How Much do AirPods Cost?

If you’re an Apple user, and you’re fed up of tangly earphone wires, and holding your phone until your arm aches, you’ll probably want to know how much AirPods cost.

Apple AirPods are wireless bluetooth headphones which allow you to make phone calls, listen to music, and talk to Apple’s digital assistant, Siri, without having to pick up your device.

This article will cover the cost of three types of AirPods currently on the market: AirPods Max, AirPods pro and AirPods (2nd generation, otherwise known as AirPods 2). We’ll break down the cost of Airpods in the UK, the US, Canada and Australia. We’ll also investigate whether Airpods are worth buying.

Let’s dive right in, and find out how much Airpods cost.

How much do Airpods cost?

Airpods pro officially cost $249 in the US, £249 in the UK, $399 in Australia and $329 in Canada, and Airpods Max cost $549 in the US, £549 in the UK, $899 in Australia and $779 in Canada.

Airpods (2nd generation) cost $159 in the US, £159 in the UK, $249 in Australia and $219 in Canada.

We’ll explore each of these Airpods in detail, and break down their prices, features, usefulness and quality.

How much do AirPods Max cost?

UK

AirPods Max cost £549 in the UK

USA

AirPods Max cost $549 in the UK

Canada

AirPods Max cost $779 in Canada

Australia

AirPods Max cost $899 in Australia

Refurbished AirPods Max

As AirPods Max are barely a month old, it’s hard to find any deals on refurbished products at the moment, that aren’t glitches or placeholders. Keep checking sites like Amazon, eBay, Mac4Sale and BestBuy.com.

Airpods Max Key Features

AirPods Max have fantastic noise cancellation features. There are 6 outward facing microphones and 2 inward facing ones. The outside microphones pick up outside noise and create an inverse wave to play inside your ear, cancelling out noise. The microphones on the inside listen back to that audio, and make sure you are hearing it as you should.

The AirPods Max have several significant features when it comes to their build. AirPods Max have custom dynamic drivers with dual neodymium ring magnets, which allow for the fabric inner ear cups to lock in safely. This is a great feature, considering how devastating it is when you buy a pricey set of earphones, only to lose one of the cups. The ear cups are inscribed with a L or an R depending on which side of the AirPods they belong to, which means you’ll never get them mixed up.

Apple has created a fabric canopy for the AirPods Max, as well as an entire stainless steel frame beneath. The fabric canopy makes them comfortable to wear, and they certainly look unique.

Interestingly, Apple has taken the digital crown from the Apple Watch and integrated it into the AirPods Max. The digital crown is situated at the top of the right ear cup, and you can use it to control playback, summon Siri (Apple’s digital assistant), and control volume, all with this physical control. You can also use the ‘hey, Siri’ function to activate Siri, if you have this set up on your iPhone.

The AirPods Max have a smart case which is a particularly good feature. When you put the AirPods max inside them, they’re protected by a microfibre lining. The case also has a magnet inside which is read by a sensor on the AirPod Max. This puts it into ultra low powered mode when inside the case, saving you a lot of battery.

AirPods Max also have spatial audio, which is very different from the stereo audio which you only hear from the left or right of you. In contrast, you can hear spatial audio from any direction: behind, in front and even above (it mimics the experience of a cinema). The AirPods Max spatial audio is accompanied with dynamic head tracking, which means they can use the surround sound to build a sound stage around you, and keep that in relation to how you move your head to the iPhone or iPad you’re focusing on. Like the AirPods Pro and the AirPods 2, this is all controlled by Apple’s special H1 chip for headphones. There are two H1 chips in AirPods Max: one each in the two cups. Each H1 chip has ten cores, which allows for strong computational audio, including adaptive EQ, which adjusts audio to your ears. The H1 chips also runs the device switching and goes between all your different Apple devices with ease. This means you can use your AirPods Max on any of your Apple devices seamlessly. H1 also controls transparency mode and noise cancellation.

