Wireless earbuds seem to be one of the must-have tech gadgets of the summer. To be honest, they’re hardly new – wireless earbuds have been around for many years – but they are growing in popularity year after year. As with basically all tech trends, you can look at the folks over at Apple as the reasons for this popularity. When they released the first Airpods, everyone went wild. Since then, everyone has been trying to recreate these and make them better, leading to a whole host of fantastic products on the market.

There are many reasons to love wireless earbuds, but they can also have a few drawbacks and concerns. Before you try purchasing one of these products, take a look at the pros and cons:

Pro: Extreme portability

A key reason wireless earbuds are so popular is that they offer extreme portability. The devices themselves are tiny; they’re small enough to fit in your ear and might have a little microphone poking out slightly. Either way, they are stored in a small case that fits in the palm of your hand. They can easily be stored in your bag, pocket, coat; you name it! Compared to other earbuds or headphone options, wireless earbuds are the most portable by far. 

Con: Battery drainers

While a lot of modern wireless earbuds don’t drain your phone/tablet’s battery that much, they still require extra processing power to work. This is because they’re connected via Bluetooth, meaning you need to turn this feature on. Instantly, your phone uses more battery power, and this will only increase as you keep your headphones connected. With wired earbuds, you never have this problem. That’s why some people argue that, if you want earbuds, you may as well get wired ones to save your device’s battery life. 

Pro: Great noise cancelation

Obviously, this depends on the product you’re looking at. However, when it comes to which headphones provide the best noise cancelling feature, earbuds always come out on top. Not only that, but wireless earbuds are typically even better than wired ones. A lot of wireless earbuds – like the Airpods Pro – have built-in technology that uses white noise to block out background sounds when you’re listening. Thus, you hear nothing but the music in your ears. 

This is such a great feature to have for your listening enjoyment, but it’s also essential if you want to look after your hearing. Read any guide to hearing loss protection and you will see that turning down the volume of your headphones can protect your ears and delay hearing loss. Great noise cancelation helps with this as you can turn down the volume but still hear clearly. So, lower volumes mean healthier ears. 

Con: They can run out of battery

Another battery-related disadvantage of wireless earbuds, though this one relates to their own battery. Seeing as they are wireless, you need to have a certain level of charge to use them. This can mean that they will run out of charge at some point, possibly while you’re on a long journey. It can be incredibly infuriating to listen to something and then have your headphones die on you. Again, this is why wired earbuds are still fairly popular – you get many of the earbud benefits, but without the worry of them running out of charge.