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发帖数: 2469 | 1 The AirPods are without a shadow of a doubt the most popular true wireless
earbuds on the market, so it should come as no surprise that Apple is
working on a successor to the current model. It has been dubbed AirPods 3,
because it’s set to mark the third iteration of the product, and it’s
rumored to bring a number of new features to the table, including noise-
canceling.
Here’s everything we (think we) know.
Don’t sweat it — they’re water-resistant
Despite often being misinterpreted as a sign of wealth, the main allure of a
set of true wireless earbuds is convenience. They eliminate the one thing
that a traditional pair of earbuds can’t shake: A wire. This makes them an
invaluable tool for working out — there’s no need to make sure the cord is
out the way before benching that last set. Just pop them in and proceed.
But there’s an issue here. If the earbuds you’re wearing aren’t water-
resistant and you sweat as much as a leaky tap, there’s a chance — albeit
a slim one — the residue could seep in and render them useless. This is why
Apple has been tirelessly working to make the forthcoming AirPods 3
impervious to the element on the surface, according to renowned Wedbush
analyst Daniel Ives.
To be clear, this doesn’t mean you’ll be able to dive into a pool with a
Pod in each ear. For that to happen, they would need to be waterproof.
Instead, the AirPods 3 are said to be water-resistant. The difference? They
will be able to cope with a few drops of sweat or rain, but won’t be
certified to take a dip in a large body of water. So if you submerge them,
they could very well break.
Speak up — they’re noise-canceling
First suggested by DigiTimes in April and later seemingly corroborated by a
software option in the beta version of iOS 13.2 in October, the AirPods 3
should offer noise-canceling to boot. Specifically, it’s believed to be
Active Noise-Cancelation (ANC), which uses a host of sensitive microphones
to pick up low-frequency noise and neutralize it before it reaches the ear.
The software hints that the AirPods 3 will have multiple listening modes,
one of which is noise-canceling. This addresses the main concern with being
totally immersed in music: Safety. For example, you need to be able to hear
the vehicles around you while crossing a busy street. Fortunately, you
should be able to disable the feature with a mere flick of a switch. Pretty
neat.
Now the question is, if Apple is indeed adding ANC to the AirPods 3, how
exactly would it work? AirPods have traditionally lacked sound isolation,
meaning they simply sit in your ear and do not seal off any part of your ear
canal with an intruding, padded bud. As such, Apple would need to alter the
design to accommodate the new feature — and it looks like it has.
The real deal or a Chinese knockoff?
Apple seems to have adopted a slightly new design for the AirPods 3. At
least, that’s according to a visual included in the aforementioned beta
build of iOS 13.2 that depicts a set of Pods baring several similarities to
the AirPods 2 — they still look like a toothbrush with a circular head and
a long stem dropping down. However, there’s one main difference.
apple airpods 3 news
The visual in question.
The AirPods 3 have what appears to be a silicone tip on the end, which adds
fuel to the fire that is the AirPods 3 shipping with noise-canceling on
board. These tips essentially seal off the entry to your ear canal, with the
actual ANC algorithm then coming into play to cancel out any loose waves
that manage to find their way through. So noise-canceling is looking
promising.
Some food for thought
That’s all we’ve heard about the AirPods 3 to date, but there’s still a
lot of unanswered questions that need to be addressed. For starters, what’s
Apple going to do about battery life? The AirPods 2 sit at the bottom-end
of the true wireless spectrum in this department, delivering just five hours
versus the seven hours of the brand new (unreleased) Microsoft Surface Buds.
Noise-cancellation consumes a lot of additional power, so Apple will
undoubtedly need to find a way to bake in a larger cell or use some software
wizardry to extend battery life. This could lead to the introduction of a
new chipset. The first-generation AirPods shipped with the Apple W1 and the
second-generation Apple H2, so who knows what’s next.
Apple is expected to announce the AirPods 3 in March 2020. |
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