AirPods Max specs

• Width: 6.64 inches (168.6mm)
• Profile width (earcups): 3.28 inches (83.4mm)
• Height: 7.37 inches (187.3mm)
• Weight: 13.6 ounces (384.8 grams)

How much do Airpods Pro cost?

UK

AirPods Pro cost £249 in the UK.

USA

AirPods Pro cost $249 dollars in the US.

Canada

AirPods Pro cost $329 in Canada

Australia

AirPods Pro cost $399 in Australia

Refurbished AirPods Pro

If you want to buy AirPods Pro, but the prices are out of your range, you could always buy them refurbished at a lower price. In the UK, you can get refurbished AirPods Pro for £157 on sites such as Mac4sale, in the US, you can get refurbished AirPods Pro for $189.99 from BestBuy.com and $219 in Canada, also from BestBuy.com. You can get refurbished AirPods pro for $369.90 in Australia, on sites like AlloAllo.com

AirPods Pro key features

These wireless ear buds, shaped with removable silicone tips in three different sizes (no more dealing with immovable plastic buds that may or may not fit your ear), differ greatly from their predecessors: the AirPods 2.

AirPods Pro have a better wind-proofed mic than the AirPods 2, which is useful if you’re having a work meeting or conversation on the go. Apple have relocated the mic from the bottom of the stem to the outside. The mic itself is a larger, mesh covered port which hugely improves audio quality when outside in adverse weather conditions.

AirPods Pro also have a new feature called transparency mode. This is an audio feature that allows outside sounds to pass into your AirPods, even when you’re listening to music. This is beneficial if you’re wearing AirPods, but you need to keep yourself safe so that you can hear traffic, for example. Apple’s transparency mode is useful as it doesn’t allow overwhelming sound to come in through your AirPods.

Active noise cancellation is one of the most noteworthy features on the AirPods Pro. The AirPods Pro have two new microphones, one that sits on the inside of your ear and one on the outside. The inside microphone listens to the noises inside your ear and the outside one listens to the outside audio, and they work together to cancel out any active sound.

AirPods Pro also have active EQ, which means that the internal microphone that listens to what is going on in your ear, adjusts and tunes that sound to your specific ear. AirPods Pro also feature Apple’s spatial audio, which takes 5.1, 7.1 and Dolby Atmos signals and allows sounds to be placed anywhere in 3D space. Basically, you’ll get the audio experience of a cinema through these tiny pods, with sounds seeming to come from in front of you, from the sides, behind and even above. This is pretty cool if you’re sitting on a bus and want to escape fully into the Netflix series you’re watching, or you’re going for a run outside and suddenly the whole landscape is thrumming with the music from your song.

Like the AirPods 2 before them, AirPods Pro have Apple’s special H1 headphone wireless chip. The H1 allows for really solid and fast connections between your AirPods and your different Apple devices. The AirPods pro are also water resistant, with a resistance rating of IPX4. This means you can wear them while exercising and sweating and a light drizzle won’t harm them, but they’re not waterproof by any means.

The Apple AirPods Pro automatically come with a wireless charging case. Unlike the regular AirPods, there’s no cheaper option for a standard charging case.

Airpods pro specs

• Height: 30.9 mm (1.22 inches)
• Width: 21.8 mm (0.86 inches)
• Depth: 24.0 mm (0.94 inches)
• Weight: 5.4 grams (0.19 ounces)

How much do AirPods (2nd generation) cost?

UK

AirPods 2 cost £159 in the UK, and £199 with a wireless charging case.

USA

Airpods 2 cost $159 in the US, and $199 with a wireless charging case.

Canada

Airpods 2 cost $219 in Canada, and $269 with a wireless charging case.

Australia

Airpods 2 cost $249 in Australia, and $319 with a wireless charging case.

