In January 2018, I bought the first-generation AirPods from JD at full price. They proved the saying that the sooner you buy, the sooner you enjoy: they were absolutely worth it, and I regretted not buying them earlier. By 2020, the battery had deteriorated badly, so I recently bought the new AirPods for
997 CNY. After2.5 years, it was time to retire my first-generation pair.I am leaving a brief record of how I view AirPods and how I made my choice. Hopefully it will help someone else too.
Are AirPods Worth It?
The obvious answer is that it depends on the person. For me, they are extremely worthwhile because I need them in several situations:
- Listening to music while commuting or at the gym.
- Taking calls without a dangling cable—and double-tapping to hang up feels great.
- I was surprised when friends told me they rarely use Siri. I am not a power user, but when I want to call my parents, I would rather say, “Hey Siri, call Dad,” than tap through the Phone app and find a contact.
AirPods can also switch to a Mac with one tap, which is very convenient for conference calls.
If you are not already in the Apple ecosystem, I do not think you need to buy AirPods. Apple products are not designed to exist in isolation; the complete experience comes from the hardware and software ecosystem together. Outside that ecosystem, AirPods will work, but the experience will not be as satisfying.
AirPods 2 vs. AirPods 1
The second generation differs from the first in a few main ways.
Siri
I was genuinely excited when the second generation launched because Siri was my biggest complaint about the original AirPods. You had to double-tap to activate it, and tapping too hard could knock the earbud out. The new model listens for voice activation without reducing battery life, which is much better.
Wireless Charging
It usually makes sense to buy the newer model. Apple rather cheekily placed the charging indicator in different locations on the wired and wireless charging cases, but that does not matter much. Wireless charging was not important to me, so I chose the wired charging case.
Pro
Apple also released the noise-canceling Pro model. I already had Bose 700 headphones, so noise cancellation was not an urgent need. In-ear headphones can also be harder on the ears than over-ear headphones, so I did not consider the Pro.
If you want noise cancellation as well, the Pro is worth considering—it is still cheaper than buying two separate products.
AirPods Lifespan
As mentioned above, I bought my first-generation pair in January 2018. By May 2020, after a full charge and a half-hour meeting, one earbud was already down to 17% battery, with the other only slightly higher. I used them frequently over those two and a half years, though not continuously every day—I am not a broadcaster, after all.
Conclusion: With fairly frequent use, AirPods last about two years. The case holds up reasonably well; the earbuds themselves are the main problem, with a noticeable decline after two years.
Resale
I considered selling them on Xianyu, but even pairs used for only a few months sold for just over 500 CNY, while new second-generation AirPods were a little over 800 CNY during Pinduoduo promotions. My two-and-a-half-year-old pair would have fetched very little. Besides, some Xianyu buyers approach every deal as if one yuan should buy the universe; the back-and-forth would have wasted too much time.
In the end, I used JD’s official trade-in service and received 228.6 CNY. The process was straightforward: JD's courier collected the item => inspection => valuation => I confirmed the price on my phone => the money was sent directly to my chosen account. It was refreshingly efficient, and I think it is a good option.
I paid 1,248 CNY in 2018, so two and a half years of use ultimately cost about 1,000 CNY.
Final Thoughts
My biggest takeaway from buying the new AirPods and disposing of the old pair was recognizing the value of JD’s trade-in service. It complements Xianyu well and provides another practical way to sell unused items and recover some money.
