Now that the iPhone has USB-C ports, Apple sells wired EarPods with a USB-C connector that you can use with new smartphones — and, thankfully, with a range of Apple devices.
according to Apple’s EarPods USB-C pageIt will work with iPhone, iPad, and Mac devices with USB-C ports; However, they must be running near-recent operating systems to be compatible with the updated headphones. especially:
Mac models with a USB-C port running macOS Monterey 12.6 or later.
iPad models with a USB-C port running iPadOS 16.4 or later.
iPhone models with a USB-C port running iOS 17 or later.
Although the software limitations are somewhat annoying, I’m still very happy to see that Apple has finally released a USB-C version of the EarPods. Anytime I need to take a call on my iPhone where I need to sound good, I plug in my Lightning EarPods because they sound so much better than my wireless AirPods. Just listen to the EarPods’ excellent microphone quality This video is from Becca Varsace.
However, for many calls on my Mac, I rely on a pair of cheap wired headphones that I plug into the 3.5mm headphone jack on my MacBook Air and I have a pretty bad microphone. I want to use Lightning EarPods, but well, they have Lightning. And yes, I can get EarPods with a 3.5mm connector (or any other decent headphones with a 3.5mm connector), but in a situation that probably only applies to me, the 3.5mm jack on my laptop is very inconvenient to access depending on where Having the computer on my desk.
All of this means I’ll likely drop $20 at the Apple Store to buy a pair of USB-C earbuds so I can get good sound during important calls at work. And when I eventually upgrade to an iPhone with a USB-C port, I’ll look forward to using headphones with that as well. If only the EarPods were still in the box.
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