Apple has announced its latest pair of TWS earbuds under the Beats brand. The Beats Studio Buds as they are called are vastly different from the 2019 Beats Powerbeats Pro in terms of design and features. They are also significantly cheaper and can be said to even support Android devices better than any of Apple’s other offerings.
The Beats Studio Buds feature a stem-less design, unlike Apple’s AirPods. They also ditch the hook-like design of the Powerbeats Pro which means they are smaller in form factor. Available in Black, Red, and White, and weighing 5 grams each, the earbuds will be easily recognizable by the famous Beats “b” logo in white on each earbud.
According to the product page, the earbuds use a proprietary layered driver with a dual-chamber acoustic design for clear sound and an effective Active Noise Cancelling (ANC) performance.
Like a number of earbuds with ANC, these also have a Transparency Mode that allows you to hear the world around you. It does this with the help of external-facing microphones that pick up the sounds of your surroundings.
The Beats Studio Buds don’t feature an Apple chip which is surprising but you still get features such as hands-free Hey Siri, a pairing interface similar to AirPods, and integration in the Control Center.
According to The Verge, the lack of an Apple chip means that you don’t get features such as automatic pairing across Apple devices on your iCloud account, audio sharing, and the ability to automatically switch between the devices in use such as from your iPhone to iPad or Mac. However, you do get support for Apple Music’s new Dolby Atmos spatial audio.
While the earbuds lack features associated with Apple earbuds, it does work pretty well with Android devices. They support Fast pair which means they are linked to your Google Account after the first setup and don’t need to be paired to other devices tied to that Google account. They will also display their battery status as well as that of the case under Bluetooth settings. Another feature is support for Find Device which lets you find the device or check its last known location. The product page says you will also be able to update the firmware with the Beats app for Android.
The Beats Studio Buds has an IPX4 rating for sweat and water resistance. The earbuds have on-device controls that allow you to control playback, answer/reject calls, turn on ANC or transparency mode, or call up the assistant.
The earbuds offer a battery life of 8 hours on a single charge that goes up to 24 hours with the case. They also support fast charging – a 5-minute charge will provide up to 1 hour of playback.
The case of the Beats Studio Buds, which weighs 48 grams, charges via a USB-C port (no wireless charging support). It comes with a USB-C to USB-C charging cable and three pairs of ear tips of different sizes.
If you want the new earbuds, they are listed on Amazon US and Best Buy but are not yet available for purchase until June 24. It has also been announced in China for ¥1099 (~$172) and it will be available starting July 2.
RELATED:
