New Beats Studio Buds leaked
- Mentions of new Beats earbuds have been found in the latest iOS developer beta.
- They will most likely include support for instant pairing, Hey Siri and other AirPod-like features.
- The new earbuds could be the first Beats product released in over a year.
With the announcement of support for Dolby Atmos, Hi Res and Lossless audio in Apple Music, the company may be on the verge of unveiling another audio announcement; new Beats wireless earbuds. Striking new renders of the rumored earbuds have surfaced online, and Apple’s own iOS beta software has revealed the name of the earbuds — the Beats Studio Buds.
Today, Apple released the developer RC’s (release candidates) macOS Big Sur 11.4, tvOS 14.6, watchOS 7.5, iPadOS 14.6 and iOS 14.6 (in which the references to the product name were discovered by 9to5Mac). The “Studio” moniker is quite prevalent in the Beats lineup, making the use of the name more plausible than a new one altogether. However, this would be the first time “Studio” marketing would be used for Beats earbuds, rather than headphones. This more ‘professional’ sounding name could indicate support for wireless Dolby Atmos and lossless streaming with Apple music, the latter of which all AirPods models do not support. Besides having the potential to outdo Apple’s first-party headphones in audio format support, the Studio Buds may be significantly smaller than AirPods stems with a drastically different design.
The renders of Beats Studio Buds (left) show an all-black design with small, silicon-tipped ear tips and a small spherical body, somewhat resembling the design of the Galaxy Buds Pro (right). The internal iOS code that refers to the Studio Buds only shows the buds in a black colorway, but (contrary to Apple), Beats is known for releasing their headphones and earbuds in a number of colors, leading some to believe that the Studio Buds will be no different. There are (obviously) no official dimensions of the unreleased earbuds, however, they appear to be much smaller that the AirPods and AirPods Pro in how far they protrude from your ear. This could give the Studio Buds a major advantage over AirPods for cyclists, whose helmet straps often knock the dangling stems of AirPods out of their ears when they’re on the go.
All the Beats Studio Buds colors. Black is in iOS 14.6, red and white mocked up based on smaller icons by @graphicalryan pic.twitter.com/c4FOpVNH5x
— Juli Clover (@julipuli) May 17, 2021
Another selling factor for the Studio Buds may be their price. While Beats wireless products are typically priced similarly to AirPods, they have a couple popular lower-budget earbuds including the Powerbeats and BeatsX, both of which cost less than even the cheapest AirPods in Apple’s lineup. There is a possibility that the Studio Buds could be priced lower than AirPods, or even take the place of AirPods 3 in Apple’s product release schedule.
Regardless of price, release date and colorways, we now have the first indication that new Beats are coming for the first time in a year. This is somewhat fitting, considering Apple also just announced that “Apple Music is about to change forever” with the introduction of Dolby Atmos and Hi Res lossless audio, and the anticipation for both is quickly mounting.
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