The AirPods Pro 2 Passed My Teen's Test, and They're $80 Off Right Now
I picked them up during last year's sales, and they were definitely well-received. She's happy, she uses them every day and she hasn't lost them yet. They are currently $169 at Amazon -- a nice $80 discount on the usual price. While that's not the cheapest we've seen them go for, it's still a solid price for a high-quality pair like these.
Why I didn't wait for the AirPods Pro 3
Rumors abound that Apple will replace the Pro 2 with an updated Pro 3 version later this year. My kid wanted headphones sooner, so I got her the Pro 2s. But if you're on the fence, here's my perspective.
The main improvements to the Pro 3 are said to be heart-rate monitoring like the Beats Powerbeats Pro 2 have, as well as a new design. Other speculation points to improved sound and processing with Apple's H3 chip, temperature sensors, built-in infrared cameras, a touchscreen on the case, live translation of languages and more. There's no way to know what they actually will have, but I do know that they'll be more expensive than the Pro 2 (especially at this sale price). I don't think those new features are going to be worth the money, however.
Hey, did you know? CNET Deals texts are free, easy and save you money.
You might have a different take, especially if you want heart-rate monitoring on your headphones for fitness sessions or one of those rumored extras. In that case it might be worth waiting to see what the new versions include. The AirPods Pro 3 are expected to be announced in September and on sale soon after.
Why I didn't get the AirPods 4 instead
Why did I choose AirPods Pro 2 instead of the newer AirPods 4 with ANC? First off, as I mentioned in another article about a different pair of earbuds I bought, I think sealed, in-ear buds are better than open-design models like the AirPods 4. The seal creates another layer of noise isolation and contributes to superior sound quality, and if you want to pay attention to the world you can always engage ambient sound mode, which Apple calls transparency mode.
XS eartips mean an XL hug from a happy kid may be coming soon.
Lexy Savvides/CNET
Also a factor was the commentary of CNET reviewer David Carnoy, who considers the Pro 2 the best Apple noise-canceling wireless earbuds: "While we're quite impressed with those new models -- and with the AirPods 4 ANC in particular -- the AirPods Pro 2 remain arguably the best Apple AirPods you can buy if you don't mind having silicone ear tips jammed in your ears."
My daughter uses earplugs all the time to help her sleep, so she definitely qualifies as somebody who's comfortable stuffing things in her ears. Like her fingers, when I start using words like "sigma," "skibidi" and "relatable" to try to relate to her.
I asked Carnoy about the Pro 2s potentially not fitting in her kid-size ears and he reassured me that the range of eartips that come with the Pro 2s "now include XS, so they should fit."
Should you buy now with the threat of tariffs?
It's no secret that President Donald Trump's tariffs are leading to higher prices for a lot of things, including electronics. We're actually tracking the price of the AirPods Pro 2 in our tariff tracker and as of press time the price has actually decreased since January.
If you're in the market for AirPods 2 now anyway, now is a good time to buy. A Reuters report from April said AirPods could be subject to a 39% price hike to cover tariff costs, but the tariff situation is fluid, so I wouldn't use that potential increase as a reason to buy now. If you wait until the new model comes out later this year, the price on the older AirPods Pro 2 might even get lower.
Do AirPods make a great gift?
It took me years to finally understand, but yes, for someone looking for wireless earbuds, AirPods -- especially the Apple AirPods Pro 2 -- make the perfect gift, regardless of whether you're a teenage girl or not.
