The Wall Street Journal published a review article on the topic of AirPods. However, the article is not discussing the newly released AirPods3 this year, nor is Apple releasing any new audio technology for AirPods, but a recent popular one which is somewhat surprising. The phenomenon of doubting is gradually becoming popular.
Including some Hollywood stars, there is a retro craze for those people that are on the fashion trend, wearing wired headsets on many social media and occasions. Warner’s well-known pop music singer Dua Lipa also posted photos of necklaces made with EarPods. These are all signs that wired headphones have become a popular element in recent months. The young generations are also bringing their earphones wherever they go.
In this year’s fashion industry, more and more wired headsets have begun to be combined with various fashion designs, and more and more appear on the runway, becoming a part of fashion wear. It seems that the trend of wired headset revival is returning.
Young people are getting tired of AirPods, are they?
For the reasons of abandoning AirPods and other wireless headsets, some people believe that the signals emitted by AirPods and mobile phones will generate harmful ‘radiation’; of course, most choose to return to traditional wired earphones are because of their simplicity: wired earphones are more reliable, do not require regular charging, are inexpensive, and have simple and clear volume control buttons.
Then what is their choice?
It’s EarPods, the wired earphones released by Apple in 2012. The classic design and the gift of the iPhone packaging make it still exist in a large number on the market today. Many people have one or two EarPods at home. It will not be difficult to find it in 2021. Since most of the iPhone and Android phones can’t find the 3.5mm headphone jack nowadays, many young people have to turn to audio-visual websites for teaching to solve the problem of “how to plug in a wired headset into a mobile phone?’ This trend has indirectly brought a lot of relevant teaching on YouTube and many video bloggers have also begun to make relevant teachings on TikTok, which is now more popular.
On the other hand, although the AirPods series has become quite popular, the actual price is still not a cheap digital device for many people. On the current Apple official website, the price of the AirPods series is more than 100 euros. It is divided into multiple product lines: AirPods Max, which focuses on top-level hardware positioning, is priced at 450 euros!
As a product that accompanies the demand for music and communication, headphones have always been one of the important carriers of fashion elements. The wave of smartphones in the 2010s has changed the shape of many things: streaming media platforms have made music accessible, and true wireless headsets have also been one of the most important trends in the consumer electronics field in the past five years.
To conclude, it’s not that TWS headsets such as AirPods are out of fashion or inconvenient to use. It’s just that TWS such as AirPods (or “true wireless headsets”) have been in the past two or three years. Therefore, some users try to find more unique existences in the past that have become a classic memory. What about you, do you still use wired earphones or wireless headsets? And why?
I really enjoyed reading your blogpost! I did not know earpods were having a comeback (as earpods and as fashion accessory). I personally got wireless airpods about a year ago and I can’t leave the door without them. I personally don’t understand why people would prefer earpods. The huge benefit for me is that the cord won’t break, as I have it with me 24/7. In the end this actually saves me quite some money! Charging the airpods are also fine, as long as you don’t forget of course!
This was very interesting to read! I also noticed how earpods and headphones are making a comeback. I even noticed on Tiktok that people are putting accessoires on their headphones (like stickers). I myself never got airpods or a variation of them, but that mostly has to due with the fact that I am incredibly afraid of losing them and waisting my money haha. I am personally kind of glad earpods and headphones are not ‘going out of fashion’, because I personally find them more convenient and have noticed some smartphones don’t even have a separate hole to plug them in anymore :\.
To be honest, I personally like the airpods better than earpods. The only problem is indeed that you do have to charge them, but mine usually charge very fast. I still keep my old earpods, just in case something happens, or if my airpods run out of batteries while listening to podcasts, but I have a long history of constantly having to buy earpods because there would always be something wrong with the wires (maybe that’s on me though haha). So far, the airpods have been quite convenient, especially when I work out or do any other activity in which the wires might get in the way.
Interesting topic! The fact that wired earphones are being used for fashion I believe doesn’t signify the comeback of wired earphones but rather signify the actually ending of the wired earphone era. It’s similar to how some people choose to listen to music using walkman or LP table now because they are nostalgic about something that’s gone, not because they are more practical. I guess yes they are more practical in that you don’t have to charge in order to use them, but the fact that new models of electronics don’t have headphone jacks makes wired earphones pretty much useless :/
I have always stuck with wired headphones. When it was time to buy new earphones I did some research on Bluetooth headphones and found that the audio was substandard compared to wired headphones and they were a lot more expensive along with that. With that in mind I specifically chose my Galaxy S9 because it had a headphone jack still, while most other brands had done away with it already. I don’t know what I will be doing when my phone breaks down. But I also think that wireless headphones are ridiculously expensive. I won’t pay more than a 100 euros for something I can easily lose and has less quality audio than my current headphones! And for me they are not more convenient, I don’t have to charge them, as you said, and when I want to take them with me, I either put them in, or roll them up and put them in my pocket or bag. The only reason wireless might be more useful is when running, but then they have a tendency to fall out of my right ear so it’s just not worth the risk for me.
I prefer wired earphones because I have the irrational fear that my AirPods will disconnect and everyone will hear my music or that they will fall out of my ear. And as you mentioned they need to be charged regularly and I am sure I would just forget to do that and they have a limited listening time unlike wired earphones. Having the Bluetooth on also drains the phone battery faster. And they are so expensive I do not want to spend so much money on earbuds that I would not be using so comfortably.
When working out wired headphones are a tad bit unhandy but I prefer wireless headphones over wireless earbuds. Again because
And you also noted that wired earphones are making a comeback. I also see this on social media where people post celebrities using wired earbuds or headphones and will call it vintage or something like that. It is becoming part of a fashion trend and I think that is also why more people are using them again.
These trends of bringing back recent technology are very interesting to discuss. It’s funny to me that the wired earphones are now considered “retro” even though 2012 wasn’t too long ago. It really shows how big companies treat their products in such a disposable way. More and more people are getting tired of the mindset that 1yr old products are somehow not useful anymore. Also very recently apple actually rolled back their new computer models to look like their older MacBooks and they have even brought back old charging jacks which is making people think about the fact that all these fancy adaptions to models like MacBook Air may not actually be “better” or more advanced in any way. I personally use my tech products until they break but I know a lot of people that get rid of their phones or earphones every year in exchange for a newer, fresher product.