Tag: apple airpods

Apple AirPower, AirPods Wireless Charging Case To Launch Alongside iPhone SE 2 In May

Apple will host an event in May before the World Wide Developer’s Conference commences in June where the iPhone SE 2 will be launched. The Apple iPhone SE 2, after initial scepticism, seems more real than ever after recent reports. The renders of the iPhone SE 2 have revealed a glass back which means that there is a high possibility of it being wireless charging-compliant. The AirPower mat, which was unveiled at the iPhone X launch event and was supposed to launch in January 2018. However, after many delays, it appears that Apple will finally launch the AirPower along with the iPhone SE 2 in May. It makes sense for Apple to finally launch the AirPower along with the iPhone SE 2 since the SE 2 will also have wireless charging.

There is also a good chance that Apple will launch a few accessories for the Apple Watch Series 3 as well at the event. So far we know that the AirPower mat will connect via a USB type C cable and charge via a minimum of 25W Apple charger. The wireless charging mat will have a charging speed of up to 10W. Another interesting feature is that it will help devices communicate with each other to manage power consumption. In the demo video, the iPhone screen is shown tracking all the devices currently on the charger, and their battery status.

Apple users will be able to charge their wireless charging enabled iPhone, Apple Watch and the AirPods at the same time. However, Apple has still not launched the AirPods wireless charging case. This is another accessory that Apple will launch along with the iPhone SE 2. Since the AirPower will be able to charge 3 devices simultaneously, it is possible that users will be able to charge at least two iPhones simultaneously.

Apple has just announced the launch of the Apple Watch Series 3 in India. At the event in May, the company will also launch accessories like new watch bands for the Apple Watch. There have also been rumours of the Apple Watch soon supporting third-party watchfaces. This feature will likely be unveiled at the World Wide Developer’s Conference that will commence on the 4th of June.

The AirPower, in the future, might also be compatible with non-iPhone smartphones that support wireless charging. Apple said that it was working on the AirPower to be Qi-compliant and when that happens, the AirPower will become compatible with non-Apple Qi-compliant products like Galaxy S9, LG V30 and more.

The AirPower wireless charging mat, unlike the HomePod, will be globally available post its launch. Since the Apple Watch Series 3 has been announced in India and AirPods being popular among iPhone owners, we expect the AirPods wireless charging case and AirPower to launch in India soon after its global launch.

April 25, 2018
Apple Could Launch Over The Ear Headphones With Noise Cancellation

In 2016, Apple removed the beloved 3.5mm headphone jack from its iPhone 7 devices. The AirPods were subsequently unveiled which, at the time of the launch, received a lot of flak for its looks. However, with time, the AirPods have become the most successful wireless earbuds in the market. So much so that it dominates the market with up to 85% market share of Bluetooth earbuds. In fact, the company has sold more than 13 million pairs of AirPods in 2017 alone.

According to a report, Apple is working on a pair of premium over-the-ear headphones, which will be launched by the end of 2018. However, this plan is not set in stone as the company might scrape off the idea completely. It has been reported that Apple’s plans of launching over the ear headphones have been dodgy over the past year or so.

Apple AirPods

The report also suggests that the company will not launch the over the ear headphone under the Beats moniker. In fact, the company plans on making it a standalone product, similar to the AirPods.

Features

The premium wireless headphones are expected to offer active noise-cancellation. The headphones will be powered by a custom energy-efficient chipset like the W1 found on the AirPods. These headphones will cater those, who are looking for traditional feel headphones with active noise cancellation. In fact, just like the upcoming Apple AirPods 2, these headphones are expected to offer water resistance and wireless Siri integration.

Conclusion

There is no denying that the market is not short on wireless headphones with noise cancellation. Companies like Bose and Sony have plenty of headphones to cater to those who prefer this feature. However, the Apple headphones will largely attract people already in its ecosystem. The presence of the W1 chip means seamless pairing across all Apple products. However, the price of the headphones will be an interesting factor while competing with the likes of Sony, Bose and others.

March 6, 2018
Sony Xperia Ear Duo Wireless Earphones Launched At MWC 2018

Sony has officially launched the Xperia Ear Duo at MWC 2018. Just like Google, Sony has launched a pair of wireless Bluetooth earphones after removing the 3.5mm headphone jack from its new Xperia XZ2 and XZ2 Compact. These are a universal pair of Bluetooth earphones, which works with iOS and Android devices.

Pricing and availability:

The Sony Ear Duo will be available in selected markets in Black and Gold style from Spring 2018. However, the pricing is yet to be announced.

Hiroshi Ito, Deputy Head of Smart Product Business Group at Sony Mobile Communications said:

Xperia Ear Duo represents what we’ve learned from audio and acoustics research. Ear Duo is the first wireless headset to deliver a breakthrough Dual Listening experience – the ability to hear music and notifications simultaneously with sounds from the world around you.

Features of Sony Xperia Ear Duo:

These wireless earphones are based on the new Sony concept called “Dual Listening”. The earphones bring the capability, which enables to listen to a music track + environmental sound.

