Apple shakes up second-gen AirPods with lower price, AirPods Pro with MagSafe – MobileSyrup

According to some changes on Apple’s website, the second-gen AirPods are now cheaper, while the AirPods Pro now ship with a MagSafe charging case — both interesting changes if you’re not sold on the company’s fancy new AirPods.

Starting with the second-gen AirPods, the price has dropped from $219 to $179, making it cheaper than ever to get into AirPods. Unfortunately, the new, lower price doesn’t include the wireless charging case for the AirPods 2.

It’s still available separately (for a hefty $99) if you want, but at $278 total before tax, you might as well just get the new third-gen AirPods for $239.

Speaking of charging cases, the comparison page for Apple’s AirPods lists the AirPods Pro as having a ‘MagSafe Charging Case.’ The same is listed under the ‘What’s in the Box’ section on the AirPods Pro store page. It’s not clear if this means the AirPods Pro now ship with a MagSafe-compatible charging case, since technically the AirPods Pro case worked with MagSafe before.

MagSafe charging pads offer backwards compatibly with the Qi standard, which means that AirPods Pro and other Apple devices that support Qi wireless charging, but not MagSafe, can still charge with them.

It’s possible Apple’s just branding this behaviour as ‘MagSafe,’ but considering the third-gen AirPods charging case actually supports MagSafe, I don’t think it’s a stretch that Apple stealth-updated the AirPods Pro case too.