Amazon Jumps The Gun And Reveals Apple's Beats Studio Buds+ Ahead Of Launch
The listing for the Studio Buds sequel has since been taken down, but thanks to the ever-handy Wayback Machine, we have some final details of the upcoming earbuds. Set to launch of May 18th for $170, the Buds+ comes in at $20 over the OG model, which is inflationary but very reasonable.
Taking a play from Nothing's Ear products, the transparent Studio Buds+ exposes the innards of its earpieces and case for all the world to see. Other than that, all three colorways will have identical specs, though improving on the original Studio Buds in almost every aspect.
While the redacted listing doesn't explicitly say so, there might be a chance that the Buds+ could at least carry Apple older proprietary's W1/H1 processor, similar to the one found on the AirPod Pro. For one, there will be always-listening "Hey Siri" voice assistance, 1.6 times more active noise cancelling power, 2.0 times more transparency capability, as well as spatial audio support. None of these features are available on the present model. We'll have to wait for the actual release to confirm our suspicions.
Other improvements are 12 more hours-worth of charge from the case, which is fantastic considering the form factor remaining largely the same and that the total weight is now only 3.87 oz (versus 4.5 oz on the OG). Beats also touts 3 times larger mics, so when paired with the more powerful processor (Apple's or otherwise), the mics should offer improved phone call and noise suppression quality. It would've been nice to see stronger a water-dust resistance, however, as the Buds+ retains an IPX4 rating.
As the listing indicates, the Studio Buds+ is expected to drop on May 18th, but it's possible the Amazon listing could open up again before then for pre-orders.
