Last week, one of the new products Apple refreshed is the AirPods. But it’s not in the form so people expected it to come in. The design hasn’t been revamped, there are no new color options, and the rumored biometric features aren’t here either. But these do finally get wireless charging in the case—which existing AirPods users can get at a price. However, what is also missing is AirPower wireless charging dock. So now, AirPods 2 owners will have to get Qi-compatible charging mats to use this feature. The base model starts at P9,490 for the regular charging case. You have to shell out P11,790 for the one with the wireless charging case. And if you own the existing AirPods, you can get the case on its own for a price, which is $79 (around P4,100). The case itself doesn’t seem to be available yet in the local online Apple store.
The other new thing coming to the AirPods 2 is its new H1 chip. This promises connection times that are twice as fast than any Apple device you own with 50 percent more talk time or an extra hour than the first-gen AirPods. For music listening, you’re promised the same five hours as before. But a 15-minute recharge promises to give you three hours of listening time and two hours of talk time. The H1 chip also brings always-on voice recognition to the AirPods, meaning you no longer need to tap on the AirPods to activate Siri. Just say, “Hey, Siri” and you’re good to go. Apple didn’t mention any audio boost, though so we can’t speak for audio quality improvements at the moment.
