AirPods Apple's completely wireless earbuds.

 In March 2019, AirPods 2 was launched and are fully cordless, wireless earbuds. The product line has since been extended by Apple with AirPods Pro.

AirPods 2 Features

• "Hey Siri" functionality
• Optional wireless charging case
• New H1 chip
• 50 percent more talk time
• Twice as fast at switching devices

Apple's Second-Generation AirPods

Apple overhauled the AirPods in March 2019 and unveiled the first AirPods update with a handful of useful new features that made the earbuds developed by Apple better than ever before. AirPods 2 supports "Hey Siri" hands-free functionality, allowing users to monitor volume and switch songs via voice commands, so there's no longer a need to tap Siri to activate the AirPods with a finger.

The new AirPods are fitted with an updated H1 chip that replaces the W1 chip and offers improvements in connectivity. For an even more hassle-free experience, AirPods attach more easily to your computers, and automatic switching between devices when listening to music is now two times faster. Bluetooth 5.0 is enabled by the H1 chip in the second-generation AirPods, which should offer improved range.

AirPods can be combined with your iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, Apple Watch, Apple TV, and Mac, and you can quickly switch between Apple devices with the H1 chip. AirPods are also paired using standard Bluetooth pairing strategies with Android phones and other Bluetooth-enabled devices.

The AirPods 2 from Apple comes with an optional wireless charging case that allows wireless charging based on Qi. Without the charging case for $159, you can get the new AirPods, with the Charging Case for $199, or you can purchase just the Charging Case for $79 for your original AirPods.

The design improvements to the AirPods have not been made, so they appear to look identical to the regular Apple EarPods except without the cable. AirPods are fully wireless and are still available only in white, with no other available colour options.

When listening to music, AirPods have up to five hours of battery life, and the case offers an additional 24 hours of battery life. With the H1 chip, the new AirPods are more powerful and speaking time has improved from two hours to three hours.

The AirPods inside attach automatically to your computer when you open up the Charging Case, and using built-in sensors and an accelerometer, the AirPods will sense when you put them in your ears or take them out, play and pause the audio accordingly.

If you don't want to use the Hey Siri feature, beamforming microphones make simple, crisp calls, and there are built-in tap gestures to change tracks, change volume, and trigger Siri. When you are talking to shut out ambient echo, a separate speech accelerometer kicks in.

If you want to keep an ear free to listen to the world around you, you can use both AirPods at once or just one, and Apple engineered the AirPods to provide high-quality AAC audio that sounds great for anything from songs to podcasts.

The AirPods refresh of the second generation lacks some of the rumoured features, such as a new colour, but the H1 chip for enhanced communication and system switching times, the extra hour of talk time, the "Hey Siri" functionality, and the Wireless Charging Case make this a solid upgrade. In another update that is in the works and expected to launch in 2020, some of the previously rumoured features could arrive.

Apple has discontinued the first generation AirPods with the introduction of the second-generation AirPods. In addition to the AirPods Pro, Apple now offers the AirPods 2, a higher-end $249 variant of the AirPods with Active Noise Cancellation and a new edition with silicone ear tips, as of October 2019.

Occasionally, Apple launches AirPods firmware updates, and the latest firmware version is 3A283, released in September to add automatic system switching support.

How to Buy

The second-generation AirPods are offered by Apple in three separate arrangements. You can get the new $159 AirPods and no Wireless Charging Case, or choose to buy the new $199 Wireless Charging Case AirPods.

There is also an option to buy the Wireless Charging Case for $79 on a standalone basis without the AirPods, which is nice if you only want wireless charging capabilities but still have perfectly good original AirPods. AirPods can be bought in Apple retail stores or online.

AirPods Charging Cases can now be engraved with Apple when bought from the Apple website, allowing either text characters or an emoji to be added.

For AirPods, Apple provides a $29 AppleCare+ package, which expands the regular warranty and allows two accidental damage replacements.

As Apple may face production delays due to the coronavirus outbreak in China, AirPods may be in short supply in early 2020. There are staffing shortages and travel restrictions in several factories in China, which have the potential to affect development.