If you're looking for more gifting options, check out our roundup of the best tech gifts under $100.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
22 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Jack Dorsey pumps $10 million into a nonprofit focused on open-source social media
Twitter co-founder and Block CEO Jack Dorsey isn't just vibe-coding new social apps, like Bitchat and Sun Day, he has invested $10 million in an effort to fund experimental open source projects and other tools that could ultimately transform the social media landscape. These efforts are funneled through an online collective called 'and Other Stuff,' formed in May, whose team includes Dorsey; Twitter's first employee, Evan Henshaw-Plath; 'Calle,' creator of the e-cash platform Cashu; Alex Gleason, former engineering head at Truth Social; and Jeff Gardner, the fourth employee at Intercom. The group originally met through collaborating on Nostr, an open, 'apolitical' social networking protocol that has been receiving the bulk of Dorsey's attention since Twitter's sale to Elon Musk and his stepping down from social network Bluesky's board. However, the team will experiment with other tools, too, like ActivityPub, the protocol that powers the decentralized app Mastodon and others, as well as Cashu. In recent years, Dorsey has been more critical of how social media platforms have evolved, saying that Twitter should have never been a company and that Bluesky seemed to be repeating the mistakes he and others made at Twitter. As a result, the team at 'and Other Stuff' is determined not to build a company but is instead operating like a 'community of hackers,' explains Henshaw-Plath. Together, they're working to create technologies that could include new consumer social apps as well as various experiments, like developer tools or libraries, that would allow others to build apps for themselves. For instance, the team is behind an app called Shakespeare, which is like the app-building platform Lovable, but specifically for building Nostr-based social apps with AI assistance. The group is also behind heynow, a voice note app built on Nostr; Cashu wallet; private messenger White Noise; and the Nostr-based social community +chorus, in addition to the apps Dorsey has already released. Developments in AI-based coding have made this type of experimentation possible, Henshaw-Plath points out, in the same way that technologies like Ruby on Rails, Django, and JSON helped to fuel an earlier version of the web, dubbed Web 2.0. Related to these efforts, Henshaw-Plath sat down with Dorsey for the debut episode of his new podcast, with @rabble. (Henshaw-Plath's handle on X is @rabble.) Since Dorsey lives in Costa Rica and Henshaw-Plath lives in New Zealand, the two met up at a hackathon in Switzerland for the chat. In the nearly hour-long episode, Dorsey delves into Twitter's history as well as his philosophies around where social media went wrong and how it can be fixed. 'It took me a long time to realize this…I didn't really put it into words until I came back as CEO the second time. But it's hard for something like [Twitter] to be a company, because you have corporate incentives when it wants to be a protocol,' Dorsey says. He notes that Twitter was at the mercy of its advertisers — something Musk also faces despite taking Twitter, now called X, private. Musk has even threatened advertisers with lawsuits over ad boycotts driven by their concerns over X's lack of moderation and controversial comments Musk himself has made. While Dorsey understands that catering to advertisers was correct for the business and for Twitter's stock price, it was the 'wrong thing for the internet.' 'They can just remove the money — your money — and your revenue goes down completely,' Dorsey says of advertisers' power. 'So if [Twitter] were an open protocol, if it were truly an open project, you could build a business on top of it, and you could build a very healthy business on top of it.' Dorsey eventually funded an effort to build an open protocol inside Twitter, which later spun out to become Bluesky. But Dorsey believes Bluesky faces the same challenges as traditional social media because of its structure — it's funded by VCs, like other startups. Already, it has had to bow to government requests and faced moderation challenges, he points out. 'I think [Bluesky CEO] Jay [Graber] is great. I think the team is great,' Dorsey told Henshaw-Plath, 'but the structure is what I disagree with…I want to push the energy in a different direction, which is more like Bitcoin, which is completely open and not owned by anyone from a protocol layer. That's what I see in Nostr as well,' he says. 'That's where I want to push my energy…rather into the more corporate direction, even if it is a public benefit corporation,' Dorsey adds. In later episodes, Henshaw-Plath will interview others who have insight into how social media and tech have evolved, including journalists like Kara Swisher and Taylor Lorenz, former Twitter head of Trust & Safety Yoel Roth, Substack co-founder Chris Best, Medium CEO Tony Stubblebine, Cory Doctorow (who coined the term 'enshittification' to describe the state of much of the current web), and renowned misinformation researcher Renée DiResta. The team at 'and Other Stuff' is also working on a social media 'Bill of Rights,' says Henshaw-Plath, which spells out what social media platforms need to provide in areas like privacy, security, interoperability, transparency, identity, self-governance, and portability. This, they believe, will help platforms, including Bluesky and others, remain accountable to their users despite any outside pressure. Dorsey's initial investment has gotten the new nonprofit up and running, and he worked on some of its initial iOS apps. Meanwhile, others are contributing their time to build Android versions, developer tools, and different social media experiments. More is still in the works, says Henshaw-Plath. 'There are things that we're not ready to talk about yet that'll be very exciting,' he teases.
