New AirPods now with wireless charging, hands-free Siri

Dubai - Company continues to ramp up hardware with third announcement in as many days

For the third time in as many days, Apple has another hardware announcement, and this time it wants you to 'hear' it.
After refreshing its iPad and iMac lines this week, the company on Wednesday unveiled the new AirPods, which, as expected, now comes with wireless charging capabilities.
The second-generation wireless headset had been long rumoured to receive that specific upgrade as far as last year. In the lead-up to Apple's special event on March 25, there was also speculation that new AirPods would be announced.
However - as with the iPad and iMac from the past couple of days - Apple made another rather surprise announcement.
"AirPods delivered a magical wireless experience and have become one of the most beloved products we've ever made. They connect easily with all of your devices and provide crystal-clear sound and intuitive, innovative control of your music and audio," Phil Schiller, Apple's senior vice-president of worldwide marketing, said in a statement.
"The world's best wireless headphones just got even better with the new AirPods. They are powered by the new Apple-designed H1 chip which brings an extra hour of talk time, faster connections, hands-free 'Hey Siri' and the convenience of a new wireless battery case." 
The new AirPods will work with any Qi-compatible charging solutions; an LED indicator is now also up front to show the charging status.
Apple says they also have a new H1 chip, which features a custom audio architecture and improved synchronisation, and promising 50 per cent more talk time. Switch times between devices while listening to music on an iPhone, Apple Watch or iPad is now also two times faster.
And you also don't need to worry about having to double-tap these new AirPods to trigger Siri: Apple has now added hands-free activation of its digital voice assistant by simply saying 'Hey Siri'.
The standard AirPods will fetch Dh679, while the variant with wireless charging clocks in at Dh829. However, users of the original audio device can opt to purchase only the wireless charging case for only Dh329.
Orders are ongoing in the UAE and in-store availability will be next week.
- alvin@khaleejtimes.com