Sony has developed a special Spatial Acoustic Conductor, which transmits the sound directly into the ear. The specially designed ring surrounds the ear canal, which blends the music and the sound from the environment seamlessly.

The earphones use AI to adjust the volume according to the external factors, which enables the crystal clear audio listening experience using Sony’s Clear Chase technology. The Xperia Ear Duo are IPX2 certified for splash proof. Which means one can use this while exercising without any worries.

The Sony Xperia Ear Duo is equipped with a low power consuming CXD5602 chipset with a multisensor platform. In fact, the headphones support various head gestures like nodding to decline a call, shaking your head from left to right to change the music etc.

The earphones do not come with a dedicated voice assistance. Instead, one can use voice control to access Google Assistance or Siri. This works in most of the situations due to the quad microphone system.

February 26, 2018
Apple AirPods 2 Might Come With Hands-Free Siri Integration

Apple AirPods was launched along with the Apple iPhone 7 and Apple iPhone 7 Plus for US$ 149. These are the first pair of truly wireless earbuds AirPods from Apple, which was powered by a custom W1 chipset.

One needs to simply flip-open the case near an iPhone or iPad and select connect. Once it is synced to a device, it will be available on all devices with the same iCloud account. Apple AirPods offers up to 5 hours of continuos playback on a single charge and AirPods case provides up to additional 24 hours of backup battery. In fact, the company has announced that it will be launching a new AirPods case with wireless charging capability.

A new report suggests that the company is working on a next-generation Apple AirPods with improved features. However, the design is expected to identical to the first generation AirPods.

Speculated features of Apple AirPods 2:

The first major improvement will be the integration of Siri. The 2nd generation Apple AirPods 2 will be able to use Siri wirelessly. With this new device, the user will be able to ask Siri anything by just saying “Hey Siri”. In fact, in the present scenario, a user has to physically touch the AirPod to interact with Siri.

The 2nd Gen AirPods are expected to have water or splash resistance, which can survive a splash of water or rain. However, they will not be “swim-proof” like the 4th edition Apple Watch.

The newer AirPods will be designed by the same team which designed Apple HomePod, so we might also expect improved sound quality with long-lasting battery life.

Conclusion:

Apple AirPods have been the most successful wireless earbuds so far. In fact, according to a report, 85% of the wireless earbuds market is dominated by the AirPods.

Features like wireless charging and tighter Siri integration will surely make for another great pair of wireless earbuds. And probably, this time around, the AirPods will be slightly smaller in size as well.

February 23, 2018
Jabra Elite Wireless Earbuds Launched In India At Rs 12,999

Jabra has launched a new pair of wireless earbuds, the Jabra Elite at a price of Rs 12,999. The earbuds are available to buy via Amazon, Chroma, and Jabra authorised resellers.

Jabra claims that these earbuds have better noise cancellation compared to the Apple AirPods with longer lasting battery life. The Jabra Elite Earbuds comes in three colour options including Titanium Black, Copper Black, and Gold Being. The earbuds have built-in support for Siri, Google Assistant and Amazon Alexa. In fact, the company claims to be one of the first in the industry to enable the feature where it provides access to Alexa directly from the earbuds.

Design and Features:

Like most wireless earbuds, the Jabra Elite earbuds are designed to fit inside the ear properly. In fact, the retail units come with different sizes of silicon buds, which helps to user to find a right fit.The earbuds can deliver up to 15 hours of playback. However, the battery life is with respect to the carrying cradle capacity. As anyone can guess, these earbuds will connect to a smartphone or a tablet via Bluetooth.

In terms of sound output, these earbuds come with a new four microphone solution combined with an acoustic chamber to achieve the active noise cancellation. However, do note that the active noise cancellation will reduce the overall playback time.The Jabra Elite Earbuds are IP65 certified, which means one can wear these using workouts, but will not survive swimming. There is even a dedicated accelerometer, which can count body moments, number of steps, and rep counts etc.

These earbuds also come with a dedicated App called Jabra Sound+, for audio finetuning. Jabra claims that they are the first earbud company that offers native Alexa integration within the earbud.

February 22, 2018
Apple AirPods Sales Expected To Double In 2018

Multiple reports have claimed that the Apple AirPods dominate the truly wireless earbuds segment in the US. A new report from KGI Securities has claimed that AirPods will continue to experience an exponential growth. In 2018, Kuo believes that Apple will sell upwards of 28 million units, a figure which would effectively double AirPods sales year over year.

Apple doesn’t break out individualised sales figures for specific accessories, but estimates for 2017 sales are somewhere in the 13-14 million range.

We believe demand for AirPods has been strong, and note that the shipping time of the product on Apple’s official shopping website has shortened to 1-3 days, mainly thanks to an improved assembly process and increased capacity from Luxshare as the new assembler […]

We expect AirPods to remain one of the most popular Apple accessories in 2018, with shipments likely to rise 100% YoY to 26-28mn units next year.

