EarPods With USB-C Said to Be in Mass Production Ahead of iPhone 15 Launch

[iksnirks]

LMAO I kinda want these for my ipad

 

[DarthDon]

Not a bad idea. Will get one!!!

 

[jaytv111]

Um, so how do these work?

Just because it has a wire doesn’t mean it’s the same as 3.5 jack. Presumably there’s a built in amplifier and associated bit rate feeding it. Maybe I’m missing something.

Digital Audio Converter (DAC) plus amplifier built into the little plug near the port.

There are and have been since LONG before Airpods ANC wired phones. I THINK I bought my first set around 2002 or so which... by the way... still work perfectly fine (not requiring a re-purchase every few years because a crucial internal part wore out). I used them with my first generation iPod and PowerPC-based PowerMac G4. The first patent for ANC was granted in 1933. See: https://www.headphonesty.com/2020/10/history-of-noise-cancelling-headphones/ for history.

To switch, instead of "one or two" clicks, I simply pull out and push in (which also involves a click). Bonus: there is sooooooooooo many more ports in the world for plugging in wired phones vs. using bluetooth. For example, is there a single major airline that is supporting "the future" yet? They all pretty much still have the jack for "the antiquated." Want to watch the big game live as you fly and HEAR it too? Better have a way to plug in because bluetooth won't serve you at all unless you can stream that game to an iDevice in flight.

Apple themselves clearly believe in the wired option too. They just invested time, money & energy to UPGRADE the port on M-series MBpros. How did Apple themselves describe it:



Does Apple's "most powerful Mac ever" have a 3.5mm port? Yes it does...

View attachment 2194470​

Why would Apple bother with that extra cost if they thought the bluetooth option was superior in all ways?

Is bluetooth improving? Yes. And that's great. But "very close" is still not there. And "significantly better" is not quite there either. When it is fully there- when there are NO benefits to wired vs. wireless- I'm first to passionately argue for wireless. Until then, there's clearly room for both and there are certainly superior benefits to wired over wireless if one can stand to put up with "the wire." Even Apple themselves obviously thinks so.

To answer about Bluetooth in-flight, there's a few airlines with upgraded entertainment systems with Bluetooth: https://simpleflying.com/bluetooth-headphones-inflight-entertainment/

Not on all planes by a longshot but it's coming. Also there's Airfly and others you could use yourself (of course, Airpods are not great for flying anyway, over ear headsets are the way to go).

I think wired is mostly seen for laptops, desktops, Windows machines, Macbooks, etc, those machines are great for audio production. Just not a priority for the average iPhone user. Most users just listen to music, podcasts, etc, and the latency and bandwidth of Bluetooth just don't matter.

 

[SDJim]

As I have said before, I like USB-C, but this is going to create billions of pounds of e-waste overnight.

 

[darngooddesign]

It's sad that Apple doesn't respect global standards like USB-C and pushed the old, dated, slow lightning port for as long as they did and it only changed thanks to the EU.

Stop cheerleading for a brand, it's not healthy.

Remember when the EU tried to mandate a Micro-USB iPhone. LOL

 

[darngooddesign]

Maybe apple would have had a better case against this regulation if they ever made any “innovation” on lightening and didn’t just abandon it for ten years since inception, leaving it at just USB 2 speed and unable to carry the same power as the latest USB C standard.

Apple should have used the 16 pin ports on the iPhones, but then again if they had then all the people who like to say “Tim Apple” would have complained about 8-pin e-waste.

 

[timmodugdale]

Should suit Apple as USB 2 Speed/Lightning has been in use on phones for long time now.

and in 10 years?

 

[darngooddesign]

I don’t see why the EU doesn’t just regulate that all wired audio input/output must be transmitted using 3.5mm connectors…

Ask someone in the audio field if they want to downgrade all their plugs to 3.5mm.

 

[magicMac]

I wonder if Apple will be including USB-C Earpods along with USB-C cord in the box with iPhone 15 since many (most?) iPhone 15 users won't have them.

