Apple made the right choice keeping Beats around, and the Studio Buds Plus prove it
Apple acquired Beats way back in 2014, mainly for the company's Beats Music streaming service. But the brand's earbuds have lived on, and that's a good thing.
Apple is moving to a subscription-based revenue model, and it’s easy to see why. When the iPhone 14 is basically the same as the iPhone 13, which is a slight improvement over the iPhone 12, the average person doesn’t need to upgrade every single year. But with a subscription model, Apple’s customers can pay a lump sum for new products every couple of years while also paying monthly subscription fees.
That’s part of the reason Apple bought Beats Music and Beats Electronics back in 2014, which was popularized by star athletes and celebrities, including co-founder and legendary producer Dr. Dre. Beats had a growing streaming service at the time called Beats Music, and that platform became the groundwork for Apple Music as we know it today.
Two years later, Apple would announce the first AirPods, which would eventually become one of the most popular earbuds in the world. Beats releases and news slowed during this time, and a lot of people — myself included — thought the brand was dead.
That started to change, and the 2019 Powerbeats Pro all but cemented the stability of Beats in the Apple era. The Powerbeats Pro release featured an Apple-branded chip and the brand’s first truly-wireless headphones, and it sent a message that Beats were here to stay.
In the four years since that momentous product launch, Beats has released the Solo Pro, Powerbeats, Beats Fit Pro, Beats Studio Buds, and most recently the Beats Studio Buds Plus. In a market dominated by Apple’s own AirPods lineup, it’s somewhat surprising that Beats have stuck around, and that’s certainly a good thing.
Beats sent over its latest Studio Buds Plus for review, and they’re perfect example of why Apple made the right decision by letting the Beats brand live on. Beats has a level of character that Apple doesn’t, one that is partially backed by strong celebrity partnerships but is also related to its tangible products. While Apple might release a new color iPhone during springtime, Beats creates unique designs that are the result of creative partnerships — and now has a transparent colorway.
The transparent Beats Studio Buds Plus simply look cool, and although Nothing did it first with Ear (1) and (2), I think Beats does it better. In a tech sector that often features products that all look relatively the same, it’s great that Apple is using Beats to provide another option from the (stale) glossy-white AirPods.
It’s more than just looks
The design and character of the Beats brand is certainly part of their products’ appeal, but they also pack the feature set to boot. Beats are the best earbuds and headphones for people who want the flexibility to switch between the iOS and Android ecosystems.
In fact, Beats are the only headphones to feature fast pair on both platforms. Considering that you need a handful of third-party apps to make AirPods work well on Android, they aren’t a convenient solution for people that are not fully invested in the Apple ecosystem. Beats, however, get pretty close to complete feature parity on both platforms.
When AirPods became one of the most popular earbuds in just a few years, it looked like Beats as we knew it was doomed. As it turned out, that premise was true. Beats as we knew them are dead. Now, they’re the most well-rounded earbuds on the market that somehow retain the same character that made them a pop-culture hit in the first place.