AirPods libreated from Apple's ecosystem

A lot of Apple products are designed to best work with other Apple products, that's part of their selling point. Would it not be easier to just buy non Apple headphones if you are not in the Apple eco system?

I guess that’s fair. But it’s also possible that you already own an iPhone + AirPods, and you wanna buy a new non-Apple phone

If it’s vertical integration producing results, that’s all right.

If it’s consciously kneecapping the device for all manufacturers except yours, it’s not a practice beneficial to anyone but monopolies, so consumer laws should prevent it.

This repo seems to prove the case of AirPods is closer to the latter.

Yet if someone likes the sound quality, fit, or ANC of AirPods (which are genuinely good), why should they lose out on functionality just because they're not using an iPhone?

“Work best” is giving Apple the benefit of the doubt here. The point of standards like Bluetooth is to avoid vendor lock-in and promote interoperability. If Apple chooses to leverage the spec to produce a product that has degraded functionality when used with other vendors, that goes against the spirit of the spec and makes it worthless.

You might argue, well why did Apple choose to use Bluetooth at all if they’re not going to participate in the interoperability motive? Because initially (think early iPhones) Apple did not design wireless communication modules and benefits from buying COTS from existing vendors.

So would it be easier to just participate in vendor lock-in? Let me ask you, do you enjoy being able to fill up a car at any gas station, or charge your car at any 120V outlet? Standards usually benefit everyone.

No, they’re designed to work worse with non-Apple products to keep people in the Apple ecosystem. Sure, if you’re not already in the ecosystem it does make sense to buy other products. But if you already own AirPods then you’re reluctant to switch to Android or Linux/Windows, because you either have a degraded experience or have to shell out for new stuff.

It’s convenient only as long you stick to their closed ecosystem. Requiring a device to identify as an Apple device to expose all features is an anti-feature. The devices should expose all features regardless, and leave it to the device/platform vendor to implement the config software.

I'm all for everything being compatible with everything, but why should apple invest resources in testing/debugging android compatibility for something that they make?

I decided to not buy another iPhone when I changed phone because I dislike how Apple both overprices the phone in Europe yet refuse to ship features and keep lying through their teeth about the impact of regulation. I would still like to keep using my AirPods which work fine and I have already paid.

There is a vast difference between testing and debugging and not intentionally making your product worse when on a standard BT connection which is basically what Apple is doing.

There is zero business sense in making it work as good on non Apple phones. There are plenty of other headphones to choose from that work well with android etc.