What you need to know
- Google is adding new device support for its Fair Pair technology.
- The company has announced that Apple's Beats headphones will be included.
You'll soon be able to Fast Pair your Beats headphones to an Android device.
As reported by 9to5Google, Google is adding more device support for its Fast Pair feature, which allows you to connect Bluetooth accessories with a tap. According to the report, Apple's own Beats headphones will now be able to take advantage of the feature.
With Fast Pair, Google made connecting Bluetooth accessories as simple as tapping a single button on your phone. At I/O 2021, Google provided an update on Fast Pair usage and announced support for new devices, including cars.Google says Fast Pair has been used over 36 million times to connect Android phones with Bluetooth accessories from Sony, Microsoft, JBL, Google, and other brands. It was first introduced in 2017 and just received a visual overhaul, while growing to support wearables, like Fitbit smartwatches.Looking ahead, Fast Pair will be coming to headphones from Beats. This comes as the Apple-owned brand continues to release new products, including a just-leaked pair of Beats Studio truly wireless in-ear buds, and suggests a significant Android user base to warrant supporting Fast Pair. Most of its headphones use the Lightning connector for power, but Beats does surprisingly sell the $49 Beats Flex with USB-C.
If you've ever paired AirPods to an iPhone, you basically already know what Fair Pair is. It's very similar to Apple's feature which was pioneered when the company originally released AirPods. However, Apple's pairing experience is limited to AirPods and Beats. Google's Fast Pair experience, however, supports a ton of different brands - Beats now included.
This is a smart move by Google. Despite Beats being owned by Apple now, there are still a ton of Android customers who purchase headphones from the brand so it makes sense to bring that great experience to those headphones since they can.
The feature should support the upcoming Beats Buds, which were just recently leaked.
Bottom line: Though the sound quality leaves much to be desired, these $50 headphones give you all the convenience of Apple headphones that are $200 more expensive.
