Beats tackles the low end with new $80 Solo Buds, Solo Beats 4 refresh

Apple’s other company, Beats Electronics, is often overlooked in favor of the eponymous AirPods. But they shouldn’t be: Beats offers more colors, often better fit or different sizes/styles, and most of the same features you get with AirPods.

And today, the company has announced a long-overdue update to its most affordable headphones and a new pair of super-affordable earbuds.

Beats Solo 4

It’s been eight years since the Beats Solo 3 were released in 2016. Clearly, an update is long overdue. The new Beats Solo 4 maintain the same on-ear size and styling as the Solo 3, with a few notable upgrades. According to Beats, the new model is upgraded in the following ways:

Refined acoustics with improvements to the transducer, voice coil, and more for lower distortion.

USB-C charging

Lossless audio over USB-C or the 3.5mm audio jack (which works battery-free)

Up to 50 hours battery life (and 5 hours with a 10-minute recharge)

A new proprietary platform that supports most Apple and Android features

That last feature is perhaps the biggest upgrade. Beats Solo 3 used Apple’s W1 chip which only worked with Apple’s easy pairing features and such, but the new proprietary system supports both Apple and Android features, and more of them.

You get personalized Spatial Audio with dynamic head tracking now, for starters. Apple users get easy one-touch pairing and iCloud pairing, hands-free “hey Siri”, and support for Find My. On the Android side, you get support for Google Fast Pair, support for multi-point pairing, and support for Find My Device.

As with all Beats Solo products, there is no active noise cancellation.

Beats Solo 4 are available now for the same $199 price as Beats Solo 3. They come in Matte Black, Slate Blue, and Cloud Pink.

Beats Solo Buds

New to the Beats lineup is Beats Solo Buds, taking the affordable “Solo” line to the true wireless earbuds category. At only $79.99, they’re definitely the most affordable product Beats makes.

These little buds have an impressive 18 hours of playback time and a really tiny charging case. The charging case is so small because there’s no battery in it—you use it to plug in a USB-C cable to charge the buds, but the buds do not charge when just placed in the case liek the AirPods or Beats Studio Buds+.

Like Beats Solo 4, the company uses its own proprietary platform to offer support for both Apple and Android connectivity features. That includes one-touch pairing, automatic account setup, and support for Find My (Apple) and Find My Device (Android). Like AirPods they also have touch controls.

Beats Solo Buds will be available in early June for $79.99 and come in Matte Black, Storm Gray, Arctic Purple, and Transparent Red (the case is transparent, the buds are opaque).

Accessories, Headphones