Very nice indeed….is the battery case charging wirelessly??
No usb-c.
No mention I can see of which what the chip is, but I assume H1
There was mention in the article. This thing does NOT use any Apple chip (H1 or otherwise). It says Beats is using their own chip. This means there is no instant pairing with Apple devices, no iCloud syncing between devices, no automatic switching, and I’m guessing no ability to use spatial audio. I have no idea why they did this, this is a complete deal-breaker for me, and I’m guessing many many others.
No it does not use the H1. That's 100% intentional imo. It uses a chip that allows for more compatibility parity with iOS and Android devices. Beats is a universal brand. Not as ecosystem focused as AirPods. The price point does get you Spacial Audio and Dolby Atmos in Apple Music (soon on both platforms as well).
Some may be turned off by the lack of ecosystem perks like iCloud sync and auto-switching. For them, other Beats or AirPods are available. But my guess is these weren't designed for the all-in Apple user. These were designed for "erbody and they momma", regardless of ecosystem. I'm guessing there are many, many, many more of those people out there who aren't all-in with Apple. They might have an iPad and Samsung phone, iPhone and Dell XPS, or any mixed combination of products. These Beats would be right up their alley.
Price point, functionality, universal compatibility, plus the funky colors they're going to subsequently intro... I think these are going to be a hit. The colors can be seen in the video that @Rayz2016 ; linked above.
Why would the H1 chip preclude android compatibility? They could still have all the Bluetooth functionality with non-Apple devices.
I’m guessing Apple didn’t want them cannibalizing the AirPods Pro sales.
Probably because the functionality goes beyond Bluetooth. Full features on Android requires compatibility with a minimum version of Android 6.0 and the Google Play Services active (according to footnote 5 on the beatsbydre buds page). It seems the functionality is tied to some aspects of Android. All supposition by me, but it seems unlikely Apple would alter the H1 to meet those Android specific requirements.
This looks like a nice product that will allow Apple to pull in some additional sales from people who aren't on a first-name basis with the Apple ecosystem. For those who live and breathe Apple but are willing to integrate with Apple devices in a slightly more standoffish way, these are a very attractive alternative to the base AirPods.
I'd even go as far as saying that these are going to make some potential AirPods Pro buyers pause just a little bit to think about whether the incremental improvements delivered by the first generation Pros are really worth the $40-ish extra dollars, assuming the Pros stay right around $200 on sale. I cannot imagine paying $90 more than these buds for the current AirPod Pros, but the sub $200 sale price of the current Pros (Amazon and Walmart) keeps the current Pros in the fight until they tag-out for the next gen Pro.
The wild cards in the equation include how steep of a discount we will see on the Pros on Prime Day next week and how quickly Apple rolls out the next generation of Standard and Pro AirPods. I fully expect Apple is going to want to widen the feature/functionality gap between these buds and its next gen Pros to maintain the price gap.
Very nice indeed….is the battery case charging wirelessly??
No usb-c.
No mention I can see of which what the chip is, but I assume H1
There was mention in the article. This thing does NOT use any Apple chip (H1 or otherwise). It says Beats is using their own chip. This means there is no instant pairing with Apple devices, no iCloud syncing between devices, no automatic switching, and I’m guessing no ability to use spatial audio. I have no idea why they did this, this is a complete deal-breaker for me, and I’m guessing many many others.
Mmm.
Sounds odd. I’m probably going to wait for confirmation on that.
Very nice indeed….is the battery case charging wirelessly??
No usb-c.
No mention I can see of which what the chip is, but I assume H1
There was mention in the article. This thing does NOT use any Apple chip (H1 or otherwise). It says Beats is using their own chip. This means there is no instant pairing with Apple devices, no iCloud syncing between devices, no automatic switching, and I’m guessing no ability to use spatial audio. I have no idea why they did this, this is a complete deal-breaker for me, and I’m guessing many many others.
Mmm.
Sounds odd. I’m probably going to wait for confirmation on that.
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