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Beats Studio Buds+ are Apple's worst-kept secret and arrive on May 17

After a ridiculous amount of rumors and definitive leaks for almost two months, the Beats Studio Buds+ are finally on the brink of becoming official.

This has been a long time coming, with the earliest signs of life cropping up in March of 2023. A beta of iOS 16.4 hinted at an unreleased "Studio Buds+" at the time, and that name has been all but guaranteed at this point.

If iOS giving it away wasn't enough, an Amazon listing showed up for a very brief stint back in April. That listing also seemed to confirm the truly wireless in-ear headphones would launch on May 18 of this year.

Now it's almost time. The official Beats by Dre Twitter account has gone ahead and confirmed the new headphones will see their big debut on Wednesday, May 17.

According to the tweet, they'll launch at 7:00 am Pacific Time, 10:00 am Eastern.

The most noticeable change with the Studio Buds+ is the design, which boasts a transparent color option. For anyone who watched Google I/O this year, the company revealed the new headphones in its keynote.

While not official just yet, details about the new accessory trickled in via that aforementioned Amazon listing. The new headphones are expected to feature improved Active Noise Cancellation (ANC), with up to 1.6 times more power than the previous model.

There should be an upgraded processor to boost performance, a Transparency mode that is said to be better thanks to larger microphones and improved venting, and more. The charging case, which is teased in the tweet, should feature wired charging via USB-C.

The headphones may also feature support for Spatial Audio, battery life up to 36 hours, and come in three different colors. The listing priced the new headphones at $169.95, but that may change with the final product. We already know Best Buy will offer the headphones when they launch.



3 Comments

bloggerblog 16 Years · 2520 comments

I still don't get why Apple bought Beats, why!?

djames4242 14 Years · 654 comments

I still don't get why Apple bought Beats, why!?

Mostly because it allowed them to release Apple Music.

chasm 10 Years · 3624 comments

I still don't get why Apple bought Beats, why!?

Well, let’s think about this.


1. As referenced above, part of the deal was the purchase of a pre-existing streaming music platform that became the core of Apple Music. It also brought on Dr. Dre and Jimmy Iovine, which gave Apple Music a lot of important credibility with artists, and the pair also shaped a lot of what Apple has done with music over the last 20+ years. I don’t think I need to go on about how successful that has been.

2. Beats is one of the best selling headphone brands in the world, and along with Apple’s headphones ensures that Apple is all but unassailable in the market. Beats’ market in particular is young people and influencers.

3. As near as we can estimate, the wearables section made $8.7 billion in just the last fiscal quarter. Now this of course includes other products like Apple Watch, but it’s mostly made up of headphones. Apple paid $3B for Beats and has been making billions off them for years.

I hope that makes it a bit clearer.