CULVER CITY, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Beats by Dr. Dre (Beats) today introduces Beats Flex, its most affordable premium wireless earphones to date. The earphones leverage the flexible and convenient design of BeatsX, and boast tremendous improvements, including magnetic auto-play/pause earbuds, a 12-hour battery life, a new acoustic driver and upgraded microphone for impressive sound performance, and USB-C charging. Beats Flex delivers a high-quality sound experience for a fraction of the cost of its predecessor, making it the perfect gift for anyone you know this holiday season.
Beats Flex will come in four stylish colors—Beats Black, Yuzu Yellow, Smoke Gray and Flame Blue— with Beats Black and Yuzu Yellow available for pre-order beginning today at apple.com.
“I’m excited to announce that Beats is launching its most affordable product ever—packed with incredible audio technology from Apple,” said Oliver Schusser, vice president of Beats, Apple Music, and International Content. “This will allow even more music fans around the world to experience the quality sound and design Beats products are known for.”
Sound
Beats Flex employs a proprietary layered driver with dual-chamber acoustics to achieve rich, balanced sound with outstanding stereo separation. Laser cut micro-venting and an optimized driver angle ensure ear pressure relief and accurate sound delivery. Additionally, an advanced digital processor fine-tunes the audio for accurate bass, precise mids, and low distortion across the frequency curve.
Design
Whether you want to listen to music, take a call, or scroll your social feed, Beats Flex will be there when you need it. Made of durable Nitinol material, the Flex-Form cable is extremely lightweight and nearly unnoticeable while wearing around your neck. Magnetic earbuds make listening that much easier by automatically playing music when they’re in your ears and pausing when they’re attached around your neck.1 When not in use, they easily coil up into your pocket or purse, tangle-free. And with four eartip options, you get a personalized, secure fit for optimal sound and comfort.
Technology
With Class 1 Bluetooth® technology, Beats Flex offers extended wireless range and fewer dropouts. An advanced built-in microphone helps reduce wind noise for elevated voice clarity and call performance. On-device controls allow you to adjust volume as well as manage music, take calls, or activate voice assistant.
The Apple W1 chip seamlessly integrates Beats Flex into your world of Apple products. Simply power on and hold near your iPhone or iPad for one-touch pairing.2 From there, your Beats Flex is ready to be used with any Apple device that is synced to iCloud so you can seamlessly switch between products, check battery status, or use Audio Sharing.
Audio Sharing lets you wirelessly share audio with your friend using Beats Flex and another pair of Beats headphones or AirPods.3 From a song, to a podcast, or even a movie—some things are better together. Now you can easily share whatever you’re listening to on an iPhone, iPad, or Apple TV and each control your own volume. Simply bring the second set of headphones near your Apple device and connect with a tap.
Battery Life
Beats Flex upgraded, all-day battery boasts up to 12 hours of listening time. If you need a little extra power, 10-minute Fast Fuel charging with the included USB-C cable gives 1.5 hours of playback when battery is low.4
With USB-C charge, Beats Flex provides a single charging solution across both Apple and Android platforms. Android users can also download the Beats app from the Google Play Store to get additional features like quick-pairing, device status (i.e. battery levels), and firmware updates.
Environmentally Friendly Packaging
Beats Flex’s packaging uses the least amount of plastic of all Beats packaging to date and is made up of 87% fiber-based materials. All the wood fiber in the packaging comes from recycled sources or responsibly managed forests, and the product tray is recyclable with paper.
Pricing and Availability
Beats Flex (49.99 USD) is available to order today in Beats Black and Yuzu Yellow at apple.com, with availability beginning October 21.
Available at authorized resellers beginning November 20.
Smoke Gray and Flame Blue coming early 2021.
Media
Images: DOWNLOAD
About Beats
Beats by Dr. Dre (Beats) is a leading audio brand founded in 2006 by Dr. Dre and Jimmy Iovine. Through its family of premium consumer headphones, earphones and speakers, Beats has introduced an entirely new generation to the possibilities of premium sound entertainment. The brand’s continued success helps bring the energy, emotion and excitement of playback in the recording studio back to the listening experience for music lovers worldwide. Beats was acquired by Apple Inc. in July 2014.
© 2020 Apple Inc. All rights reserved. Beats and the b logo are trademarks of Beats Electronics, LLC. Apple and the Apple logo are trademarks of Apple Inc. Other company and product names may be trademarks of their respective owners.
1 Compatible with iOS and iPadOS 14 or later, MacOS 11 or later, WatchOS 7 or later, and tvOS 14 or later; compatibility will vary on Android devices.
2 Requires iCloud account and macOS Sierra, iOS 10, watchOS 3 or later versions.
3 Audio Sharing is compatible with Beats Flex, Solo Pro, Powerbeats Pro, Powerbeats, Solo3 Wireless, Powerbeats3 Wireless, Beats Studio3 Wireless, BeatsX, AirPods (1st generation or later), and AirPods Pro. Works with iPhone 8 or later and iPod touch (7th generation) with the latest version of iOS; and 12.9-inch iPad Pro (2nd generation or later), 11-inch iPad Pro, 10.5-inch iPad Pro, iPad (5th generation or later), iPad Air (3rd generation), and iPad mini (5th generation) with the latest version of iPadOS.
4 Testing conducted by Apple in August 2020 using preproduction Beats Flex and software paired with iPhone 11 Pro Max units and prerelease software. The playlist consisted of 358 unique audio tracks purchased from the iTunes Store (256-Kbps AAC encoding). Volume was set to 50%. Total listening time was up to 12 hours. Testing consisted of full Beats Flex battery discharge while playing audio until Beats Flex stopped playback. 10-Minute charge testing conducted with drained Beats Flex that were charged for 10 minutes, then audio playback was started until Beats Flex stopped playback. Battery life depends on device settings, environment, usage, and many other factors.