I just discovered another AirPods 4 feature that is a downgrade compared to AirPods 3 and AirPods Pro 2 – the lack of MagSafe support.
One Hour of Battery Life Less and Lack of MagSafe Support Make the AirPods 4 a Strange Upgrade
With MagSafe, you can just stick your AirPods 3 or AirPods Pro 2 charging case to a compatible charger and it will start charging up wirelessly. This is a feature I rely on every single day because I don’t want to play the game where I align the charging case on top of a wireless charger. MagSafe made things so much easier. Just bring the case close to a MagSafe charger and magnets do the rest for you.
However, with AirPods 4 reviews now out, it has come to everyone’s attention that the new AirPods do not include magnets for MagSafe at all. If you try to stick the charging case to one, it can be bumped off easily. However, you do get support for charging the charging case on the Apple Watch charger. You also get support for USB-C charging, a highlighting feature of the new AirPods.
The lack of MagSafe is really strange here and at the same time, makes sense. Apple does claim that this is the smallest charging case on the planet that delivers 30 hours of battery life. In order to achieve that, Apple had to cut a huge corner, and that’s MagSafe.
Even if you compare battery life to AirPods 3 and AirPods Pro 2, you get an hour less per charge. However, you still get the 30 hours of total playback. This might not be good news for those who love wearing AirPods throughout the day.
I’m not sure if removing MagSafe from AirPods was a worth-it move just to make the AirPods 4 smaller. But one look at the reviews and the overall features make the AirPods 4 a good upgrade compared to the AirPods 3 and a worthy replacement for the AirPods Pro 2 even.
