Apple’s new AirPods come with a wireless charging case, Hey Siri support, and more battery life

The wireless charging case will also be sold separately for $79 for existing customers

Apple’s week of surprise product launches continues with the announcement of the second-generation AirPods, which will include a wireless charging case and a new H1 chip that the company claims offers improved battery life and “Hey, Siri” support to trigger the virtual assistant without pressing a button.

The new wireless charging case works with standard Qi charging, so it should work with nearly every wireless charger out there. Otherwise, both the second-gen AirPods and the case look virtually identical to the first model, except for a small LED light on the wireless charging case to indicate battery life.

Apple says the H1 chip offers a number of benefits over the W1 chip in the last generation. Specifically, there’s up to an extra hour of talk time, which Apple says is a 50 percent increase; better mic clarity; connection times are twice as fast when switching between devices; and the aforementioned “Hey, Siri” support — which Apple already offers on newer iPhones, iPads, Macs, and the HomePod — that allows you to ask Siri things hands-free. The new AirPods also includes support for Bluetooth 5.

The H1 chip is the first in a new line of headphone-focused chips that Apple is making, breaking away from the W-series chips that the AirPods had borrowed from the Apple Watch line (which will continue to use W-series processors in the future).

Source : https://www.theverge.com