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The Powerbeats 3 have always been a great pair of workout earbuds thanks to their ear hooks which keep them in place no matter what you’re doing and their 12 hour battery life meant you could go multiple workouts in between charges. But now we have the Powerbeats 4, or as apple calls them just Powerbeats. And again these are a great pair of workout earbuds. Now yeah these earbuds do have some improvements over the Powerbeats 3… but lets see if it worth the upgrade.
So the new Powerbeats or Powerbeats 4 what ever you want to call them have a retail price of $150… which is actually $50 less than what the Powerbeats 3 used to retail for when they first came out. But now the Powerbeats 3 are typically on sale for $80… so if you’re looking for a major deal you’ll might be interested in the Powerbeats 3 if you’re willing to give up some minor luxuries compared to the new Powerbeats. But as always if you want to pick either of these earbuds up they’ll be linked down below.
Now first off I want to address the Powerbeats 4’s carrying case cause I think this one of the most disappointing things about them. The new Powerbeats come included with this super flimsy pouch which is going to do nothing to protect your earbuds if you’ve got them in your gym bag. Where as the Powerbeats 3 come included with a silicon case that offers some protection. So yeah I really do feel this new carrying pouch is a real downgrade for the new Powerbeats.
But when it comes to the earbuds themselves, the new Powerbeats have been redesigned to look more streamlined compared to the Powerbeats 3. You’ve still got your adjustable ear hooks which are going to keep these earbuds in place no matter what but I think the most noticeable design difference between these two earbuds is just how thick the wire on the new Powerbeats is… making them feel a little more sturdy. But I have noticed that since these earbuds don’t come with a cinch, this cable does like to snag a little bit if you regularly wear a hoodie to the gym like I do. Another noticeable change between these two earbuds is the placement of their media controls. The Powerbeats 3 have an inline controller on the left earbud. Which I’ve always really liked cause its very easy to use and very tactile. Where as the new Powerbeats have now have their media controls built into the right earbud like the Powerbeats Pro. You’ve got a volume rocker and beats logo on the right earbud serves as a multi purpose button. And again these control buttons are very easy to use, especially during your workout where you just want things to work.
But one of the biggest differences between the new Powerbeats the Powerbeats 3 is that the new Powerbeats have apple’s H1 chip which means a few things. The most important thing in my opinion is that new Powerbeats have always listening Siri like the AirPods 2 or AirPods Pro. So lets say you’re on the bench about to go into a dumbbell chest press and you’ve got your hands full you can be like hey siri skip a track or play so and so song and it’ll do it. Where as you just can’t do that with the Powerbeats 3. If you want to talk to Siri you gotta press and hold on the play pause button. Hey Siri isn’t a must have feature but it definitely does come in handy when you need it and when it works.
Now thanks to the H1 chip the new Powerbeats can easily hot swap between any of your apple devices associated to your iCloud account. But the Powerbeats 3 can also just as easily hot swap between your apple devices cause its still using apple’s W1 chip. And even if you’re an android user you can still pair either of these earbuds up with what ever phone you’ve got.
Now when it comes to bluetooth performance both of these earbuds have zero latency across the board when watching movie or videos on your phone whether you're using an iPhone or android device. And both of these earbuds are using AAC. Obviously these earbuds have stellar connectivity performance when used with any apple device, but all of that still carries over even if you’re using an android device.
Now when it comes to battery life the new Powerbeats now have an advertised battery life of 15 hours where as the Powerbeats 3 have an advertised battery life of 12 hours. And the increase of battery life on paper for the new Powerbeats is thanks again to the H1 chip cause the H1 chip is little more power efficient than the W1 chip found in the Powerbeats 3.
Now for me I’ve always been able to go a solid 4 workouts in between charges with the Powerbeats 3… but now with the Powerbeats 4 I can stretch it out to 5 workouts. So ultimately I think both of these earbuds have great battery lives and I think they’re evenly matched. You’re just getting an extra workout out of the new Powerbeats. They both even have the same fast charging where if you plug them in for 5 minutes from a dead battery they’ll get you one hour of playback time.
But the biggest difference between these two earbuds is that the new Powerbeats are finally using a lightning port for charging. Where as the Powerbeats 3 are using a micro usb port for charging. And this means two things. More importantly you can charge your earbuds and iPhone with the same cable, which is super convenient. But I think this also means that the iPhone 12 won’t have a USB C port.
But now lets talk about listening to music with these earbuds. I actually think the Powerbeats 3 sound better than the new Powerbeats. Now both of these Powerbeats have the same amount of hard hitting base and they both get just as loud but the biggest difference between them is the treble. For some reason the new Powerbeats have a lot more treble than the Powerbeats 3 which can get ear piercing at times. Since the AirPods Pro and beats Solo Pro apple has been switching to a brighter sound signature on their products but I think the new Powerbeats are a little too bright. So I really hope apple reduces the treble on these earbuds with a future software update. But in the mean time what you can do to make these earbuds sound a little better is either go into your settings and select the bass boost eq or you can go and select the treble reduce EQ. Ive found that both make the new Powerbeats sound much better and more importantly less ear piercing.
But finally this now brings us to the microphone test. For starters I do think the microphone on the Powerbeats 3 is fairly decent. And ive never had any complaints when ive taken phone calls while at the gym.
But I do think the new Powerbeats sound a little better. Your voice is way more front and center and that could be cause of the placement of the microphone. The microphone on these earbuds is in the left earbud instead of in the inline controller like on the Powerbeats 3.
But for comparison sake I do think the AirPods and AirPods Pro sound a little better cause they do a better job of getting any echos out of the background.
But ultimately, I think the major difference between the new Powerbeats and Powerbeats 3 boils down to having always listening Siri support and having a lightning port on the new Powerbeats for charging. These two differences are really just convince factors… theres really nothing fundemently game changing between these two earbuds. Both of these earbuds have solid bluetooth connectivity, they both have decent battery lives, they’re both going to stay in place not matter how hard you're working out, and they both sound relatively the same. I really do think apple will reduce the treble on the new Powerbeats in a quiet software update. So if you already have the Powerbeats 3 there’s really no need to rush out and upgrade… or if you’re looking for a deal you can pick up the Powerbeats 3 and know you’re not missing out on a lot… especially if you’re an android user cause always listening siri and a lighting port for charge is irrelevant to you. But if you’re and iPhone user and you’re in the market for a pair of workout earbuds then the new Powerbeats are still a solid option.