AirPods Features Added in iOS 13

As of iOS 13, you can pair two sets of AirPods to one iPhone or iPad so you can watch a movie 

or listen to music with a friend.

There is also a new feature designed to read incoming messages from messaging apps, so that even when your iPhone is not in reach, you can hear what is necessary and dictate an answer. The role works with messages and other applications from third parties, such as WhatsApp.

Design and Internals

The AirPods of the second generation look much like the AirPods of the first generation, with no improvements or changes to the design. The AirPods are reminiscent of the Apple EarPods that were offered by Apple alongside the iPhones for a long time, but there are no wires on the AirPods.

AirPods are fully wire-free and are made of white glossy plastic. The AirPods are built to nestle into the ear, and can suit a number of ears because of the shape. AirPods do not provide noise cancelling or sound isolating functions, so the environment around you can always be heard.

While AirPods have been developed to have a universal fit that suits all ear sizes, not everyone considers them comfortable, and during exercise, some people don't like to wear them. AirPods remain in the ears for the most part, however.

Each AirPod has a tail or a stem that comes down out of the ears to provide stability and additional space to house internal components.

AirPods are capable of operating independently since there are no cables. You can wear both or only one, and, thanks to the technology inside, they act like normal earphones when working together.

Featuring a motion accelerometer and dual optical sensors, AirPods allow for tap movements and a feature called ear detection. AirPods can tell when they're placed in your ear and when they're taken out so your music plays when you put them in. And your music pauses when you take one out.

The AirPods' built-in dual beamforming microphones make for voice calls and Siri commands, and there is a secondary speech-detecting accelerometer that can philtre out background noise and concentrate on your voice.

AirPods are not water resistant, but Apple has applied a water repellent coating to the circuit board in the second-generation model.

H1 Chip

The first-generation AirPods from Apple used a W1 chip, but an upgraded H1 chip features the second-generation version. The H1 chip is what makes the "magic" of the AirPods possible, allowing an expanded range, longer talk time, and switching between your Mac and iOS devices for an effective Bluetooth connection.

The H1 chip provides a key function linked to iCloud-simple switching of devices. Your AirPods are connected to your iCloud account, and all devices signed into the same iCloud account can be paired with them. Automatic device swapping has been allowed with iOS 14, so AirPods can switch between iPhone, iPad, Mac, and Apple Watch automatically when you use them with no need to access Bluetooth device swap controls.

Automatic switching works with AirPods 2, AirPods Pro, Powerbeats, Powerbeats Pro, and Beats Solo Pro, and the new software updates (iOS 14 or later, watchOS 7 or later, tvOS 14 or later, or macOS Big Sur or later) must be modified for the computers.

The H1 chip has a revamped audio architecture to maximise synchronisation. Link times are two times faster when switching between devices when listening to music on an iPhone, Apple Watch, or iPad, and the AirPods connect 1.5 times faster while making phone calls. The latency of gaming has also been decreased by 30 percent. Automatic switching is connected to Apple devices, but there is also a traditional Bluetooth connection for AirPods, so you can pair them with any Bluetooth device including Android smartphones and PCs

Hey Siri

A new hands-free Siri feature is operated by the Apple H1 chip, which allows you to activate Siri with a "Hey Siri" command instead of having to press AirPods to activate a personal assistant.

Hey Siri is a feature that is available on iPhones, iPads, Macs, and Apple Watch, and it's now also an AirPods feature. To adjust the AirPod volume, pick a song, place a phone call, and more, Siri will provide hands-free access.

Supported Gestures and Siri Commands

Several double tap gestures are enabled by AirPods, which can be personalised on an iPhone or iPad using the Settings app. You can customise AirPods to do the following:

• Activate Siri

• Play/Pause music

• Skip to the next track

• Go to the previous track

• Turn off audio content

You can also trigger Siri with the second-generation AirPods without a tap using the 'Hey Siri' feature, but you need to tap on older versions.

