For iOS & Android
Beats by Dr. Dre (Beats) today released Beats Flex, the company’s most affordable wireless earphones to date. The around-the-neck style earbuds are a long over due upgrade to their predecessor called BeatsX, which originally debuted four years ago for $149. The new Beats Flex slashes $100 off the price and brings many improvements including magnetic auto-play/pause earbuds, a longer 12-hour battery life, a new acoustic driver, upgraded microphone and USB-C charging. Although they’re designed to work seamlessly with Apple products, Beats Flex also work with Android devices when used with the Beats app for Android.
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.
Beats Flex uses the older Apple W1 chip to sync with Apple devices, instead of the more advanced H1 chip offered in the AirPods Pro. Nonetheless one-touch pairing2 works when powered on and held near your iPhone or iPad that’s synced to iCloud. From there, Beats Flex 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 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 is available today (October 21, 2020) for $49.99 in Beats Black and Yuzu Yellow only at Apple. Two additional colors: Smoke Gray and Flame Blue will become available Winter 2021.
- 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.
- Requires iCloud account and macOS Sierra, iOS 10, watchOS 3 or later versions.
- 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.
- 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
