AirPods earn 98% customer satisfaction

According to Tech.pinions, AirPods are Apple's best new product measured by customer satisfaction:

The overall customer satisfaction level of 98% sets the record for the highest level of satisfaction for a new product from Apple. When the iPhone came out in 2007, it held a 92% customer satisfaction level, iPad in 2010 had 92%, and Apple Watch in 2015 had 97%.

After some initial skepticism, I finally picked up a pair of AirPods a couple weeks ago and they're sensational. Apple has sanded off all the rough edges associated with wireless headphones and made something entirely new.

This is Apple at its most Apple-like: taking an existing product idea and distilling it down to the essential parts. I'm sure there were considerable technical challenges with AirPods, like battery life or left/right sync. Six months in, AirPods still limited supply suggests some challenges remain. But when the challenges are overcome, it enables a product that is so simple and so easy that its technical complexity is completely invisible.

I'm surprised that Apple Watch scored nearly as high as AirPods. I wear my Apple Watch every day, but unlike AirPods some of its rough edges can still be felt. For instance, the sometimes slow interactions and the long pairing process. Compare that to paring AirPods, which is dead simple.

Most wireless earphones are still connected by a wire. This is the case with the Beats I use for exercising. The wire can help keep them secure if one side falls out, and it allows for play/pause and volume buttons on the wire. But wireless headphones with a wire don't really live up to the name.

Much of AirPods' magic is that they are truly, completely wireless. They float in your ears, almost like nothing is there at all. I forget I’m wearing them. Incidentally, AirPods are the first earphones I like to use while laying down.

The battery case is another bit of magic. It keeps the AirPods fully charged almost all the time, which reduces some of the battery anxiety I have with the Beats.

There's also no power switch, which is brilliant. AirPods are quick and easy to put in and start listening, so I find myself reaching for them much more often than other headphones.

I occasionally miss having playback controls on the wire, but AirPods make up for it with clever touches like automatically pausing playback when you take one out of your ear. You can also double-tap for Siri, which I don't use often, but I like knowing I don't necessarily have to take out my phone to do something.

AirPods are my favorite new Apple product since the first iPhone. They have that same implausible quality that makes your brain say, "This thing shouldn't exist, but it does." AirPods really do exist, even if they're hard to find. The only way they might be more magical is if they came in the box with the iPhone.