Refurbished AirPods 2

If you want to buy AirPods, but the prices are out of your range, you could always buy them refurbished at a lower price. In the UK, you can get refurbished AirPods 2 for £100, on sites such as Mac4sale, in the US, you can get refurbished AirPods 2 for $112.99 from Walmart, in Canada. you can get AirPods 2 with a wireless charging case for $158.99 on sites like BestBuy.ca, and in Australia, you can get Airpods 2 for $159.99 on sites like mydeal.com

AirPods 2 key features

Like the original Apple AirPods, AirPods 2 are wireless, and they sync easily over iCloud with all of your Apple devices, from your iPad to your Apple Watch. You can switch between music tracks without touching your phone, configure each AirPod to play or pause video or audio, and ask Siri, Apple’s digital voice assistant, to do everything from calling a friend to checking your AirPods’ battery life. You can also ask Siri to read an incoming message through your AirPods, and reply yourself via a voice note. Visually, Airpods (2nd generation) are the same design as the original AirPods, and at 0.14 ounces, they’re deliciously light and convenient.

However, unlike the original AirPods, they have a much faster H1 processor chip, which is Apple’s chip especially designed for earphones. As well as speeding all the AirPods’ processes along, the H1 chip gives the AirPods 2 a better battery life and a more consistent connection. You can now switch between your active devices twice as fast as you could with the original AirPods. AirPods 2 supports wireless charging, which means you can charge them on any wireless compatible charging pad.

You’ll get 24 hours of total use time thanks to your AirPods case, which constantly charges your AirPods when they’re inside it. AirPods 2 have a better battery life than the original AirPods. You can get five hours of listening time, as well as up to 3 hours of talk time on a call before those batteries die. Putting your AirPods 2 into their case for just 15 minutes will get you three more hours of listening time and two more hours of talk time.

Airpods 2 specs

• Height: 40.5 mm (1.59 inches)
• Width: 16.5 mm (0.65 inches)
• Depth: 18.0 mm (0.71 inches)
• Weight: 4 grams (0.14 ounces)

Is it worth buying AirPods?

Whether it’s worth buying AirPods depends on a lot of factors, including whether you’re an Apple user (AirPods work the most seamlessly with Apple devices), how much money you’re willing to spend and what you’re looking for out of a pair of earphones.

Is it worth buying AirPods Max?

If you’re an Apple user and you’re considering buying AirPods, you need to think about several factors before you decide on the AirPods Max or any others.

• Money: AirPods Max are very pricey by most standards, and whether you opt for them over the cheaper AirPods Pro, which have a lot of similar features (including noise cancellation and spatial audio), depends on how keen you are on over-ear buds vs. the internal ear buds of the earlier AirPods models. Although replacements for magnetically attached cups come in at $69, which seems pretty expensive, there are fewer parts to fix on the AirPods Max than, say the AirPods Pro, which may make them cheaper in the long run, if you’re more accident prone than most. It’s also much harder to lose a large pair of over-ear headphones than it is to lose tiny, in-ear AirPod buds.
• AirPods Max are not water resistant: Unlike the AirPods Pro, which are water resistant to sweat and drizzle, you have to be really careful to keep your AirPods Max away from any moisture. So, if you want to use headphones to work out, it might be better to avoid these.
• Colour: For the first time in the history of AirPods, Apple have finally allowed a range of colours beyond white for the AirPod Pro. If you don’t care about your AirPod Pros or AirPod 2s being white and white alone, this may not sway you. However, if colour was the only thing stopping you buying a pair of AirPods, you’re in luck with the AirPod pros. You can get the AIrPods max in silver, black, green, blue and pink, with one tone for the cup and one tone for the canopy covers. Excitingly, the cup colours match the colours of the new iPad Air, and the canopy colours match the colours of the new iPhone 12. So if you have any of these devices, you can match your AirPods Max with them.
• Features: As we’ve established, the AirPods Max are almost computationally the same as the previous AirPods Pro. Both have excellent noise cancellation features, with transparency mode and spatial audio with dynamic head tracking. So, it really depends on whether you want over-the-ear headphones, or in-ear headphones that are so light you can almost forget you’re wearing them. It really comes down to a matter of style preferences, and how much you’re able to spend.

Is it worth buying AirPods Pro?

If you’re thinking about buying AirPods, you need to think about several things before you decide if the AirPods Pro are right for you.

