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The Beats Flex came out last year right after Apple stopped including EarPods in the box with its iPhones. At $50, the Flex gave users an affordable option that was backed with Beats sound sense and Apple’s W1 chip. Now, you can grab the buds at an even more affordable price of $39, which is 22 percent off their usual going rate. All color options are on sale, too, so you can choose from black, blue, yellow and gray.
Buy Beats Flex at Amazon – $39
The Beats Flex are wireless earbuds in the old-school sense — they have one wire connecting both buds, so you’re not tethered to your mobile device and there’s less of a chance you’ll accidentally lose one bud. A few things set these earbuds apart from your standard pair of cheap ones: Apple’s W1 chip, onboard controls and battery life. The first will be familiar to anyone that has used newer Beats devices and it allows the Flex to quickly pair and switch between iPhone, iPad and Apple TV. That means you can listen on most of your devices without hiccups when moving between them.
You’re also getting full onboard controls on the Flex, so you can change the volume, play/pause and skip tracks without pulling out your smartphone. The buds themselves are magnetic, too, so they will snap together when you take them out — and the Flex will automatically pause audio when that happens. It’s not quite the same as the automatic pausing on AirPods, but it’s close. And as for battery life, you’ll get up to 12 hours of use with a single charge.
But there are some tradeoffs when you’re grabbing this pair fo $50 earbuds. First is simply the Flex’s connecting wire — there are a number of affordable, true wireless earbuds out there now that you could consider if you don’t want to deal with wires at all (The $80 Anker Soundcore Spirit Dot 2 and the $60 Anker Soundcore Liberty Neo come to mind). Also, the Flex’s sound quality is inconsistent and it doesn’t support hands-free Siri. However, if you’re a fan of the connecting-wire design and want the convenience of Apple’s W1 chip, the Beats Flex are a solid option.
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