Yahoo
22 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Apple News+ adds a new game that uses emoji and Genmoji to sovle puzzles
Apple is introducing a new reason to upgrade to its subscription news offering, Apple News+: more games. On Thursday, the company announced the addition of the Emoji Game, an original title that will join its other games, including its Crossword puzzle, Crossword Mini, Sudoku, and word game Quartiles, in both the U.S. and Canada in English. Bundling games with other services has proven a successful strategy to attract users and keep them engaged, as The New York Times and even LinkedIn have discovered. Apple won't share its user numbers around Games, but it says that many people subscribe to News+ just for the puzzles. Released to coincide with World Emoji Day, the new Emoji Game is part logic, part word game that's inspired by how we use emojis to communicate with one another. In this daily game, players try to solve phrases using emojis with the goal of completing the puzzle in the least number of moves possible. For instance, if the word 'appear' showed up in the puzzle, you might see the letters 'ap' followed by four blank spaces. Then, you'd drag the emoji for the pear up into the blanks to complete the word. Of course, the phrases in the Emoji Game will be a bit harder to guess. Plus, the emoji you need to solve the puzzle will often be found in emoji combinations or those that involve a bit of abstract thinking to come up with the answer. The word for the emoji may also be used to fill in blank spaces that have other letters in between them. If you're stumped, you can unveil a clue below the phrase, but this will cost you one of your moves. There are multiple phrases to solve each day to complete the full puzzle. Finishing in six moves is considered a perfect score, and leaderboards help you track your streaks and how your scores compare with friends and other users. In the upcoming iOS 26, you'll be able to challenge friends to play with you using the new Games app. To make the game more Apple-specific, it also leverages the recently introduced Genmoji, or the custom emojis that are created using Apple Intelligence, the company's AI. This expands the emojis available beyond the fewer than 2,000 that ship with your emoji keyboard. For instance, you might see a Genmoji of a blender and an emoji of a tomato to make the word 'purée.' The game is built in partnership with a third-party, The Puzzle Society (now GoComics), and is edited by Apple puzzle editors. It's rolling out now to Apple News+ subscribers in the U.S. and Canada on iPhone, iPad, and Mac. (Users on iOS 18.4 and later won't need to update their app to gain access to the game, but those on older versions will.) The News+ subscription also comes with access to over 400 premium publishers, narrated audio, local news, sports, and, most recently, a recipe-saving feature, Apple News+ Food.