• Money. Aside from the new AirPods Max, the AirPods Pro are certainly the most expensive AirPods to hit the market, at £249 in the UK, for example. However, the AirPods Pro are a very different design from the original, cheaper AirPods, so if you have the money and you’re looking for the best design, they are worth investing in.
• Wireless charging: Some people get very hyped about the wireless charging capacity of the AirPods pro, but it doesn’t mean much beyond the fact that you can charge AirPods Pro using a qi enabled charging pad (which you’ll have to buy separately to the AirPods Pro). It’s only worth buying the AirPods Pro for their wireless charging capacity if you’re super into wireless charging. If this is the only reason you’re considering the AirPods Pro, you can actually buy the AirPods 2 with a wireless Charging Case, which will be cheaper and save you some money.
• Features : AirPods Pro offer much better sound quality, and excellent noise cancellation facilities which the original AirPods did not have. AirPods Pro also have a transparency setting, which allows important noises such as traffic or conversations to filter in when you’re wearing them, and – as we mentioned before – spatial audio. AirPods Pro have a very different design from the original AirPods. For starters, rather than the fixed, plastic earbud of the AirPods (which, if they don’t fit your ear well, you can’t do anything about), AirPods Pro have a range of silicone tips that you can fit to the shape of your ear. They also have a shorter stem, which looks a bit better than the long stems hanging out of your ears with regular AirPods.
• AirPods Pro are water resistant. AirPods Pro have the great advantage of being sweat and water resistant, which means you’re safe to do a heavy workout in them without worrying about damage. This is a pretty key factor to consider when choosing a pair of AirPods. Most of us wear headphones to exercise or run in the rain, so it makes sense you would choose the ones that can cope with a couple of splashes of water.

Is it worth buying AirPods 2?

If you’re considering buying AirPods, you need to consider several factors before you decide on the AirPods 2.

• Money: With two new AirPods out (the AirPods Max and the AirPods Pro), AirPods 2 are your best money saving choice when it comes to AirPods. However, they have very different features to the potentially superior AirPods 2, though it depends on what your priorities are. If you’re an Apple user and you’re looking for a set of wireless headphones but don’t want to spend an excessive amount of money, we recommend AirPods 2. This is because AirPods 2, being an Apple product, will always connect more automatically than any other bluetooth device with your Apple device. If you don’t overly care about the audio quality, noise cancellation or spatial audio that the newer AirPods offer you, it makes total sense to go for the AirPods 2. Make sure you opt for the AirPods 2 over the original AirPods released in 2016, though. Although you can still get hold of the original AirPods. the price is exactly the same as the new AirPods 2. Seeing as AirPods 2 have many new and superior features, including a 1.5 times faster call connection rate, you might as well get more for for your money by opting for them.
• Features: As well as the usual features of activating Siri, pressing pause and play and sending and receiving messages as voice notes, AirPods 2 have a useful way of pausing music automatically when you pull them out of your ear. This is particularly useful as the tap to pause function on the AirPods 2 isn’t always the most reliable. The AirPods Pro are better in this respect, as you put pressure the stem of the AirPod to pause and play, and this is more accurate than just a tap. AirPods 2 use Apple’s special H1 chip for wireless headphones, which means you’ll always have a really consistent experience when you’re syncing your AirPods to any of your Apple devices. You can use other bluetooth headphones with Apple, but the experience may not be as smooth. The AirPods 2 also have a good battery function: with over 5 hours of listening time on one charge, and more than 24 hours of listening time in total. The Charging Case will automatically start charging your AirPod as soon as you put them in there. AirPods 2 also feature microphones on both ear buds, and will switch depending on which one is picking up better sound, so if you’re after really reliable audio, the AirPods 2 have it.
• Wireless charging case: The AirPods 2 are also available with a wireless Charging Case, as well as a ordinary one. But if it’s the wireless case you’re after and money isn’t an issue,, you might as well just go for the AirPods Pro which automatically comes with a wireless charging case and have more advanced features than the AirPods 2.

Can I buy just one AirPod?

Yes, you can buy just one AirPod. Whether you’ve lost just AirPod, or one of your AirPods landed in the washing machine, you can buy a replacement AirPod from $69 for a single AirPod 2, or $89 for a single AirPod Pro.

