Along with Apple officially opening up its Find My app to third parties yesterday, Belkin started pre-orders for its new Soundform Freedom wireless earbuds. In addition to the Find My integration, the new earbuds have some impressive features like 36-hour battery life, in-ear design, Qi wireless charging, and more at just $99. Let’s dive in and look at the Belkin Soundform Freedom vs AirPods and AirPods Pro.
Apple’s AirPods have been a massive success with the totally wireless earbuds dominating the market. A major part of the appeal is the tight integration the AirPods lineup has with Apple devices. Now with the Find My app opening up, third-party products can become a bit more native to the experience than before.
While the new Belkin Soundform Freedom True Wireless Earbuds can’t offer all of the same benefits of AirPods like one-tap instant setup and Hey Siri support, the new earbuds offer a compelling overall package when considering battery life, design, price, and more.
Belkin Soundform Freedom vs AirPods/AirPods Pro
Design
Belkin’s new earbuds feature a design that sits between AirPods and AirPods Pro. The stem of the Soundform Freedom buds looks to be about the length of AirPods but with the in-ear fit of AirPods Pro.
One of the appealing aspects here is the Soundform Freedom coming in black as well as white. While the charging case looks a bit bulkier than AirPods, you’re getting the benefit of longer battery life.
Battery life
Belkin is the winner here with the Soundform Freedom offering significantly longer battery life for both the earbuds themselves and the battery case. As mentioned above, one trade-off is a chunkier charging case, but that may be worth it for many.
Features
Taking a look at the overall specs and features, you get a better sense of how Belkin’s new earbuds stack up against AirPods. They match AirPods/Pro with support for ear-detection, sweat/water resistance, and tracking with Find My – notably Belkin says even the charging case is trackable which isn’t the case for AirPods.
But you’re not getting active noise cancelation (ANC), transparency mode, the H1 chip, and Hey Siri support. However, it’s possible Belkin could have a touch control to enable Siri control.
Price
Belkin has a real leg up with the Soundform Freedom’s $99 price tag. Apple’s official price for AirPods is $159 with the basic charging case and $199 with the wireless charging case. And the MSRP for AirPods Pro is $249.
You can often find all three AirPods models below those prices on Amazon and other retailers, but even so, $99 is a great price for everything Belkin looks to offer with the Soundform Freedom.
Sound quality
With Belkin Soundform Freedom pre-orders shipping out come June the verdict is still out on how sound quality will compare to AirPods and AirPods Pro. But here’s how Belkin is describing the audio quality:
Rich, radiant sound meets exceptional battery life in the SOUNDFORM Freedom True Wireless Earbuds. Custom drivers activate deep bass while maintaining clear mids and highs. Our advanced clear-call technology and dual microphones ensure remarkable call quality.
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