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Winners and Losers: AirPods become hearing aids as Nintendo dodges another Switch 2 announcement
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It’s November, meaning we’ve officially entered the month ofBlack Fridayand the deals are already flowing.
Of course, discounted tech isn’t the only thing on our mind, as Apple announceda series of updates to its Mac line,OnePlus unveiled the OnePlus 13in China and Microsoft confirmed that its AI-basedRecall feature was delayed– again.
Scroll down to discover who we named our winner and loser this week.
Winner: Apple
It’s been a busy week for Apple.
Between the highly-anticipatedApple Intelligencerollout,new Apple Silicon chipsand major updates to theMacBook Pro,iMac and Mac Minilines, you’d be forgiven for sleeping on one of the most genuinely useful feature updates to come to the AirPods: theAirPods Pro 2can now double as hearing aids.
As of a software update that rolled out this week, the AirPods Pro support a newHearing Testfeature, Hearing Protection measures and the ability to use the earbuds in place of hearing aids in a pinch.
The Hearing Test is essentially a hearing examination you can do from home to ascertain whether you have hearing loss. Using the AirPod’s ANC and in-ear seal to set the proper conditions, the Hearing Test plays a series of tones, prompting you to tap your phone screen when you hear them.
After five minutes, Apple will provide you with a custom profile detailing your level of hearing loss, along with advice on how to enhance the audio for media and calls or set up the Hearing Aid feature – if either is needed.
It’s exciting to see Apple make hearing tests more accessible and even better to learn about the Hearing Aid feature, which works to boost frequencies with real-time adjustments to keep up with the sounds around you.
This isn’t necessarily a new technology as transparency modes (which is essentially what this is) have been available on headphones for a while now. However, the feature is the first ‘over-the-counter’ hearing aid software toreceive approval from the FDA, marking a significant step forward in accessibility.
Loser: Nintendo
Our loser this week is Nintendo as the company continued to announce seemingly everythingbuttheNintendo Switch 2.
It’s been seven years since Nintendo introduced theNintendo Switchand three since the company last graced us with a minor update to the console in the form of theSwitch OLED. This has left many fans raring to meet the Nintendo Switch 2.
Unfortunately for them, however, Nintendo seems to have decided to announce anything and everything else first. Just this month, that has included a$99.99 Nintendo-branded alarm clockand anentire music streaming service.
The Nintendo Music app was released for iOS and Android this week, giving fans the ability to access tracks and playlists from their favourite Nintendo soundtracks on the go. This includes popular franchises like Mario, Pokemon, Zelda, Animal Crossing and Metroid, as well as more niche ones. You can even block game spoilers, craft your own playlists and receive recommendations based on the games you’ve been playing as of late.
While this is a nice novelty, it’s not exactly where we’d like Nintendo to be focussing its attention right now. Unfortunately, the Switch 2 isn’t expected to launch until early 2025 at this point, so we may just have a bit longer to wait.
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Hannah joined Trusted Reviews as a staff writer in 2019 after graduating with a degree in English from Royal Holloway, University of London. She’s also worked and studied in the US, holding positions …
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Founded in 2003, Trusted Reviews exists to give our readers thorough, unbiased and independent advice on what to buy.
Today, we have millions of users a month from around the world, and assess more than 1,000 products a year.
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