Apple won't be able to use the iPhone 15 buyers have plenty of them from prior iPhone purchases sitting around so no need to include them and save the planet excuse this time.

no but technically they have supplied a USB-C to headphone adapter for the iPads since 2018. In fact sometimes I use this adapter on the iPad with the 3.5mm wired EarPods lol

 

[Lakersfan74]

If they made wired EarPods with sound quality like the AirPods I would buy them. The $19 ones are only good for talking imo

 

[miric]

Apple should start manufacturing them along with MBP 2016 series with USB-C.

 

[CoolBradG]

Why wired still, when most iPhone owners use bluetooth now?

Please note this is just a preference question, to establish current thoughts.

I use both wired and bluetooth.

I own AirPods but keep my lightning earpods in my bag as a backup. This has actually saved me a few times when I forget to charge my AirPods. I'll definitely buy a pair of the USB-C version when I upgrade to the iPhone 15.

 

[szw-mapple fan]

There are and have been since LONG before Airpods ANC wired phones. I THINK I bought my first set around 2002 or so which... by the way... still work perfectly fine (not requiring a re-purchase every few years because a crucial internal part wore out). The first patent for ANC was granted in 1933. See: https://www.headphonesty.com/2020/10/history-of-noise-cancelling-headphones/ for history.

As far as I know, even the early wired ANC headphones like the QC1 still require batteries to function since the 3.5mm jack doesn't provide enough voltage to power the ANC (correct me if I'm wrong). That would unfortunately not be all that great if you wanted to to make it work for ear buds. In addition to the weight of wires dragging the earbuds down, the additional weight of microphones, batteries, and other internals could make it very hard for it to comfortably stay in-ear.

To switch, instead of "one or two" clicks, I simply pull out and push in (which also involves a click). Bonus: there is sooooooooooo many more ports in the world for plugging in wired phones vs. using bluetooth. For example, is there a single major airline that is supporting "the future" yet? They all pretty much still have the jack for "the antiquated." Want to watch the big game live as you fly and HEAR it too? Better have a way to plug in because bluetooth won't serve you at all unless you can stream that game to an iDevice in flight.

While that's true, it's often not that convenient to plug in a cord. For example, I would have to crawl on my hands and knees to reach the ports on the back of my desktop and the wire is likely not long enough to reach my head when I'm sitting at my desk. On flights I've used products like the AirFly that connects to the jack on the plane and stream the audio to AirPods which worked quite well. In recent years as IFE are updated I'm also seeing more planes that have bluetooth connectivity.

Apple themselves clearly believe in the wired option too. They just invested time, money & energy to UPGRADE the port on M-series MBpros. How did Apple themselves describe it:



Does Apple's "most powerful Mac ever" have a 3.5mm port? Yes it does...

View attachment 2194470​

Why would Apple bother with that extra cost if they thought the bluetooth option was superior in all ways?

Again, I never said that BT was superior in "all ways", only that for me the pros vastly outweigh the cons for general use. I also agreed with you in that wired headphones are better for professional media work, but advantages when it comes to earbuds are minimal imo. Apple upgraded the ports to support high impedance headphones, which matter little for earbuds that only needed a fraction of the port's resistance even before the upgrade.

Is bluetooth improving? Yes. And that's great. But "very close" is still not there. And "significantly better" is not quite there either. When it is fully there- when there are NO benefits to wired vs. wireless- I'm first to passionately argue for wireless. Until then, there's clearly room for both and there are certainly superior benefits to wired over wireless if one can stand to put up with "the wire."

Because of the laws of physics things like latency will of course always be better on wired, but at what point are you still able to tell the difference? If you can tell the difference of 30-40ms latency while playing music or videos, then kudos to you. For the vast majority of people the difference is likely not noticeable, just like how most people can't tell the difference between 256kbps and 320kbps audio. If it's not noticeable, is it a real benefit anymore?

 

[madebybela]

Poggers. I downgraded back to wired EarPods from my AirPods last year, no more worrying about battery, no more random de-syncing, no stupid latency/stuttering issues, better mic quality, physical buttons for pausing/volume control. it just werkz™.

 

[TheGenerous]

It's been 84 years…​

 

[Mrkevinfinnerty]

It's so sad that EU government tyranny led to this. Apple has no freedom to innovate anymore.

