TechTheDay

There have been rumors going around and patents being displayed that might hint on Apple creating a cutting-edge pair of over-ear headphones that won’t have any physical buttons. Rather, the headphones will be operated solely using touch controls. It seems like the battle of the smartphones and their accessories are far from over. If this is true, then Apple is taking notes and learning from the mistakes of Pixel Buds, which was developed by Google.

More Innovative Features In Store

Though details aren’t clear year about the latest creation, rumors say that it will have a lot of innovative features that are unlike the traditional headphones. But the touch-only controls alone are enough perks to catch the attention of many users in the market. Why? This is because a headphone with zero buttons could end the annoyance that most users face when using such equipment.

Furthermore, it’s worth noting that Apple’s groundbreaking idea of touch – and force – controls on their AirPods and AirPods Pro was intelligent. By minimizing the number of actions the AirPods can carry out using a set of gestures, problems with accidental touches and wrong commands were lessened.

Pixel Buds Drawbacks

The problem with Pixel Buds was the fact that it was plagued with too many commands. Google tried to pack it with multiple functionalities, causing accidental commands all the time. The buds usually misinterpreted a tap, swipe, long press, or tap and hold, leading to a wrong action. In addition, the Pixel Buds also had a bad in-ear fit, allowing the headphones to slip and slide from time to time. When users tried to return them to their original place, the right bud would process wrong command and stop the media. This is why, it was deemed as annoying and frustrating to use. Unfortunately, it never became a hit.

Additional Controls and Configurations

It’s also not a secret that consumers who use AirPods want additional controls like volume gestures, however, based on the horrors brought by earbud in the past, it might not be a great idea. But, in terms of an over-ear headphones that usually have more commands on-device such as volume control, pairing, play/pause, noise cancellation control, and more, the problem could be minimized. This is because the bigger the headphones, the bigger the capacitive area it has.

But of course, more of this can always be carried out in-phone, the same thing that’s done in AirPods, however this isn’t what the patents display. Though patents don’t necessarily represent a final output – and might never reach the market, between the predictions of the trustworthy and respected analyst Ming-Chi Kuo and touch-only AirPods of Apple, this could have a possibility.

Apple is known for their cutting-edge products and with their reputation; it looks like they aren’t going to launch a device that could potentially end up as a disaster, such as what happens to Pixel Buds. However, if the patents were displaying nothing but the next product to be released by Apple, users would be interested to witness how it surpasses the problems and backlash faced by Google when they released Pixel Buds.