When Phil Schiller walked onto the stage at the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium in September 2016, he used a word that would haunt Apple for years: "Courage." He was talking about removing the 3.5mm headphone jack. People were livid. But the real star—or the real villain, depending on who you asked back then—was the Apple AirPods first generation. They looked like EarPods with the wires chopped off. Honestly, the internet spent the next three months making fun of them. Memes compared them to electric toothbrush heads. Critics joked they’d fall out the moment you stepped onto a subway.
Yet, they changed everything.
It’s hard to remember now, but before these little white sticks arrived, "true wireless" earbuds were a glitchy mess. You had companies like Bragi and Earin trying to make it work, but the connection would drop if you put your phone in the wrong pocket. Apple didn’t invent the category. They just made it actually work for normal people. If you still have a pair of the Apple AirPods first generation sitting in a drawer, you're holding a piece of hardware that redefined how we interact with our phones.
The W1 Chip Was the Secret Sauce
Most people think Bluetooth is just Bluetooth. It isn't. The reason the Apple AirPods first generation felt like magic compared to the competition was a tiny piece of silicon called the W1 chip.
Standard Bluetooth pairing is a nightmare. You hold a button, wait for a blinking light, dig through your phone settings, and pray. Apple skipped all that. You just flipped the lid open near an iPhone, and a 3D animation popped up. It was seamless. This wasn't just for show; the W1 chip managed the power consumption and maintained a synchronized link to both earbuds simultaneously. In older wireless tech, the phone would talk to one earbud, which would then relay the signal to the other. That caused lag. The W1 fixed it.
Battery life was another weirdly specific win. You got about five hours of listening time. That sounds pathetic today when we have buds that last eight or ten hours, but in 2016? It was industry-leading. The case held another 24 hours of juice. You could drop the buds in for 15 minutes and get three hours of life. That changed the "range anxiety" of wireless audio.
Why They Still Matter in the Used Market
You can still find the Apple AirPods first generation on eBay or in the back of tech drawers. But there's a catch. Lithium-ion batteries are chemically programmed to die. If you bought a pair in 2016, they likely only hold a 10-minute charge now. This is the dark side of the true wireless revolution: disposability.
Unlike the wired EarPods that came before them, which could last a decade if you didn't fray the cable, these have a shelf life. It's a bit sad. You have this incredible engineering feat that basically becomes e-waste after three years of heavy use. Some hobbyists have tried to replace the batteries, but it’s nearly impossible because everything is glued shut. It’s a "zero" on the iFixit repairability scale. Literally. They have to be cut open with a blade to see what's inside.
Spotting the "Gen 1" vs the Rest
A lot of people get confused between the first and second generations because they look identical.
- Check the model number on the underside of the earbud.
- Apple AirPods first generation are model numbers A1523 or A1722.
- If the LED light is on the inside of the case under the lid, it's the original charging case (A1602).
- The first gen doesn't support "Hey Siri" hands-free. You have to double-tap the side to talk to the assistant.
It's a tactile experience. That "clink" of the magnetic lid? Apple spent months perfecting that sound. They wanted it to feel like a high-end Zippo lighter. It’s a fidget toy as much as it is a tech product.
The Sound Quality Debate
Let's be real: they didn't sound amazing. They sounded fine. If you liked the $29 wired EarPods, you liked these. They have an "open" design, meaning they don't seal your ear canal. This is great if you're running and want to hear a car about to hit you, but it's terrible for bass.
Audiophiles hated them. They complained about the lack of high-fidelity codecs. Apple stuck with AAC. But for the average person commuting on a bus, the convenience outweighed the bit-rate. The microphones were the real hero. Because of the "stem" design, the mics were closer to your mouth than almost any other bud on the market. It used beamforming technology to filter out background noise. Suddenly, everyone on Zoom calls—or just regular phone calls—sounded significantly clearer.
What Everyone Got Wrong
The biggest myth was that they would fall out. People went to extreme lengths to prove this wrong. Marathon runners wore them. Gym rats did backflips. Because there were no wires pulling down on the buds, they actually stayed in better than the wired versions for many people.
The "electric toothbrush" look also went from a joke to a status symbol. Within two years, you couldn't walk through an airport without seeing a sea of white stems. It became the new "white headphone cord" of the iPod era. It signaled that you were part of the Apple ecosystem. It’s a classic example of Apple’s ability to turn "weird" into "standard."
Technical Specs Recap
The internals were surprisingly dense. Inside each bud, you had the W1 chip, an accelerometer to detect when you tapped them, optical sensors to know when they were in your ears, and a tiny 93-milliwatt battery.
The case used a Lightning connector. No wireless charging back then—that came later with the optional upgraded case. The transition between devices was handled through iCloud. If you switched from your iPhone to your Mac, the AirPods were supposed to follow you. In practice, it worked about 80% of the time. It wasn't perfect, but it was miles ahead of the competition.
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Practical Steps for Original Owners
If you're still rocking a pair of Apple AirPods first generation, or you found some in a "lost and found" box, here is how you handle them today.
First, clean them. Use a dry cotton swab and maybe a tiny bit of isopropyl alcohol (70%) on the mesh. Do not soak them. The earwax buildup is usually why one side sounds quieter than the other. It’s gross, but it’s the truth.
Second, check the firmware. While Apple doesn't push many updates to the first gen anymore, they did receive several to improve connection stability. To update them, you just leave them in the case, plugged into power, next to your iPhone. It happens automatically.
Third, understand the battery limit. If they die in twenty minutes, they are toast. There is no software fix for a chemically degraded battery. You can trade them in at some recyclers, but don't expect a windfall.
Lastly, if you're looking to buy "new" old stock, be careful. Counterfeits of the Apple AirPods first generation are everywhere. Even back in 2017, the knock-offs were getting good. If the hinge on the case feels flimsy or the "clink" sounds like cheap plastic, they’re probably fakes. Genuine Apple cases have a metal hinge and a very specific weight.
The legacy of the original AirPods isn't just about the hardware. It's about the fact that they killed the headphone jack for good. They forced the entire industry to catch up. Whether you love them or hate them, the world of audio is divided into "Before AirPods" and "After AirPods." They weren't just headphones; they were the beginning of the "wearables" era where the computer moved from our pockets to our ears.