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Whether you’re graduating from entanglement with wired headphones or upgrading from an older pair of wireless earbuds, these Apple AirPods Prime Day deals significantly reduce the cost of treating your ears. Amazon has the newest 3rd generation and the equally impressive 2nd generation at incredibly low prices.
The AirPods 2nd generation ($89.99) are just $10 north of their all-time-low Black Friday prices, but the newer AirPods 3rd generation ($139.99) have never been cheaper. Amazon only stipulates that you buy them on the first day of Prime Day, as all Apple deals expire thereafter.
Apple AirPods Prime Day deals
Apple AirPods 3rd generation vs. 2nd generation
Not sure which to buy? If you have a little more room, start scoping out the 3rd generation AirPods.
In addition to a new contoured design that ensures a more comfortable fit, setting the newest AirPods apart is their IPX4 rating for sweat and water resistance, making them suitable for use during intense workouts or sudden downpours. These buds also introduced Spatial Audio with dynamic head tracking to the base AirPods line, providing a truly immersive, cinematic 360-degree audio experience.
If all that isn’t enough, Apple improved battery life to six hours of listening time on a single charge (one hour more than the last generation) and a whopping 30 hours with the Lightning charging case (six hours more).
Neither offer wireless charging out of the box, but you can separately buy a wireless charging case for the 2nd generation AirPods; which, by the way, have become the budget-friendly AirPods alternative after all the sharp price reductions since debuting in 2019.
That doesn’t mean they skimp on quality—we still consider them the best AirPods for most people. The 2nd gen AirPods use the same H1 chip and Bluetooth 5.0 connection as the newer buds (this is also the same chip featured in the exorbitantly expensive AirPods Max) for a quick and stable wireless connection to your devices. The audio quality on the 3rd generation is slightly better, but not so much that you should consider paying nearly double if the other improvements don’t entice you.
Read more: Apple AirPods 2 vs AirPods 3 vs AirPods Pro
Do you need to buy AirPods for the iPhone? Not necessarily. Plenty of the cans featured in the best Prime Day headphone deals pair flawlessly with any Bluetooth-enabled Apple device. However, you’d lack the benefits of staying within the Apple family, such as seamless hands-free Siri and quicker, more reliable switching between iPhones, iPads, and MacBooks.
We may not see the AirPods this low again for months, so don’t be afraid to proceed through checkout if you’ve been curious.