Apple’s decision to remove the headphone jack from the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus last year was met with widespread scepticism as majority of smartphone users still use wired headphones and headphone makers had not yet entered the realm of lightning post or USB C headphones.

The AirPods was Apple’s solution to that and an indication that Apple is well and truly on its way to make a port-less iPhone. The ease of connecting the AirPods to your Apple devices proved decisive in its record sales in the past year, even though there are better sounding headphones at a cheaper price available in the market.

Following Apple’s footsteps, a lot of big companies like Samsung and recently, Sony released their versions of the truly wireless earbuds and prolific headphone makers like B&O have also entered the premium earbuds market.

A report by Gartner revealed that the sales of truly wireless earbuds will hit the 150 million sales mark in 2017.

December 5, 2017
Apple AirPods Account For 85% Of The Total Truly Wireless Earphones Sales In The US

The new trend of truly wireless earbuds has been dominated by Apple’s infamous AirPods in the US. According to NPD Group, the Apple AirPods, which launched last year along with the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus account for 85% of the total wireless earbuds sale in the American market.

Apple AirPods launched with Apple’s W1 chip which let the users seamlessly interact with their iPhones using the earbuds. People already a part of the Apple ecosystem saw the convenience of having the AirPods and decided to look past the appearance of the earbuds which was heavily panned during the time of its launch. “With a use case centering on frictionless access to Siri and other tasks initiated by voice, AirPods really act as an extension of the iPhone,” Ben Arnold, Industry Analyst wrote in the research note for NPD Group.

Apple’s decision to remove the headphone jack from the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus last year was met with widespread scepticism as majority of smartphone users still use wired headphones and headphone makers had not yet entered the realm of lightning post or USB C headphones. The AirPods was Apple’s solution to that and an indication that Apple is well and truly on its way to make a port-less iPhone. The ease of connecting the AirPods to your Apple devices proved decisive in its record sales in the past year, even though there are better sounding headphones at a cheaper price available in the market.

Following Apple’s footsteps, a lot of big companies like Samsung and recently, Sony released their versions of the truly wireless earbuds and prolific headphone makers like B&O have also entered the premium earbuds market. A report by Gartner revealed that the sales of truly wireless earbuds will hit the 150 million sales mark in 2017. This suggests that people have definitely formed a liking for these earphones and are confident of not misplacing them within a week!

November 22, 2017
Samsung May be Making A Bixby Powered AirPod Competitor

Recent announcement of Samsung’s Bixby voice support being available to Galaxy S8 and S8+ owners in US has kept Samsung in news. The latest rumour is that Samsung might be working on making AirPods-like headphones powered by its smart assistant Bixby. The headphones are expected to feature noise-cancelling tech and are expected to be launched alongside the Galaxy Note 8 launch next month.

The Bixby powered earphones are also reported to also allow users to talk to Bixby and ask the voice-activated assistant contextual questions, thanks to Bixby’s recently released voice support.

While Samsung’s Smart assistant is still in works and requires many updates, releasing a pair of expensive Bluetooth earphones might not be the best decision. Bringing Bixby to be up to par with the Alexa, Siri, Google Assistant might take some time.

Samsung is also reportedly working on a Bixby speaker, designed to compete with Google Home, Amazon’s Alexa-powered Echo and Apple’s HomePod. But the recent rumours suggest that the project might have been scuttled.

The rumours also state that the device isn’t fully ready yet, therefore, there are chances that the launch might not happen as soon as the Note 8 launch. Which, may also buy Samsung the time it needs to work on it’s smart assistant and launch with a much improved device.

It is all heresy till the end product is officially announced by Samsung. For now, their focus should be on the Note 8, as they have some really angry people to please in the Note world..

The Note 8 is expected to have a horizontally placed dual camera setup with 12MP dual pixel sensors each. Expected to run on the Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 with a 6GB RAM and 64GB on board storage, the Samsung Galaxy Note 8 will reportedly run Android 7.1 from the get go and is said to have a 3,300mAh battery pack. Recent reports also suggest that the Note 8 will feature a 4k borderless Super Amoled display design and a newly designed S-Pen with improved features.

July 22, 2017
Apple AirPods Are Wireless EarPods with 5 Hours of Wireless Audio

With the launch of the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus,Apple has also launched the new Apple Airpods. A $149 accessory that will allow users to connect to the new iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 plus using the new Apple W1 chip (wireless connection chip).

Paring requires you to simply bring the AirPods close to the iPhone and select connect. The AirPods will then be available across all iCloud account devices automatically.

The Airpods offer 5 hours of continuos play and the AirPod case provides acts as an addition 24 Hours of backup battery pack.

The airpots much like the Samsung Gear IconX are truly wireless however have a traditional earphone design, more bluetooth headset like. both sides include a wireless microphone and touch controls.

The Airpods will be available late October for US $ 149 in the US market. Apple will launch the AirPods in India in November for Rs. 13499 .

September 8, 2016