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The 7 Best Alternatives to Apple’s AirPods

Don’t have an iPhone or don’t want to buy wireless earbuds by Apple? No problem. There are a lot of good alternatives that you can choose from.

jabra Jabra

By Tucker Bowe

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Apple is the runaway leader when it comes to wireless earbuds, with roughly 30% percent of the total market share (and none of its nearest competitors even come close). And now that Apple has three wireless earbud options to choose from — AirPods (2nd Gen), AirPods (3rd Gen) and AirPods Pro — you can buy a pair that checks all your boxes, in terms of features, fit and price.

Still, not everybody wants to buy AirPods. They don’t fit a lot of their ears or sound as good as you might like. Maybe most importantly, they don’t work that well with Android smartphones, which alienates a lot of people. Fortunately, there are plenty of other great wireless earbuds to choose from. Below, we’ve rounded up the best wireless earbuds that share some similarities, in terms of fit and features, but they’re not made by Apple.

The Sony WF-1000XM4 are up there with the best all-around wireless earbuds you can buy. They have the most powerful active noise-cancellation and sound as good as any wireless earbuds that we’ve tested. Maybe most importantly, Sony shrunk them down so that they are smaller and more comfortable to wear than Sony’s previous wireless earbuds (the WF-1000XM3).

The Beats Fit Pro are sport-focused wireless earbuds that have a new silicone earhook design to help them stay in your ears — so they fit very different from any AirPods. They have Apple’s H1 chip and actually have most of the same features as AirPods Pro, including active-noise-cancellation and transparency modes. They also sound almost as good. The one bummer is that despite their high-ish price tag, the Fit Pro don’t have a wireless charging case.

The Elite 7 Pro are Jabra’s new top-of-the line wireless earbuds — and they’re simply some of the best all-around wireless earbuds you can buy. They boast solid noise-cancellation and excellent mics for call quality. On top of that, they are IP57-rated and perfectly suited for runs and workouts.

Bose’s flagship noise-canceling wireless earbuds are a great alternative to Apple’s AirPods Pro and Sony’s WF-1000XM4. They’re active noise-cancellation is on par with the best of them and they have a familiar fit — via their StayHear eartips — that Bose’s earphones are known for. The only real downside is that they’re typically more expensive than other options.

Released in June 2021, the Studio Buds are noise-canceling wireless earbuds that share many of the same features as the AirPods Pro, including support for immersive sound technologies like spatial audio and Dolby Atmos. They lack Apple’s special H1 chip so don’t have multi-device pairing, but on the plus side, they can fast-pair to either iPhones and Android smartphones alike.

The Wyze Buds Pro are another solid budget alternative to Apple’s AirPods Pro because they have a similar fit, thanks to their long-stem design, and pack a lot of premium features like active noise-cancellation and wireless charging.

The Ear (1) are one of the coolest-looking wireless earbuds you’ll find and a solid budget alternative to Apple’s AirPods Pro. At less than $100, they still have high-end features like active noise-cancellation and transparency modes, as well as a case that wireless charges. Just don’t expect them to sound as good as much more expensive options.