Apple has a long history of trying to do everything itself, which includes making its own processor chips. Now, Apple is taking that sentiment to another level and making its first big step into wireless
. At theiPhone 7 launch event on Wednesday afternoon, Apple announced its new wireless headphones, AirPods. Inside the new headphones is what Apple is calling the W1 chip, its first wireless chip ever.
Wireless headphones generally use Bluetooth radios, and it’s likely the W1 chip is a derivative of the Bluetooth standard. Apple has yet to share any details about the radio technology, except that it is ”ultra-low power,” having one-third the power demand of other wireless chips. This allows the headphones to run up to five hours of listening time.
Analyst Patrick Moorhead said it’s likely Apple removed a lot of the interference and clutter associated with the Bluetooth standard. Standard Bluetooth is plagued with connectivity and pairing problems. ”Bluetooth is trying to do too many things at once,” said Moorhead.
At the launch event, Apple said that new wireless headphones from Beats, the Solo3, will also include the W1 chip, for 40 hours of listening time.
As I first reported last month, Apple has been working on this wireless technology since at least 2013 when it acquired small Bluetooth startup Passif Semiconductor. Someone familiar with the project told FORBES that Apple originally wanted to launch the headphones in 2015, but the team hit performance and reliability issues.
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