Apple announced the 1st Generation of AirPods along with the popular iPhone 7 and the iPhone 7 Plus in Apple’s September Event on September 7th, 2016 for $159. AirPods quickly became very popular and most iPhone users owned a pair of AirPods. Apple announced the second generation of AirPods on March 20th, 2019 with the new H1 chip and the ‘Hey Siri’ functionality which too became quickly popular due to the seamless experience with other Apple Products. One of the most popular AirPods, the AirPods Pro was announced on October 30th 2019 for $249, with noise cancellation and Transparency mode built in a sleek and compact design.
On June 3rd of last year, at WWDC 2019, Apple unveiled iOS 13, which brought a feature called “Optimized Battery Charging” which would reduce battery degradation over time. With this feature enabled, the iPhone would learn your charging routine and get itself charged till charge 80%, and charge the remaining other 20% before the time you disconnect your iPhone. For example, if you leave your iPhone to charge overnight for around 8 hours at 12 a.m., and your iPhone takes 3 hours to charge, iPhone will charge to 80%, and pause charging (around 2 a.m.). If you wake up at 8 a.m. your iPhone will start charging at around 7 a.m. and give you a full 100% charge for you to enjoy the whole day. This reduces battery aging. Your iPhone learns from your charging routine and accordingly charges your iPhone. You will get a notification mentioning the time the iPhone will get fully charged. If you have a change in your schedule and you have to wake up at around 5 a.m., you can long-press on the notification and tap on the “Charge Now” option. This feature was finally released to the public with iOS 13 in September of last year.
Apple has expanded support for this feature on AirPods as well on iOS 14. Once you update your iPhone to iOS 14 and your AirPods are plugged in, you may receive a notification saying – “Optimized Battery Charging Enabled: To reduce battery aging, AirPods learn from your daily charging routine so they can wait to finish charging past 80% until you need to use them.”
This feature will increase the lifespan of the lithium-ion batteries in the AirPods. If batteries in AirPods are significantly degraded, then the sound performance will be reduced because the battery would not be able to provide peak power to the AirPods, and may shut off because the battery cannot provide adequate power to the AirPods, so instead, the sound performance is reduced. Who wants their AirPods to stop working suddenly? To prevent this, Apple has introduced this feature to the AirPods to reduce battery aging and increase the life of the battery.
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Author: Pururaj Dutta
Pururaj is the Vice President of Appleosophy and Silicon Report, in addition to being the Manager of popular Redfruit Media platforms such as TechPod Social and Apple Summit. His seasoned experience plays a pivotal role in the success of Redfruit Media, contributing significantly to shaping the ever-evolving tech landscape. As a tech aficionado, he enjoys exploring & reviewing new products, and sharing his insights with the community. With an unwavering passion for technology, Pururaj is committed to delivering accurate and insightful information to his readers.
