If you listen to our podcast, you’ve likely heard us gushing about Apple’s AirPods. They’ve been nearly impossible to get since they were released in December of last year, and for good reason: They’re incredible. I’ve posted both a first impressions piece as well as a more detailed review once I had spent more time with them, but after months of using them almost daily I’ve turned into the biggest AirPods evangelist I know amongst my friends. As of this writing, it’s a bit unclear if today’s announcement was new AirPods that come with the Qi inductive charging case, a Qi inductive charging case, or both. Either way, this 1.1 iteration is a fantastic upgrade to an already great set of headphones. Amusingly enough, these new AirPods were also leaked beforehand:
…in full, animated glory ? pic.twitter.com/dbU6WaU1B4
— Steve T-S (@stroughtonsmith) September 9, 2017
There don’t seem to be any major differences other than support for “AirPower", which is what Apple is calling their inductive charging. The slightly redesigned case has the charging LED on the front instead of how the “original" AirPods indicate their charge status with a LED inside the case that you need to open the lid to see. Hopefully with Apple tweaking the design they’ll be a little bit easier to find in stock… anywhere. Either way, AirPods have easily become among my favorite Apple products, so definitely check out my review if you’re curious.
