Airpods

Apple’s wireless earbuds, framed in Kyle’s wiki not as a mere accessory but as the groundwork for a voice-first, augmented reality future. In What You Don’t Know About The Headphone Jack, the argument is that by killing the headphone jack Apple was laying the foundation for an always-on virtual assistant and a world where “the line between the digital and analog” blurs.

Context: AirPods are Apple’s wireless Bluetooth earbuds, first released in 2016 alongside the iPhone 7, the model that removed the 3.5mm headphone jack.

Where this appears

• What You Don’t Know About The Headphone Jack — AirPods cast as the on-ramp to a voice-first, AR future and the design philosophy (via Jony Ive) behind killing the jack.