AirPods 3 are very nice earbuds, but Apple's overpricing makes buying them pointless in light of the recent release of Beats Fit Pro. Of course, this is something that happens from time to time with competing brands. However, it's shocking given that Apple also owns Beats and would have to have known about this potential conflict in advance.
Apple launched its third-generation AirPods on October 26, 2021. An exciting update to the earlier model, AirPods 3 includes some of the much more expensive AirPods Pro features, including Adaptive EQ, which uses a microphone that's placed on the inward-facing side so the device can hear sound the same way the wearer does. This makes finding the perfect fit less important since AirPods 3 adapts the sound to the current environment. AirPods 3 also feature an extra hour of listening time, bringing it to 6 hours on a single charge.
Apple's third-generation AirPods taken by themselves are a good middle ground between the AirPods 2 and AirPods Pro. Priced at $179, they're $50 more than the second generation and $70 less than AirPods Pro. The new model makes sense and fills that gap nicely. Then the pricing strategy became overly cramped when Apple released Beats Fit Pro. At $199, this AirPods Pro competitor shaves off $50 while matching nearly every feature and boosting battery life to 6 hours. Coming in at just $20 more than AirPods 3, yet offering adaptive active noise canceling, why not skip a night at the movies and buy the much better Beats Fit Pro? The pricing doesn't make sense unless Apple has other considerations.
AirPods 3 are priced well within the Apple-branded earbuds lineup but are surprisingly overpriced compared to Beats Fit Pro, the other Apple earbuds brand. Apple might be testing relative brand strength. If Beats Fit Pro doesn't outsell AirPods Pro, that could be interpreted as the Apple brand having a stronger association than Beats with high-end audio. On the other hand, if Beats Fit Pro can't surpass AirPods 3, it might mean the brand name has lost much of its importance. Beats was strong in the early 2000s, but that might not be the case 20 years later. Perhaps Apple is using this unusual pricing as a test.
Another possibility is that the third generation AirPods might be temporarily priced high to help clear out some AirPods 2 inventory. The $50 difference is a significant savings, and for anyone looking for good basic wireless earbuds, AirPods 2 is a good solution. If Apple intends to remove AirPods 2 soon, it would be best to wait for a Black Friday deal or for the new year when inventory will be reduced, and Apple might drop prices of AirPods 3. Until that happens, AirPods 3 will remain overpriced and pointless compared to Beats Fit Pro.
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