Probably the only thing missing from Apple’s product roster is a pair of over-the-ear headphones. Apple has already developed and seen a fair share of success in the Airpods, and the Homepod (although the Homepod’s acceptance has been slightly underwhelming). The two products are immaculately engineered, and feature Apple’s very own Voice AI, Siri. The Airpods work with the iPhone, while the Homepod works independently, like all smart speakers. There is, however, a puzzle piece missing. The Airpods are a champion of portability but aren’t a hi-fi audio solution, and the Homepod boasts of a sound quality that Apple claims is unmatchable, but it isn’t portable… the most obvious bridge between the two would be a pair of professional-grade, studio-quality wireless smart headphones.
The designers at CURVED/Labs imagined what this bridge would look like. Taking very strong design cues from the Homepod, these smart headphones boast of large audio drivers that deliver spectacular sound, along with a touch-sensitive panel that lets you tap and swipe to access the headphone’s smart features. The headphones even pay tribute to the Homepod with the colored waveform-graphic found on the Homepod’s touch-panel, and the faux-weave texture around it. I imagine the headphones also pack noise-canceling, as is expected with high-quality audio products, and from the looks of it, these concept headphones even come with a neat wireless charging dock/hanger. The Airpods do work with Android phones, so it’s safe to imagine that these headphones would too, but just like the Airpods, functionality would be extremely limited, and the touch panel wouldn’t be of much use.
Although there’s no word on what one would call these conceptual headphones, the chaps at Gear Patrol quite aptly point out that the suffix ‘Pod’ is synonymous with all of Apple’s audio products, so our best guess would be something on the lines of Apple Studiopod, or Airpod XL, or my personal favorite, the Airpod Pro!
Designer: CURVED/Labs
