Are Apple AirPods Really Worth $159?

The AirPods are the first wireless headphones Apple has created. These headphones were announced along with the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus on December 13, 2016. As many people bemoaned the lack of a headphone jack on the new Apple phones, this new invention was supposed to be worth it for all those changes.

But is it worth buying the AirPods for $159?

The AirPods follow Apple’s design philosophy of making things thinner, simpler, and rounder over time. Their design looks exactly like Apple’s Earpods minus the cable.

The reason why AirPods look the way they do is because of their most important quality: they are wireless. There’s nothing you can break, and nothing you have to plug in. Sure, you might lose them, but you agreed to take that risk when buying the AirPods.

My bigger concern referring to design is fit; the AirPods accommodate fine to my ears and I can do any type of exercise without having them fall off, but this is not the case for others. I have my friends try them and for about half of them they felt out with a little shake of head. So for what use is this small design if they just fall down?

Recommendation: You should try them on before you buy them.

Referring to audio quality, there’s a critical lack of detail in vocals and in instruments. Compared to the EarPods, which were lately criticized due to their bad sound, there have been some advancements such as improving the bass, but still, the $159 doesn’t buy you any way better audio you’ll get from the EarPods that come free in the box with your iPhone.

As a customer, you should think if the design and other criteria, excluding audio quality, are worth the price. If the sound quality preference is your case, a pair of headphones such as the “Skullcandy Ink’d Bluetooth Wireless Earbuds” which cost $50 will definitely sound way better than the AirPods.

With not a doubt the audio quality is not one of AirPods best qualities, but battery life definitely is. Apple claims that the AirPods should work for five hours per charge. Five hours might not sound that long, but you need to have into consideration that the box in which they come, is also a charger, which can charge the headphones five times. This gives you a total of 25 hours of use. Compared to the competition, the lifetime of the AirPods is way higher. The Motorola Verveones+ which is a pair of similar wireless buds costs $200 and offers only 12 hours of use counting the charging case time. The same happens with the Sol Republic Amp Airs which battery lasted only 2.5 to 3 hours in a test held by Max Parker, a writer from ‘trusted reviews.’

So what’s that high pricing based on, aside from being wireless?

Its hardware and software are perfect. The AirPods are computers for your ears, from the beginning when you get them out of their charging case, put them close to your iPhone, and a pop-up window appears in your phone asking if you want to connect the headphones. Without having to push any buttons, you can pause and change songs, you can open Siri, and you can shift to mono audio. When placing your phone far from the headphones, the sound will split just for seconds, but it will never spontaneously disconnect completely which happens with other competitors’ products such as Bragi and Doppler who have tried to create ‘intelligent’ wireless headphones.

The AirPods might worth the $159 dollars due to its advanced hardware and software, and therefore someone into technology won’t doubt on buying them. But for someone who has preferences over utility, and design, the AirPods are not worth $159. For Apple fans, having this product is just one more gift, but for those looking for sound quality, and low prices you should look for more options because your search is not along Apple’s way.