JBL's new Tour Pro 3 earbuds come with a touchscreen on the charging case. We're now a few generations into this product, beating Apple to the punch again. The tech giant is rumored to be cooking up something similar for future AirPods, which would be a big reason to upgrade your AirPods.
The headline-grabber here is the 1.57-inch touchscreen on the redesigned Smart Charging Case. It allows you to control music playback, manage calls, and even check your messages – all without touching your phone. If that's not enough, the case doubles as a wireless audio transmitter, letting you connect to just about any device with an AUX or USB-C port.
These earbuds are no slouch either. JBL has packed in a dual-driver system, True Adaptive Noise Cancellation 2.0, and JBL Spatial 360 with Head Tracking. And with up to 44 hours of playback time and features like Fast Pair by Google and Microsoft Swift Pair, JBL is making sure you're covered from every angle.
All this goodness will be available directly from JBL on 14th September 2024, with a price tag of $279.99, £279.99, or €299.99.
Future AirPods playing catch-up?
Apple previously filed a patent for an AirPods case with (you guessed it) a touchscreen. This screen will let users control Apple Music, manage calls, and even display the source of the audio, be it a movie, a message, or a phone call. It doesn’t quite match the versatility of JBL’s offering, which can even connect to in-flight entertainment systems.
Apple’s patent might be a peek into the future of AirPods, but JBL is living in that future right now. Whether Apple’s touchscreen case will be a compelling reason to upgrade your earbuds remains to be seen. But if Apple does go down this route, there's no denying it'll be playing catch-up to JBL.
The current AirPods line-up has the base-level AirPods, more premium AirPods Pro, and the AirPods Max from late 2020. Thankfully, Apple could finally be gearing up to introduce new models to its earbud line-up at the iPhone 16 launch in September.
