tjwolf

christopher126 said:

No surprise here. This is what Apple does. I love mine. It's the most Apple-like device I've bought recently! By that I mean, no one else has come close to duplicating the beautiful design and features!

Reminds me when I got the first iPod Shuffle. White, one little light, very simple design. And it achieved 80% market share the Friday after it was released!

Best.

P.S. I would really recommend them to everyone.

Completely agree.  While the Apple Watch has helped me (finally) to shed quite a few pounds and live healthier, the AirPods are truly a pleasure to use.  There's just no describing the feeling of not fumbling with or untangling wires, of not having to answer Bluetooth connection questions, of not having to preface a Siri request with "Hey Siri", of almost never having to consciously having to charge the things (the Airpods' charge lasts long enough than I care to keep any device in my ear at a time; after putting them in their case for just a few minutes, they're ready to bring it on again.  I only charge the case once a week.)

Even the lack of volume control and skip track - which I initially griped about - turns out to be a non-issue.  At least for Apple Watch owners - since when you play music, those controls automatically appear on the watch face.  Volume control is adjusted by turning the crown, you get skip/back/pause, and track title too.

My only continued quibbles with AirPods are minor and revolve around the design: I don't have particularly big hands, but sometimes I struggle to get those things out of their case.  They're so damn slippery and rounded - no place to get a grip!  Also, I found out the hard way that while the AirPods themselves are relatively water proof, the case definitely is not!  So don't do like me and forget them in your jeans pocket when you start the wash :-(   Maybe a rubber seal around the lid?  That would also help with the loud sound whenever you close the lid - has woken up my wife on a couple occasion (the lid is slippery too!).  Also, things get pretty cruddy around the hinges if you keep 'em in your pocket.

LukeCage said:

He expects supply to improve heading into 2018, allowing AirPods shipments to grow 100 percent year over year to 28 million units. In a previous research note, Kuo declared AirPods "the most important accessory in Apple's wireless ecosystem."

I would like to know how much the Beats branded wireless headphones are selling. If this 28 million units figure is even remotely accurate, the Beats purchase was a very smart bye. 

What have you read to suggest that AirPods were designed by Beats engineers?  Aside from the fact that Apple's been building headphones for 10 years, most of the 'magic' of the AirPods actually happens in areas that have nothing to do with Beats' core expertise: Bluetooth, chip design (W1), and integration with the iOS/watchOS.

Talking about the pot calling the kettle black!  If China’s repressive regime is to be fought because of principles, why is the US selling treasuries to the Chinese?  China is the largest buyer of US debt.  Why isn’t the US refusing to sell them to China?

wizard69 said:

With that node change we dhould see close to a doubling of on board transitors.  That is amazing in itself but then you have to imagine how Apple will use those trandistors.  Maybe an Apple designed modem processor, maybe an enhanced and acesssible AI processor,  maybe far larger caches. The point is many avenues exist to beef up performance and drive features.    If they get another 30-50% increase in processor performance iPads and iPhones will be matching many laptops without qualification.  

Maybe they'll convince Intel to include their modem logic onboard?  I believe right now these are discrete parts and, thus, consume more real estate and more power, since they're very likely not 7nm parts nor will be next year).

maestro64 said:

Do not worry, Huawei has already got their hands on the A11 Bionic chip and is the process of reverse engineering the chip, plus they are government own/back so they do not need to make a profit.

What does stealing the chip design (if it were possible - I don't think it is possible to 'reverse engineer' a 10nm chip with 4 billion transistors) have to do with their ability to afford manufacture at a given node size?  Answer: nothing.