The world’s biggest smartphone market just got a new pair of earbuds.
From Rene Ritchie’s video review of Beats Studio Buds:
Beats Studio Buds. Black. White. Red. Active Noise Cancelation and Transparency Mode. Small, medium, and large tips. Physical buttons. Full-on, native iOS *AND*… and Android Support. 8 hours of battery in the buds, 16 more in the USB-C charge case. No H1. No Lightning. No head-tracking. No stems. No inductive charging. But — $149.
So, are they better than AirPods?
Cue the video:
My take: This is one secret Apple managed to keep.
But I think one reason Apple goes cross-platform is exposure of Apple UI/Ux & ease of use. And once an Android or Windows user is ready, Apple has transfer tools waiting for them on their platform to bring them over. Also another advantage for acquiring the already established (and celebrity used) cross-platform brand Beats by Dre into the Apple family.
Another audio “sweet spot”.
Hopefully this product will stave off many alternate competitive choices people might consider.
Here’s a detailed view of beats by dr dre, the “Beats identity prism (Kapferer)” chart at the very end is a fascinating visual by itself:
https://skemaheadphonebrandsaudit.wordpress.com/beats-vs-bose/beats/
That aside I think we should see that Apple is trying to have a product for low, medium and high price points as well as distinct style differences. Will they be able to maintain feature distinctions over time? I guess the expected update to Airpods Pro will give us a clue.