Fashion-focused GQ snagged an interview with Apple’s legendary designer Jony Ive to celebrate the launch of Apple’s second-gen AirPods this week. The piece starts off tackling one major issue head-on: AirPods looked a little ridiculous to everyone before they became a cultural lightning bolt.
Here’s Ive’s response:
In describing the amount of work that went into nailing the current design of AirPods, Ive surfaces not just how the wireless earbuds look but how they interact with the case and how the case itself snaps:
Apple’s Design SVP goes on to admit that earlier versions of AirPods weren’t always as instinctive as the final product that shipped:
Apple shipped the first-ever update to the original AirPods with the second-gen version with the same name. New AirPods include an H1 chip in place of the original W1 chip that powered wireless connectivity and fast pairing. The new chip touts three hours talk time over two hours, 30% lower gaming latency, 2x faster switching between active devices, and 1.5x faster phone call connection.
Apple also now sells an optional wireless charging case for all AirPods, or new AirPods customers or upgraders can pay a premium to have the new wireless charging case with the new AirPods.
Check out the full piece at GQ for more.
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