Back in October, Apple introduced Beats Flex wireless earphones, which offer improvements over the previous BeatsX earphones yet come with a much lower $49.99 price tag.
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The wireless Bluetooth earphones have a cord between the two earpieces that drapes around the neck and provides access to some physical controls.
They were initially only available in Beats Black and Yuzu Yellow color options. However, as spotted by 9to5Mac, two additional colors – Smoke Gray and Flame Blue – are now available to order on the Apple online store.
Beats Flex include Apple's W1 chip that supports quick pairing with iOS devices, iCloud syncing for seamless switching between devices, Audio Sharing to allow two sets of compatible Beats or AirPods earphones to listen to connect to the same device, and more.
They offer up to 12 hours of listening time on a single charge, and they recharge using USB-C to help provide maximum compatibility for Apple and Android users. A 10-minute Fast Fuel charge when the battery level is low will provide up to 1.5 hours of playback.
Beats Flex are the cheapest way to get into Apple's wireless earphone ecosystem, which is especially important now that Apple is no longer including earphones in the box with its iPhones.
Top Rated Comments
The flex was the only Apple product I bought last year and I use them constantly all day every day. I love them, especially because of the battery life and the W1 chip and because they’re always around my neck ready to go. My broken beatsX that they replaced had a little bit better sound and build quality but also cost 3x more and had maybe half the battery life, and a terribly designed power button which ultimately failed. The flex is an upgrade or downgrade from the beatsX depending on what’s important to you. For me, definitely an upgrade. I would pay more for better audio quality, but it’s not a dealbreaker for me for my uses.
There are a couple software things though I really wish Apple would change. For one, allow Siri to make general inquiries like battery level without having to unlock the device that the headphones are connected to (but still locking more sensitive inquiries). Second, whenever you turn on the headphones, or while they’re on and you short press the power button, there is a pop up window on all your devices showing the battery level of the headphones, which is awesome, but LET THERE ALSO BE A “CONNECT” BUTTON IN THE POP UP WINDOW SO THAT YOU CAN QUICKLY CONNECT TO ANY DEVICE! The latter especially seems like such low hanging fruit, I don’t know why it’s not already implemented.
edit- also, sometimes you’ve been wearing the headphones around your neck for awhile and you don’t know if they’re on or off, and it’s cumbersome to take them off to see if the led light is on, so there should be a small beep sound when you short press the power button.
I ended up returning them because I didn’t just want “okay” call quality. They also felt bulkier than I liked. They were thicker than I expected as well, and I just didn’t like how they felt hanging around my neck.