Beats Flex boasts up to 12 hours of listening time for all-day use. Apple’s Beats brand today is introducing Beats Flex wireless earphones, which add some upgrades to the previous BeatsX earphones yet come with a much lower $49.99 price tag. The new price makes them the cheapest way to get into Apple’s wireless earphone ecosystem, which is especially important now that Apple is no longer including earphones in the box with its iPhones.
The inside of the left pod has the mic and a multi-function playback and voice assistant button. Nick Pino is the Senior Editor of Home Entertainment at TechRadar and covers TVs, headphones, speakers, video games, VR and streaming devices. He’s written for TechRadar, GamesRadar, Official Xbox Magazine, PC Gamer and other outlets over the last decade, and he has a degree in computer science he’s not using if anyone wants it. Surprisingly, though, we didn’t find any of that to be a deal-breaker. The W1 Chip is less advanced than the H1 but it still gets the job done, and the semi-wireless form factor is manageable if a little unwieldy. Still, the overall performance the Beats Flex gives you should warrant a higher price, so consider these buds an uber-generous offer from the trailblazing audio brand.
Fortunately, Flex is a budget pair of Beats that pack the premium audio quality you’d expect from Apple and Beats, but for a fraction of the price of AirPods. However, they are missing a handful of the features we’re used to seeing from Beats and they have a semi-awkward neckband design. Thankfully like the more recent Beats earphones and headphones, the Bass isn’t overpowering and you can get a nice, decent balance but still can beats flex review feel that Bass. However, the Flex isn’t able to deliver that nice, punchy ‘oomph’ compared to the other Beats earphones I’ve tried. The first impression of wearing the Beats Flex and testing it with some music was just okay – compared with the Powerbeats Pro, or even the Powerbeats 2020. Note that I’m also get used to listening to the awesome sound quality from the recent Jabra Elite Active 75t before switching over to review.
On the flip side, you have newer models like the JLab Epic Sport2 crushing it with 20 hours. This isn’t a deal-breaker, especially since Beats’ buds come equipped with USB-C and Fast Fuel charging to net you 1.5 hours of use on a 10-minute charge. You’ll either have to carry around a USB-C charger or a power bank with a USB-C port to recharge on the go, but that’s a small compromise. The Beats app gets zero promotion, and for good reason, as it has very few features.
Available from a number of retailers, you can pick up a pair of Beats Flex wireless earbuds for as little as $39 in the US, £50 in the UK and AU$69 in Australia. Take a look at the widgets for the best beats flex review deals on them across the web right now. The Beats Flex last up to 12 hours off a charge but, in our test Android at least, do not give you a battery level indication if you don’t use an iPhone.