AirPods
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AirPods
Designed by Apple in California.
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| Official AirPods site — Apple |
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AirPods are Apple's wireless headphones, launched in December 2016 alongside the iPhone 7's deleted headphone jack — mocked for a week, then ubiquitous within a year. The white stem became the decade's most recognizable audio silhouette, and the line grew into a business that would rank among large companies on its own.
The family spans the earbud AirPods and AirPods Pro and the over-ear AirPods Max, all built on Apple's own audio silicon — the W1, then the H1 and H2 — which handle the instant pairing, device switching, and noise cancellation that define the product.
1 History✎
The original AirPods (2016, W1) made truly-wireless earbuds mainstream on the strength of flip-open pairing alone. The second generation and AirPods Pro (2019, H1) added "Hey Siri" and — the Pro's breakthrough — active noise cancellation with transparency mode. AirPods Max (2020) took the formula over-ear at $549.
AirPods Pro 2 (2022, H2) doubled the noise cancellation and later gained an FDA-cleared hearing-aid capability — Apple's boldest health move in audio. AirPods 4 (2024) split into standard and ANC variants, and AirPods Pro 3 (2025) added heart-rate sensing and Live Translation, folding the earbuds into the health platform the Apple Watch built.
2 Current lineup✎
| Model | Chip | Role |
|---|---|---|
| AirPods Pro 3 | H2 (2025) | Flagship: best ANC, heart rate, hearing health |
| AirPods 4 | H2 (2024) | Open-ear standard, ANC optional |
| AirPods Max | H1 (2020; USB-C 2024) | Over-ear |
3 Position✎
AirPods proved Apple could mint a category from an accessory: they normalized wireless audio, seeded the H-series silicon that now runs hearing-health features, and made the case (with the Apple Watch) that Apple's wearables business alone rivals major companies. The H2's multi-year run shows the strategy — ship the chip, then grow it through software.