhile and are not unknown quantities.
MDTHLN an hour ago
I would pay for the stem volume controls alone.
I prefer the regular AirPods to in-ear. But I still keep an old pair of Pro's around purely because the stem is so convenient for changing volume when I'm walking the dog or out for a run and I'd rather not get my phone out my pocket.
K7PJP 31 minutes ago
I bought the AirPods 4 with ANC in large part due to the Wireless Charging Case.
layer8 42 minutes ago
I still want them to bring the “tap” operation of the first two generations back. It’s so convenient, for example when wearing them under a beanie in winter. The squeezing and swiping controls aren’t an adequate replacement.
mulderc 12 minutes ago
yeah I loved the tap controls. Would be nice to have both available. My guess is that for many people the "tap" wasn't as accurate as apple would like it to be as I had heard lots of complaints about that not working for people when I was available.
acd an hour ago
Sennheiser Momentum 5 has user replacable battery which is better for the environment
asadm an hour ago
why would I want a replaceable battery?
My airpods have been working fine for 6 years now. Isn't THAT better for the environment?
acd an hour ago
You want a replaceable battery because once the battery wears out if the repair is expensive people will throw the used air buds. Used airbuds creates electronic waste ewaste on landfills.
Not all electronic recycling ä works well some non working electronics are shipped to Africa . The "recycler" takes the profit in the pocket. People have put airtags to track where such electronics to goods end up.
matchbok3 38 minutes ago
There is no proof that user-replaceable batteries meaningfully reduces e-waste. A lot of tech is upgraded due to obsolete CPUs, etc, not batteries. Plus, batteries last a long time now.
Also, landfills work really well. Most recycling doesn't work and pollutes more.
culi 5 minutes ago
It is illegal to send e-waste to landfills in California and 22 other states
TiredOfLife an hour ago
Those are some weird looking in ear earphones
LeoPanthera an hour ago
Why are you comparing in-ear earbuds to over-ear headphones?
matchbok3 31 minutes ago
What % of people replace a battery over the lifespan of an item? Does the increased complexity and size of the unit make up for the slightly longer lifespan? What makes it "better" for the environment, exactly when it all ends up in a landfill after 5 years anyway?
yawnxyz 2 hours ago
have they ever improved the charging system so the charging leads dont get gunked up?
I have a pair of airpod pro 2 and i have to scrape the leads almost every day
would be amazing if they did it thru induction charging (tho i guess thats really slow)
groos 2 hours ago
Is that you, Shrek?
vachina 2 hours ago
Im on my third pair of Airpods pro (replacement courtesy of Apple) and all of them had the ANC partially fail the longer i use them. I wonder why Apple still release new versions of these whem they cant even get the basics right.
toxik an hour ago
Yep, I wonder why the ANC socialt is so fragile. Turns me off from buying new ones.
nxc18 an hour ago
Have you tried replacing your eartips? I find that radically improves performance - I think they must either get clogged or brittle in a way that causes problems.
Cheap foam eartips from Amazon are even better than stock for my AirPods Pro but they need to be replaced more often.
Toutouxc an hour ago
I’ve had them for 3,5 years now and off the top of my head I can’t remember where the “charging leads” are. So it’s safe to say that mine definitely don’t get gunked up.
diroussel an hour ago
They already do have inductive charging. Both MagSafe, Qi. They even work on the watch charger.
That’s for all AirPod Pros, and definitely the AirPod 4 with ANC, not sure about other non pros.
dylan604 an hour ago
There's definitely versions that do not work with all wireless chargers like the watch charger. Whatever older pair I have do not work with the watch charger
MisterMunchkin 2 hours ago
I wonder if they have an automation system which releases these perfectly in time with the video, or if they have some blog boy that has to post them at the right time.
bob1029 2 hours ago
They have multiple fake product "labs" with which to use as sets simply for filming these videos. I am sure one or two FTEs is plausible.
wmeredith an hour ago
A manual operation wouldn't shock me at all. A friend used to work on Apple.com and as recently as 5 years ago the product pages were still hard coded. No CMS.
toasty228 an hour ago
> Powered by Apple Intelligence, Live Translation on AirPods 5 breaks down barriers by letting users communicate across languages.
Thing that only happens in the minds of SV marketing gurus.
andsoitis 2 hours ago
> best-in-class open‑ear Active Noise Cancellation
Devialet Gemini earbuds are superior: https://www.devialet.com/en-us/true-wireless-earbuds/
Also, they’re French acoustic experts, so cooler and deeper knowledge.
martinky24 2 hours ago
source? have you tried airpods 5?
PcChip 2 hours ago
how can you say that without having tried both?
jbotz an hour ago
Apples, oranges. Those Devialet look interesting, but aren't "open ear" (they're plugs) and cost twice as much. edit: almost four times as much.
criddell an hour ago
Do they pair with Apple devices as easily? If I lose them, can I find them with Find My? Can I use them as hearing aids?
SepiaSapient 40 minutes ago
I found the auto translate thing very funny. Like this woman is some train station in Mexico and after getting an invitation in Spanish to some music event she doesn't even try to say "Gracias".
Like yeah, obviously anyone would understand "Thanks" but come on. Was this part of the discussion of some long meeting? Like if she said a word in Spanish it would imply the Air Pods translate your words?
I'm obviously nitpicking but I just found it oddly funny.
at1as 2 hours ago
The only thing I really want is significantly improved battery life (that could last for an entire flight).
But in the end, it'll be the desire to eradicate the lightning port from my life that forces my hand on the upgrade
josteink 19 minutes ago
With ANC and volume control now available on the basic AirPods what’s the story for the AirPod Pros now? An obsolete product line?
afavour 2 hours ago
Interesting they’re adding ANC, what’s the use case for the Pro now I wonder?
minimaxir 2 hours ago
The AirPods 4 has an ANC option which is weaker than the Pro; this new version just has it baseline and cheaper (and better).
jauntywundrkind 24 minutes ago
Just to mention, saw some people saying Apple was working on AirPods with little cameras in them. Not this time, at least.
jjice an hour ago
I really hate silicone tip earbuds and the AirPods 4 with ANC were game changing. Having ANC without the silicone tips was just huge for me. It's obviously not as good as having the passive isolation of the silicone as well, but it's plenty good for airplanes and trains.
Are there non-Apple alternatives that also accomplish this?
tonymet an hour ago
A worthy upgrade to a miracle product . Just a couple decades it was a sci-fi fantasy and we all can enjoy it . I get the bible in my ear all night at bed time and books while I work and walk around the property. Great to see the price cut .
tonymet 42 minutes ago
Plus fewer distractions.
idle_zealot 2 hours ago
Another year of disappointment for me. Airpods gen 1 and 2 were the only buds I could find that fit in my funky ears perfectly. The new shapes just fall right out unless I'm constantly adjusting them. Apple may have found a more universal fit, but I'm not part of their universe.