This is still much cheaper than the $159 or more you’d have to shell out for a new pair. You can also buy single, refurbished AirPods which are even cheaper, for example, there are single AirPod 2 buds currently retailing on eBay for $49. However, make sure you check that any refurbished product you see is legitimate, before you buy it.

The ordinary, one-year warranty you get with all Apple products only applies to manufacturing issues with your AirPods, and won’t apply to an AirPod that you’ve lost or damaged yourself. However, AppleCare+, , does give you coverage for accidental damage.

You should know that AirPods work just fine on their own, even if the other AirPod is lost. If you don’t mind too much about just having one AirPod sticking out of your ear, and you want to save some money, you may want to stay with just the one.

If your AirPod has water damage, check out our tips below on rescuing water damaged AirPods. If you can rescue your AirPod yourself, you may not have to spend anything at all!

If you need to purchase a replacement AirPod, we’ve put together a list of how much replacements for AirPod parts cost. These prices are in British pounds sterling and include VAT, but simply put in your relevant country on the Apple website and head to the AirPods Service and Repair page, to see the exact prices for your country.

Replacing a lost AirPod or Charging Case

If you’ve lost one of your AirPods 2 or AirPods Pro, Apple will replace it for a lost fee of:

• £65 for AirPods 2, and £85 for AirPods Pro

If you’ve lost your Charging Case, Apple will replace it for a lost fee of:

• £55 for a regular Charging Case, £75 for Wireless Charging Case.

AppleCare+ for headphones does not cover lost or stolen AirPods, so if you have lost an AirPod for good or had it stolen, you’ll have to pay the lost fee.

Replacing a damaged AirPod or Charging Case

If you’ve damaged one of your AirPods 2 or AirPods Pro, or a part of your AirPods Max, you’ll get two instances of damage covered by AppleCare+. If you don’t have AppleCare+, you’ll have to pay an out-of-warranty fee. The fees are:

• £25 AppleCare+ fee (each incident) for AirPods Max. Contact your Apple service representative in the UK, US, Canada or Australia (input your own country here) to find out the out-of-warranty fee for your particular AirPods repair.
• £25 AppleCare+ fee (each incident), or $89 out-of-warranty fee for Air Pods Pro
• £25 AppleCare+ fee (each incident) or $69 out-of-warranty fee for AirPods 2

If you’ve damaged your Charging Case, Apple will replace it for a fee of:

• £25 AppleCare+ fee (each incident) for AirPods Max. Contact your Apple service representative to find out the out-of-warranty fee for your particular repair.
• £25 AppleCare+fee (each incident), or $89 out-of-warranty fee for Wireless Charging Case for AirPods Pro
• £25 AppleCare+fee (each incident) or $59 out-of-warranty fee for regular Charging Case for AirPods 2.
• £25 AppleCare+fee (each incident) or $69 out-of-warranty fee for Wireless Charging Case for AirPods 2.

Battery service for AirPods

If you need to get an AirPod or AirPod Pro replaced because of a battery issue, you can get this via Apple’s out-of-warranty battery fee, or free via AppleCare+ if the battery holds less than 80 percent of its original capacity. The fees are:

• £0 with AppleCare+ and £75 out-of-warranty fee for AirPods Max
• £0 with AppleCare+ and £45 out-of-warranty fee for each AirPod

If your Charging Case or Wireless Charging Case has a battery issue, the fees are:

• £0 with AppleCare+, and £45 out-of-warranty fee for each type of AirPod.

Apple’s warranty doesn’t cover batteries that wear down from normal use, so you’ll have to pay the out-of-warranty fee in this situation.

AirPods Pro ear tips

If your AirPods have any issues that are covered by the Apple Limited Warranty, Apple will replace them for no charge.

If you lose or damage them yourself, you can buy two new sets of tips for £8 through the Apple online store, or shop online for cheaper alternatives (remember to make sure you’re buying a legitimate product).

How do I set up my new replacement AirPod?

