A Technical Description of the Apple Airpods
Rasha Hussain
The City College of New York
Writing for Engineers
Professor Collins
March 22, 2019
Technical Description
Outline
I. Introduction
II. History of the Headphones
III. Airpod Components
IV. Conclusion
V. Works Cited
I. Introduction
The Apple Airpods are wireless Bluetooth earbuds that were released in mid-December 2016. They are innovative for the fact that they are the first Bluetooth earbuds to be released by a major company. While wireless headphones have existed since the 1960’s, the technology for a portable and small invention had not yet been created. The first Bluetooth earbuds, Bragi’s the Headphone, were released in early 2016 before the Airpods, however they were not as popular as the Apple Airpods (The Guardian). The Airpods are versatile and provide a variety of functions such as playing music, relaying phone calls, activating Apple’s digital assistant, Siri, and skipping and pausing songs using a tapping technology (Wikipedia). They have revolutionized listening to audio in a countless number of ways.
The Apple Airpods consist of two earbuds and a charging case. Each airpod weighs 0.14 oz and measures to be 16.5 mm × 18.0 mm × 40.5 mm. The charging case weighs 1.34 oz and measures to be 44.3 mm × 21.3 mm × 53.5 mm. The Airpods can hold charge for up to 5 hours and the charging case can hold charge for up to 24 hours. 15 minutes alone can charge the Airpods for up to 3 hours, proving their excellence at functionality. The Airpods utilize Bluetooth technology and a specialized W1 chip in order to provide the wireless connectivity that consumers enjoy for all devices as long as they contain the Bluetooth feature. Furthermore, Airpods feature a special in-ear detection that is possible due to its optical sensors and motion accelerometer. While the Airpods are not completely noise-cancelling, they do feature beamforming microphones and an accelerometer in order to filter out some outside noise (ifixit). However, a new version, the Airpods 2, have been rumored to release sometime this year and feature complete noise-cancellation. Regardless of the new version, the current Airpod features have helped to maintain their popularity in the market.
Apple’s wired headphones, the Earpods, are a popular item from Apple as well. Their appearance and measurements are equivalent to those of the Airpods, however they do not include the Bluetooth and in-ear detection features as the Airpods do. Earpods contain a mic and special features within the wires that allow users to skip, replay, pause, increase or decrease the volume, and activate Siri. While Airpods do allow for skipping, pausing, and activating Siri through a tapping feature, it does not allow for increasing or decreasing the volume. Regardless, both are innovations that change the lives of millions daily.
Figure 1: Earpods (apple.com)
Figure 2: Airpods (apple.com)
II. History of the Headphones
The history of the headphone begins in the late 1800s when Thomas Edison attached stethoscope-like listening tubes to a phonograph. The first patent for ‘earphones’ as they were then called was created by Ernest Jules Pierre Mercadier, in 1891, when he created a “bi-telephone” (Figure 3) for communication purposes instead of the leisure purposes we use it for today.
Figure 3: Mercadier’s “Bi-Telephone” (theguardian.com)
However, this model does not resemble the modern model, and such was not created until 1910 by Nathaniel Baldwin. Baldwin created this model (Figure 4) to be used as an in-ear radio and was used for that purpose by the US Navy.
Figure 4: Baldwin’s Model of Headphones (theguardian.com)
The first ‘stereophone’ (Figure 5) that was used as a portable phonograph was made in 1958 by the musician John C Koss who partnered with the engineer Martin Lange in order to develop this invention.
Figure 5: The First Stereophone (theguardian.com)
The first cassette Walkman (Figure 6) was made in 1979 and became an extremely popular invention for the years to come due to its portability, lightweight, and multiuse.
In 2000, Bose released their headphones, Quiet Comfort, (Figure 7) that even today, maintain its popularity. The headphones are known for their noise-cancelling quality and were created with the intention to protect the hearing of pilots; however, the technology was then used for audio listeners everywhere.
Figure 7: Bose Quiet Comfort Headphones (theguardian.com)
In 2001, the first Apple Earbuds (Figure 8) were released, however this model did not contain the microphone and the other features the Earpods (Figure 2) that were released in 2012 do.
Figure 8: First Apple Earbuds (theguardian.com)
By 2010, the first Bluetooth headphones started releasing such as the Beats by Dr.Dre (Figure 9).
Figure 9: Beats by Dr. Dre (theguardian.com)
Finally, by 2016, the first Bluetooth earbuds, Bragi’s Dash, (Figure 10) were released.
Figure 10: Bragi’s Dash (theguardian.com)
A few months later, the Airpods (Figure 1) came out as well (The Guardian).
III. Airpods Components
The Charging Case
The Charging case for the airpods is a portable device that allows for easy use. The case has a built-in battery that is 3.81 Volts and 1.52 Watt-hours. On one end of the case is a lightning connector to charge the battery (Figure 11) and on the other is a housing unit for the Airpods to be charged (Figure 12). Within the case, on the very top, is an LED spot that shines green when fully charged, orange when there is little charge, and red when it has no charge. The case allows for 24 hours of charge for the Airpods and has an overall charging capacity of 398 mAh. Once the Airpods are inserted into the housing unit, the metal caps at the end of the Airpods come into contact with the small pins at the end of the housing unit, therefore, allowing for charge to be transferred from the built-in battery into the Airpods. The case itself has 16 times the power capacity of that of the Airpods, and thus, there is a reliability upon the case.
Figure 11: Lightning Connector of Case (fixit.com)
Figure 12: Housing Unit for Airpods in Case (fixit.com)
The Airpods
The Airpods (Figures 1 and 13) are covered with grilles for the speakers that have a semi-noise cancelling feature, microphone holes, a primary and secondary, exist in order to be able to speak into it for calling purposes, and black dots for IR proximity sensors. They come with buds that are designed specifically for the left and right ears. At the stem of the Airpod is a metal cap (Figure 14) that acts as a contact point for charging. The battery of the Airpod is 93 milliWatts and with just 15 minutes of charging, Airpods can provide up to 3 hours of non-stop use. The IR proximity sensors (Figure 15) of the earbuds allow for recognition of when they are in the ear so that when they come off, music can automatically stop and when placed in the ear, music can automatically start. The grilles that contain the speaker are on the side of the Airpod and exist in order to truly give listeners a memorable experience while listening, i.e. outside noise is mostly cancelled out, and thus mostly music is heard. The two microphones within the Airpod, one on the top back and one on the very bottom, surrounded by the metal cap (Figure 13); allow for speaking purposes so that users may make calls and even be able to speak to Siri, Apple’s digital assistant. Finally, the Airpods contain a specialized W1 chip that allows for its versatility and mutlti-use Bluetooth function (ifixit).
Figure 13: X-ray of Airpods (idownloadblog.com)
Figure 14: Bottom Cap of Airpods (ifixit.com)
Figure 15: IR Proximity Sensor (ifixit.com)
Conclusion
The Airpods are headphones that have truly revolutionized listening in countless numbers of ways. For users that have found wires to be a nuisance and tiring, and headphones such as Beats by Dr. Dre huge and unnecessary, Airpods have provided a quick solution. Furthermore, after Apple iPhones removed the headphone jack, Bluetooth headphones that are compact became necessary. With their multiple features, resourcefulness, and portability, Airpods have modernized society as a whole. With the upcoming release of the Airpods 2, it can only be expected that more uses and a better functionality will soon be provided.
Works Cited:
The Guardian
Wikipedia
ifixit
Apple
idownloadblog
