AirPods Were Released Six Years Ago Today With 'Revolutionary' User Experience
Today marks the sixth anniversary of Apple releasing the original AirPods. The wireless headphones were first introduced alongside the iPhone 7 in September 2016, and they became available to customers on December 19, 2016 after being delayed.
While there were already some wireless headphones on the market, AirPods helped to popularize the category thanks to deep integration with Apple devices.
"AirPods are simple and magical to use, with no switches or buttons, automatically connecting to all your Apple devices simply and seamlessly, and letting you access Siri with just a double tap," touted Apple's former marketing chief Phil Schiller. "We can't wait for users to try them with iPhone 7 and Apple Watch Series 2."
Priced at $159, the first-generation AirPods introduced many core features, including one-tap pairing with Apple devices and in-ear detection for automatic playing and pausing of music. The headphones were powered by Apple's custom W1 chip, offering improved audio quality compared to Apple's wired EarPods headphones.
"This revolutionary experience is enabled by the new ultra-low power Apple W1 chip, which enables AirPods to deliver high-quality audio and industry-leading battery life in a completely wireless design," said Apple's press release for AirPods.
Apple went on to release second-generation and third-generation AirPods in March 2019 and October 2021 respectively, with better audio quality, longer battery life, hands-free "Hey Siri" support, an optional wireless charging case, and other improvements added over those years. Apple also launched the higher-end AirPods Pro in October 2019 with active noise cancellation, followed by the over-ear AirPods Max in December 2020. The latest AirPods are the second-generation AirPods Pro, released in September.
Popular Stories
Last year, Apple launched CarPlay Ultra, the long-awaited next-generation version of its CarPlay software system for vehicles. Nearly nine months later, CarPlay Ultra is still limited to Aston Martin's latest luxury vehicles, but that should change fairly soon.
In May 2025, Apple said many other vehicle brands planned to offer CarPlay Ultra, including Hyundai, Kia, and Genesis.
In his Powe...
Apple today confirmed to Reuters that it has acquired Q.ai, an Israeli startup that is working on artificial intelligence technology for audio.
Apple paid close to $2 billion for Q.ai, according to sources cited by the Financial Times. That would make this Apple's second-biggest acquisition ever, after it paid $3 billion for the popular headphone and audio brand Beats in 2014.
Q.ai has...
The calendar has turned to February, and a new report indicates that Apple's next product launch is "imminent," in the form of new MacBook Pro models.
"All signs point to an imminent launch of next-generation MacBook Pros that retain the current form factor but deliver faster chips," Bloomberg's Mark Gurman said on Sunday. "I'm told the new models — code-named J714 and J716 — are slated...
Apple recently updated its online store with a new ordering process for Macs, including the MacBook Air, MacBook Pro, iMac, Mac mini, Mac Studio, and Mac Pro.
There used to be a handful of standard configurations available for each Mac, but now you must configure a Mac entirely from scratch on a feature-by-feature basis. In other words, ordering a new Mac now works much like ordering an...
Apple is planning to launch new MacBook Pro models with M5 Pro and M5 Max chips alongside macOS 26.3, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman.
"Apple's faster MacBook Pros are planned for the macOS 26.3 release cycle," wrote Gurman, in his Power On newsletter today.
"I'm told the new models — code-named J714 and J716 — are slated for the macOS 26.3 software cycle, which runs from...