It is super easy to get your new replacement AirPod working with your old one, Just put both AirPods in the Charging Case, and wait for the light to flash amber. Then, press the button on the back of the case for five seconds, and the light should flash white. If it still flashes amber, charge the lid, close the case and wait ten minutes.

Next, go to the Home screen on your iPhone. Open your AirPods case and hold it next to your phone. You’ll see the usual set up animation come up on your phone. Tap Connect, and both AirPods will pair with your iPhone.

Next, on your iPhone, go to the Home screen. Open the case and hold it next to your phone. You’ll see setup animation appear on your iPhone. Tap Connect, then Done. Both AirPods are now paired with your iPhone.

Can I save a water damaged AirPod myself?

We all know the sinking feeling of dropping an expensive piece of technology into a drink, bath or toilet. Our immediate assumption is that we’ll have to go without it, or shell out a lot of money on a replacement. However, you might be able to save your water logged AirPods with these tricks:

1. Open up your AirPods case and take your AirPods out, wrapping them in a napkin or other absorbent material. Keep the lid of the case open, so all the water can drain out. Balance your AirPods to allow the water to drain out of them, too.
2. Get a dry, microfibre cloth and clean your AIrPods, and wipe them in any crevices, for example, any mesh openings.
3. After your AirPods case is dry, put your AirPods back in the Charging Case, and closing the lid to turn them off. Store them somewhere dry, and give the water time to evaporate.

Using Apple’s Find My [device] to locate a lost AirPod

Rather than rushing and buying a replacement AirPod at once, you could still find your old AirPod (and save some money) through Apple’s Find My [device]. If you’ve already set it up with an iPhone, iPad or iPod touch that you’re using with your AirPods, you’ll automatically be able to use it for your AirPods too. Even if your AirPods are out of range using all your devices or have run out of charge and you can’t locate them, Find My [device] can still help by showing the time and location where they were last connected.

How can I tell if my Airpods are fake?

The last thing you want to do when investing money in AirPods, is end up with a pair of fakes. There are a lot of deals around at the moment promising AirPods for less than half their original price. While some of these are probably legit, you need to watch out for people imitating the AirPods’ style and using cheap and inferior materials.

As AirPods Max only started shipping in December 2020, we’ll mostly be covering how to check if your AirPods 2 or AirPods Pro are fakes. However, you can still check many of your AIrPods Max features – including packaging and device functioning – for signs of fakes using our guide below.

Check the packaging for errors

If you’re buying AirPods second hand, they may not come with a case, but if you’re buying them new: make sure to check all these features. The plastic wrapping on an AirPods box is often always the first sign of a fake. On a genuine Apple product, the line sealing the plastic over the AirPods box will appear straight and horizontal. On fake AirPods boxes, the plastic is likely to be bubbly and the line wonky.
Fake AirPods may come in a box with fuzzy images or typo, which real AirPod boxes will never have. Look for any mistakes: spelling errors, unusual spacing and pixelated images, which probably mean that you’ve been sold a fake. However, some of the most expertly crafted AirPod fakes will have packaging that is an exact replica, so be on your guard even if the AirPods’ box and accompanying documents seems exactly the same as the proper Apple AirPods.

Look at your AirPods charging case for irregularities

Check the plastic wrap on your AirPods’ charging case. If it doesn’t have any plastic or lacks a plastic pull out tab, which genuine AirPod charging cases will come with when you first buy them, you may be looking at a fake. Look at the LED charging hole on your case, too. On a genuine AirPods case, the LED hole will appear almost black, because it is filled in with plastic. If your case has an LED hole which is hollow and pale in colour, it may be a fake. Check the hinge on the charging case, too – a real AirPods charging case has a metal hinge, and will close with a clear snap. Check your charging case against the images on the official Apple website, and if you see or hear any differences – even with the shape of the hinges, for example – you could well have a fake.

