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What is the price of convenience to you? Apple seems to have cornered the market on wireless earbuds to use with its iPhones and iPads with its AirPods by making them effortless to pair and use. A new report on the hotly awaited refresh of those buds says they’ll be coming this year, at a cost of $200.
That’s a pretty steep price to pay for convenience, even with other good TWS earbuds costing around $150 or more. We already know that the new AirPods will have built-in Siri support, thanks to code in iOS 12.2. It also appears they’ll also get Bluetooth 5.0 and a host of other technical improvements while staying the same design.
MySmartPrice is reporting that the new buds will have a non-slip coating, similar to the one used on the Pixel range of phones. They have a source saying that improved bass will be coming, something that will be music to anyone’s ears. While the original AirPods do sound crystal clear, the bass response was sadly lacking. There will be new sensors inbuilt, likely some health tracking orientated ones like heart rate and step counting, although there might be some surprises here.
Battery life should be around the same, as the battery size won’t be any different. Oh, and for you dark device lovers – you’ll be able to get the new AirPods in black as well as white.
The same source also said that the vaporware AirPower charging mat should be coming this spring. I’ll believe it when I see one on the Apple website for sale.
Interestingly, it’s also mentioned that Apple is doing internal testing on MacBooks with Face ID for login. That’d be a welcome change, as the webcam on the Mac range has long stagnated and is in dire need of a refresh. Adding the TrueDepth camera module would not only improve on security but it would also make things like in-camera background blur possible, like in the latest version of Skype.
Ready for some new AirPods? Are they a must-buy? Let us know down below in the comments or carry the discussion over to our Twitter or Facebook.
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