After several delays, Apple’s wireless headphones – called AirPods – are finally making their way into customers’ hands, but already many users have reported on the poor battery life of the accompanying charging case.
The AirPods themselves are designed to last for up to five hours at a time, with their case doubling up as a recharging station. Pop the headphones into the case and charge back up, with the case itself supposedly holding another 24 hours’ worth of juice. In practice though, many users have been reporting figures way shy of this mark.
One Reddit user explains his experience: “I started with a 100% level for both the buds and case yesterday. I used the buds for maybe 3 hours, then put them back into the case. This morning my case is at 50%!” If true, this is nowhere near the advertised battery life.
It’s not uncommon for small batteries to experience some drain over time, but this level doesn’t seem right. Apple has been replacing charging cases to users who complain, with one user reporting a huge improvement after receiving the replacement case.
Whether this is a general problem with the design of the charging case or just a few dodgy units giving the rest a bad name isn’t yet clear. But after reports that the new MacBook Pro has less-than-stellar battery life, this isn’t good press for Apple. For more details on this story, it’s worth reading this piece which rounds up quotes from users across Reddit.