Don't buy your AirPods from Apple! These are the best deals for May 2022 | ZDNet

2022-06-18 13:15:10 By : Ms. Sophie Liang

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From the original AirPods to the higher-end AirPods Pro , you'll find Apple's wireless earbuds hanging on the ears of pedestrians everywhere. If you're eyeing a new pair, there's always a deal to be had on the wireless earbuds and headphones. Lucky for you, we've done all the deal-hunting and have listed the very best offerings below. In every case, you're going to be paying significantly less than what Apple charges at the store.

Also: AirPods 3 vs. AirPods Pro: Which wireless earbuds should you buy?

Arguably the most iconic AirPods of Apple's arsenal, the second generation earbuds are not the newest on the market, but make for stellar audio accessories, especially for iPhone users. ZDNet's resident AirPods listener, Jason Cipriani, reviewed the earbuds in 2019 and praised the enduring battery life, quick pairing via Apple's H1 chip, and overall ease of use. That said, a new and sealed box of these AirPods can be hard to come by. After some digging around, the best AirPods deals can be found at Amazon and Target, with both offering the earbuds for just $99 ($60 off).

More: Apple AirPods (2nd Generation) full review

When shopping for Apple AirPods, you will come across four different models: 2nd and 3rd generation AirPods, AirPods Pro, and AirPods Max. These are the factors that should sway you into one over the others.

If you don't like things stuck in or over your ears, ZDNet's Adrian Kingsley-Hughes strongly suggests bone-conduction wearables such as the Shokz bone conduction headphones . Bone conduction might sound weird, but it's a way to deliver sound into your ears and still be able to hear everything else that's going on.

Fortunately, you can pair AirPods to non-Apple devices, including Android phones, tablets, and desktop computers via Bluetooth. However, you will miss out on a couple of features like "Hey Siri" voice commanding and AirPods tracking via Apple's Find My app, and the inability to process Apple's AAC codec means the audio streaming quality won't be as good as it is on Apple devices. 

If you ever lose an AirPod or both, there are a couple of ways you can find or replace them.

If you only lost one AirPod and still have the second with the charging case, you can still use it as is.

Interested in more tech deals and reviews? Subscribe to the ZDNet Recommends newsletter and let our expert reviewers scour the internet for only the top products, services, and deals for you.

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