Introducing the latest innovation in Apple AirPods accessories – the Apple AirPods case with an In-built touchscreen!
In the recent filing on March 30, Apple applied for a patent which suggests that the company is planning an interactive version of its popular AirPods case with an in-built touchscreen display.
Since the year 2016, the first AirPods launched, Apple has been continuously engineering to enhance the functionality of the AirPods Case. Recently Apple released a number of diagrams showcasing the functionalities of the interactive interface on the case.
The company expressed that “The utility of a headphone case can be enhanced, and user control over a user’s wireless headphones can be improved, by configuring a headphone case with an interactive user interface to enable user control of operations associated with the wireless headphones.”
It will look somewhat similar in design with the JBL Tour Pro 2 Earbuds.
If Apple can successfully replicate the design into a reality, certainly it will break the current trend with just playback controls. The new AirPods Case would look sleek and compact with the built-in touchscreen.
Possibilities with the proposed AirPods Case with an Interactive Interface display:
- It can be designed to work with specific gestures such as single, double and triple taps.
- Swipe to navigate on-screen content such as playing music, notifications, weather updates etc.
- Specific gesture to invoke Siri or a dedicated button on the case itself.
- Integration with Apple Watch to enhance functionality that can easily hand off between other Apple devices.
- Squeezing the case to change the listening mode of the AirPods.
Challenges with the proposed AirPods Case featuring a built-in touchscreen:
- It would be way more expensive and heavier.
- It would consume more power and drain the battery quicker with additional components.
- It would be a delicate gadget and will be broken easily if dropped.
Opinions and Views about the proposed AirPods Case with an Interactive Touchscreen Display
Although the opinions and views are subjective, I would like to highlight few major aspects in terms of practicality and common use cases.
Purpose: A case’s sole purpose is to protect your precious AirPods. Secondly, it should be capable of charging the AirPods at least two times on the go. Thirdly, the basic playback functionalities that we generally need.
Based on these three important use cases, firstly you need a strong case that is durable enough in case of accidental drop etc. Secondly, it should have a strong battery that guarantees to provide maximum charging to your AirPods, so a luxurious case with a touchscreen will obviously be the cherry on top, however, it will consume unnecessary power that would otherwise be used to charge your AirPods.
Thirdly, as Apple said apart from the basic playback functionalities it will feature onscreen music playing, notifications, weather updates etc. For doing all these Apple will accommodate a dedicated processor in the interactive case itself.
Therefore, if the proposed case doesn’t house a strong battery that is capable of powering the interactive screen along with charging the AirPods, it would just be an unworthy accessory.
Experience with the existing AirPods:
It is a fact that Apple AirPods are more pricey, if compared with other flagship Earbuds from popular brands (check the links to see) such as Sony, Sennheiser, Jabra, JBL etc. Although, Apple AirPods are found to be disappointing when it comes to after-sales service. It is a common problem that AirPods fail when the battery of any of the AirPods or the case is damaged. The service cost is so unreasonable that it’s better to go for the next higher model of AirPods.
Now the question comes, if Apple is not performing well with the existing AirPods models in terms of battery, it will be quite risky to go for such an advanced AirPods with an interactive display on its case.
In countries like India, all Apple products are way costlier than in other countries. Further, the Apple proprietary service centres charge the cost of service that’s almost the price of a kidney.
Regarding battery life, if we talk about flagship earbuds from Sony such as Sony WF-1000XM4, they provide very good battery life.
Lastly, it would be an ultimate accessory from Apple which will upgrade user experience with the existing Apple AirPods case subject to the final outcome of the interactive display on the AirPods charging case as desired by Apple!!
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