Cameron Summerson
The Powerbeats Pro by Beats is one of the finest sets of earbuds I’ve ever used for working out. They stay in place like nothing else, sound amazing, and have excellent sweat resistance. They’re great. But they’re also pretty pricey at $250.
You know what would be more appealing? $150. And that’s precisely what Beats has done with the newest member of the Powerbeats line—no version number here, but technically these would the 4—a set of ‘buds that are nearly identically identical to the Powerbeats Pro. There’s just one main aesthetic difference here: there’s a neckband on these, just the other non-Pro Powerbeats.
But unlike other Powerbeats, where the cable comes from the front of the earbud, it now comes from the backside of the ear hook. This should make them much more comfortable overall and also keeps that cable out of the way when you’re working out.
Past that, the new Powerbeats get 15 hours of battery life (up from 9 on the Pro and 12 on Powerbeats 3) and a 5-minutes fast charge that gives an hour of playback time. They’re also IPX4 sweat- and water-resistant, have controls right on the buds, and feature Apple’s H1 chip for quick pairing on iOS devices.
For all intents and purposes, these new Powerbeats are the Pro model with a cable (and longer battery life). I imagine they look, feel, and sound just as good, too. At $150, these come out swinging at $50 less than the Powerbeats 3 and $100 cheaper than the Pro—sounds like a winning combo to me, but I should have some in-house soon enough to test.
If you’re the day-one ordering type, though, the new Powerbeats will be available directly from Apple starting March 18th and will come in black, white, or red. Ballin’.
