Apple Launches Next-Gen AirPods, M1 Chips, $5 Apple Music Siri Add-On

New AirPods, colorized HomePod minis, a MacBook Pro and M1 family chips highlighted Apple's Monday product launch event. The company also added a premium voice control feature for personalization of content for Apple Music subscribers.

Apple introduced its third generation of AirPods, positioning them for playback of Dolby Atmos in Apple Music. Improved battery life gives six hours’ listening time, and up to 30 hours total listening time with the charging case. The $179 AirPods work with iOS 15 to deliver spatial audio, which Apple calls a “three dimensional theater-like experience." They also have dynamic head tracking, said the company, “making it seem as if everyone is in the same room” on a group FaceTime call. AirPods are now part of the Find My network, making them detectable in the Find My app, Apple said. Second-generation AirPods drop to $129, and AirPods Pro now come with a MagSafe charging case at $249, said the company. The third-gen earbuds, available for preorder, are due in stores Oct. 26.

The HomePod mini remains $99, and added yellow, orange and blue colors to the white and black options. Later this year, Siri is expanding support for multi-user voice recognition so “everyone in the home can set music according to their preferences,” Apple said. Users can now ask Siri to turn on Apple TV and start a new show, it said, and they can ask Siri on HomePod mini to locate a misplaced Apple device.

The company bowed a premium plan for Apple Music that gives subscribers voice access to the service’s full catalog for an additional $4.99 monthly. Once subscribed to the voice plan, users can request music be played across all of their Siri-enabled devices, including CarPlay, Apple said. Users can request a trial of the service by voice on an Apple device.

The company beefed up the power in its Mac chips, with the M1 Pro and M1 Max introducing an SoC architecture to pro systems for the first time, said the company. The central processing unit of the M1 Pro is said to deliver up to 70% faster performance than the M1. Graphics processing in the M1 Pro is double that of the M1; M1 Max is four times faster, it said. The 14- and 16-inch MacBook Pros, on preorder Monday, are due in stores Oct. 26 starting at $1,999 and $2,499.