11 year old connector = innovation

 

[HobeSoundDarryl]

As far as I know, even the early wired ANC headphones like the QC1 still require batteries to function since the 3.5mm jack doesn't provide enough voltage to power the ANC (correct me if I'm wrong). That would unfortunately not be all that great if you wanted to to make it work for ear buds. In addition to the weight of wires dragging the earbuds down, the additional weight of microphones, batteries, and other internals could make it very hard for it to comfortably stay in-ear.


While that's true, it's often not that convenient to plug in a cord. For example, I would have to crawl on my hands and knees to reach the ports on the back of my desktop and the wire is likely not long enough to reach my head when I'm sitting at my desk. On flights I've used products like the AirFly that connects to the jack on then plane and stream the audio to AirPods which worked quite well. In recent years as IFE are updated many planes are also starting to have bluetooth connectivity.


Again, I never said that BT was superior in "all ways", only that for me the pros vastly outweigh the cons for general use. I also agreed with you in that wired headphones are better for professional media work, but advantages when it comes to earbuds are minimal imo. Apple upgraded the ports to support high impedance headphones, which matter little for earbuds that only needed a fraction of the port's resistance even before the update.


Because of the laws of physics things like latency will of course always be better on wired, but at what point are you still able to tell the difference? If you can tell the difference of 30-40ms latency while playing music or videos, then kudos to you. For the vast majority of people the difference is likely not noticeable, just like how most people can't tell the difference between 256kbps and 320kbps audio. If it's not noticeable, is it a real benefit anymore?

Yes, 1 AA battery that I changed about every 3 months. I just carried one more with me and never had an incident. And they worked without battery too- just not ANC. And if I would have ever had an incident where I had no spare battery, AA is global standard that I could pick up anywhere... unlike the proprietary option only available in very select tech retailers.

As far as weighing it down, for MANY more years than there's been AirPods, apparently Apple and Apple people had no such troubles with wired buds...

In other words, when it was THE way, it was apparently just fine for all of us. And obviously some bold motion was no big deal too. Apple actually promoted bold motion in most of these commercials.

I'm not trying to convince you or anyone else to go wired. This is not an either-or debate. This is simply recognizing how nice it is to have the option that offers many superior benefits at the expense of using a wire. There is no argument here to get rid of AirPods or that it makes no sense to use AirPods. I have AirPods myself and I use them. It sounds like wireless is ideal for you (no need crawling on hands & knees to get to some hard-to-reach port). Great! This doesn't affect you at all then.

Airfly and similar are an extra thing to make this thing work in those scenarios. If one is happy with this option, they don't have to carry an extra thing. I consider that a net benefit myself. I don't like dongles at all and I don't like the "solution" being to "just carry another dongle to cover that scenario." Yes, I do carry a few dongles because that's the way such decisions have forced us. But we once had it so that no dongles were required and the best buds from Apple worked with all of our Apple stuff and all other stuff.

It's great that some planes are beginning to offer the option. How long will it take for it to be as ubiquitous as the existing way? Is that 5 more years? 10? Does the whole fleet have to be turned over to get there? In the meantime, what do you do? If you can't check ahead of time, you need to carry some extra dongles in the bag just in case. I can't really see that as better.

Again, I'm not suggesting wired or bust. I'm simply appreciating the OPTION of wired. It has tangible advantages over wireless. However, those happy with wireless can continue to enjoy listening the way they like to listen too. It doesn't matter to me if wireless people go wired or vice versa. I simply appreciate that the option that offers superior benefits continues vs. trying to press all to go only one way that basically steps down in various measures of quality.

Could wireless become as good as wired in all ways? YES! But "when?" remains the question. Until then, it's nice to have options. When we ARE there, I'm right out front evangelizing the merits of wireless or bust.

 

[szw-mapple fan]

It's sad that Apple doesn't respect global standards like USB-C and pushed the old, dated, slow lightning port for as long as they did and it only changed thanks to the EU.

Stop cheerleading for a brand, it's not healthy.

I just wish they designed USB-C like lightning ports' form factor. The tongue in USB-C ports are incredibly flimsy vs. lightning where the tongue is on the male end on the cable instead. Usually when USB-C is damaged the connector stay intact but wrecks the port. I've had to replace many broken lightning cables over the years but that was a lot cheaper than having to repair the USB-C ports on my devices.

