Apple’s Powerbeats 4 spotted on Walmart shelf before official release

With Apple’s popular Powerbeats 3 headphones being nearly four years old at this point, Apple fans have been expecting the announcement of updated Powerbeats 4 to arrive soon. Now, it seems that the headphones have already been seen out in the wild.

A selection of Powerbeats 4 headphones were spotted on the shelf of a Walmart store in Rochester, New York by Twitter user @eddiezus, as reported by 9to5Mac. The photo snapped by @eddiezus shows the three colors of Powerbeats 4 — white, black, and Beats’ signature bright red.

https://twitter.com/eddiezus/status/1238897744007307264?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

All three colors are shown as costing $149, though this may not be the official pricing. The Powerbeats 3, the predecessor to the Powerbeats 4, cost $200, and the Powerbeats Pros cost $250. So $149 seems rather low for the new Powerbeats and may be special offer pricing from Walmart for the launch.

It’s not clear why this particular Walmart store is selling these headphones before any other stores, so it could be a mistake on the part of the store. This does provide evidence in confirmation of some specs about the headphones though, such as the 15-hour battery life.

This lines up with the information previously leaked about the Powerbeats 4. In the last few weeks, there have been leaked promo images found by WinFuture, which confirm that the headphones will keep the wire between the earbuds and will not be a true wireless model. This is a slight change from the Powerbeats 3, which had a cord running on the opposite side of the headphones, so this could change how they feel to wear.

The longer battery life is due to the use of Apple’s H1 audio chip, also found in Apple’s own AirPods Pro and the Powerbeats Pro, which reduces power usage. This chip also offers support for voice assistants, so the odds are high that the Powerbeats 4 will support Siri integration. The headphones are also expected to support the “Announce Messages with Siri” feature, in which Siri will read your incoming messages while you are listening on your headphones, and you can reply hands-free.

There is no official launch date for the Powerbeats 4 yet, but with their appearance at stores the date must be coming up soon.