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In this guide
Apple UK sells the EarPods (USB-C) for £19.00, model MYQY3ZM/A, in stock with free delivery and fourteen days from delivery to send them back. There is nothing to charge, nothing to pair and no app to manage; plug it in and the inline remote handles volume, playback and calls.
The price buys the port more than the listening experience. Apple lists the same earbud in Lightning, 3.5 mm and USB-C versions at one price, and none of them plugs into the other's device. If your phone, tablet and laptop all carry USB-C, this is the version that ages well; if they disagree, an adapter is the price of covering both.
Our verdict
Sensible at £19.00 as a spare for a USB-C iPhone, iPad or Mac, provided you accept an open earbud with no isolation and no noise cancellation.
- A good fit for
- A desk worker or walker who takes calls and podcasts, wants wired audio that never needs a charge, and keeps every device on USB-C.
- We would skip it if
- You want quiet on a train or a plane, you prefer a seal in the ear, or the household still owns a device on a different connector.
Reasons to consider it
- No battery and no pairing step, so they work the moment they are plugged in
- The inline remote answers calls and adjusts volume without reaching for the phone
- £19.00 at Apple UK with free delivery and a fourteen-day return window from delivery
The compromises
- An open fit lets traffic and train noise straight through, and the only remedy is volume
- Apple offers Lightning, 3.5 mm and USB-C versions at one price, and none is interchangeable
- Apple mentions sweat and water protection without publishing an IP rating
What we have not verified: Apple publishes no frequency response, no IP rating and no expected life for the cable or its strain relief. Its compatibility list stops at Apple hardware, so behaviour on other makers' USB-C devices is unknown.
The things in this guide
A closer look at the products, who they may suit, and what to check before buying.
EarPods (USB-C)
At £19.00 it stays in the bag for the day the wireless pair arrives dead, and a cable has no battery to arrive dead.
Before you buy: Every device you mean to use it with needs USB-C, and a noisy room will always stay audible.
Price checked 22 October 2026. Retailer prices can change.Three connectors, one price, no cross-over
Apple lists the EarPods with a Lightning connector, a 3.5 mm plug and a USB-C connector, and the global listing puts all three at the same price. The USB-C version sold in the UK carries model number MYQY3ZM/A, and Apple states it works with Macs from macOS Monterey 12.6 up, iPads from iPadOS 16.4 up and iPhones from iOS 17 up, provided they have the port.
A drawer that holds an older iPhone next to a new one therefore needs two versions of what looks like one product. Apple sells a USB-C to 3.5 mm adapter separately, which covers a second port at the cost of carrying another thing to lose. Check the port on every device you actually use before ordering, because buying the wrong version is how this £19.00 gets wasted.
An open fit is a design position, and here the position is audible
Apple describes the shape as following the geometry of the ear, and nothing on the listing claims a seal, isolation or noise cancellation. Apple's comfort claim is its own: the shape, it says, makes them more comfortable for more people than any other earbud-style headphones. With no seal claimed, Apple gives no hint that the bud shuts out outside noise, and the only control it lists for a loud train is volume on the inline remote.
That trade suits calls at a desk and podcasts on a walk. It fails anyone whose commute runs under engines, whatever the price, because no setting on this product addresses the problem. At £19.00 the mistake is cheap to undo within the return window, which is one argument for buying from Apple rather than a marketplace reseller.
The part that cannot degrade is the part wireless buds always lose
The box holds the EarPods and nothing else: no case, no spare cable, no charger. There is no firmware, no pairing memory and no battery counting down a few hundred charge cycles, which is what eventually retires every wireless earbud regardless of care.
That makes a wired pair a reasonable long-term backup even for people who mostly listen on Bluetooth. When the wireless set arrives at a meeting empty, the cable in the bag still works. The failure it does carry is mechanical: the cable will eventually fray near the connector, and Apple publishes no expected life for the strain relief.
Sweat and water protection without a number
The UK listing highlights protection from sweat and water but gives no IP rating, and no ingress figure appears anywhere on the page. Hardware sold specifically for training states IPX4 or similar precisely because buyers use the number to judge whether a workout or a shower of rain is survivable.
Read the wording as reassurance about ordinary use, not as a promise about running in a downpour. For a bag-drawer pair it is probably enough; for anything more demanding, the missing figure is itself the answer, because a rating the manufacturer does not print is not one a buyer can assume.
How we put this together
Built from the product pages and listings below, without test scores or results we have not measured. Specifications and prices change, so check the original page for the exact model, current price, delivery, and returns.
- Apple UK: EarPods (USB-C) product page (opens in a new tab)
- Apple UK: returns and refunds policy (opens in a new tab)
- Apple: EarPods (USB-C) global product page (opens in a new tab)
