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AirPods review: Are Apple’s second-generation wireless earbuds worth buying?
We put the original earphones through long-term testing
Wireless headphones have come a long way since they first made an appearance – Bluetooth earbuds undeniably made you a laughing stock back in 2016, but now they’ve become a highly coveted piece of tech. And perhaps we’ve got Apple to thank for that.
When the tech giant first launched its AirPods five years ago, they quickly became some of the best-known wireless earbuds on the market, and while not the first of their kind, they arguably led the way in normalising their daily use.
In 2019, Apple gave the first-generation headphones an upgrade by adding an optional wireless charging case and replacing the old processor with the latest H1 chip, which improved connectivity, battery life, audio performance, and supported hands-free Siri.
A further tweak brought an auto-switching feature, meaning the headphones could automatically detect which device you were using, adding to their convenience.
These much-needed additions pushed them into hi-fi territory. Hype aside, we wanted to see whether they’re still worth buying. While more affordable than their successor, the AirPods pro, they’re by no means cheap – so here are our thoughts after road testing a pair for a number of years.
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Apple AirPods: £124.99, Amazon.co.uk
- Type: In-ear
- Weight: 4g per earphone
- Battery life: 5 hours, plus 24 hours from the wireless charging case
Design
Available in Apple’s signature glossy white, there’s no denying that the AirPods are sleek; much like the company’s non-audio tech. Inside the box, you’ll find a charging case, two earbuds and a charging cable.
Unlike other wireless earbuds, the AirPods have a long stem on each earpiece – a design that resembles Apple’s original wired headphones.
The in-ear white plastic ear tips have a one-size-fits-all design, which may not suit everyone, but we found that the buds fitted comfortably and securely into our ears, even when running and in the gym.
The only downside to the design that we noticed was the lack of controls, which can take a while to get used to. Depending on your default settings, you double-tap to pause or play music or to get Siri’s attention.
For the price you pay, you’d expect a premium pair of headphones and that’s exactly how they feel – the plastic is durable and robust, while the earbuds themselves are lightweight.
An LED light on the inside of the case shows how much charge the earbuds have – green indicates that they are fully charged and orange is displayed if they’re not.
Sound
Unlike the Apple AirPods pro (£189.98, Amazon.co.uk) there is no noise cancellation here, but both the audio quality and call quality is very good, and works well with only one earbud in.
The sound isn’t as high quality as you would expect from the pros, but it still has a lively tone and a slight warmth when playing acoustic tracks. The only downside we experienced was that they’re not the most bass-heavy wireless earbuds we’ve tried.
Vocals are great and music can be turned up loud, which is beneficial when travelling, particularly on the tube. So while not noise cancelling, they do work to drown out a fair bit of sound. It is worth noting that if they are at high volume, sound tends to leak.
A nifty feature that Apple has recently introduced is audio sharing, meaning you can share songs or podcasts between two sets of AirPods – something we’ve enjoyed using, particularly when out running with someone.
Connectivity and battery life
As with all Apple products, the AirPods maintain a strong connection with other Apple devices.
To pair them to your iPhone, for example, all you need to do is open up the case and a setup animation appears on your screen. You’ll be prompted to tap connect and set up “Hey Siri”.
A bonus if you are an iOS user is that if you’re signed in to an iCloud account, your AirPods will automatically connect with any of your other devices that are signed in to the same iCloud account.
If you’re setting them up with a non-iOS device, the process is a little different. Go to settings for Bluetooth and with the AirPods in the charging case, open the lid and press and hold the setup button on the back of the case until you see the light flashing white. The AirPods should then appear on the list of Bluetooth devices. Again, fairly easy, but, of course, you can’t use Siri.
As for the hands-free Siri control on iOS devices, we found them to work very well, whether that was while making calls, sending texts or changing songs. We tested the built-in microphone in a number of noisy environments and it picked up our voice well.
The verdict: Apple AirPods
We can totally see why Apple’s AirPods paved the way for wireless earbuds – the second-generation versions are a fantastic pair of entry-level earbuds that are comfortable to wear and extremely convenient.
For some, the one-size-fits-all bud design might not suffice, but for us we found them to be a great fit, staying in place during workouts and walks. The sound quality could do with a little improvement to cater for those who like bass-heavy audio, but connectivity to iOS devices, in particular, is great, as is the battery life and hands-free Siri.
They’re a very worthy purchase if you don’t think you’ll need the extra noise-cancelling features on the AirPods pro.
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Unsure whether these are for you? Read our review of the best wireless earbuds for more advice