The look and feel are the same.

these minor upgrades have made an already extremely convenient, but still average sounding pair of wireless Bluetooth earbuds, even better...

Extremely convenient, Qi wireless charging is great, Bluetooth connection remains almost flawless

They're still expensive, There are better sounding wireless earbuds out there now, Not enough of an upgrade if you own the first-gen AirPods

While the headline announcement is a wireless charging case, the real winner for the second-generation AirPods is the better managed battery that delivers a noticeable improvement in talk time between charges.

Quick to charge using the included case, Now offers Hey Siri for voice control, Easy to connect thanks to H1 chip

Not great in noisy environments, The same polarising design, Many premium competitors, Can fall out, Expensive

When it comes down to it, there's not a big difference between the first and second generation AirPods. Talk time, improved connection speed, and Hey Siri are the headlining features, and to some, they won't mean all that much.

Battery life, Long range, quick pairing, Wireless charging optional

Wireless charging is going to cost you

“Still simple and sleek, AirPods remain the no-fuss option for Apple fans.”

The new AirPods are an incremental upgrade to an already excellent, fully wireless headphone, but sound quality, design and fit are basically the same.

The second-generation AirPods add a couple of small but key improvements to the original, including always-on voice recognition and a wireless charging case option. They're a top-notch headset for making calls, indoors and out.

No design changes to help them fit more ears securely; their sound hasn't improved, and their open design allows for a lot of ambient noise to leak in.

Apple's second-generation AirPods are still the wireless earbuds to beat.

Slightly longer battery life (for talk time) , Hands-free 'Hey Siri' voice controls , Faster switching between Apple devices , Optional wireless charging case

No sound quality improvements , Wireless charging case version costs an extra $40 , No improvements to battery life for music