 

[HobeSoundDarryl]

To answer about Bluetooth in-flight, there's a few airlines with upgraded entertainment systems with Bluetooth: https://simpleflying.com/bluetooth-headphones-inflight-entertainment/

Not on all planes by a longshot but it's coming. Also there's Airfly and others you could use yourself (of course, Airpods are not great for flying anyway, over ear headsets are the way to go).

And to clarify this, there's a few airlines with some planes that can handle bluetooth. If one happens to fly on those specific planes, you may get to use bluetooth without an Airfly-type dongle. Unless you check, you better bring Airfly-type dongles and/or another set of wired buds/headphones too.

It's great that it's coming. I wonder when pretty much any plane one flies with any airline offers it as readily as the existing option is available? My guess is approx. 2060 or so... but that might be too optimistic.

 

[darngooddesign]

It's so sad that EU government tyranny led to this. Apple has no freedom to innovate anymore.

Apple put usb3.0 Lightning on the iPad pros back in 2016, but never used it on the iPhones. Imagine if every iPad and iPhone used the faster Lightning.

Apple is the one who refused to push lightning forward.

 

[Shredder-]

Why wired still, when most iPhone owners use bluetooth now?

Please note this is just a preference question, to establish current thoughts.

I use both wired and bluetooth.

Because wireless earbuds made by Apple still suck a** when it comes to call quality.

 

[szw-mapple fan]

As far as weighing it down, for MANY more years than there's been AirPods, apparently Apple and Apple people had no such troubles with wired buds...

In other words, when it was THE way, it was apparently just fine for all of us. And obviously some bold motion was no big deal too.

Please reread my comment. I'm saying that if they put ANC internals into the EarPods like batteries, mics, chips etc, it would add a lot to the weight, which would be in addition to the wire pull. Also, there would also need to be a charging port somewhere since it won't be able to be put into a case.

I'm not trying to convince you or anyone else to go wired. This is not an eitherr debate. This is simply recognizing how nice it is to have the option that offers many superior benefits at the expense of using a wire. There is no argument here to get rid of AirPods or that it makes no sense to use AirPods. I have AirPods myself and I use them. It sounds like wireless is idea for you. Great. This doesn't affect you at all then.

Cheers to that. Neither am I trying to convince you of the reverse. I'm simply pointing out that for a lot of people the benefits that make you prefer wired might not matter as much as you think.

Airfly and similar are an extra thing to make this thing work. If one is happy with this thing, they don't have to carry an extra thing. I consider that a net benefit myself. I don't like dongles at all and I don't like the solution being to "just carry another dongle to cover that scenario).

It's great that some planes are beginning to offer the option. How long will it take for it to be as ubiquitous as the existing way? Is that 5 more years? 10? Does the whole fleet have to be turned over to get there? In the meantime, what do you do? If you can't check ahead of time, you need to carry some extra dongles in the bag just in case.

Not that I'm a fan of any adapters or dongles, but this just means that you are carrying the dongle instead of the cable that connects to headphones directly. In any case, you will still need an adapter for older planes using the dual 3.5mm jack or if your earbuds have lightning/USB-C instead of the the 3.5mm jack.

 

[mrochester]

Apple put usb3.0 Lightning on the iPad pros back in 2016, but never used it on the iPhones. Imagine if every iPad and iPhone used the faster Lightning.

Apple is the one who refused to push lightning forward.

I don’t think there’s really a need for faster speeds on the iPhone. I can’t imagine there’s many people moving content on or off the device via cable vs wirelessly.

 

[szw-mapple fan]

I don’t think there’s really a need for faster speeds on the iPhone. I can’t imagine there’s many people moving content on or off the device via cable vs wirelessly.

This is mostly true for non-pro phones, but have you tried AirDropping (or god forbid cloud syncing) 4K ProRes video files? It takes forever. If apple market the pro phones to content creators then the device should be able handle pro workloads.

 

[mrochester]

This is mostly true for non-pro phones, but have you tried AirDropping (or god forbid cloud syncing) 4K ProRes video files? It takes forever. If apple market the pro phones to content creators then the device should be able handle pro workloads.

I don’t think enough people will be doing that for it to be a priority.