Details include the timing of when development started, how ANC is made possible on an open-ear design, use of the term ‘snorkel,’ and more.
Snorkel, the term we all needed Apparently, Apple’s team refers to the front end of AirPods as the ‘snorkel.’ A technical term, clearly.
Unlike AirPods Pro 2 and AirPods Max, with AirPods 4 Apple has to offset and accommodate for significantly more environmental noise, otherwise ANC and transparency wouldn’t work well.
One interesting tidbit from the piece, though, is that the AirPods team started trying to bring ANC to the standard AirPods in “the dark days of COVID”—presumably 2020.
We said ‘we absolutely have something here, we need to go after this and we’ve got to make it happen.’” So the journey toward ANC on AirPods started over four years ago.
The team behind AirPods 4 has conducted a fantastic new interview with Engadget, and the product is currently available for purchase. The exact moment that development began, how an open-ear design enables ANC, how the word “snorkel” is used, and other specifics are included.
We all needed the term snorkel.
The AirPods’ front end is apparently referred to as the “snorkel” by the Apple staff. This is obviously a technical term.
Billy Steele of Engadget writes this:.
The AirPods 3 have a very different front end than the original model, which Bergeron revealed the team refers to as the “snorkel.” With the new model, the driver had to be adjusted to prevent sound reflection to the internal microphone that records noise inside your ear. This explains the drivers’ current orientation, which is slightly recessed and pointed down your ear canal.
ANC increases the H2’s workload.
The Apple team discusses the challenges of incorporating active noise cancellation and transparency mode into an open-ear design multiple times throughout the article.
Apple had to account for and offset a significant amount of environmental noise with the AirPods 4, unlike the AirPods Pro 2 and AirPods Max, in order for ANC and transparency to function properly.
For that reason, the AirPods 4’s H2 chip does more work.
“Developing a non-ear-tip product with such excellent ANC quality is extremely challenging,” stated Eric Treski, marketing director. We actually use the H2 chip extensively to control ANC quality and monitor ambient noise through the microphones to ensure that we are canceling as much as possible because of its power. “.
Apple must “blend ambient sound from the microphones with what you’re hearing naturally through your unplugged ears” in order to comply with transparency regulations. In order to prevent delays in the audio coming through the AirPods due to automatic adjustments, a perfect mix that appears real to your brain must be achieved with incredibly low latency. “.
Timeline for developing AirPods 4.
We frequently don’t get details on the internal schedules for the long development times of Apple products. The article does contain an intriguing fact, though: in “the dark days of COVID”—possibly 2020—the AirPods team began attempting to integrate ANC into the regular AirPods. When their work was prepared to be presented to higher-ups in 2021, they realized they had something.
“We were just blown away,” recollects Apple Vice President of Hardware Engineering Kate Bergeron. We declared, “We have to go after this and make it happen; we definitely have something here.”. “”.
So, more than four years ago, the path toward ANC on AirPods began. Shortly after AirPods Pro’s initial release of the feature.
If you want to learn more about the AirPods 4, read the entire interview. It is located here.
Comment below with the feature of the AirPods 4 that surprised you the most.