Check your AirPods for irregularities

Go to Apple’s website and look at the AirPod animations, which allow you to look at the product in 360-degree detail. Check these animations with your AirPods, and if you find any differences – for example, the ear vent on the original AirPods should have two holes underneath the mesh, but fake ones may not have – you may have bought fakes. Check for glued on or missing air pressure vents or holes in random places. Real Apple AirPods will have the serial number written on them. Check that your AirPods have their serial number on them, and not just some random text trying to imitate it. One of the best ways you can spot fake AirPods is to check the bottom of the stems. Real AirPods have an oval shaped grill, but most fake AirPods will have a circular grill. With AirPods Pro, fake knock offs will often have painted plastic, rather than metal at the end of the stems.

Feel the weight of your AirPods, as fake AirPods use inferior quality material to the genuine Apple AirPods, and are likely to be lighter. You could even use a pair of kitchen scales to weigh your AirPods against the specified weight on the Apple website (0.14 ounces for AirPods 2, and 0.19 ounces for AirPods Pro).

Remember, that AirPods 2 and AirPods Pro only ever come in white. So, if you’ve picked up a pair of AirPods 2 or AirPods Pro in any other colour, you’ve definitely got fakes.

Check the connection with your Apple devices

Apple AirPods use Apple’s special H1 or W1 chip to connect to your devices over iCloud. Many fakes do try and copy this, but there are always some inconsistencies. Put your AirPods in your case, and place them next to your device. You should see a clear AirPods animation with a connect button at the bottom after a few seconds. As Apple has made sure the process of connecting your AirPods is as seamless as inserting a pair of wired earphones, if this animation doesn’t appear after a few seconds you could well have bought fake AirPods. With fake AirPods, you’ll often need to connect them via your bluetooth settings, and individually. You will never get this with genuine AirPods.

Check the following AirPods features

with AirPods (2nd generation), double tap the stem to:

• Pause or play music
• Skip to the next track
• Go back to the previous track
• Activate Siri with ‘hey, Siri’
• With automatic ear detection, pause your music by taking an AirPod out of your ear.

With AirPods Pro, press the sensor on your AirPods pro to:

• Pause or play music
• Skip to the next track
• Go back to the previous track
• Switch between Transparency or Active Noise Cancellation mode
• Activate Siri with “hey, Siri”

If your AirPods can’t perform any of the actions above, and you’ve made sure that they’re fully charged, you may well have bought a pair of fakes.

Check the serial number

Apple has a serial number for every pair of AirPods it sells. You can check these on Apple’s Check Coverage website. Fake AirPods manufacturers may print stolen serial numbers on the boxes or packaging of their knock off AirPods, so the only legitimate way to check your serial number is to go to your iPhone Settings. When you see your AirPods, tap them to reveal their serial number and check this against the Check Coverage website.

Is AppleCare+ worth it for Airpods?

AppleCare+ warranty is absolutely worth it if you’re buying a pair of AirPods. If you’re already putting £159 – £549 on AirPods, you might as well put an extra £29-£49 on AppleCare+, to make sure you don’t have to pay full price for replacement AirPods or AirPod parts should they get damaged (you could end up paying double, just to restore or replace your AirPods!). The cost of AppleCare+ for AirPods is as follows:

• AirPods Pro – £29 for Apple Care +
• AirPods 2 – £29 for AppleCare+
• AirPods Max – £49 for AppleCare+

Remember that AppleCare+ doesn’t cover replacements for lost or stolen headphones.

How much do Airpods cost to make?

AirPods cost around $59-$69 per pair to manufacture, which means that Apple’s gross profit is around $90-$100 on every AirPods sold. In 2019, Apple turned over an estimated $8 billion for AirPods, which is extraordinary for a then emerging product.

Best AirPods alternatives

AirPods aren’t for everyone, and they really work best if you’re an Apple user. If you’re not an Apple user, you’re actually in a good place, because there are so many exciting bluetooth headphone alternatives to choose from. Let’s look at just a few:

So, there you have it. A full breakdown of how much AirPods cost, including whether AirPods are worth buying, how to avoid buying fake AirPods, and the cost of replacing your AirPod(s) if they’re lost or broken. We hope you’ve found it a useful guide, and that you have fun finding the AirPods (or other bluetooth headphones) that are perfect for you.