I’d be very interested to see a breakdown of the different kinds of AirPods that Apple sells. Do the AirPods Pro sell better than regular AirPods?
Unfortunately, Cupertino never releases this kind of information. Sales of AirPods get lumped into the “Wearables, Home and Accessories” segment in Apple’s financial disclosures. The company doesn’t even reveal total annual AirPods sales.
Nonetheless, market research firms like Canalys estimate Apple sells more than 80 million units a year. And it estimates AirPods Pro are the most popular, despite costing about twice as much. The main reason? Active noise cancellation.
But that changed in September 2024 when Apple started selling ANC-equipped regular AirPods.
I bought a pair of them. Frankly, I thought they were kinda hopeless. Too much ambient noise leaks in. However, my test case was walking San Francisco’s busy streets, which isn’t the kind of environment where ANC excels. It’s much better at blocking steady droning like a jet engine than the din of a passing bus or honking traffic.
However, a surprising number of people actually want that ambient noise, or don’t like the feeling of the AirPods Pro’s rubbery, sound-isolating tips in their ear holes.
Someone I know says the AirPods Pro tips mess with their equilibrium, and I’ve heard lots of times that total isolation is a safety hazard. (I almost got flattened by a speeding San Francisco fire truck that I didn’t hear blaring through an intersection.)
Apple says its latest update vastly improves the ANC in regular AirPods, a claim that we tested.
And we found that, yes, it’s true: It’s waaaay better. So much better, in fact, it’s one of those rare instances where we wholeheartedly recommend upgrading to AirPods 5, even if you just bought the previous generation.
Also in today’s newsletter:
Sigh. Storage, or lack thereof, always, always becomes a problem down the line. You always run out! Can’t say I’m pleased about the Mac mini’s step backward. I guess it’s slightly good news that the higher-tiered models aren’t slower (as with the iPhone 18 Pro Max).
After the flop of Humane’s Ai Pin, I guess it’s not surprising Apple’s putting development of a similar AI necklace on hold. But after hearing that Apple employees refer to the device internally as the iPhone’s “eyes and ears,” I’m kinda bummed about the news.
🔥 DEAL OF THE DAY: Save $200 on an Apple Watch Ultra 3, which doesn’t come with the latest model’s spy tools — but maybe that’s what you want? #affiliate
What’s this? The Apple Card savings rate is actually going up! Wow, my life savings of $7 that I stashed in there might actually earn something. Oh, wait, it’s still no match for inflation. Still, better than nothing.
Even four decades later, Apple is still (mostly) true to its original mission statement.
— Leander Kahney, EIC.
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(Xerox employees) were copier-heads who had no clue about what a computer could do. They just grabbed defeat from the greatest victory in the computer industry.
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