Yahoo
22 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Inside the high-stakes battle to win a New York City casino license
NEW YORK (AP) — A Caesars Palace casino in the heart of Times Square. A sprawling gambling hall along Coney Island's iconic boardwalk. A Hard Rock casino complex next to the home stadium of baseball's New York Mets. Eight projects are bidding for a state license to operate a casino in the lucrative New York City market, each dangling the prospect of generational investment in America's largest metropolitan region. But one — a Bally's casino proposed on a Bronx golf course once run by President Donald Trump's company — may have already run out of luck, after city lawmakers denied it a key approval this week. All of the proposed casinos, in application materials submitted in recent days, promise to create thousands of new jobs, flashy new community amenities in the form of hotels, shops, restaurants and entertainment venues and billions of dollars a year in taxable gambling revenues for the state's coffers. How realistic those promises are, though, is an open question, given the proliferation of casinos in the northeast and the explosion of online gambling in recent years, casino experts say. Gambling industry spending big, but some locals aren't sold The arrival of full-fledged casino resorts in New York City has been years in the making. The gambling industry spent mightily to secure approval from New York voters in a referendum authorizing the licensing of up to seven full casinos with live table games back in 2013. But the state initially allowed upstate venues a head start. The state's Gaming Commission says it hopes to finally award up to three downstate licenses in December. But before then, community advisory committees appointed by lawmakers and local officials will weigh community opinions of each plan. Nearly all the casino proposals face some degree of local push back. On Monday, the New York City Council denied Bally's a needed rezoning change following local resident concerns about the environmental impact of its $4 billion proposal, which also calls for a 500-room hotel and a 2,000-seat event center. Bally's, which bought the former Trump Links course in 2023, had promised to pay Trump another $115 million if it were to secure a casino license, though that was not among the objections voiced by the Democratic majority on the council nor the Republican lawmaker representing the Bronx district. Spokespersons for Bally's declined to comment on the future of the project this week. Not surprisingly, the debate over the proposed Times Square casino has taken center stage, with supporters and opponents recently holding dueling rallies in the Crossroads of the World. Among the prominent groups opposed to the $5.4 billion plan is the Broadway League, a trade group representing America's performing arts theaters. It says a casino would draw patrons away from neighborhood businesses and threaten a theater industry still reeling from the COVID-19 pandemic. The project's backers have countered that the plan, which calls for renovating a skyscraper that currently houses the Minskoff Theatre, home of long-running 'The Lion King' musical, will actually boost demand for Broadway tickets. The developers, which have also enlisted Jay-Z's Roc Nation to curate their entertainment offerings, promise $250 million in community projects, including a public safety plan designed by former NYPD Commissioner Bill Bratton and a multimillion-dollar civil rights museum that helped earn an endorsement from the Rev. Al Sharpton. The two other casinos proposed in Manhattan — one for its West Side and another on its East Side — could face similar headwinds, given their proximity to residential neighborhoods, according to casino experts. But the proposed West Side resort, near the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center and the Lincoln Tunnel to New Jersey, could reel in business travelers and convention attendees, if it can win over locals, said Soojin Ha, a lecturer at Cornell University's business school. Meanwhile in Brooklyn, organizers of the quirky Mermaid Parade are among those leading the charge against a Coney Island casino, arguing the plan would remove large chunks of the boardwalk's iconic amusement rides and block access to the public beach. New York market could support 3 casinos, expert says Since the 2013 referendum, four full casinos have opened in New York, though all of them are located upstate, miles away from Manhattan. The state also has nine gambling halls offering slot machines and other electronic gambling machines but no live table games. Some three hours drive north of Manhattan are the Native American tribe-owned Mohegan Sun and Foxwoods casinos in Connecticut. Two hours south are the New Jersey shore casinos of Atlantic City, and less than two hours due west in Pennsylvania is the tribe-owned Wind Creek Casino at the former site of Bethlehem Steel. Despite the competition from seemingly all corners, New York City's dense market could sustain three gambling halls, depending on where they're located, suggests John Holden, a business professor at Indiana University who specializes in gambling law. 'We typically see fairly rosy revenue projections put out by the gaming industry, but the New York City market is really without comparison,' he said. The state could hedge its bets by awarding two of the three licenses to proven winners: the racinos -- slot parlors built alongside horse racing tracks — that have been successfully operating for years in the New York City area, said Alan Woinski, a New Jersey-based gambling consultant. MGM Resorts is proposing a $2.3 billion expansion of the Empire City Casino at Yonkers Raceway. Resorts World, owned by Malaysian casino giant Genting, is proposing a $5.5 billion investment to its gaming facility at the Aqueduct Racetrack in Queens. Those expansions, Woinski noted, could be rolled out in a matter of months, meaning the state wouldn't have to wait years for the construction of a wholly new site to start reaping the financial windfall. ___ Follow Philip Marcelo at Philip Marcelo, The Associated Press Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