When using AirPods for calls, two taps often either respond to or hang up the phone, which is worth remembering if you use your AirPods for phone calls often.

With Siri, you can monitor your music using voice commands, ask basic questions, get weather updates, ask your device or AirPods for battery life, get directions, control volume, and more. Siri is the only way to control the volume of AirPods without your iPhone, as the AirPods themselves do not have volume controls.

Sample AirPods Siri commands:

• Play some new music

• Play my "Favorites" playlist

• Skip to the next song

• Turn down the volume

• Turn up the volume

• Call mom

• Pause my music

• What's the battery life of my AirPods?

• What's the temperature outside?

AirPods Charging Case

Apple launched a new type of charging case for AirPods with the launch of the second-generation AirPods, designed to work with Qi-based wireless charging accessories.

The AirPods can be loaded with any Qi charger you may already have for your iPhone with the latest AirPods Wireless Charging Case. Originally, it was planned for use with the AirPower, but the AirPower was cancelled by Apple. For other Qi charging pads, though the Wireless Charging Case is still ideal.

For those who do not need the feature, Apple continues to offer the original AirPods Charging Case, which does not have wireless charging capabilities. With the standard case, AirPods are $159, the first-generation model price, but the wireless charging feature is more costly and Apple charges $199 for the Wireless Charging Case AirPods.

For those who want wireless charging without having to pay out for a whole new set of AirPods, the Wireless Charging Case is also available on a standalone basis and can be combined with the first-generation AirPods.

From the wireless charging case, you can tell the regular charging case by the location of the LED indicator. The LED is placed inside the lid on the regular charging case between where the two AirPods are stored, but on the wireless charging case, the LED is located on the frontso you can see at a glance if the AirPods are charging on a wireless charging base.

To add extra battery life and to store the AirPods when not in use so that they are not lost, the charging cases that Apple offers for the AirPods are used.

The compact charging case fits comfortably into a pocket or a purse, similar in size to a jar of dental floss. The AirPods slip straight into the charging case, and the AirPods stay in place with a magnetic attachment along with a lid that snaps shut.Opening the lid while near an iOS device is what initiates the simple pairing process that the AirPods are known for.

While the AirPods are stored inside the case as long as the case itself has remaining battery life, the case charges them up. Both cases have LEDs, and although green indicates a complete charge, orange indicates charging.

Using a Lightning cable, you can charge the normal charging device, while a Qi wireless adapter or a Lightning cable can be used to charge the wireless charging case.

Battery Life

The AirPods last up to five hours of non-stop music listening on a single charge, but the battery drains faster if you're using them for phone calls.

When speaking on the phone, the second-generation AirPods last for up to three hours, while the original AirPods last for two hours. Battery life enhancements come from the latest H1 chip and the fact that Bluetooth 5.0.0 is enabled by second-generation AirPods

You will get more than 24 hours of listening time or up to 18 additional hours of talk time with the AirPods Charging Case or wireless charging case. There is a fast charging feature, so you get three hours of listening time by placing your AirPods in the Wireless Charging Case for 15 minutes.

The AirPods 2 Charging Case is fitted with a 398 mAh battery, the same as the previous generation model, according to an AirPods 2 teardown carried out by iFixit, while the AirPods themselves continue to have 93 mWh batteries.

Notifications of the battery, introduced in iOS 14, let you know if you need to charge your AirPods so that you can still keep them topped up. Apple has also introduced AirPods Battery Health features that preserve battery life by limiting the amount of time that AirPods spend while charging at 100 percent battery level.

Headphone Accommodations

Headphone Accommodations, introduced in iOS 14, is a new accessibility option that can amplify soft sounds and adjust certain hearing frequencies to make music, movies, phone calls, and podcasts with AirPods sound more crisp and clear.

AirPods How Tos and Guides

A small selection of the guides we have written for the AirPods can be found below, but we also have a complete AirPods master guide that has everything from beginner tips to advanced tricks for the AirPods.

