Apple’s third-gen AirPods are back on sale for their lowest price yet

Apple’s have dropped back down to the lowest price we’ve seen thanks to a deal on Amazon right now. The AirPods, which normally go for $170, are 17 percent off, making them just $140. Apple overhauled the design of the standard AirPods with this model, which was introduced in 2021. The third-gen AirPods have a shorter stem to look more like the AirPods Pro (but without the eartips), a contoured design for comfort and are rated for sweat and water resistance.

Previous models of the non-Pro AirPods weren’t sweat and water resistant, but the third-generation carries an IPX4 rating, which should be adequate for workouts. They also boast an improved method of automatic pausing over the earlier versions, using both an accelerometer and a sensor that detects skin so they can better sense when they’ve been removed from your ear.

The third-generation AirPods run on Apple’s H1 chip, which allows for one-touch fast pairing and always-on Siri. They offer Adaptive EQ, spatial audio and dynamic head-tracking — but no active noise-cancellation, that’s for the AirPods Pro only — and produce much better sound compared to the earlier models. In Engadget’s review, the scored an 88 for their comfort-focused design, audio quality and battery life.

The battery life is noticeably longer in the third-generation AirPods. Apple says these AirPods get about 6 hours of battery life on a charge, but in our tests, they lasted over an hour beyond than that. With the charging case, they can get about 30 hours of life in all. If you need to top them up while you’re out, you only need to pop them in the case for five minutes to get another hour of playtime. If you’re not concerned about features like active noise cancellation, the third-generation AirPods are a great bet, especially at their reduced price.

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