Apple AirPods Fight Cool Competition

In this week’s Power On newsletter at Bloomberg, Mark Gurman writes about Apple’s next versions of AirPods:

“…the new AirPods are a renewed push into the lower end of the market…The new models will replace the second- and third-generation AirPods…the mid-tier version will get active noise cancellation and Find My speakers in the case, making it easier to locate the product if it gets lost.”

It’s interesting that Apple is continuing to push down into the low-end earphone market where it must compete on price. True wireless earphones are a commodity nowadays, with truly great products from various companies.

For example, my JBL Tune 230NC earbuds are supersonic. While normally starting at just $99, I bought them on sale for a mere $50! And they come in different colors, unlike Apple’s only-white AirPods. They have good noise cancelling and an ambient-aware mode. They’re like AirPods Pro, Apple’s high-end earbuds, but at an exceptional fraction of the cost. Why pay more?

Maybe Apple can now compete on price since earbuds are a commodity and it can produce them in high volumes, with an aim to sell at a lower price point (or lower margin) and make up for it in quantity.

And Maybe Apple knows there’s a huge iPhone segment of kids and teens with lower incomes and hand-me-down iPhones that are prime targets for deepening their ties in Apple’s ecosystem — just need those affordable AirPods.

Sure, while Apple does sell refurbished AirPods at a discount, I doubt there’s big demand for wearing earbuds that are imagined to have been in someone else’s earwax (gross) even if the casing was actually replaced.

So while I love my JBL wireless blue earbuds, I’m intrigued by this report on Apple’s retry at “cheap” AirPods. I used the gen 2 AirPods for a couple years and miss how easy it is to switch between my MacBook and iPhone with them. The JBLs require a little work to switch, and that bit of friction is just enough to consider AirPods — but only at the right price and comparable feature set.

One of those compelling Apple “magic” features, mentioned by Gurman above, is using Find My to locate the AirPods (or at least the case) if they’re misplaced. That’s a nicety; every now and then, I forget where I last left my JBL buds.

If nothing else, Apple should really give up its AirPods brand signature color of all-white all the time and make new fun colors for the kids and teens. That alone could be enough to seriously tempt buyers. Black and white are boring; I’ll take orange or blue.