• How to Set Up Your New AirPods

• How to Use the Find My AirPods Feature

• Tips and Tricks for Getting the Most Out of Your AirPods

• How to Check AirPods Battery Life on iPhone and Apple Watch

• How to Use AirPods With Your Mac and Customize Controls

• Do AirPods Work Well on Android Devices?

• AirPods Live Listen: Hearing Aid or Spy Tool?

• How to Get Siri to Announce Incoming Messages Over AirPods

• How to Use Audio Sharing on iPhone and iPad

AirPods 1 vs. AirPods 2

The second-generation AirPods from Apple feature the same design as the original AirPods, but along with the updated Wireless Charging Case, there are a few new internal features, including an H1 chip that allows "Hey Siri" functionality, faster system switching, and other functions.

Compatible Devices

All iPhones from iPhone 5 and newer work with AirPods, aka any iPhone launched since 2012. AirPods, such as the iPhone 4s, are not compatible with older iPhones.

As for iPads, the iPad Air, iPad mini 2 and later, iPad 5th generation and later, and all iPad Pro models are compatible with AirPods. The AirPods, beginning with the original Apple Watch, operate with all Apple Watch models.

AirPods are also compatible with iPod touch 6th generation, Apple TV 4K, Apple TV 4th generation, and can connect via a normal Bluetooth link to other non-Apple devices.

It takes iOS 12.2 or later to use the second-generation AirPods.

AirPods Pro

Apple launched the AirPods Pro, a higher-end variant of the regular AirPods, in October 2019. Style signs from the original AirPods are taken from the AirPods Pro, but a new look is required for noise cancellation to support silicone ear tips.

The new AirPods Pro deliver superior sound quality, noise cancellation technology, and a new control technique compared to the original AirPods that includes touching the stem to do things such as alter tracks or trigger noise cancelling.

The AirPods Pro use the same H1 chip and have comparable battery life (slightly less with activated Active Noise Cancellation), plus a wireless charging case is available. Cost wise, the AirPods Pro is $249, or $50 more expensive than the Wireless Charging Case AirPods, and $100 more than the regular case AirPods.

AirPods Alternatives

Apple is also offering the Powerbeats Pro alongside the AirPods, earbuds that have many of the same characteristics but are built for a more active lifestyle.

Powerbeats Pro function like AirPods, but at $250 they are more costly and have a design that has more conventional earbud tips and earhooks to keep them in place. Powerbeats Pro are water resistant to sweat and have a longer battery life than AirPods, but they have a much larger carrying case.

The Future of AirPods

Apple is working on entry-level AirPods with a form factor similar to the AirPods Pro, featuring a shorter stem and replaceable ear tips, some reports say.

The AirPods will be more affordable and like Active Noise Cancellation, will lack higher-end features. However, battery life could be increased, and Apple is working on a new wireless chip.

A more lightweight integrated system-in-package (SiP) that is identical to the SiP used in the AirPods Pro is expected to be implemented by the third-generation AirPods, allowing the audio features of the AirPods to be integrated into a case that is more similar in size to the AirPods Pro. Surface-mount Technology (SMT) is used by existing AirPods.

The launch of the latest AirPods is planned in the first half of 2021, with no new AirPods arriving in 2020.

Initially, reports referred to these AirPods as "AirPods Pro lite," but Apple is likely to stick to the traditional name of AirPods.

AirPods 3 Leaks

In November 2020, an illustration depicting what is said to be the AirPods 3 with the AirPods Pro-like design appeared. The AirPods 3 seems to have a smaller size and a more Pro-like rounded shape, and there is also an x-ray that supposedly reveals the difference between the two versions.

"The alleged AirPods 3 are identified as a scaled-down version of the AirPods Pro, although "basically the same is the internal configuration of the headset and charging case. Whether these photos are correct, it is not clear, but they are in line with reports that we have heard about the new AirPods.

AirPods With Health Sensors

Light sensors that could be used for health monitoring functions could be used in future AirPods. The new sensors could be used in AirPods in one to two years, DigiTimes has proposed.

Health monitoring features will allow the AirPods to monitor, as well as detect head movements, heart rate, step counts and health conditions.