Earlier this week, Beats Electronics introduced new Solo2 Wireless on-ear headphones, the first product the company has released since its acquisition by Apple became official back in August. While the headphones are not yet available for purchase on the Beats website, Mike Liang, aka HiFiGuy on YouTube has gotten an advanced first look at the new Solo2 Wireless headphones and has shared both photos and first impressions with MacRumors.
The Beats Solo2 Wireless headphones share the same design as the Solo2 headphones that Beats introduced back in May, with Beats' signature large cups emblazoned with the Beats logo. Aside from some small print on the box, there's no Apple branding or Apple references on the Solo2 Wireless headphones.
Reviews of the original Solo2 headphones suggested Beats had toned down the bass with the new design, offering better acoustics, and Liang says that the Solo2 Wireless headphones sound identical to the existing Solo2 headphones.
Solo2 Wireless has an exciting/energetic sound signature that's suitable for a wide variety of music genres (even Classical). No more muffled midrange and flabby bass of the old SoloHD by Monster. Audiophiles will certainly appreciate the much improved sound signature. No one can honestly say that the new Solo2 Wireless sound bad. These are good!
According to Liang, the Solo2 Wireless headphones paired easily to his MacBook Pro, taking only seconds to setup, but unfortunately it appears that Beats has opted to use the SBC Bluetooth codec rather than aptX, which is believed to offer superior sound quality.
Beats plans to begin selling its Solo2 Wireless headphones later this month for $300, a $100 premium over the standard Solo2 headphones. The Solo2 Wireless headphones are available in black, white, and blue, with Verizon exclusively offering a red option through the end of the year. Beats has also released new "Royal Edition" color options for the standard Solo2 headphones, making them available in Stone Grey, Hunter Green, Imperial Violet, Blush Rose, and Sapphire Blue.
Wednesday April 30, 2025 3:59 am PDT by Tim Hardwick
Apple is preparing to launch a dramatically thinner iPhone this September, and if recent leaks are anything to go by, the so-called iPhone 17 Air could boast one of the most radical design shifts in recent years.
iPhone 17 Air dummy model alongside iPhone 16 Pro (credit: AppleTrack)
At just 5.5mm thick (excluding a slightly raised camera bump), the 6.6-inch iPhone 17 Air is expected to become ...
Apple may have canceled the super scratch resistant anti-reflective display coating that it planned to use for the iPhone 17 Pro models, according to a source with reliable information that spoke to MacRumors.
Last spring, Weibo leaker Instant Digital suggested Apple was working on a new anti-reflective display layer that was more scratch resistant than the Ceramic Shield. We haven't heard...
Tuesday April 29, 2025 1:30 am PDT by Tim Hardwick
Despite being more than two years old, Apple's AirPods Pro 2 still dominate the premium wireless‑earbud space, thanks to a potent mix of top‑tier audio, class‑leading noise cancellation, and Apple's habit of delivering major new features through software updates. With AirPods Pro 3 widely expected to arrive in 2025, prospective buyers now face a familiar dilemma: snap up the proven...
Apple has completed Engineering Validation Testing (EVT) for at least one iPhone 17 model, according to a paywalled preview of an upcoming DigiTimes report.
iPhone 17 Air mockup based on rumored design
The EVT stage involves Apple testing iPhone 17 prototypes to ensure the hardware works as expected. There are still DVT (Design Validation Test) and PVT (Production Validation Test) stages to...
This week marks the 10th anniversary of the Apple Watch, which launched on April 24, 2015. Yesterday, we recapped features rumored for the Apple Watch Series 11, but since 2015, the Apple Watch has also branched out into the Apple Watch Ultra and the Apple Watch SE, so we thought we'd take a look at what's next for those product lines, too.
2025 Apple Watch Ultra 3
Apple didn't update the...
Tuesday April 29, 2025 3:36 am PDT by Tim Hardwick
All upcoming iPhone 17 models will come equipped with 12GB of RAM to support Apple Intelligence, according to the Weibo-based leaker Digital Chat Station.
The claim from the Chinese leaker, who has sources within Apple's supply chain, comes a few days after industry analyst Ming-Chi Kuo said that the iPhone 17 Air, iPhone 17 Pro, and iPhone 17 Pro Max will all be equipped with 12GB of RAM.
...
Wednesday April 30, 2025 4:01 pm PDT by Juli Clover
In a victory for Epic Games, Apple was today found to be in violation of a 2021 injunction that required it to allow developers to direct customers to third-party purchase options on the web using in-app links.
Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers, who has been handling the Apple vs. Epic Games dispute for the last five years, said that Apple is in "willful violation" of the injunction she issued to ...
Tuesday April 29, 2025 7:00 am PDT by Tim Hardwick
Apple's iPhone 18 lineup will introduce a major leap in memory performance, according to new information shared today by Weibo-based leaker Digital Chat Station. Apple is reportedly planning to equip the 2026 models with a high-capacity six-channel LPDDR5X memory configuration, significantly upping the memory bandwidth for future AI features and multitasking.
Expanding the memory bandwidth...