Apple today announced the latest pair of its Beats branded headphones, a new wire-free pair dubbed the Studio Buds. The Studio Buds are now the closest Beats has come to matching AirPods Pro, featuring a much more compact design than the wire-free Powerbeats Pro and active noise cancellation, but interestingly enough, they might be better suited for Android users than the Apple faithful.
While most recent Beats headphones have featured Apple's W1 or H1 chips for fast pairing on iOS devices, these are completely absent on the Studio Buds. You'll still get instant pairing on your iPhone, but the Studio Buds won't instantly sync to all other Apple devices using your Apple ID. Instead, they support Fast Pair on Android, which will automatically the Studio Buds as an option on your Android devices.
In addition, the Studio Buds charge over USB-C, rather than Lightning as with most other Beats devices. You'll get up to eight hours of listening per charge (which drops down to five with noise cancelling on) and a further 16 with the included charging case (10 with noise-cancelling).
It is however worth noting that while you'll get "Hey Siri" support on iOS, the Beats Studio Buds won't work with Google Assistant on Android.
We don't have an exact Australian release date other than "winter", but the Beats Studio Buds will set you back $199.95 when they go on sale. But considering that's half the price of a pair of AirPods Pro, they could be an enticing option no matter what side of the operating system side of the fence you're on.
You'll be able to grab the Beats Studio Buds in a choice of black, white, or red. They're rated IPX4 for sweat resistance.
Alex Choros
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